#macrobVCE

[qwedfas]

[URGENT] I haven't made my bound reference for methods yet!! What should I do, what should I include, how do I organise it?? I am a fairly strong student but I have failed in that I haven't made my bound reference yet and the exam is in 5 days!!!!!! Pls respond asap

Hey,

This is really subjective as every student will have a different way of going about things. If you feel that you’re a strong student and know all your content pretty well, then there won’t be much point in rewriting stuff that you already know. It might help to print off the chapter summaries just so you have content-y stuff if you need it.

It might be better for you to focus on putting in examples and questions that you’ve made mistakes in. A way to do this would be to do a practice exam and then correct it when you’re finished. With all the questions that you’ve made mistakes in, re-do them and write them out in your bound reference as a reminder of how to do it should a question like that come up.

Maybe also check with your friends who are doing methods and ask how they’ve formatted their reference or even students who have already done methods and ask them what they found was best and what they felt like they could’ve done differently.

Good luck!FAM xx

[qwedfas]

HHD SAC grades + study score?

Hey there,

I recommend going to VCE DIscussion Space on Facebook or to Atarnotes Forums for these kinds of questions as many people don’t feel comfortable sharing study scores. If you’re interested you might be able to find out in the reports published by The Age and it might interest you to check out the mark distributions for HHD.

It also might be worthwhile to ask Ms Tinney, who teaches HHD, her perspective and the grades of her students without disclosing any names.

FAMxx

[qwedfas]

Hi FAM, I hope you're all having a great last day! Thank you for the amazing hard work you've put into FAM this year even with VCE bearing down on your shoulders, we'll miss you very much. Just a question - do you know who the VCE teachers of chemistry and biology would be next year? Thank you!

Hey there,

This is super sweet and we honestly really appreciate it! Teachers for VCE subjects don’t often change too much over the years and to our knowledge, here are some teachers of Chemistry and Biology that we know of.

Chemistry: Dr Matthews, Ms Gilbert, Ms Quenault, Ms Williams,

Biology: Ms Manokaran, Ms Murphy,

Love,FAM xx

[qwedfas]

is doing 4 or 5 subjects in year 12 that much of a difference? honestly subject selection is coming up and I feel like I wanna die I honestly don't know what to do anymore

Hey,

Check out these posts about subjects as well as the insight of some of us below! www.friendsatmacrob.tumblr.com/tagged/macrobsubjects

FAM Member 1 (4 subjects yr 12): So I completed an external language in year 10, 1 subject in year 11 and I am doing 4 subjects in year 12. I am so glad that this is how I have planned to do this because year 12 is quite busy and although I probably could handle 5 subjects, I would not have the free time I have now for my hobbies, leadership and all the things that I enjoy doing.

FAM Member 2 (5 subjects yr 12): Hello, I studied Biology ¾ last year since year 10 me had no idea how to take on and study for two year 12 subjects. Honestly though, between me and my four ¾/ subjects friends, the only difference is how many more frees and empty days they have - the workload is only one subject less but (as bad as this sounds) the stress, the busy days are all the same. It’s how you manage your year 11 and year 12, and how you utilise your time (both students doing either one or two ¾ subjects) that makes a difference. How do you feel about two subjects next year? How about four-five in year 12? Write down some points about both and decide from then on.

Love,FAM xx

[qwedfas]

Do you think if teachers sat our sacs and exams they'd get a study score of 50?

Hey,

That’s a pretty interesting question. The reality though is that getting a study score of 50 is more than just doing incredibly well on SACs and exams. There is so much more that is considered in terms of your raw SAC scores and the scores that are then submitted to VCAA and then there’s a whole process of SAC moderation and rankings and comparing between schools. So it’s not as clear cut as say getting full marks. Also, study scores and ATARs are specific to each cohort meaning that in one year, the same amount of work, effort and scores you achieve may get you a particular ATAR where in the next year, if you had completed VCE with a different cohort and achieved exactly the same raw scores, you may receive a different ATAR and/or study score for the same subject.

