Rey_of_sunshine

Hii, it's been a while...

So it turns out that what everyone said about year 12 was right lol, it got busy very quickly!! After my first week back I was really focused on getting ahead in my subjects, especially in Psych and Lit, and for Art I was quite focused on maintaining consistency with my folio. Plus I work on weekends, and try to help out my brother who's in year 9 when I can as well. So as u can imagine I had a lot going on, even at the very start of the term.

... And then year 12 camp around, which was soo fun, apart from getting accidentally capsized by another student :/ We got to our school's yearly tradition of a dance with our homeroom class which was really cool, even though I am very much uncoordinated and not good at dancing, so I mostly helped out with choreography and props We had karaoke battles and lots of fun activities, and finally decent food! And I also made some new friends in my homeroom and art class, which was kinda unexpected since everyone has pretty much figured out the friend groups in my year level.

But well after that we went straight back into the crazy workload and busy schedule!

Anyways, I just had my first 2 SACs of the year!! Psych yesterday and Lit I just had during my 3rd and 4th period today (we have 6 periods in a day now, but we only seem to have double periods, so 3 subjects in total a day, which is manageable).
My thoughts on the SACs:

• Psych: AOS 1
  I think this SAC went well as I didn't have any trouble content wise, though I'm a bit annoyed that after memorising the whole step by step process of the spinal reflex and each step of the physiological process of the FFF response, both which would be 5-7 mark qs, neither of these topics were on the SAC And I really struggle with my memory so this was quite annoying after I was finally able to remember the more complicated and higher marking responses.
  I got a little bit confused with some of the wording of the qs, bc they were quite vague with the research methods qs, or maybe I just needed to study research methods a little bit more lol. Overall, I think I did quite well, so am not too worried about the score
• Lit: AOS 1, Part 1
  I am generally happy with how I did during my Lit SAC. Our text is 'Alias Grace' which I absolutely love, and know really well, so I was even more thrilled when I got to the SAC and found out we were writing our passage analysis on two specific passages I worked the most on when studying for the SAC, coincidentally!! I pretty much was able to write my opening word for word, from my practice piece, because I had spent so much time rewriting it, that it somehow decided to live rent free in my mind lol. From my opening I had a clear interpretation and mental plan for my CPA. Probably an unpopular opinion but I really don't like planning my essays. Lucky for Lit there is no set way to write so myself and other Lit students can pretty much write whatever as long as we can support our interpretation with evidence; quotes and literary devices, etc.
  Straight after the SAC my friend in my Lit class and I just kept yapping about the SAC bc she also studied mostly for the same passages for the SAC coincidentally as well, which we both were going through feedback and synonyms for each other's pieces during class. Really I'm just glad I was able to finish, cuz I was speed writing up until the bell went for the end of the period.

The first week is up in Year 3, and my goodness this is probably the trickiest semester start I've ever had
Designing, Evaluating and Valuing Learning seems pretty straight forward, just like every other core class I've had for education. A lot of group work and uncomfortable chairs, and the content seems pretty familiar

Chemistry 1A seems to jump right into the content. Molar mass, stoichiometry, formulae. I have a lot to ensure I know before we begin prac classes too, but I have a feeling I'll enjoy this subject

Tools for Modelling the World currently seems like a nightmare for me. I only did Methods in Year 10 and 1/2 General in Year 11. This content seems to jump into 3/4 Methods, with vectors, logarithms and crazy algebra. I want to do my best though, because it seems like everyone in this class is doing an engineering or physics course, meanwhile I discovered that fractions can have fractions inside them. We also have a computer lab class, using MathWorks. They seem a bit more straight forward
The problem is, I don't want to teach VCE Specialist, Physics or Methods. I want to reach the foundation levels of 7-10, how to substitute x, and add fractions. This is only a first year class too, so I have a long way to go

Junior Sciences Secondary Pedagogy (that's a mouthful) is also very straightforward. It's very similar to the Teaching Science class I mentioned earlier, except it focuses on 7-10, more than F-6. Someone started a group chat, and they're all confused about the 5E model which we would have learnt in our 1st and 2nd years, so...
This class also finishes in Week 8, so I'll have plenty of time to focus on my Maths and Chemistry exams, as well as the DEVL work

Overall, crazy start, but just like every semester, things will chill out and calm down eventually. I'll be a science and maths whiz before I know it too!

