Category: Year 11

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Achieve Your Best – ATAR Revision Programs for Senior Students

If you are doing your ATAR, these revision programs can help you to get your best result. 

ATAR is important

Despite being able to apply for an early offer from 3 June, final ATAR results are still important as:

  • early offers are conditional on ATAR results.
  • final offers are made on actual rather than estimated ATAR results. 
  • academic scholarships are usually based on ATAR results. 

Local Revision Programs

  • Your school newsletter will identify revision programs or additional support that your school will be offering. 
  • You can often find semi retired teachers, who have been expert advisors on exam content and style, who are available as tutors. Ask at your front office if they have a list of available tutors. 
  • Some of the best revision programs are offered by subject specialists who advise on the style and subjects of the exams. Ask your specialist ATAR teachers if there will be an official ATAR Exam Information session on their subject.

ECU Free ATAR Revision – September

ECU’s free ATAR revision sessions are on during end of third term holidays.They are available online and on campus.

Each ATAR revision session comprises a four-hour seminar covering:

  • The year 12 syllabus
  • Exam techniques and revision tips
  • Question and answer session
  • A copy of revision notes

 The Year 12 Subjects for 2025 include:

Physics

Mathematics Specialist

Mathematics Methods

Maths Applications

2024 Papers

Online Session Link

Human Biology

Computer Science

Chemistry

Biology

Revision Seminar Slides

English

 

  

 

For more information go HERE.

Private Providers

Several organizations specialize in tutoring students in preparation for ATAR exams. This is a comprehensive list of those available in WA. 

Academic Task Force    Academic Group     Academic Associates

Academic Task Force Holiday Revision Courses are designed specifically for students looking to revise ATAR course content and practice exam-style questions in preparation for exams.

Students will increase their understanding, receive fresh insights and gain intensive revision of their subject during this short course. Each subject is taught by a  highly qualified and vaccinated ATAR teacher with a strong background in marking and writing exams to increase their performance.

  • All Saints’ College School
  • Churchlands Senior High School
  • Perth Modern School
  • Online

MasterMind

Master Classes are one hour sessions conducted once a week in term time. Each week they reteach, revise and reinforce the topics and areas of study that the students are dealing with in their classes at school.

Masterclasses offer students

  •  Ongoing academic support
  • More confidence at school
  • A better chance of success in assessments
  • Individualised help solving specific problems
  • Small group classes

Classes are available at:

  • Ashdale
  • Mt Lawley
  • Christ Church Grammar
  • Hale

Find details and enrol HERE. 

ReviseOnline

ReviseOnline offers specifically designed multiple choice, short answer and extended response questions in a range of Year 11 and 12 courses which match the format of ATAR exams.

Once you submit a completed test or exam you’re provided with ATAR-standard sample responses and can evaluate your answers against a fully-worked marking key. All our courses are up to date and WACE specific, so each question you complete is improving your exam skills and ultimately boosting your ATAR!

Check out the courses HERE.

The Exam Experts

Nailing the ATAR and getting the results you are hoping for isn’t necessarily about being the smartest kid in the class. It’s about being well-prepared, knowing what to focus on and understanding what questions are most likely to come up in the exams and how to answer them.

With the help of T.E.E. Consultants’ July holiday intensive exam revision program, Year 12 students can access ten hours of additional teaching per subject, to truly understand the course curriculum and perform better in exam conditions.

Students are invited to enrol in up to five subjects in Week One of the July holiday period. Country students can access heavily discounted, full board accommodation packages which offer safe, secure, supervised accommodation on-site for regional students who enrol in at least three subjects.

Courses are run at UWA and at Murdoch.

Check their programs HERE.

InTuition

At InTuition, each student undertakes an assessment and programs are customized to meet their needs. Tutors are qualified teachers or experts in their fields. 

The office is based in Osborne Park.

You can find their programs HERE.

