Should You Drop a VCE Subject?
Course and Career Chat
What we’re talking about: It’s nearly the end of Term 2, and I’ve had a lot of conversations with students lately where they’ve been trying to decide whether or not to drop a VCE subject that they’re studying. To make an informed decision, there’s a few things you need to consider - do you know what you want to do when you finish school? Is this subject a prerequisite for that course? Can you support yourself to feel more confident in the subject with some extra help? Could you look at similar courses that don’t need it as a prerequisite? Is not liking the subject a clue that...
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How to Feel Confident About VCE and Choosing Tertiary Courses Part 3 [What Are You Really Good At?]
Course and Career Chat
What we’re talking about: In this third part of my mini series “How to Feel Confident About VCE and Choosing Tertiary Courses” I’m diving into another question that I’d love for you to consider - What are you good at? I don’t mean what subject you’re good at (although I did talk about that in episode 102), but instead what is something that comes naturally to you that you use in your everyday life that could be applied to any career you choose? Knowing this can help you see how you can bring key parts of yourself to any role you choose to take in the future. Links mentioned: Work...
info_outline![How to Feel Confident About VCE and Choosing Tertiary Courses Part 2 [What's Your Favourite Subject and What Do You Like About It?] show art](https://assets.libsyn.com/item/36531590?height=50&width=50)
How to Feel Confident About VCE and Choosing Tertiary Courses Part 2 [What's Your Favourite Subject and What Do You Like About It?]
Course and Career Chat
What we’re talking about: In this episode, I continue the mini-series on feeling confident about VCE and choosing tertiary courses. Instead of jumping straight to career titles, I encourage you to reflect on your favourite subjects and, more importantly, what you enjoy about them. This approach can provide valuable insights into courses and careers that will allow you to do more of what you actually like. 0:45 – Recap of Episode 100 and the importance of understanding VCE In the last episode I shared some episodes where I explain key aspects of VCE so that you can really understand the...
info_outline![How to Feel Confident About VCE and Choosing Tertiary Courses Part 1 [Understanding How VCE Works] show art](https://assets.libsyn.com/item/36453390?height=50&width=50)
How to Feel Confident About VCE and Choosing Tertiary Courses Part 1 [Understanding How VCE Works]
Course and Career Chat
What we’re talking about: Thanks for joining me for the 100th episode of Course and Career Chat! This episode is Part 1 in a series I’m calling How to Feel Confident About VCE and Choosing Tertiary Courses, and in this episode I want you to think about what is stressing you out about VCE so that you can get your questions answered. I’ve created a list of past episodes of Course and Career Chat where you can find the answers to common questions I get when I’m working with my students and their parents, and if I haven’t answered your question yet, please send me a DM on Instagram to...
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How Will AI Affect Your Career Choices?
Course and Career Chat
What we’re talking about: AI is everywhere at the moment, and there’s a lot of discussion about how it will change jobs and career pathways. Many students (and parents) are wondering—will AI replace certain jobs? Will the careers that seem like a great option now still be relevant in 5 or 10 years? In this episode, I break down what AI actually is, the ways it’s already affecting different industries, and how students can make career choices that will set them up for success in an AI-driven world. 2:40 – What is AI, and why is it such a big deal? AI is already part of our daily...
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Should You Take a Gap Year After Year 12?
Course and Career Chat
What we’re talking about: Should you take a gap year after Year 12? It’s a big decision, and in this episode, I break down the benefits and drawbacks of taking a year off before further study. I also share practical advice on how to keep your options open, even if you're unsure about your next steps. 1:09 Common concerns about taking a gap year I’ve had a lot of conversations with parents recently about whether a gap year is the right choice for their child. Many students don’t know whether they should still apply for courses through VTAC, or if taking a gap year will impact their...
