nana's vce journal!

tiffwhiff

Hey! I don't know how to start this out. I'm currently in Yr 10, Yr 11 next year (2025). I'm moving schools next year, and I'm kind of nervous. I moved from a country overseas just a year ago, and I'm already moving to another school (AHHH). The idea of starting all over again terrifies me. I already had to start over last year, and I have to do it all over again?? Ugh. The reason why I'm moving schools in the first place is because I got into a selective school (yay!). And my current school sucks balls, so yea. All my friends got their subjects for next year, so I thought it would be a good-ish time to start this journal. Exams are in week five and six, and I have 7 exams I have to attend (I want to jump!). I'm currently doing Chemistry 1&2, and I'm getting 70-80 percent. I think I'm like in the top 7 in my class? Anyways, these are the subjects I'm doing next year:

Chemistry 3&4
Methods 1&2
Specialist 1&2
Physics 1&2
Extended Investigations 3&4
EAL 1&2 (not confirmed yet)

Call me delusional, but currently I'm trying to aim or an ATAR of 95+😀. I want to study engineering at Melb Uni, and lowkey I wanna try and get a scholarship. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I did a lot of research, and so far all the websites say that if I work hard enough it's possible.

If you want to know anything about me, I love Tyler the Creator (CHROMAKOPIA DROP ON THE 28TH). I also like reading. Recently I finished The Institute by Stephen King, I highly recommend it praying hands emoji. Currently in a reading slump, so I would love any book reccs of any genre!

I started this journal because I love to yap about my future plans, but I feel bad for my friends who have to listen to my relentless yapping about ATARs and study scores. So yea, that's all from me. Stay safe out there!

FH

tiffwhiff HEYY!! so excited to read your journal as you update it.

extended investigation is an amazing subject, and i would be more than glad to give you some tips now if you’d like 🙂

velvet

tiffwhiff yes!! im trying to argue with my school to do ei
good luck on ur journey :3

FinFin-3rdYearUni

Hello! Welcome to the exciting and strenuous VCE journey! You seem to have a good, wide selection of subjects, and a clear goal for MU. Best of luck, hope it all goes well!

tiffwhiff

FH Omg yes that would be great! I'm doing Extended Investigations mainly because it's a prerequisite at my school, but like it looks like a very interesting subject to do. The oral presentation does scare me a little though because I'm scared of public speaking

FH

tiffwhiff extended investigation (ei) is so much fun. i did it through vsv so i didnt have the best of experience, but because the subject is so independent, there isn’t always that teacher guidance required.

the first thing you are going to do is make a subscription to the state library of victoria (free access membership) to access the database of research articles. also use google scholar because the state library is very limited. if you encounter an article you need to pay for, enter the doi number here. you will need to analyse the articles, and i can send through a template/structure if you would like.

but before you look for articles in the literature, you’re going to need a topic. the topic needs to be a topic where there is a gap in the current literature. for example, my topic investigated the influences on participation rates of physical activity within late adolescent females in metropolitan melbourne. there was quite a bit of literature out there exploring facilitating and restricting factors to physical activity, but none in the geographic context of metropolitan melbourne… the gap in the literature! furthermore, the factors were not considered holistically rather in an atomistic manner… another gap! as you read and synthesise through the articles, you will realise that each study has their flaws, and that the field you are interested in studying will definitely have a gap, or multiple gaps.

my second piece of advice is to keep your study simple yet interesting. interesting research is important as you will be working on this for like 11 months (i started november 2023 and finished october 2024). if you don’t have an interest in your topic, it will become super boring. you don’t need to have an extravagant project that explores quantum field theory because you will have 3 weeks dedicated to personal data collection AT MOST, and how the hell will you explore something so complex and explain that in a 4000 word report? not going to happen. your topic will need to be simple but not too simple where you can explain it to a 4 year old in a sandpit. some topics in my class were perfectionism and school refusal— which aren’t overly complicated yet not super simple. it is also important you keep it simple and not have too many factors to investigate, which is where i stumbled in my own study. my study investigated three factors using a model with three other factors to investigate two different effects. it made data analysis very confusing and difficult to explain in my writing.

