I have not enrolled in my courses, and I have yet to pick a third subject to study in my BA.
Choosing what to study in your first year is so challenging, because there are too many things to pick from.
So just to be clear.
You pick three subjects, and within each of those subjects, you are expected to pick two courses.
This will then add up to six courses.
Within your entire first year of university, you are expected to take eight courses.
The remaining two being electives/general education papers.
...miiiiinnnndddfffffuuucccckkkk.
I am so screwed.
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It has also come to Wikipedia's attention that I am officially the new definition of 'Idiot' |
The lack of confidence I had in myself to pursue any Science, Math, or Finance topics in my 4 years of high school, with my even more obvious and unfortunate lack of logic, all led to the decision to study English based topics.
I am also entering university on a Discretionary Entrance.
I didn't sit for Level 3 NCEA, and am entering with my Level 2 credits attained in the year before I left for my adventure in Japan.
My results are good enough for me to enroll into university, but despite my whopping total (and quite unbelievable I might just add) of 75 Excellence credits, (the maximum being 80 credits), the university is and always have been strict about discretionary entrance candidates.
Therefore, conjoint degrees, Law, or Science degrees are not allowed.
I can study the papers for Law or Economics if I wanted to, sure, and change my degree halfway through the year if my results are top notch, but let's face it; first year of uni, back in New Zealand for less than a month...will I really adjust to the uni lifestyle in such a short amount of time?
For the time being, I don't think I have any other choice but to have no social life and bond with the bookshelves and desk of the library.
Not to mention the free wifi in the Owen Glen Building.
I'd be one of those painfully awkward kids in the corner of a massive lecture hall, scribbling furiously on a pad of refill, and answering all the questions that the lecturer asks.
Or.
I'd be the bum-out and just give up.
I'm really worried about my future.
Maybe I'm letting what others think affect me once again.
Old habits truly die hard, and despite my year in Japan, I do still take what others think and say into account.
A thought that has been circling my head for the past week.
"I've only opened up one tiny window in the attic of my career because of my decision to study Arts...
Teaching."
Quite a few of my friends (if not all) have already given me feedback that they genuinely think I'm going to end up being a teacher.
I don't look down on the profession at all; because I feel that teachers play a major role in everyone's lives.
A teacher can make or break it for you, really.
Have a crap teacher for your favorite subject at school, and you might just end up hating it.
On the opposite side of the spectrum though, I have never really considered History an interesting topic.
However, after studying History for three consecutive years at high school under the same teacher, I can honestly say that I love History.
(despite my recent lack of knowledge in the Russian Revolution)
I just never ever wanted to be a teacher.
I taught at my mom's Kumon centre for 4 years teaching little kids math and english, and needless to say tutoring little snotty kids is an experience that one does not need to have in one's lifetime.
You have to be painfully patient at all times, and answer the most ridiculous questions, and besides.
I don't really like kids at the moment.
Following scary sausage-loving host mom's even scarier daughter's frequent outbursts every night; I have developed a genuine concern about my future obligation to have children.
It breaks my heart that the one thing I never thought the BA I've chosen to do would probably most likely lead me to doing would be teaching.
Vet, doctor, musician, writer...
Those were the things I've aspired to be in the past but have always settled on being a writer because of my love for bullshitting about things that apparently matter in this world.
I want to write, and can't imagine doing anything but.
Problem being is that I've probably limited my options to writing for magazines like Cosmopolitan, or Woman's Weekly.
Heck; I'd be lucky to get a job at a magazine company like that.
Katy Perry and her recent guest starring on How I Met Your Mother, or perhaps Christina Aguilera's recent f*ck-up on the national anthem gone viral via trusty youtube would be the only things I'd write about.
Perhaps a simple job writing for tiny heralds and newspapers within the North Shore.
I think everyone would aim to write for something that would contribute to the greater cause.
Working for a magazine that perhaps would target environmental issues, health issues, or challenge the public to address their country's issues at hand would be a dream come true for me.
Writing for something that matters.
Why would any respectable magazine firm want to hire someone with a degree in English as opposed to someone that has majored in Law?
Or even commerce? Finance?
Just the reality of it all has dawned on me, and I'm gradually, actually no, that's a lie, rapidly panicking about the rest of my life.
I need to relax somehow.
Waffles, I think, are my calling.
Not exactly ideal to type out all my trivial insecurities and ramblings on what was such a happy blog site, but maybe the excitement to start my classes just hasn't kicked in quite yet.
The mere thought of never fulfilling my full potential is currently doing a very good job of squishing down any remaining positive thoughts I may have within me.