In saying that, you’d expect the teachers to be able to achieve at least the same as the students as we are learning from them so it’d just make sense for them to be able to do the work that they set for us. Especially as many SACs that we do are written by them so in order to write a SAC you’d have to know the answers that go with it.

Hopefully that helps,FAM xx

[qwedfas]

heya fam! i'm currently doing eco 3/4 and i'm really scared for how i'll go at the end of the year?my sac scores are not exactly brilliant and i've heard people say that they got super good sacs last year and still ended up with like a raw 40 or so? i'm scared that i'm not even gonna get 40 :( is there anyone here that did eco last year and could possibly provide me an idea of how you went in terms of your study score and what your sac scores were? thanks so much, and i love you guys!

Hey there!

It is possible for people with great SAC marks to only get a 40 raw but that depends on their performance on the end of year exam. People who don’t get the top SAC marks in the class might do better in the end of year exam and get the top student’s rank.

For example, say student A gets the top marks on SACs throughout the year and is ranked 1 while student B got average and is ranked 12 in the class. If Student B does better on the exam than student A then student B get a higher rank than student A. If Student A didn’t do to well on the exam, their SAC marks will be pushed down. If student B did really well on the exam then their SAC marks will be pushed up. This means that student A could end up with a 40 while Student B ends up with something higher. So yes people who have a high SAC average may only get a 40 but people who get average SAC marks still have the potential to get a higher study score.

So don’t lose hope yet :)

Love,FAM xx

[qwedfas]

Hey Fam! I was just wondering if doing English, Psychology, Chemistry and Accounting in year 12 would be stressful. Are the sacs held very close to each other? Is it hard to cope with all the content? And how do you stay on top of things? Thank you

Hey there,

Stress is a highly subjective concept meaning that each person will find similar things to have varying levels of stress so it’s a bit hard to say. In saying that, the subjects you’ve listed seem to be relatively more manageable compared to some other combinations of subjects as you’ve got a fairly good balance of content-based subjects and skills-based subjects.

Psychology is content-heavy but relatively chill and content is very useful and relatable to real life e.g. stress, learning, memory. English is a nice broad and overall balance compared to the other englishes as it incorporates many useful applicable skills such as public speaking, creative writing, persuasion etc. Chemistry is full of content and also mathematical skills, but very scientific and a prereq to many uni courses. Accounting is mathematical and business directed. So in my opinion, all your subjects are a nice balance and good for all-round, it shouldn’t be too stressful. Again stress is very subjective. You may handle it differently to others. There are people who do 5 subjects and are going with the flow, and there are those who are stressing. Same with four subjects.

As long as you are ready to work hard for it, enjoy it, and like it, then it should be fine. SAC dates also vary every year so it is often hard to say… Everyone has different ways to stay on top of their work, and sometimes you may not, but again, it’s all about balance in my opinion. Making sure you get enough sleep, exercise, eat healthy food and make sure your body and brain is up to the challenge, that honestly helps so much, as you will be taking less sickies and be more attentive during class. Another thing that helps is organisation and keeping a clean workspace. This helps clear your mind of clutter too. There’s a Japanese principle of 5S which is all about organisation and cleanliness for effective work which you might wanna look up!

Hope this helps and we wish you all the best in all your subjects!

Love,FAM xx

[qwedfas]

hey fam, i'm in year 11 about to choose my subjects for next year. i'm currently tossing up between swapping eng lang for mainstream english or philosophy (i'm already doing lit). have any of you done philosophy and what's mainstream eng like?