Rey_of_sunshine
It's great that you're getting involved in being an adult, as well as focusing on studies. A bit obvious, but it's not a great idea to drink a lot the night before classes or an exam. It is very good that you've joined a lot of societies and different clubs. It seems like your uni has loads to choose from. It's hard to break out of those conversations. Try asking other stuff, like if they live on campus, what hobbies they have, etc. As you get into classes and collaborate with others, you'll strengthen connections.
ommgggggggggg, the best thing about uni is that not all classes start at 9AM, so you don't have to fight peakhour traffic. I live near a primary school, so the 9AM class starts are tricky to battle. You'll have plenty of time to work out schedules, get into routines and such. Eventually, you won't need to look at your timetable to know when and where everything is.
Uni will eventually get harder, but you'll find your groove and stick too it

Rey_of_sunshine tutes are quite fun + are great to meet people (speaking anecdotally). also clubs are where you'll meet the most like-minded people (once more, speaking anecdotally).

hope the rest of week 1 runs smoothly!!

Rey_of_sunshine glad you're enjoying uni!! i relate to the conversation thing, it does get quite dull but hopefully now that classes have started that you meet more like-minded people that make conversation making much easier!!

it has been a long while since i yapped here and considering i cannot sleep for the life of me, i suppose i can update with the very little that changed since the last time i wrote...

i have jump-start at monash today which is scary because it's officially the first orientation event i have. already made a friend which is so fun because now im not worrying about going alone. my goal was to make one new friend and here we are reaching that goal before uni even starts (go me!! )

i also got a scholarship yay!! it's $6k a year for the length of my course which is 3 years, meaning over a third of the fees are covered which is a huge relief. i also have an external $1k scholarship which i can spend on myki, a new laptop that i still haven't bought, etc.

it is quite scary that im adulting my way through life right now. still no success on the job side of things and i didn't get the last job i had an interview for, but i keep trying and hoping for the best.

on that note, i should technically be waking up in another hour and 15 minutes so might take a nap lol. i will update with a jump-start debrief afterwards!! take care all

Yo Rey!
Melbourne University is a great city campus, be sure to explore it in your free time. I went there on a school trip in Year 12 and was amazed by its size compared to LaTrobe Bendigo. Sounds like a great line up of classes for the first semester too. I recommend going to O-Week especially, it's very important for first year students, and a great opportunity to make new friends

Rey_of_sunshine bachelor of arts twin's . all the best for the year!! i have a few friends studying at unimelb too so if you're in a distinctive cosplay outfit i might see you when i visit them

After working more on my Psychology notes, I ended up finishing my Creating Texts draft for English!! But it is concerningly very much over the word limit I swear I always do this, but I think I'll just wait to hear my teacher's feedback first and then cut it down :/

I ended up writing a personal essay, the purpose being to reflect. I am not certain who the audience might be for my piece yet, especially since it ended up being so personal. It makes feel a bit icky (sorry for a lack of a better word!!) to have written something quite personal for a school purpose. So I might find some way to incorporate some of what I've drafted written into an expository article instead with some reflective, personal anecdotes included. Doing this instead might make the tone less apparent, because the focus of an expository article is on explaining something rather than expressing certain emotions for the purpose of persuasion or personal reflection. But there would be a more easily identifiable structure, which I have the idea might be better in terms of making my piece easier to score higher based on the limited rubric.

Now I just have to finish my Language Analysis Essay for English and then my hw will be done!!! But I might just leave that for tomorrow, even though it might be a little rushed since I go back to school on Thursday. Not too worried about it tho.

UPDATE!! (Long overdue lol) (will also be very long, bc of my very long absence from my journal... (sorry in advance!!))

Hiii. Was meant to update my VCE journal after coming back from leadership camp, but once I got back head start started and things got really busy! I didn't forget that I'd started this at least but couldn't find time to update

Firstly, some mini updates...

