Countdown + Atar Reveal 2025 (2 Viewers)

[ermguys]

Hahaha it’s really businessy and boring but I feel like I’ll foster a weird love for it lowkey. Imma start catching up on some E2 after new year’s so I’m well prepped.
What subjects are u choosing for the HSC?

3U math, eng adv, japanese continuers, modern, eco and SOR 1 (aka the bane of my existance </3)

but probably going to add extension japanese and drop either modern or eco depending on how prelims go. It's still relatively early for me lol

 

[sonny_angel520]

HAHA yeahh i realise that too!! howd you find japanese continuers? i feel like its one of those subjects where i still havent figured out how to study effectively lol

Okay I had the privilege of going to Japan for a short exchange trip which changed my life, but I think I still would’ve done well without that experience. Japanese Continuers doesn’t require crazy hours of study but consistency. The only thing you gotta grind is kanji and learning the art of making a full writing/reading+respondingB text.
Other random tips :
- When you get closer to the hsc, don’t bother exhausting yourself with full past papers! The good thing about languages is that you can just do components of it at a time (Writing, Reading+Responding, Listening) in regular intervals and rotate them around without missing out on anything, unlike other subjects.
- KANJI is your friend. It saves time, space and energy once you memorise the common ones. Japanese is lowkey word salad (takes so many characters to write a single sentence) so use Kanji to make room for those advanced grammar structures that take so much space
- When learning grammar, practice using a grammar structure in multiple ways until it begins to feel intuitive. After that it’ll stick in your head better and you’ll only have to revisit it occasionally. Review grammar with your teacher to see when it works, and when it doesn’t, depending on context.
- When HSC is near, just spam your favourite grammar structures, idioms, etc. Since they literally get different people to mark each section it doesn’t matter if you reuse a phrase.
- Also language knowledge and exam skills are basically at a 1:1 ratio of importance. Be strategic and try to show off your knowledge in composition. For listening, focus only on writing summary notes during the first playthrough.

 

[sonny_angel520]

3U math, eng adv, japanese continuers, modern, eco and SOR 1 (aka the bane of my existance </3)

but probably going to add extension japanese and drop either modern or eco depending on how prelims go. It's still relatively early for me lol

Extension japanese is soo crazy! It was traumatising but also fulfilling at times. The content isn’t that much harder than continuers but it requires time. I found the speaking practice emotionally taxing, as well as rewatching the same film multiple times. If you’re good at english, it will be a big help.

 

[ermguys]

Okay I had the privilege of going to Japan for a short exchange trip which changed my life, but I think I still would’ve done well without that experience. Japanese Continuers doesn’t require crazy hours of study but consistency. The only thing you gotta grind is kanji and learning the art of making a full writing/reading+respondingB text.
Other random tips :
- When you get closer to the hsc, don’t bother exhausting yourself with full past papers! The good thing about languages is that you can just do components of it at a time (Writing, Reading+Responding, Listening) in regular intervals and rotate them around without missing out on anything, unlike other subjects.
- KANJI is your friend. It saves time, space and energy once you memorise the common ones. Japanese is lowkey word salad (takes so many characters to write a single sentence) so use Kanji to make room for those advanced grammar structures that take so much space
- When learning grammar, practice using a grammar structure in multiple ways until it begins to feel intuitive. After that it’ll stick in your head better and you’ll only have to revisit it occasionally. Review grammar with your teacher to see when it works, and when it doesn’t, depending on context.
- When HSC is near, just spam your favourite grammar structures, idioms, etc. Since they literally get different people to mark each section it doesn’t matter if you reuse a phrase.
- Also language knowledge and exam skills are basically at a 1:1 ratio of importance. Be strategic and try to show off your knowledge in composition. For listening, focus only on writing summary notes during the first playthrough.

screenshotting this bc why does the word analogy of salad make sm sense now!! I've lowkey been avoiding kanji bc i js can't memorise the strokes at all and have been relying on hiragana and katakana sm i think that it'll save my sm time to just memorise how to write the kanji. The funny thing is, i can READ the kanji fine i js cant remember how to write them all LMAO

 

[ermguys]

Extension japanese is soo crazy! It was traumatising but also fulfilling at times. The content isn’t that much harder than continuers but it requires time. I found the speaking practice emotionally taxing, as well as rewatching the same film multiple times. If you’re good at english, it will be a big help.

ahahaha literally a part of me wants to take it bc its just like eng in terms of analysis except its japanese media which if far more interesting to me! I am worried abt the monologue bit tho lord knows im gna stutter so hard </3 hopefully i can maintain my 1st rank in course into year 11 and 12 PLEASEE

 

[Study to success]

ahahaha literally a part of me wants to take it bc its just like eng in terms of analysis except its japanese media which if far more interesting to me! I am worried abt the monologue bit tho lord knows im gna stutter so hard </3 hopefully i can maintain my 1st rank in course into year 11 and 12 PLEASEE

Is jap ext like Eng but in jap? That sounds like hell cause analysing in Eng is already hard enough and then doing in another language is crazy

 

[sonny_angel520]

screenshotting this bc why does the word analogy of salad make sm sense now!! I've lowkey been avoiding kanji bc i js can't memorise the strokes at all and have been relying on hiragana and katakana sm i think that it'll save my sm time to just memorise how to write the kanji. The funny thing is, i can READ the kanji fine i js cant remember how to write them all LMAO

Try to memorise a good amount of the kanji you can read at this point, especially if it doesn’t require too many strokes. Studying stroke order of common radicals (you can find gifs of them online) is an underrated way to memorise it. When you write the same thing in a certain way your subconscious can kinda just guide its way through the process.