Don’t miss opportunities. Subscribe to In Focus Careers Monthly News

Email Bev.J@infocus-careers.com.au to subscribe:

  • Individual subscription $15/issue
  • Organisation subscription $35/issue

 

Posted on by — 3 Comments

Don’t get stuck at school if you hate it. There’s a better path for you.

WRONG WAY: Just stop going to school.

  • People from the Department of Education will chase you up to find what’s going on.

  • You will cut ties with your friends and your support network of teachers, student services, VET coordinators, career advisors at school. 

  • You could end up alone and feeling lost. 

BETTER WAY: Do this preparation.

Leave School Early

Step 1: Talk with family and friends

Don’t shock your family and friends by just dropping out of school. They will get upset and add to your stress. 

Talk with them, flag the idea of leaving school early. Ask what they think. Get their ideas and support. 

Step 2: Get expert information

Your Mum’s best friend or your maths teacher is not the expert that you need right now. There’s a lot to know about leaving school. Talk to an expert whose full time job it is to know about career pathways.  

This mind map provides links to expert information about leaving school in WA.  Play with different links to see what’s available. Write down questions to ask your career advisor. 

Meet with your school career advisor

Take a list of questions. 

  • If you don’t know what you want to do, they will explore different opportunities with you. 

  • They can help you to get a job application ready. 

  • They can link you with an apprenticeship/traineeship company that employs lots of apprentices. 

Jobs and Skills Center free information and advice

Jobs and Skills Centres are co-located at TAFE colleges. There are 19 across WA and they provide free information, advice and support. 

Private Career Practitioners

Look up “career practitioners” in your “suburb”. There will be career practitioners who can be employed to guide you through the process from school into a job or further study. 

Step 3: How to leave school

  • Get your career advisor and family to help you to arrange a full-time job, enrol in a full-time course or a combination of both. 

  • Get your parents to fill out an Exemption from full time schooling and submit it to your school.

It needs to go to the Minister for Education. They won’t come back with a flat “no” but you may be asked to add some more information to your application. 

Once you have permission you can leave:

  • Get a copy of your latest report.

  • Get references from supportive teachers.

  • Check with the front office to see if you have forgotten anything. 

Say goodbye to your life as a school student 

MORE INFORMATION

Common pathways from school

1. Nursing

2. Computing pathway – leave the pretty stuff for later

There are so many computing jobs. Learn the hard, foundation, boring stuff. It will put you way ahead of others who focus on pretty, creative computing. 

Subscribe to In Focus Careers News 

In Focus Careers News is the ultimate solution for high school career news and advice. Over 150 West Australian high schools already subscribing, our newsletter provides unbiased and up-to-date information on a wide range of career options.  Don’t miss out on this valuable resource – subscribe now and give your students the career guidance they need to take action.

Bev doing research for 2025
Posted on by — 6 Comments

Year 11: A Step by Step Guide to Open Days

Going to open days helps you to discover:

  • How to get to the campus.

  • How long it takes to get there.

  • Where the Open Day takes place.

  • Where to find food vans, toilets, and library.

  • Where to find different exhibitions and lecture theatres. 

  • Where to find student accommodation

  • How to read the presentation and demonstration schedule.

Get an authentic experience 

Plan to go with a friend

Ask your friends to go with you and your family. What they are interested in? Make sure you know what they might want to explore. Make a commitment to support each other on the open day.

Your parents. will have the biggest influencers on your career choices, but your friends are great to bounce ideas off. They will give you views of someone your age. 

Check

Check the university open day web page with your parents and friends to find details about any special courses that you want to investigate or talks you want to attend. 

You may need to change the time you attend to see a presentation that is of interest to your career choice. 

On the Day

Find out how uni works

Each degree is made up of subjects (units) for which you get points. (Check First in Family site)

  • Ask how many years it will normally take as a full-time student to get enough points for a degree.

  • Ask about subject choices for each of the courses you are interested in.

There will be handouts. 