Or perhaps.
I'm completely talking out of my ass here.
Lets hope its the ass ;) , and that I'm psyching myself out for no reason other than I'm just a neurotic wreck.
All my love always,
April
Wikipedia officially hits a new low...
ReplyDeleteOMG! 75 Excellence credits?!? That's amazing! How did you do it? Did you study all the time? Sorry to bother you but could I ask for some tips for getting marks like that? :) I'm trying to get an endorsement in NCEA :)
ReplyDeleteHi! Thanks for your comment :)
DeleteI really recommend doing a TON of practice questions. If I didn't practice the way I did, I definitely would not have scored 75 excellence credits.
It highly depends on the type of subjects you are taking, but if you practice the questions over and over, you'll start to realise how NCEA exams are usually set out and then you can work around the system.
The format is usually very similar year to year.
I did this for NCEA Math Levels One and Two, and usually if you ask for past year papers from your teacher (my school gave them to me in a practice workbook), and practice them about twice over, you should be sweet in scoring E.
I remember NCEA English to be the easiest- the questions are extremely generic, and as long as you memorise a few quotes and follow the essay structure (Statement, Explanation, Example) then you'll easily get a Merit or Excellence. Depending on your marker, Excellence will usually only be rewarded if you can put your own personal 'twist' on the text, but in an exam situation they do not expect this from you. As long as you have three or four main points that you can elaborate on and provide examples, you'll get an E.
Another good tip is to simply practice writing essays, and handing them to your English teacher to grade. High school teachers are usually quite open to grade essays that you've attempted in your own time, and be open to criticism. The harsher your teacher marks in these practice essays, the better! Simply because if you score M in a practice essay, it's more likely you'll get E in an exam situation.
Finally, take subjects you are extremely confident in, and PLAN for university. Taking challenging and foreign subjects in high school will not do you any good, especially because high school subjects do not matter in university. You have the options to branch out to do other degrees, such as commerce, science, arts.
There are many kids who take Economics in an arts program, and switch to a commerce degree after their first year is over. The options are endless!
Just aim to get as many credits as possible, and take academic subjects. Tourism and hospitality do not count as academic subjects by the way, haha. It must be an academic assessed course; not a Pass/Fail course.
Good luck, and have a great high school year! :)
April
oh thank you so much for such a detailed answer! your pointers are soooooo helpful :) maths is not one of my strongest subjects and i find the excellence questions quite difficult so yea... but yea i agree with you on english :) thanks for telling me about the essays, I think I will start writing some essays out of class to get more feed back from the teacher. i'm not sure what i want to do in uni yet, ive always planned for biomed but i don't think i'll be happy doing that because i find myself interested in so many other subjects. and i know that there are so many other course available other than biomed like law, fine arts, commerce that you can be successful in. i just want to explore what i really enjoy at the moment so i know what i really want to do...so confused... would you recommend taking all the sciences in yr 12? i know that i would have to struggle to get good marks in them so im thinking of only taking two. i'm considering these subjects for yr 12; English,maths, chemistry, biology, art design and japanese. Could i continue studying them at uni?
DeleteI used to find the Excellence questions impossible too! I told myself that I'd aim for Merit in Maths, but make sure to get Excellence in everything else. That's also one way you can do it- don't force yourself to aim for E if its going to waste your time!
DeleteYou can continue studying your year 12 subjects for uni, but usually you only pick four-five subjects a semester. It also depends on what kind of degree you want. If you're going for a law degree, you would start off doing a conjoint degree (just in case you don't get into law, then you would just fall back on your arts/commerce/science degree)
I'm a second year law student at university now, and I can tell you that high school grades do not determine whether you can take Law or not. The cutback system at uni is quite tough though- out of 2000 kids only 300 will get in.
I think your choices for year 12 are very good! I did art design and japanese as well. They honestly helped me get those E credits along with English. Chem and bio seem like great choices! After all, you don't want to close the door on biomed if you decide to take it. But by the time you get to uni, taking both law and biomed is not a good idea. You'll end up burning out and getting mediocre grades for both. By the time you get to uni, you'll probably have a clearer picture of what you want!
Btw, you need a lot of time on design, so make sure you plan ahead and don't delay it. If you score E on a single assignment, that's easily 1/4 of your Excellence credits in general! So put your effort in!
If you need pointers for law, feel free to ask! First year you have to be extremely strategic and plan ahead in order to get in, because people that don't (and are usually quite good at their work) tend to fall short of the A- average.
