Otherwise, The Expat's Guide to Year 12

hi, I'm caramel!

I thought about starting this journal whilst taking a shower, so I have hardly any idea of what I'm doing πŸ™‚

I was born in the US, but one of my parents are Australian. I only finished Prep before moving over to the US, and I came back after I finished Year 9 in America. So, I do have some knowledge about how uni applications work in America (unfortunately :/).

High school in Australia was like a whirlwind; suddenly I had to learn new terms like 'SAC', 'study score' and 'ATAR', but I've got the hang of it now. To be honest, Year 9 in America was also quite the whirlwind. (Lunch was optional???)

Subjects

English, Art Creative Practice, Biology, Chemistry, and Japanese SL

  • Year 11: Methods (31)

Year 11

... was terrible. Shhhh... let's not talk about it πŸ™‚

Starting the year

I've already had quite a few positives this year. Specifically, I passed the N1 Level of the JLPT (Japanese-Language Proficiency Test)! Ahhh I'm so happy!!! πŸŽ† πŸŽ‰

On the other hand, I don't know what to do with my certificate. It'll be wall decor for now, but I want to work in a Japan-related job in the future. I'm interested in studying Japanese (interested in the University of Melbourne-TUFS dual degree), but my dad thinks I should give the UCAT a go. I am interested in Medicine, but now that I've passed a test that's as hard as JLPT, I feel as though Japanese is a much better option for me esp. for my mental health and sanity.

About the dual degree, I don't think many people who study Japanese at Unimelb can get it, and the person who I asked at last year's open day wasn't sure either, so I'm a bit confuddled here.

For my study scores, I want to get as high as I can. Hopefully, I can get a 50 in Biology and Japanese, and maybe a high 30s to low 40s for English. Chemistry and Art: we'll see how that goes.

What I did today:

  • Heinemann Chem 2.5 (Questions 1-9)
  • Edrolo Biology Chapter 1 Exam Practice (Questions 1-11)

What I still need to do:

  • Packing list for Camp
  • VCAA Biology 2019 Question 11
  • Photosynthesis and cellular resp. revision

Comments: For Chem, I've been working at least two chapters ahead of my class, and it's been working well. I might start Chapter 3 by tonight.

Yo, Passport!
Welcome to the exciting, yet daunting adventure of Year 12!
A 31 in Methods during Year 11 sounds decent, even considering that it's a competitive subject. I'm sure that despite how Year 11 went, you'll do fine this year. Good to see you're off to a good start too, can't wait to see how your adventure unfolds throughout the year!

    Hii caramel!! Just noticed you replied to my VCE journal, so I thought I'd reply to yours πŸ™‚ also i have no idea how to write my VCE journal either lol. I'm just giving it a go so I can look back on the year once I finish school.

    I also did a higher study subject in Yr 11. I did Bio, and though i did really well in Units 1&2, I struggled with 3&4 since Yr 11 was a really overwhelming year for me with personal stuff going on. I didn't end up doing as well as I would have liked, but I did manage to get rank 2 on our final SAC, which I am proud of, considering Yr 11 wasn't great for me either.
    I've uploaded one of the revision resources I made when studying for my exam to ATARNotes that might help. https://atarnotes.com/notes/yKyV-cellular-respiration-and-biofuels-revision-2024 I usually handwrite my notes otherwise I would have uploaded more of my resources.

    I'm also doing English and Art Creative Practice! And best of luck to you also for these subjects. Keeping up to date with work for Art and making sure our folios go well might be tough but we both got this!

    Also, congrats on your achievement for the JLPT! I really don't know much about it but it sounds like you did really well πŸ™‚

    I've also got camp soon and am kinda dreading it tbh. I do like camp but my school spilt our year level into two groups for it, going on different days since there are so many people in my year level. and sadly my best friends ended up in a different group to me 😭 Hope your camp goes well tho!

      FinFin-3rdYearUni
      Hi, Fin!
      Thank you for commenting on my journal!
      I'm sure I'll be able to fulfil the goals I'm aiming for this year (mostly Stayin' Alive)
      (NOooo not the Bee Gees reference)

        frog_of_spades

        Good evening, fellow passenger (lol).