Ask about scholarships 

There are many scholarships you can apply for. Ask the careers staff to give you a full breakdown of scholarships that could match your profile. 

If you are interested in staying in uni accommodation, ask what financial support is available. 

Clubs 

There are a million clubs that you can join at university. You have more than a year to make choices so check out a few.  You can join some clubs while still at school.

Book an appointment with a career counsellor

These appointments are free and it is the job of the career counsellor to help students.

If you get this help in Year 11, you will be more settled throughout the rest of the year and through Year 12 because you will have a stronger idea about what you want to do when you leave school. 

Entry Requirements

While you are checking out the courses ask about prerequisites and recommended courses that you should take before applying for particular courses. You also need to know the required ATAR score and alternative pathways to uni. 

Get your copy of Study Coach: Save time. Get better results.

Subscribe to In Focus Careers News

Subscribe to In Focus Careers for all the information you need about careers for West Australian school students. 

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Career Quizzes to help you to find where you belong

Career Quizzes

Career quizzes are a great ideas starter. 

They do not tell you that you should take up tap dancing immediately but the ideas you get will lead you into conversations with your family and friends that could spark curiosity in some careers.

These career quizzes are a sample of career quizzes that you can use as a starting point for your career conversations.

Check some out HERE

Subscribe to In Focus Careers News

Keep up to date with emerging career opportunities in Western Australia.

Subscribe to In Focus Careers News and share the information across your school community. 

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Pathways from High School – Video presentation for West Australian Senior Students

The content was just what our Year 12’s needed, and the timing is perfect.
This 30-minute Pathways from High School presentation with video is a great alternative to the face-to-face presentations as it can be shown to students and families, at any time.

Students can even take a copy home and watch it with their parents!!

Don’t be ridiculous!!

3 Pathways

It shows 3 different case studies. 

Pathway 1: Judy the academic superstar

Judy is an academic superstar who checks out the Bachelor of Applied Science (Honours) at Curtin, medicine everywhere, and Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours) at UWA. 

Pathway 2: Flynn General ATAR, Alternative Pathway

 Flynn is looking for alternative pathways for non-ATAR school leavers. He checks out all of the unis, looks at university preparation courses and seeks advice from career counsellors and Centrelink.

Pathway 3: Angie VET and Gap Year

For those wanting a Gap Year, who never to return to full-time study again. Angie looks at the Defence Gap Year program and at Harvest Trail as well as at some on the job training she can do at McDonald’s and online courses. 
I recommend that all students seek professional advice that narrows down to their personal choices, once they have a general idea of which direction they want to take.
Find this presentation HERE.
Posted on by — Leave a comment

University Open Days Tips for Years 9 -12 students

In years 9 – 12? Go to uni open days

University open days are starting in March this year. 

Curtin University 3 April 2022

ECU South West 27 March

ECU Joondalup 10 April

ECU Mt Lawley including WAAPA 1 May   

Murdoch 19 March 2022

UWA 27 March

Going to a uni open day is like going to a show. There are food vans, exhibitions and demonstrations and interesting people to meet, who WANT to convince you that their course is fantastic.

Curtin University Open Day

Check out the Worksheets at the bottom of this post.

Year 9 Tips

Start learning about life at university in Year 9. Check out the food vans. Listen to the music. Go into buildings and see the latest tech tools, computer games and research. See what workshops are on. Find the library, the shops and the toilets.

Year 10 Tips

Explore and Experience Try stuff. There will be people inviting you to engage with practical experiences in their subject. It could be VR. It could be checking out the latest medical research, making a short movie using their studio. All faculties will have practical experiences for you to engage with.  Do it now.

Year 11 Tips

Get an authentic experience. Engage with current students. Build on what you have learned in years 9 and 10 visits by asking questions of both students, academics and staff.  Check out presentations and exhibitions to see what you will gain most from and register for them, or just make a schedule of where to be and at what time.