which leads me to my third piece of advice… DO NOT DELETE ANYTHING. if you are writing up a sac or your final report and don’t like something, don’t even think about deleting it. you might reuse it another time or reword it. you must have a journal where you log all the articles you read and any writing or class tasks, because if vcaa doesn’t think it’s your work, you have proof (also the journal is a vcaa requirement). also, not really advice but more common sense is to not use chat gpt for writing. it can be useful in providing a summary of the articles, which is good because they’re long and tedious and you don’t want to be wasting time. but don’t use it to do your analysis because the subject focuses on critical analysis, which lets be honest… ai sucks at.

don’t have a planned methodology in mind right now, because you might want to do a survey now but maybe that isn’t the best for you in the long run.

also, the oral presentation is really chill, the examiners are quite nice and they only look for ways to reward you. if you have any questions i’ll try replying as fast as i can because exams are literally next week (eek)

tiffwhiff

FH Omg thank you so much 😭 You have no idea how much help this is. I've been stressing on what I should choose as my topic for the past month now. No stress to reply quickly, and good luck with your exams!

tiffwhiff

25/10/24
I'm so cooked. I had three tests (Maths, English and Psychology) back to back yesterday, and I had another Math test today. We did the tech active component of the test today, and literally as soon as I opened the page I let out the biggest sigh I've ever sighed. I'm blaming the fact that it's term 4 😒

Let me go on a rant really quickly, but my teacher literally is like the worst. You know when you have teachers, and they're a good person, just not a good teacher? Yea, my math teacher is that type of person. He would make a great wellbeing teacher. Literally on Tuesday, which is the day before the tech free component of the test (UGH), he gave us like a practice test to do on our own, and he said that he would upload the answers to that practice test on Wednesday morning. Guess what, he uploaded the answers THIS MORNING. UGH. Like, I tried checking my answers through ChatGPT, but god knows how reliable it really is. My teacher's problem is that he would spend like 2-3 classes learning a new skill, but give us no extra work to practice this skill. And since I'm in the "advanced" Maths class, the textbooks we bought don't cover what we are learning right now. I thought maybe the Year 11 methods textbooks might have some questions I can work on, but they're too advanced for me.

It literally sucks because he's in charge of our school's production next year, and he's prioritising that over his Maths class, like, he doesn't take us seriously enough I think. Like in the beginning of the year, he was some sort of like coordinator that assigns CRTs to classes, and that took a lot of time from him, and he got himself out of that position like in term 3. He said he can give us more time of day, but no, he's literally still, potentially more distracted than he was in the beginning of the year.

Anyways, I have another practice exam I'm doing for food studies (elective) on Monday. I have so much things I have to study for I'm gonna cry 😭😭 And I'm attending a friend's party tomorrow, so wish me luck!

tiffwhiff

3/09/2025
Hey! It's been a while since I've written in here (don't come for me plez), lowkey forgot about it! Anyways, here's a not so little update on my vce journey so far!

I literally hate it.

Every day it feels harder and harder to wake up and do things. Like, I usually wake up at 5.30-ish to get ready (I like taking my time). For context, it takes me about an hour and a half to get to school, and I feel like it's slowly taking a toll on me physically and mentally.