Having studied Chinese and doing the HSC for it this year, I miss how kanji was an option rather than the default. This means that if you do well at kanji, you get an edge over the native Japanese students who will always do well in speaking and listening, and have more room (*literally*) to show off your grammar knowledge. I couldn’t recommend it enough! Writing is the biggest separation from band 5 and 6.
BTW: use your reading texts as a ‘word bank’ for writing japanese kanji. This saved my ass in chinese, and will be a big help in japanese too. If you find a kanji for a word you use, highlight it in the text so you can come back and ‘borrow’ the character

 

[f7eeting]

Okay I had the privilege of going to Japan for a short exchange trip which changed my life, but I think I still would’ve done well without that experience. Japanese Continuers doesn’t require crazy hours of study but consistency. The only thing you gotta grind is kanji and learning the art of making a full writing/reading+respondingB text.
Other random tips :
- When you get closer to the hsc, don’t bother exhausting yourself with full past papers! The good thing about languages is that you can just do components of it at a time (Writing, Reading+Responding, Listening) in regular intervals and rotate them around without missing out on anything, unlike other subjects.
- KANJI is your friend. It saves time, space and energy once you memorise the common ones. Japanese is lowkey word salad (takes so many characters to write a single sentence) so use Kanji to make room for those advanced grammar structures that take so much space
- When learning grammar, practice using a grammar structure in multiple ways until it begins to feel intuitive. After that it’ll stick in your head better and you’ll only have to revisit it occasionally. Review grammar with your teacher to see when it works, and when it doesn’t, depending on context.
- When HSC is near, just spam your favourite grammar structures, idioms, etc. Since they literally get different people to mark each section it doesn’t matter if you reuse a phrase.
- Also language knowledge and exam skills are basically at a 1:1 ratio of importance. Be strategic and try to show off your knowledge in composition. For listening, focus only on writing summary notes during the first playthrough.

omg tysm!! this actually means so much to me and ill try and implement this when i study japanese from now on !!
lowkey i just had a lightbulb moment thanks to you and i think alongside my current notes, ill try keeping track of the contexts i see each grammar structure used in (because i have a very bad tendency to use grammar in ways that are 'technically' correct but just sound... unnatural)
once again TYSM like i know japanese continuers isnt the most niche subject but its definitely hard to find advice for!!
also btw, what textbook did you use to study japanese?

 

[sonny_angel520]

ahahaha literally a part of me wants to take it bc its just like eng in terms of analysis except its japanese media which if far more interesting to me! I am worried abt the monologue bit tho lord knows im gna stutter so hard </3 hopefully i can maintain my 1st rank in course into year 11 and 12 PLEASEE

I literally wanted to give up mainly bc of th emonologue but decided not to drop it out of pure SPITE. The monologue is evil especially if you’re not native. But the good thing is, you can get it over and done with by trials, and then it feels less hellish afterward.
I cried the whole day after my monologue because I thought I did shit, but I ended up getting 47/50. As long as your arguments are logical and your examples are tangible you will be okay even if you fumble. It’s only a small part of your grade so don’t worry too much

 

[ermguys]

Is jap ext like Eng but in jap? That sounds like hell cause analysing in Eng is already hard enough and then doing in another language is crazy

the key difference is the themes explored imo. Since western and japanese culture have massive differences, the media changes accordingly. For some reason, i really love what is discussed in most japanese films and dramas as well as their nuances over english portrayals. (E.G the red string of fate in kimi no nawa) so its far better than eng imo! this depends on pereference tho : )

 

[sonny_angel520]

omg tysm!! this actually means so much to me and ill try and implement this when i study japanese from now on !!
lowkey i just had a lightbulb moment thanks to you and i think alongside my current notes, ill try keeping track of the contexts i see each grammar structure used in (because i have a very bad tendency to use grammar in ways that are 'technically' correct but just sound... unnatural)
once again TYSM like i know japanese continuers isnt the most niche subject but its definitely hard to find advice for!!
also btw, what textbook did you use to study japanese?

I’m always super thorough about foreign grammar to the point I annoy my teacher into giving like 5 minutes of explanation of the specific contextual details that grammar is used in.
Sometimes I couldn’t figure it out. If I were you in this case, I wouldn’t use a grammar structure I didn’t fully have a feel for. My weakness was understanding the conditional form ‘〜なら’, so I used alternatives like "〜たら、〜れば、〜と"
My school used Wakatta! which was pretty good, as the reading texts in the second book were a good challenge. It’s outdated though. My teacher was amazing, and she literally bullied me (kinda... in a good way though, like a strict mother) into doing as well as I did. A lot of people hated her strict teaching style but her tough love motivated me.