• I changed my maths subject!! Good riddance to methods! Yay! I got to start general during head start, so i very luckily did not have to sit through another methods class whilst my crazy ADHD brain attempted to focus on anything but sine and cosine and everything else lol. General really hasn't been a challenge so far, I finished the holiday hw super early, got a little ahead in head start classes, but ofc I don't want to assume the whole Units 3 & 4 will go this way, as I've heard that the finance topic can be challenging (or maybe it was another AOS? i forgot ).
  I am really grateful that my year 11 coordinator and the school careers counsellor understood my challenges, especially being neurodivergent (auDHD) and were able to accomodate the change of subject for me so quickly!
• Leadership camp: was quite fun. We learnt about our different leadership styles and got to do some really fun challenges as well as start planning out our ideas for 2025. but sadly i did have an experience there that was not so great

Ok so how did head start go?

• My first subject of head start was unfortunately general maths, and even tho I'm super happy to have dropped methods, it doesn't help the fact that either way i do not like maths very much on a positive note i have some friends in my classes

I don't remember the order of the rest of my subject for head start but i'll still give an update on how they all went...

• Art: really fun! lots of brainstorming ideas which i find really fun! I did get a bit overwhelmed with trying to finish whole artist research pages in each lesson. But i tried not to pressure myself too much since I could finish them over the holidays. Which I have done!
  The artists I'm researching are Hans Holbein, Gwen John, Frida Kahlo, Vincent Namatjira, Yinka Shonibare, and maybe some others. My theme is self-identity: conflicts and contradictions, and i'm exploring what aspects of myself i feel shape my personal identity, the impacts of others on how i see myself, as well as how do parts of my identity conflict or contradict each other. In particular I'm focusing on my experience being neurodivergent, how I experience being autistic and ADHD, my ancestry and relationship with my relatives, etc. I'm thinking about focusing on self-portraiture and symbolism, to represent myself not necessarily in a realistic art style but in a way that I feel represents who i am, whilst working on the pieces. My preferred media is digital art (I use an XP-Pen screen tablet, programs on my Mac, and photoshop usually), but I also loved printmaking in year 11, and like painting (watercolour and acrylic) so I'd still like to experiment with these as well (this all might not make so much sense, sorry if u don't get it since these are just my random ideas!!)
  I am anxious about how fast-paced the year will be and how that will impact Art tho, bc ik this subject requires lots of time and effort, and I'd hate to neglect it at any point. I experienced a pretty significant burn out in year 11 that impacted on the consistency of my folio, and I'm worried about it happening again tbh. Folio students will get it

• Literature: pretty chill tbh. we analysed poetry by Sarah Holland-Batt. Her poetry is really amazing, and quite different from other texts we've studied in Lit so far. Holiday hw isn't much just reading our set texts: Alias Grace (novel), Smart Ovens For Lonely People (short story anthology), Uncle Vanya (play), and Throat (poetry collection). Alias Grace was so interesting, looking forward to studying this for the adaptations and transformations AOS. Also Uncle Vanya should be really interesting too. We studied Chekhov's 'The Cherry Orchard' in Unit 2 and I found it quite interesting learning about the text's context and cultural significance, as well as Chekhov's absurdist comedy approach.