On average, I usually have about 5.5 hours of sleep a night, and yea, it's not as great as it seems. It's hard to focus in all my classes, and I feel like I'm really behind on coursework and like content in general, especially in Physics. So like, yea don't be like me and get all your 8 hours in please 😭

I'm doing two 3&4 subjects, which is Chemistry and Extended Investigations. For Chem, I'm doing so bad. At the start of the year, I was aiming for a 95+ ATAR, but now it seems like it's hard to get even above an 85. I'm doing painfully average despite the fact that I study and work hard on everything. It's discouraging seeing the people around you doing amazing while they just play games in class. For Extended Investigations, I'm doing considerably okay compared to everyone else in my cohort. Since we are all forced to take it, a lot of people are not taking it seriously, which is fair because a lot of the people in my cohort are going to be taking 7 3&4 subjects (like two in Year 11, and 5 in Year 12). Originally, my plan for Year 12 is that I'll do my other subjects + a Uni Extension, but there are literally no Uni Extension subjects for chemistry. The only thing I can do is like the History and Philosophy of Science (by Melb uni), and I can't do humanities subjects to save my life, so I'm redoing Chemistry again next year! How fun! Wow!

So far for my math subjects (Methods and Spesh), I think I'm doing okay? I failed one Spesh SAC so far, which is way less than what I anticipated going into Year 11, and like Methods is easy for me, so it's pretty chill for me rn. As for Physics, oh my freaking days I don't know what I'm doing, at all. I hate my Physics teacher so much, and like he pisses me off so bad. Like I swear he picks on me because like one time we were doing a worksheet in class, and I was like 'enthusiastically' doing it with my friend, but then I turn around for one second to talk to my friend, and immediately this fuck yells out my name and tells me to do my work. I freaking hate that guy sm like genuinely so much. But so far I haven't failed any Physics SACs, which again is a huge surprise given that I barely pay attention in class. But booyah I guess?

Mentally, I'm so tired. I'm tired of waking up, and I'm so tired of everything really. I literally have no motivation to do anything recently, and like on paper I have like a good life -- I have a good family that loves me, I have the greatest boyfriend anyone could ask for, but I'm just so, tired, that's the only word I can think of. Guys I'm in therapy don't worry, but like vce really takes a toll on you if you don't have like healthy coping mechanisms (which I clearly don't). Like always always make time for yourself, and like have hobbies, and like take walks. Just be healthy guys.

Anyways, I think that's the end of my rant, I'm just going in circles at this point.

Oh yea, and if anyone is interested in reading my like, final report for Extended Investigations send me dm! Any help would be greatly appreciated 💖

Wheat

tiffwhiff I believe ANU is the only uni "close" to vic that has uni chem.

tiffwhiff

Wheat Ugh! Such a shame I don't live closer 😭😭

tiffwhiff

13/09/2025

Ughuhahrk this week was so hard to get through man istg. Literally like we have one more week of school till holidays and I have not been locked in for any of my subjects (except chem and ei).

Our final reports got submitted to vcaa for review, and like I'm lowkey kinda scared that it would be flagged for ai, because like I asked chatgpt to like refine a lot of my like sentences because it was too like, casual? Like how would I know how to write formally, especially for a scientific report hello?? As for chem, lowk I've been so clocked out of it ngl. Like, I'm repeating it next year again anyways, so like in a way I don't feel as stressed? I just really want holidays to come quickly.

And not to mention I literally have a spesh sac on the last day on the last period of school???? Who the hell planned it like this??? I literally don't know what the hell I'm doing anymore. Like, I feel like yr 10 me would be so disappointed at like how I turned out. Genuinely yr 11 is so hard, like ugh. At least I'm more locked in for physics now?

Also we can start like ordering our yr 12 jackets. Literally I can't believe I'll be yr 12 in a few months. That's insane! And like my school offers both a jacket and a hoodie, and like I'm debating getting both? It would be so comfy to be in a hoodie during winter, but like jackets are easier to take off yano? Like I just want options guys. Not to mention the jacket designs this year are so FUGLY. UGH. Literally the yr 12 jackets this year look so nice and like BOOM. Literally I've ranted enough on here I'll stop oop!

Anyways yea, hoping next week goes quickly so I can finally sleep for more than 5 hours a night!

Sof333

Hi, I'm doing units 1 2 spec, physics and methods next year and am wondering if u have any tips. Keep on going, it'll all get better soon, and pushing through the mentally tough times will make the rewards better.
Best of luck
Sofia