Is Viscomm time consuming?

[autumn-bird]

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yeah. so is it? ^

i'm thinking of doing it next year, as i'm doing viscomm 1/2 this year & really enjoy it. it's probably my most relaxing subject.

but i've heard it's very time consuming... so i just wanted to know from current/previous students who have done viscomm: is this true?

how many hours do you put in viscomm, on a weekly basis?

and what do you do in SACs for viscomm (does this subject even have SACs??).

thanks in advance!!

[xChloex]

yes, it is very time-consuming, lets just say that pretty much all the homework i do is viscom, probably 10+ hours a week, but it isn't too debilitating if you only do a max of 4 subjects.

In unit 3 you have 2 different sacs, design analysis, where you analyse a piece of visual communcation in regards to the elements, principles, the 3M's; and professional practice, which involves answering questions about a designer and a certain piece of work they have completed, along with the client's needs (at my school, we had a designer come in and explain a design they've done, but some schools just get an example from the textbook)
and unit 4, you're solely marked on your folio.

Hope that helped

[autumn-bird]

yes, it did help, chloe! thanks so much!!

thank goodness i'm only doing four subjects next year (viscomm being one of them); i have more time to work on viscomm stuff. wow, only two sacs? that's awesome! though i suppose the lack of sacs is made up with the folio work you do, haha.

i'm really looking forward to doing this subject next year...

thanks again!

[gabbaii]

vis come is definitely a time consuming subject. i did 3/4 in yr 11 and it killed me.
all theory including the exam is worth 33% and the your two folios in unit 3 and 4 are for 66%.
just be prepared to do alot of work and stay back after school quite a bit. especially when folios are due.
also be prepared to spend alot on printing and other materials for your folio =)
good luck..

[autumn-bird]

this is going to sound weird, but the exam looks like fun though... i mean, what other exam do you get to draw in?

thanks gabbaii for the tips about the folios... much appreciated! i'll set up a study timetable for next year, so i can fit my viscomm work in.

[_susy_]

three words:
is.
it.
ever.

just about killed me this year. especially as unit 4 folios were due around the same time as the last sacs for all my other subjects. manage your time well and you'll be fine.

best advice i can give is aim to finish three weeks before its due, that way you'll most likely actually get it all done the way you want it.

seriously though, the week leading up to it being due i slept an average of 4 hours a night, ditched most of my other classes became very very grumpy and still didnt finish to the level i wanted.

thank goodness it is over.

[autumn-bird]

ahhh! you're scaring me, susy! :O
thanks for the tip about the "finish 3 weeks earlier". i'll keep that in mind.
i should be fine... right? haha

[_susy_]

haha, oh, im sorry!
its really not that bad.. i just have terrible time management skills and thus found it very stressful, but only for that last week. before that vis comm was my favourite, its a good break from all the writing and the actual sacs are easy as.
but yeah, defs try to finish early, you avoid printer problems and everything, and get lots done on the winter holidays
any idea what you want to do for your unit 4 folio yet?

[the speck]

YES!

[autumn-bird]

Originally Posted by _susy_

haha, oh, im sorry!
its really not that bad.. i just have terrible time management skills and thus found it very stressful, but only for that last week. before that vis comm was my favourite, its a good break from all the writing and the actual sacs are easy as.
but yeah, defs try to finish early, you avoid printer problems and everything, and get lots done on the winter holidays
any idea what you want to do for your unit 4 folio yet?

nope! but i'll have the whole summer holidays to think about it...

[ishinova]

If you have great time mangement skills it will defz help you. Aim to do 5 pages a week, so 5 pages x lets say 16 weeks and thats over 75 pages which is more than enough. Pick a topic you really enjoy and keep with it and it is actually fun.

[ad infinitum]

The Good:
-Exam is easy as fuck, requires pretty much no study (The only study I did was an hour the night before and still got an easy A+).
-Unit 4 Folio is due a fair while before other VCE exams (this allows you to put more focus on other subjects around exam time).
- Work is generally easy and relaxing. The written SACs in unit 4 are really easy.

The Bad
-This subject can be a huge time sink.
-You are competing with a lot of 'art' kids who neglect all their other subjects spend all their time on studio/VCD (the people that spend their nights on their MacBooks touching up their folios and gay shit like that), and hence alot of work is required if you want do good (40+).
-Gets scalled down and generally its really hard to get a good (40+) score.

I got A, A, A+ and got a raw 38...which got like scaled down to 36
(good thing I didn't put any work into this subject and it was my lowest score subject).

But I never planned for it to be in my top 4 (I had Methods, Chemistry, English, Bio for that lol), I wanted to do vcd for enjoyment and relaxation. So unless your really arty and willing to put alot of time into this subject, I'd advise agiasnt it IF your aiming to use it as a primary four subject.