Year 12 Tips

This is it. You need to be able to build from your other Open Day experiences. You will know what faculties to visit, and you will have a range of questions to ask. By now you should have narrowed down your options and you will be able to ask specific questions about subjects, industry engagement opportunities, mentors, support programs etc. You will know which presentations and demonstrations you need to revisit.

 

Posted on by — 1 Comment

Do you want to study medicine in WA?

Medicine student

In Western Australia, three universities offer medical degrees.

Post Graduate Medicine at UWA and Notre Dame

The University of WA and University of Notre Dame offer postgraduate medicine. You have to do one degree and get outstanding results in order to qualify to apply.

The advantage of postgraduate medicine is that you have two degrees, and these can enhance your career prospects. For example, if you studied pharmacy or physiotherapy before undertaking medicine, you would have additional skills and knowledge when both studying medicine, and later when practicing medicine. With the huge competition for places for medicine, it’s critical to think about your first degree being an area you would want to pursue. For example, if you were genuinely interested in pharmacy or physiotherapy, and did not gain entry to medicine, you’d have a career path that you were already qualified and interested in.

To be competitive for postgraduate medicine, you need to choose an undergraduate degree where you can achieve top grades. Most postgraduate medical programs list the ‘grade point average’ (GPA) you need for entry. For example, UNDA requires an overall GPA of 5.4 or higher. Postgraduate entrants come from a broad range of discipline areas, not just science-based programs.Medicine studentUndergraduate Medicine at Curtin

Curtin is the only uni in Western Australia to offer undergraduate medicine. You apply to go into Curtin medicine straight from school. 

Both post graduate or undergraduate pathways have additional testing and interview processes to narrow down the field to those who are accepted as outstanding candidates. Getting into medicine is competitive, in 2022 Curtin had 2700 applicants for 100 places. 

In Australia, most applicants for medicine apply across the country to attempt to gain a place, often relocating to undertake their studies.

There are significant cost advantages to an undergraduate entry to medicine. You finish your degree in five years, and have a student debt for five years (not 7 or 8 years). Overall, that cost difference is in the vicinity of $20000 (5 years vs 7 years). You are also working two years earlier, so have an income sooner.

Find out more about medicine at UWA HERE.

Find out more about medicine at Notre Dame HERE. 

Find out more about medicine at Curtin HERE. 

Subscribe to In Focus Careers News

Keep up to date with emerging career opportunities in Western Australia.

Subscribe to In Focus Careers News and share the information across your school community. 

Cover of February 2022

 

The annual subscription rate for an organisation in 2022 is $299.

Individual subscribers are welcomes at a significantly reduced rate. 

Posted on by — Leave a comment

So you want to be a doctor, but you live in the bush

If you want to be a doctor but you live in the bush, your chances of winning a place in a medicine degree are improving. The Curtin Medical School Ambassador Alumni scheme engages current Curtin medical students to help students in rural, regional and remote schools who would like to apply to Curtin Medical School.

To find out more go to to Curtin Medical School.

Schools that want to engage with the program should contact the Curtin Medical School Rural Academic Lead, Professor Keith McNaught.

Curtin Medical School support for future RRR students

Curtin Medical School (CMS)  has a deep commitment to produce doctors to work in rural locations.   CMS fully appreciates that the lack of doctors in many rural areas, a particular issue in Western Australia, results in poor health outcomes for rural residents.   CMS is also acutely aware that there are real and significant challenges for rural young people, wanting to study Medicine, and being educated in rural areas, often with significantly less opportunities than city-educated students.   Rural students often have less Career Guidance advice, and may not realise that Curtin offers a rural entry pathway to Medicine with additional ATAR score weightings for rural students.

Curtin Medical School at Bunbury Careers Expo

In 2021, Professor Keith McNaught, the CMS Rural Academic Lead, worked closely with the President of the Curtin Rural Health Club, Jarrad Burgess, to develop and pilot the Alumni Ambassador program.   The program was designed to have current Medical students, with a rural background, volunteer to promote studying medicine, in their home towns, or in towns and locations where they had connections.