        Thank you so much for linking your resource!!! But omg is there actually biofuels in bio? We're learning about it in chem, and we have to compare and contrast between bioethanol/biodiesel/biogas with the fossil fuels.

        Last year was probably the most confusing and overwhelming time of my life. Methods was abhorrent, and I would not like to experience high school maths again. The teacher just showed us an example question, and left ourselves to our own devices. (Edit: and then I got sick every other month)

        I haven't really put any time towards Art yet, but I really need to practise writing for the exam!! I'm actually concentrating on photography (black and white film) for the AOS (and maybe the rest of the year), so I've researched three photographers (Man Ray, Sally Mann, and Liu Zheng)

        Thank you! JLPT is a reading and listening test, and it has five different levels; N1 is the hardest. It's said to be around near-native level, but I don't know if I've felt any improvement in my day-to-day Japanesing

        Today was DREADFUL. First, my closest friends won't be going to Camp; second, my Chromebook charger caught fire and almost burnt down the house. It's the heatwave, I swear.

        Good luck to you, too. Rooting for you!

          School started again today and I got my Year 12 badge!! I cried a little on the train home bc I (kind of) still didn’t fully process that high school is going to be over.

          Stressed because my friend studied all the Chem content over the holidays and I feel behind even though I’m still about two exercises ahead 😭. When I got home, I started to get frustrated over Chem.

          (Edit)
          Progress:

          • Edrolo Biology readings, 5A and 5B
          • Heinemann Chemistry 3.1 (until Question 5)
          • Art written report (about 136/500 words)
          • Japanese Unit 3 Week 1 submission (only essay task left)
          11 days later

          I'm recovering from a cold that I think was passed on at school. I don't have a fever, but I do have a tension headache. As usual with all my colds/flus, I produced quite a lot of mucus, which, I think, irritates my throat and causes me to cough more.

          This morning, I (informally) scheduled an appointment with the Careers Counsellor, and let me tell you one thing: I wish I had them Years 10 & 11!! But it's probably because I have the Methods prereq down, and that makes my degree choices easier 😭. Recently, I've been considering a Bachelor of Laws degree. I didn't have this option when I was in the US, but now I do, so now I'm thinking about whether I should do a double degree or just Law by itself.

          Japanese is going pretty well so far. Last week, I had my first oral lesson with my teacher (I'm doing Japanese by correspondence), and if everything goes well this year, I'd say my goal is to get a Study Score of 50 >94% across the year.

          At this point, I have finished writing the report on my chosen artist. I have gone way over the word count, so I'll need to edit it, print it out and paste it into my visual diary tomorrow.

          I have my Chem tutoring tomorrow at 7p. After school, I'll need to revise on whatever my tutor is covering, which I have PROCRASTINATED put on the back burner because of my cold πŸ™‚

          I'm planning to join the public speaking meetup tomorrow lunch, too.

          I did my bio readings & all the questions, but apparently I was also supposed to watch the videos πŸ™‚)))

          Alright, I'll come back tomorrow night to update <3

            13 days later

            possible_to_return_passport
            Oooh, well done! Take note of the things you got wrong, or weren't sure of, and be sure to revise them for the exam. There's a long way to go, but you seem to have made a good start

              12 days later

              possible_to_return_passport Hii that's an awesome first SAC score! Congrats πŸ™‚

              Also I remember u mentioning that u do Art CP as well, so I was just wondering what ur class is up to. My class is towards the end of AOS 1. We're working on our final artworks in preparation for our critiques next week, starting on Wednesday. So I've got quite a bit to do but I really like Art at least so hopefully I get it done.

              Wishing u luck for ur next SACs!! A 35/40 in bio is such a great score! If it helps for ur next AOS I can try and find my 3&4 bio resources from last year, as it was my higher study subject, and I can try upload them to ATARNotes if u like

                  4 days later

                  frog_of_spades Thank you β™₯️

                  We’re all at different stages right now because two new students in my class have picked it up without 1/2. Some haven’t even finished brainstorming, but one of my classmates already finished their outcome 1 final. I’m currently finished with my trials, just need to take two more photos or so, then scan & print out. Our critique is on the first week back from school.