Hi, my name is Andrea and I write essays as a hobby.

Yes, you read that right. I chose every VCE subject I did in Year 12 so that each exam I did would involve a lengthy extended response – which is to say that you are definitely going to be in safe hands with me.

I ended up graduating with a 98.10 ATAR with all raw study scores above 40+ and managed to have a relatively ‘chill’ time doing so (without too many all nighters or falling into the infamous pre-SWOTVAC Slump™). I was lucky to love my subjects enough that studying hardly felt like work, and I think that same experience is attainable for every student, regardless of their skillset or prior experience in a subject.

This stems from my belief that all knowledge begins with passion, even if it's the smallest bit of curiosity (see: did Marie Antoinette actually hold full festivals in Versailles for the sole purpose of being able to live out her dreams as a peasant milkmaid?) in what might initially seem to be the most trivial parts of the trickiest subject. And so, I would love nothing more than to engender that same passion I had in my students, whether it presents as finding joy in the methodical creativity of a HHD Extended Response or experiencing the calm of approaching an English essay topic you know just what to write for. 

Nowadays, post-VCE, post-practice papers and tuck shop coffees, I study Philosophy at the University of Melbourne where I write just about the same amount of essays I used to :)