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How To Motivate Yourself To Study in VCE
Course and Career Chat
What we’re talking about: 1:43 My observations around motivation as a Maths teacher I share my experience of teaching a particular class who were really focused, willing to learn, with high aspirations for their VCE results. Most people would assume that there’s not much a teacher of a class like that needs to do to in terms of motivation, but what I actually found was that in the second half of the year, these students were feeling really stressed and losing motivation despite the fact that they were doing everything “right” and still doing well on their SACs. I found that by helping...
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How Do SACs Work in VCE?
Course and Career Chat
What we’re talking about: Let’s talk about how SACs work in VCE so that you know what they are, how they’re used, and to bust some of the misconceptions around them that often come up throughout the year so that you can feel really confident as you move through VCE. 1:32 What is a SAC? Throughout your time at school from prep through to Year 12, you do different types of assessment. SAC stands for School Assessed Coursework and it’s called that because it is one of the assessment types that is used to calculate your study score for your VCE subjects, but it is written by your teachers...
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The Parents' Guide to VCE
Course and Career Chat
What we’re talking about: This episode is all about explaining how VCE works and translating the jargon around VCE so that you can understand it more clearly and feel more confident supporting your child. Grab the free download The Parents’ Guide to VCE to have on hand (), and listen up as I clarify what the key organisations like VCAA and VTAC do, what all the acronyms mean, and tell you what you need to focus on and what you can ignore as white noise. 5:22 What does VCAA stand for and what do they do? The VCAA is the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. They set the curriculum...
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For Parents: How To Help Your Child Succeed in VCE
Course and Career Chat
What we’re talking about: After working with parents first as a teacher and now as a career counsellor, and now being a parent myself, I know how hard it can be to navigate that line between allowing your child to have their independence and also wanting to support them as best you can. In this episode I share how you can best support your child through the decision making process around VCE subject selection, tertiary course exploration and applying through VTAC. 2:01 Where is the responsibility? Knowing where your responsibility for your child’s studies ends and theirs begins is a bit of...
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1:40 What you can do if your measure of success in VCE is to get the best ATAR you can
Using a planner to keep on track, creating a study timetable, using a calendar to keep track of SACs, extracurricular activities and your casual job if you have one. Work out how you will get help when you need it eg homework club at school or getting a tutor (see the link to an episode below where I talk about how to choose the right tutor for you). Choosing the “right” subjects - some people will think this means choosing subjects that scale up, I think the right subjects for you are the ones that suit you best so that you will lean into your strengths and not have as much trouble finding the motivation to study.
6:21 Why I don’t think that getting a good ATAR should be your only measure of success in VCE.
If your only measure of success in VCE is to get a really good ATAR, you are going to spend a lot of time over the next two years feeling stressed out, feeling inadequate if you’re not ranked first in the subjects you want to rank first in for example or if you’re not doing as well on SACs as you think that you might. If that’s your only measure of success in VCE you are setting yourself up for a pretty awful couple of years. Two years of stress is too much as far as I’m concerned. There’s a difference between little pockets of stress the night before a SAC, and being completely stressed out for 2 years.
7:26 Your measure of success in VCE could be having a really great couple of years.
Take advantage of all the amazing opportunities your school has to offer, including extracurricular activities like sport, drama, music and debating, as well as fun activities like the school formal.
8:30 How can we reframe the importance of your ATAR and it being a measure of success.
The only reason that an ATAR exists is because it’s the most efficient way to get into a course. That’s it. Getting an amazing ATAR and having no idea what you want to do, that’s very short-lived success. And I know that because that’s what I did. I got the great ATAR, I got into the course that I thought I wanted, spent two and a half years in it being miserable until I changed my plans, and went back to wanting to be a teacher. I worked out how to do that and had an amazing career as a teacher. But getting that good ATAR was not what got me there. The plan was what got me to where I wanted, and successfully into a career that I really enjoyed. Really what I want you to think about is what success in VCE looks like to you, and what you can do to have a really great couple of years AND set yourself up for having many many fun, exciting years after VCE as well.
Links mentioned:
Work with me: https://www.roadmapeducation.com/services
Do You Need a Tutor or a Career Counsellor?: https://www.roadmapeducation.com/podcast/76