 

[sonny_angel520]

the key difference is the themes explored imo. Since western and japanese culture have massive differences, the media changes accordingly. For some reason, i really love what is discussed in most japanese films and dramas as well as their nuances over english portrayals. (E.G the red string of fate in kimi no nawa) so its far better than eng imo! this depends on pereference tho : )

Oh my god I can never watch that damn movie again after Japanese Extension. Watching that little FREAK TAKI in Mitsuha’s body play with her tits as a repeated gag.. in front of my TEACHER... made me wanna die every time of embarrassment.
I liked Japanese extension otherwise, and for the movie Kimi no Na Wa, I was able to come up with some unique analysis that I’m pretty proud of!

 

[f7eeting]

I’m always super thorough about foreign grammar to the point I annoy my teacher into giving like 5 minutes of explanation of the specific contextual details that grammar is used in.
Sometimes I couldn’t figure it out. If I were you in this case, I wouldn’t use a grammar structure I didn’t fully have a feel for. My weakness was understanding the conditional form ‘〜なら’, so I used alternatives like "〜たら、〜れば、〜と"
My school used Wakatta! which was pretty good, as the reading texts in the second book were a good challenge. It’s outdated though. My teacher was amazing, and she literally bullied me (kinda... in a good way though, like a strict mother) into doing as well as I did. A lot of people hated her strict teaching style but her tough love motivated me.

i use the wakatta textbook as well!! would you say its worth learning how to write all the kanji in it or is just being able to recognise all of them enough?

also why do i have the exact same experience with my teacher?!? most people in my class dislike her for pushing us so hard but i love her for doing so

 

[ermguys]

Oh my god I can never watch that damn movie again after Japanese Extension. Watching that little FREAK TAKI in Mitsuha’s body play with her tits as a repeated gag.. in front of my TEACHER... made me wanna die every time of embarrassment.
I liked Japanese extension otherwise, and for the movie Kimi no Na Wa, I was able to come up with some unique analysis that I’m pretty proud of!

nahh nothing will ever beat yr 10 english where i had to watch 10 things i hate about you and there was a scene with a teacher writing full blown SMUT on her laptop. I will never be able to live that down im sorry omg AND WE HAD TO WATCH IT LIKE 5 TIMES FOR 'critical analysis'...

 

[sonny_angel520]

i use the wakatta textbook as well!! would you say its worth learning how to write all the kanji in it or is just being able to recognise most enough?

also why do i have the exact same experience with my teacher?!? most people in my class dislikes her for pushing us so hard but i love her for doing so

If we went to the same school that would be crazy
But seriously, please learn to write most of the kanji in Wakatta, unless it’s for a word you don’t imagine using in writing. Recognising it in reading is the baseline, but if you want to excel you have to be strong with kanji. I chose to memorise kanji based on how common it was rather than how easy. Like I recommend memorising how to write things such as 働く, because you’ll use that all the time. Also it’s the same radicals as 動く　OR 動物 but with a person radical on the left, which is really intuitive if you think abt it

 

[sonny_angel520]

nahh nothing will ever beat yr 10 english where i had to watch 10 things i hate about you and there was a scene with a teacher writing full blown SMUT on her laptop. I will never be able to live that down im sorry omg AND WE HAD TO WATCH IT LIKE 5 TIMES FOR 'critical analysis'...

I hate the noises they made in the anime though.. at least heath ledger was hot in 10 things i hate about you

 

[ermguys]

I hate the noises they made in the anime though.. at least heath ledger was hot in 10 things i hate about you

why does everyone say that bro heath ledger was kinda mid in that movie icl..

the guy who played joey on the other hand... heh...

 

[sonny_angel520]

why does everyone say that bro heath ledger was kinda mid in that movie icl..

the guy who played joey on the other hand... heh...

He was charismatic
but yeah joey was so cute and i was looking at him more

 

[f7eeting]

If we went to the same school that would be crazy
But seriously, please learn to write most of the kanji in Wakatta, unless it’s for a word you don’t imagine using in writing. Recognising it in reading is the baseline, but if you want to excel you have to be strong with kanji. I chose to memorise kanji based on how common it was rather than how easy. Like I recommend memorising how to write things such as 働く, because you’ll use that all the time. Also it’s the same radicals as 動く　OR 動物 but with a person radical on the left, which is really intuitive if you think abt it

thatd be so cool but i dont think so because my school doesn't run extension japanese
ill defo spend these holidays refining my kanji skills... like i lowkeyley dont recognise any of the kanji you just wrote LOL so i clearly have quite a long way to go

 

[ermguys]

also will add that bc of how weird the anime was im kinda happy that we're watching like father like son from this year onwards