Hey there,

Mainstream eng:Here is the perspective of a current Year 12 (not in FAM) who switched into Mainstream English in Year 12: As someone who swapped from Lang ½ to mainstream ¾ in yr 12, it’s been one of the best academic decisions that I’ve made. I found that I was much more suited to the mainstream curriculum as it was broader than lang and included parts that I missed, e.g. creative aspect. I highly suggest you talk to teachers who have had experience teaching both or either subjects (Dr Brown has taught both) and talk to Ms Stringer who is head of English and Chamaa who is head of lang. They should both know the most about their respective subjects. Alternatively, you could also ask Mr Francis as he’s had a lot of experience teaching lang and is well-versed in both subjects nevertheless. If you want to know more, feel free to contact me at kur0008@macrob.vic.edu.au.

Philosophy:Philo ¾ is probably one of the most unconventional subjects you can take. It has content like any other subject, but it’s also so applicable to life, like it comes up in conversation and if you do lit you’ll see how nicely the two subjects complement each other. I’m biased but philosophy is probably the best subject I’ve taken and it’s one where I (and the rest of the ¾ class) can genuinely say that I look forward to doing the exam. It’s a subject that makes you question not just the general status quo of the world but more importantly your  status quo. It takes you on an emotional and intellectual journey you won’t otherwise go on and that’s what makes it a subject worth doing. And of course in terms of workload I think it’s less than any other subject because it’s really just about engaging with the text and understand the reasoning behind different schools of thought and forming your own opinions about it, but then again if you don’t engage intellectually with the text and you aren’t willing to have conversations, both inner and external, about it then it’d be hard to do well in. In terms of content, you study the philosophy of self, what it means to live a good life and the mind body problem through some set texts (unfortunately all written by men, not all white, not all Christian surprisingly) and it’s not hard to wrap your head around but it’s still stimulating. As you can probably tell I’m very passionate about Philosophy, so if you have anymore questions about it feel free to just send me an email and we can have a chat about it. (I’m not a part of FAM, but email me at con0017@macrob.vic.edu.au).

Hope that helps!

Love,FAM xx

[qwedfas]

Hello Fam! So Ms Serpless sent an email about fast tracking units 1-4 in one year, and now I'm even more confused on my decision! I don't know if any one has ever done units 1,2,3 and 4 in a year but wouldn't it be stressful and cramped? I feel like it would be helpful to do it and then have 4 3/4s in year 12, but I'm contemplating on it since the classes are 6 hours :(. Any advice, or what you'd possibly do?

Hi,

Since FAM is run by year 12s, and thus subject selections don’t apply to us, we didn’t receive this email. Additionally, to our knowledge, fast-tracking in this way was never available to us. Most humanities subjects and natural/life sciences do not require the completion of the ½ units. It is difficult for FAM to comment on whether or not you should do it as we do not have all the circumstances. Sorry about that! We suggest you pop in to see Ms Serpless to get some more advice on this!

Good luck!FAM xx

[qwedfas]

im debating in between hhd, psych and accounting... any suggestions? thank you so much

Hey,

FAM Member 1: I did Psych in yr 11 and currently doing Accounting. I love both of the subjects even though they’re quite different. HHD and Psychology are quite content heavy, so if you like reading and learning new facts that’s for you. Accounting is more like learning rules and the reasons for it, so in a way it’s more ‘crammable’ in comparison to HHD and Psych.

FAM Member 2: I also did Psych last year and i found it was very relatable to year 12 life or in that matter, school life in general. Learning about sleep, learning and memory helped me a lot with other subjects too. There is a lot of content to cover though, so be ready if you choose it. Otherwise relatively chill and fun. Health is a good subject if you’re interested in global health. I don’t do it, but I’ve heard that they focus quite a lot on global and Australian health in terms of bio, psycho, social approach, i think it would be good if you’re a practical person who is interested in current world health issues and standards and would be interested in the news etc. Accounting is good if you’re the mathematical sort and are interested in finance, again it is also a practical subject but targeted more towards business side.

You can always ask the relative subject teachers for more information too. Hope we’ve helped. But ultimately, I’d say go for what draws you in the most, because if you’re really passionate and interested in something, it will stand out above the others. You’d be studying it for two years and you’d want to do something you’d enjoy learning every day and are also good at. What are your strengths? What do you like? What do you enjoy? What do you find that would be useful for your future prospects in general?