Keith had generated a list of target rural schools across WA, and then Jarrad and Keith matched student volunteers to those schools and beyond.  There were 26 volunteers, who will be visiting 35 secondary schools in 2021.   The volunteers all do their school visits whilst they are at home on breaks, so there are no costs associated with running the program, except to visit those locations where an Alumni Ambassador is not available.

When the partner secondary schools agreed to be involved, they nominated a school contact person, who is the liaison person for each Alumni Ambassador.   The school visits have commenced, and feedback has been resoundingly positive.  Second-Year student, Ipsita, was involved in a school visit where she connected with an outstanding Year 11 Indigenous student, who is now linked to the Medical School’s Admission Officer, as she charts her personalised pathway to Medicine at Curtin. 

Alumni Ambassador visits are most often to Year 10 and 11 classes, with schools usually aligning this to a science class.   With Year 10 classes, the Alumni Ambassadors talk about the benefits of the rural entry pathway, and the subject selections recommended for Medicine.   Year 11 presentations also focus on UCAT testing, so rural students are aware of the process and timeline, which will occur during Year 12, and also of the scholarships to assist with the costs of completing the UCAT testing in Perth.   Importantly, secondary school students are referred to the website, where they are can obtain up-to-date information about Curtin’s Medical and Health Science programs and have links to access further information.

Whilst it will be some years before the impacts of the CMS Alumni Ambassador program are fully known, there have been immediate benefits noted.   Secondary school partners have had increased contact with CMS staff, and applications for UCAT scholarships tripled from 2020 to 2021.  There are few things as motivating for a rural student as seeing their peers, who they know from their school and community, studying Medicine, and being aware that it’s a real study and career option for them too.

This report has been supplied by Curtin University.

Keep up to date with West Australian career opportunities. Subscribe to In Focus Careers News

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Your pathway to medicine in WA

Getting into medicine is a job. The competition is fierce and the pathway is rigorous. Many potential doctors fall by the wayside due to the strain of the application process.

This presentation was given to potential applicants for medicine courses in WA. Scitech Pathways to Medicine 2020

Capture

During the summer holidays 30 students who were going into year 11 and 12 this year did a week long, hands on and theory course at the Harry Perkins Centre. The program is run by Scitech to help students to find out more about health careers in WA.

You can find a cut down version of the presentation HERE. Scitech Pathways to Medicine 2020

If you would like to develop your personal plan for getting into medicine, or an alternate health career, please contact me. 

Go back

Your message has been sent

Posted on by — Leave a comment

The Curtin Pathway to Becoming a Doctor

Apply in Year 12

Curtin Medical School offers the only West Australian Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery program that students can enter directly from school. Both UWA and Notre Dame offer medicine courses but they require applicants to have done a degree as part of the application process.

(Go HERE for information about UWA Direct Pathway program.)

Curtin’s Focus

CaptureCurtin is focusing on providing medical services in rural, regional and remote (RRR) Western Australia so are using their Curtin’s Step Up criteria  to help RRR applicants and students from outer metropolitan schools to apply. This Set Up list will be finalised for 2019 in July. You may qualify for an Equity Bonus even if your school isn’t on the list so keep an eye on the Curtin updates.

You can only get 5 bonus points even if you qualify on the Set Up list and for the Equity Bonus.

They are aiming to have 25% of students from RRR areas.

The Curtin course is only in its second year and there were 1511 applicants for the 70 places offered this year so even with the additional support it is a very competitive program to get into.

Most of the places were given to school leavers and only 6 places were given to course switchers or mature age students.

There will be 80 places in 2019.

 

Applying for Medicine at Curtin

Use the normal TISC process to apply. Aboriginal Flag

Curtin is providing support to enable Aboriginal students to gain a place. Aboriginal students should apply through the Aboriginal Studies Indigenous Pathway.