• English: Well, i finished reading our unit 4 text during lesson 1 lol. It was not relevant to our head start classes at all but I absolutely loved We Have Always Lived In Castle!! No judgement pls! (cuz ik a lot of people don't like it, one my friends being one of them). I just really like gothic fiction, and the feminist aspects of the text. Plus i love a good unreliable narrator lol. I don't personally hate the sisters, they are just really fascinating to me. I do not like cousin Charles tho, ofc!! Getting ready to write a killer essay for this one, hopefully.
  But anyways, back to head start; we're starting with Creating Texts. We covered all the mentor texts and analysed them a little, before brainstorming our own ideas. And just like with everything when it comes ideas i've got plenty. probably too many, which explains why i've left my holiday hw of drafting my assessment piece till last... it's currently in progress. and i start school on thursday so i do need to finish it. But i struggle with structure i've got an overwhelming amount of ideas, and even tho i've settled on what i want to write about, ik i can't just go wild and write a piece without a structure, however interesting it may be. I want to be a writer of some kind myself so maybe i have a little high expectations for this AOS.
  In order to deal with my issues with structure I might just stick to writing an article, so it is somewhat structured but I can be creative with my writing style and purpose of the piece. Ik it has to 'explain, persuade, reflect, etc..' but can it be more than one??
  We've got the framework of personal journeys so I'm thinking to write about my experience of being neurodivergent; so to reflect? But i also want to address the diagnosis process; so to explain? Like it's my personal experience, so therefore reflecting, but also factual, so explaining? Then again I could make it a little persuasive, trying to convince the reader on the importance of the diagnosis process, and why labels can be important, e.g- seeking accomodations. Sorry this bit is probs me just rambling maybe other neurodivergent people might get it?? Anyways, i'll figure it out. I might just try writing a sort of summary about what i want to get across (purpose of the piece), and then work out my audience from there. I've noticed I struggle with utilising language for specific audiences in written responses (narratives in particualr), but not when it comes to speeches for some reason. My Unit 1 English teacher said it's bc despite aiming to write for a teenage audience predominantly I use language that what be too sophisticated for most teenagers to understand? Idk, i think i just wrote to many narratives that were not literal in any sense. Basically I like metaphors. And turning my whole piece into one. But it also might be bc I'm experienced with public speaking and have been competing in it since the start of highschool. I don't have this problem with speeches tho. So I did consider writing a speech for Creating Texts, bc I could at least imagine presenting it, and adjust my language and structure based on my hypothetical audience, but idk really more rambling, i'm so sorry to those reading!!! I'll figure it out eventually.

• Psych: BEST FOR LAST!! I absolutely love Psych. fav subject. and i doubt i'll change my opinion on this by the end of the year. Seriously tho, I'll update my thoughts on psych throughout the year, but when a subject just happens to be a special interest, not sure i'll stop loving it. I went to the ATARNotes in person lecture at RMIT for psych, as well as general and english, but the psych lecture really stood out. The person presenting was also so nice and answered all of my questions, (i had many things I wanted to ask!!) And I've finished all my holiday hw for this subject, plus I'm ahead!! I just love learning about psychology, and even for research methods tho it's not as interesting as the actual content it's nothing I haven't seen before, having already finished Units 3 & 4 Bio last year. Also is it just me or is there an overlap between some content from the general maths data topic and Psych research methods, like the statistics stuff?? Also for past students, when would u recommend doing practice SACs and trial exams? Any tips for Psych in particular?

I start back at school on Thursday, but still have no idea what subjects I have when, since we don't have the timetable yet, (the school literally took down our timetable page!!), but I'm feeling ok about going back. And VERY excited for psych as i'm sure u can tell. But sadly i still have English hw to finish I need to finish my language analysis essay; we have to analyse the text from the 2024 VCAA exam. I would appreciate any tips from past year 12 students!! especially for language analysis and creating texts! I don't find language analysis particularly hard, for context i was rank 1 for this SAC in year 11, but i just don't find it so interesting, and lack motivation. I also need to finish my Creating Texts piece. and yeah i'm just gonna call it a 'piece' until i decide what it actually is that i am writing

Anyways, byeee for now! I will maybe update once i finish my English hw idk. But trust i won't disappear this time, I'll at least update first day back at school! Good luck to all other students no matter what year level! and good luck for uni students!! One of my coworkers is starting first year uni soon, and it sounds very exciting so wish all u guys luck!

can we like, not be typing random stuff in my journal please- make something separate to do whatever you want to call this

considering i caught covid (dramatic sigh), i suppose i should do a mini-update here.

i completed by my timetabling preferences and i will, if i get my preferences, only be on campus for classes 3 days a week. i decided i’d do an 8am class (even though that will mean a 5:30am wake-up) because i’ll have a 4pm class the same day, meaning i can have a study orientated day in between classes… yes i was thinking smarter and not harder.

i also enrolled for peer mentoring for the first semester, meaning i will have a mentor from the arts faculty for 12 weeks. unsure what to expect to be honest, but it opens scholarship opportunities and i might meet some people which is what i am most scared of.

awaiting the orientation schedule to be released, but for the time being, i will be indulging in horror movies to bypass time, and listening to lots and lots of music.

well hi! i’m dani, better known as FH on atarnotes. i am a class of 2024 graduate with an 86.70 atar, and am starting university next year!!