Hope that helps!

Love,FAM xx

[qwedfas]

Regarding Uni Enhancement, do we go to the university during school hours? Do we get extra frees if we choose to do it?

Hey there,

I’m not taking a uni extension subject, but from what I hear, school takes priority over your uni extension subject. I.e. if you have a uni extension during a class at school (which may happen), then you must attend school and may not get any frees to accommodate your uni extension.

However, this doesn’t mean you’re in more of a disadvantage than other university students in your class since you should also have access to recordings and resources online, or can contact your lecturer/professor/teacher/classmates regarding missed classes.

When your classes are and how often they occur every week depends on the uni subject you choose.

We hope you enjoy your uni extension if you decide to take one!

FAM xx

[qwedfas]

who teaches methods and spesh? ty!

Hi,

Here is a list of some of the methods and spesh teachers:

Methods: Mr Giuffrida, Mr Clarke, Ms Polyakova, Ms Liu, Mr Campbell, Mr. Zwack

Spesh: Mr Gasparini, Mr Clarke, Mr Campbell, Ms Polyakova

Hope this helps!

Love,

FAMxx

[qwedfas]

What do you do in German VCE?

Hi,

In German ½ we did a lot of grammar to build the foundation for ¾ which is more conversational and more about the German culture and history. In ¾ we spend a lot of time doing our own detailed study research about the GDR which is part of the oral exam in October. Frau Hohmann is very dedicated and takes really good care of us and you can ask her for help any time.

However, the curriculum is changing next year so it’s best to have a look at the study design:

This year’s: https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/german/germansd.pdf

Next year’s: https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/german/GermanSD_2019.pdf

Other documents on the vcaa website:

https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/vce/studies/lote/german/germanindex.aspx

Regardless of how the study design changes, you will definitely learn a lot about:

Grammar, vocab & foundations of the German language

Various aspects of Germany (e.g. culture, history, etc.)

Language skills: reading, writing, listening, speaking…

It would also to be advisable to talk to the German teacher Frau Hohmann, as she will be able to answer questions about the subject, and how it is taught at macrob more accurately.

Hope this is useful!

Love,

FAM xx

[qwedfas]

hello fam, what's the chance of not getting a 1st preference vce subject? Thanks!

Hey,

Typically, especially for Unit ¾ subjects, whatever subject you’ve put down as your first preference you are likely to get that subject. Often the times that you won’t get your first preference would be if the subject you’ve put down doesn’t have enough numbers and hence cannot run at all.

If there are complications and you don’t receive your first preferences, your year level coordinators would likely contact you beforehand so that you can have a proper talk about it to smooth things over.

Hope that helps,FAM xx

[qwedfas]

on average what study score did people get for bio last year? if any of you guys are comfortable sharing can you please let me know what you got for your bio sacs and what study score you got?? thanks

Hey,

I know someone who had a 70% average and got 38 raw, someone who had a 83% average and got 42 raw, and someone who had a 89% average and got 50 raw. It really depends as your end of year exam is worth 60% of your study score and how well the cohort does.

Love,FAM xx

[qwedfas]

hey fam! I really want to do a VET subject next year (year 12), but I didn't realise that VET course was even offered until this year! I haven't done the 1/2, would I be able to go straight into the 3/4? Also if any of you have done a VET 3/4, is the jump massive from 1/2 to 3/4? How is the workload? Xxx

Hey,

Unfortunately you can’t do a VET ¾ without completing the ½ equivalent. If you really want to study a VET course though, it’d be best to talk to Ms Puszka as there were students that had already graduated high school in my class so there is an option to continue/ start a VET course after high school. The jump from ½ to ¾ is probably around the same with any other VCE subject, it isn’t a massive jump but instead an extension of what you have learnt in ½.

Love,FAM xx