 

Course Length

The Curtin Degree is 5 years long after which students do a an 47 week internship before becoming a doctor.

See this document on Internships put out by the AMA.

Studying medicine is just your first step in your medical academic career. After completing your internship you will take on further study to be a GP, surgeon, obstetrician or some other specialisation.

While most university courses have short academic contact years, the Curtin Medical School requires students to have 40+ contact weeks.

ATAR Requirements

Applicants must have a minimum ATAR of 95. The lowest ATAR score for 2018 was 96.15.

RRR students who can show they are eligible  according to Curtin criteria will get 5 bonus points added to their ATAR score.

Chemistry is an essential prerequisite for applicants.

Human biology is not a prerequisite as it is taught in first year, however those students who have already done human biol at school will find it easier to get good grades in this subject at uni.

Applicants who pass the UMAT must provide a predicted ATAR score from their school on the form that Curtin provides before the end of November so that Curtin can use that mark to shortlist applicants for interviews.

The ATAR is worth 40% of the application score.

UMAT Requirements

UMATStudents must undertake the UMAT exam and score at least 50 in each of the 3 exams.

Students who qualify on Curtin’s disadvantaged criteria must achieve a TOTAL of 150 across the 3 exams.

There are practice UMAT tests on the site and students need to do those in order to know what to expect.

There are private training organisations that provide UMAT coaching. ACER, which runs the UMAT says not to bother. Some students do…. You need to make up your own mind about whether to do the additional coaching or not.

The UMAT is held on 25 July. You must apply by 1 June.

TIP: If you have put Medicine at Curtin as your first TISC preference and you don’t achieve the requirements in the UMAT, change your preference with TISC. You can do that after the closing date by paying a fee.

The UMAT is worth 20% of the application score. 

Multiple Mini Interviews (MMIs)

These sound like torture.

All applicants who are shortlisted based on their ATAR and UMAT results are invited to undertake interviews.

That sounds harmless enough….

The MMIs are 8 consecutive interviews of 10 minutes each.

  • Students go to a room.
  • There is a scenario written on a page on the door of the room.
  • You have 2 minutes to read the scenario.
  • You are invited into the room and you have 8 minutes to talk about the scenario.
  • You leave and go to the next room.
  • Repeat.

This routine can vary slightly from year to year. Last year they were 6 minute interviews.  Again, Curtin will let you know the drill if you qualify for an interview.

For the 2018 intake there were 350 interviews offered. As many of the applicants were from the eastern states and got offers from their local universities, 200 undertook interviews at Curtin.

YouTube videos and sites like MedStudents Online and Whirlpool will give you some ideas about what to expect BUT your experienced interviewers are not looking for rehearsed answers, they want to know about you and your suitability for the profession.

The MMIs are worth 40% of your application.

Teaching and Learning Approach

Curtin takes a problem based learning and evidence based teaching approach that is supported by clinical skills tutorials. Students learn to work as part of health care teams by problem solving in consultation with students in other health care courses.

Once students have developed skills in a classroom setting they take up full time placement in hospitals. Medical student - Copy

The academic demands of the course are high. Students need to be resilient to cope with the study demands and they need to be resilient to deal with the adversity that often faces doctors.

Check out the Inherent Requirements of Curtin Medical students to see the sort of attributes they are looking for in the interview.

Presentation Video

You can watch a video of  the Curtin Getting Into Medicine presentation HERE.

More Information

If you have any further questions about studying medicine at Curtin, please give the Future Students team a call on 1300 222 888.

You can find other blog posts about getting into medicine at:

Getting Into Medicine Presentation

 

If you would like a presentation on Getting Into Medicine at your school contact me at Bev.J@infocus-careers.com.au or ring me on 0434 056 412.

 

 

Subscribe to the In Focus Careers Newsletter

To stay up to date with West Australian careers news subscribe to the In Focus Careers Newsletter. Front Page May

 

Go back

Your message has been sent