i’ll be studying a bachelor of arts at monash university, majoring in journalism!! that was my first preference uni, so i’m glad i got that offer yesterday.

i aspire to become an investigative journalist, because that specific field of journalism seems very engaging and has so much depth. i already had to choose my units for next year, as that confirmed my enrolment at monash, and i chose the following;

semester 1:

• ATS1071 political theory in a changing world: concepts, issues and debates
• ATS1089 fundamentals in journalism
• ATS1314 introduction to international human rights
• ATS1421 understanding crime

semester 2:

• ATS1090 practice of journalism
• ATS1315 human rights and social justice
• ATS1423 criminal justice in practice
• ATS1945 issues in australian politics and government

it’s quite a diverse range of units, but i did quite a bit of looking into each unit to make sure they’d be suitable for journalism.

feel free to check out my year 12 journal here, and i cannot wait to update everything in this journal (hopefully life doesn’t get too busy and i forget and neglect the journal)

my.eyes.are.circles
Yo, Circles!!
It seems like you've had an amazing start to VCE already. A 37 in Year 10 AND a 43 in Year 11 is very, very impressive. It's good that Year 10 gave you a benchmark for expectations in study scores. Year 11 allowed you to use the study tips you learnt in Year 10 and apply them with more effort. 43, in any subject, at any year level, in a class with a cohort like Literature, is seriously amazing

It's great to see another 3/4 Drama student's journey too. When you get the prompts for your Solo Performance, make sure you thoroughly study and consider which one will be best for you, and ensure that you are on top of all the theory work. I knew some students who were tremendous actors, but didn't apply themselves for the theory. I wish I could have done Theatre Studies, but my school dropped it a few years before I started VCE.

I love when students do a mix of subjects too. Not just full on maths/science or English/Humanities. I can tell you're a student who can balance subjects they enjoy, and the ones they will need for uni. I think 40+ for all subjects is a plausible and achievable goal.

Please be sure to update as you go. Some former VCE students will tell you that it's always good to recap and write down your thoughts throughout Year 12. Then once you finish, you can go back and reminisce on the start of the year.
2025 will be a year of hardwork, but this will definitely pay off in the end.
Best of luck to you!!

Okay this feels weird seems that my last post was in the summer holidays, but I thought I would do a little update and Im happy to answer any questions anyone has!

I got an atar of 98.40!!! I could not be happier
My study scores were
HHD 48 (2023)
Bio 47
Chem 45
General 50
Methods 38
English 34

Here are my thoughts for each to compare from the start of the year.

Bio - I love bio with my whole heart. It carried me through semester one when I was going through a pretty rough time, and ultimately came through with the goods on results day. That bio exam was rough tho, Id con vinced myself I would have been lucky to get a 40. All my sacs were around 88-92% and I was so shocked to find out that I was rank 1, even after I had almost given up on bio in late term 3. But that just gave me the biggest motvation boost which ended up getting me the score that I did!

Chem - Chem was definately a slow burn. I hated 1/2 chem and luckily with a great teacher this year it slowly became my favourite. Again, I had convinced myself I had done much worse on the exam, but came out with a 45 which I was soooo happy with. I also got rank 1 for chem, which year 11 me would have never believed.

English - I in fact did not work much harder. I neglected it all year, and certainly neglected it come exam time. I ddint do one practice piece for it, rocked up to most of my sacs with not one bit of study. My good short term emmeory worked on my side when I would read a quote bank the mornign of each and somehow fluked a pass. Anyways, if i had studied my atar would have thanked me for it because instead I ended up with a scaled 32 in my top 4

General - pulled my stuff together in term 3 when I found out i was rank 1 and came out with the goods. Thank god because I dont know what I would have done if those 50+ practice exams were a waste.

Methods - very happy with my score. Pretty quickly i realised methods would be in my bottom two so i stopped caring as much as I should. Methods will always be a what if, because I believe if I put as much effort into methods as I did for general I definately coul;d have gotten 40+.

Anyways cya guys, if you have any questions let me know.

Im also selling general and health resources so let me know if your interested!

Rey_of_sunshine OMG GOOD JOB YOU GO GIRL

you deserve a gold star

Thanks for your support and congrats again.

Oh damn, hard work paid off.