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Ooooh, get well soon! And good to hear that you've made a good start to Year 12. It's the start of a big journey, but I know you'll do well!

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!

possible_to_return_passport Hey there!

possible_to_return_passport I’m thinking about studying Japanese SL 1/2 next year, however it would be useful for me to know how much work I should be doing, esp. when balancing Japanese with other content-heavy subjects (e.g., Methods, Chem, Bio) when my school doesn’t have a Japanese program or teachers at all.

I don’t think there’s any right or wrong answer as everyone will find it of varying difficulty. However, personally in year 11 (10 years ago now), I took Japanese SL U1/2 along with Eng Lang, Methods, Chem, Economics (all U1/2s) and Psych U3/4 (I also took General Maths U1/2 and Chinese SL U1/2 in year 10). I found it challenging to find enough time for Japanese SL and it suffered a bit. In Year 12, Japanese SL and Chem were my two most time-consuming subjects (by then, I’d dropped Economics in favour of Further and ditched CSL), but they also ended up my worst two subjects according to my raw scores in my ATAR, despite all my efforts. (No regrets though!) So balancing was hard for me, but everyone will find it of different difficulty and thus will find the workload bigger or smaller as a result.

As to how to balance it with other content-heavy subjects, this depends on your study method and again, this is personal. I never dedicated specific time but did whatever homework and revision was due soonest. When I did have time, I’d dedicate it to my subjects in my weakest areas e.g. Japanese listening tasks were weak so in year 12, I’d spend my first few spare periods doing listening tasks to improve.

possible_to_return_passport VCE isn’t just based on those things, but would 1/2 be a good place to start on?

Yes. Japanese, at least in my experience, builds up from the foundations, despite the topics being different. If you’re confident already with it, your main issue will be refining your answers to VCAA standards.