Good luck and all the best! :)
hi april! how are you enjoying your law studies now?
ReplyDeleteyour blog is awesome! keep posting. :)
Hey! :) Thanks, its so nice to have feedback.
DeleteI'll try and keep posting! I whine so much, maybe that's why I have such a small readership... :P
Law is alright! I'm finding public law quite interesting, but not doing so hot in criminal law :P
hiya, do you recommend taking maths at year 12 if i want to do law or arts at auckland? ^^ did u take maths?
ReplyDeletethanks!
Hi there!
DeleteYou would enrol in a commerce/arts/science degree if you wanted to get into law school. You take two papers in your first year of university, Law 121 (first sem), and Law 131 (second sem) to qualify. It does not really matter what subjects you do in high school- you start over fresh with your degree anyway! I didn't take ANY commerce related subjects at university, but still managed to study economics in my second semester of university under an Arts degree. It's extremely versatile and you can always switch degrees during your time at university if you find you need a different change of pace.
I took Maths at Year 12 because it was compulsory back then- I'm not sure about the curriculum now. It was definitely my weakest subject and made my life hell, haha. If you're good at it, and it's an easy E for you, definitely do it! Major in your strong subjects! So, of course I don't recommend it, but if you're good at it (unlike me), then its a different matter altogether.
:) Hope this helps, and thanks for commenting!
April
oh cool. uni courses are kinda confusing T_T
ReplyDeletenah, i'm rubbish at maths too...its literally painful for me to do maths haha.
no, it isnt compulsory for me to take maths at year 12 yay! but i already chose it on my options T_T but i can still change it.
i just don't know if i decide to drop math if i'll be closing my options...i want to possibly to do law are arts or nursing which really dont require maths...so yea.
is law difficult? ^^
Personally, I would not bother with Maths at Year 12? But then again, your interests might change. I do know that you can study Economics and Information Systems with an Arts degree, and apply to change to a Commerce degree if you decide you like it. You obviously will have to do some Math if you do Commerce, but uni courses are very comprehensive, and the Commerce department is well known for its support system and admin- I wouldn't worry about your high school courses too much if I were you!
DeleteLaw is incredibly challenging, to say the least. I'm only in my second year, and I can't really say how the degree is like as a whole, but once you get into law school, the majority of courses are full year. This limits your ability to travel in the interim, and also forces you to really buckle down and study throughout the year.
History is my escape from Law, really :) It helps me unwind and just relax- if you plan on doing Law, do a conjoint unless you have this insane passion for law. Or else you might go crazy with all the pressure and competition!
Law is difficult, but I think you get used to it eventually. :) It's a miracle I got in to be honest :)
oh wow, thank you! your advice is really helpful.
Deletei honestly didn't know that getting into 2nd year law was so tough. how did you do it? that's amazing ^^ you must be so proud.
cool! i really enjoy history too ^^ i do really well in it as well, the thing is that I want to exchange maths for art history haha...but i can pick it up at year 13 anyway without any per-requisites,so yea i don't really see the point of doing lv2 maths if i'm going to drop it the next year anyway...but i have to think about it more carefully T_T
what do you study in your history? ^^ it sounds to me that ur doing a BA/LLB? thats awesome ^^
I think I got lucky to be honest! You need an A- average (at least) to get into Law. So not only do you need to achieve good grades in your Law papers, but in your other papers as well! It's incredibly demanding.
DeleteI was quite focused in Second Semester, hardly socialized and practiced a lot of past exam questions. Legal Method (Law 131), is the second paper you need to take to get into Law school. You need a C+ in Law 121 (first semester), to qualify fr Law 131, then they cut it down to 300 kids. So, usually there would be 2500 kids that start with Law 121, which they cut down to around 700/1000? Then, the final cut of 300.
I don't think I am proud of myself? More like, "crap, I need to really study more to survive in law school", because I am definitely not gifted with a legal mind and need to work hard to get the grades :P
If you enjoy history, do it! Do you go to Rangitoto College? Mrs. Place was my favourite history teacher- she's amazing.
Do the subjects you love and you know will get you that E! And plus, History is AMAZING at university level. The department of History is so nice, and everyone is extremely supportive of each other. History has saved me time, and time again. I highly recommend medieval history- don't bother with American History, haha. Too political and boring ;)
History 106 is a MUST paper! It was great.
my bad- I meant, they cut it down to 700/1000 kids after your first semester of Law (Law 121).
DeleteIgnore the "300 kids" comment- that was intended for AFTER your first year of law school hehe.
:)
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