I know how stressful it can be to try to do well – especially in year 12. Every step of the way you think about how you’re going to achieve your ATAR goal, and you break down if you don’t get high grades on all your assignments. On top of this, you dedicate this entire year to year 12 and to studying, to the point that you eliminate any forms of social interactions including those with your family, even in the holidays. Here’s a few things that I’ve gathered from my experience and I hope they can help you to have a better mindset when it comes to studying.
Do your research
There exists an unfortunate stigma on year 12, everyone thinks it is the pivotal phase of a person’s life and will set out to get the highest ATAR because that will guarantee or increase the chances of a successful future. But that depends on what your definition of success is. If you define success as studying medicine, law etc., then yes, a very high ATAR will help you reach a successful career. But the world is wider than just medicine and law. If you are interested in teaching, construction, graphic design, occupational health, social work and so on, then a high ATAR is not so imperative. So, high ATAR does not necessarily equal a bright future.
If you think about it, the weight we give to year 12 stems from the idea that it will determine what career pathway you will ultimately follow. So, what is more important: getting a high ATAR but not knowing what to do in the end, or researching and trying to think about what you want to do? A big mistake people make is having the rigid desire to do well in year 12 while giving next to no thought to what they want to do afterwards. My advice is: throughout year 12, continuously research all the available courses that you could potentially apply for and read their subject guides. And that doesn’t mean you have to make up your mind one hundred per cent, but you know that you won’t be entirely confused at the end of the year and you will have the satisfaction that you looked at all the options and chose what you want. The number one important thing is that you must be open-minded, don’t limit yourself to a certain field or a certain degree (e.g. medicine), read about them all and enquire about them all because you never know what might spark your interest. Remember, if you find yourself obsessing over the ATAR, the source of this obsession is the desire for a successful career. So, focus on more productive ways you can reach this goal.
Don’t focus on numbers
Having a rough idea of what course you want to enter doesn’t mean you must now strive to get the exact ATAR that is the entry requirement for that course because you might change your mind by the end of the year, and secondly (but more importantly) numbers aren’t the most important thing. And that is my most important piece of advice, don’t focus on numbers. This mindset helped me immensely during year 12, because I could see everyone around me had their life revolving around numbers, whether it be of tests, SACs, essays, or the ATAR. Many of my peers would access an ATAR calculator at the end of every day increasing or decreasing their expected grades based on the marks they received that day. They were overwhelmed, obsessed, consumed. Numbers had taken an immense toll on their lives, and they were ultimately torturing themselves. So, don’t be consumed with the numbers themselves, it drains your whole experience. Of course there is nothing wrong with having a certain goal range but don’t let it consume you. After all, the subject you score least in could potentially be the one you learn from most.
Balance is key
That brings me to my next point: year 12 is still a whole year of your life, you shouldn’t ‘book it out’ so to speak, just for your studying and for worrying about your ATAR. It is a phase of your life that will end just like any other phase, and you shouldn’t neglect other parts of life just because you’re going through it. Maintain your relationships with friends, go out occasionally (not always, of course), have walks, help out around the house, spend time with your family and enjoy your holidays as a well-deserved break while incorporating a reasonable amount of studying if required. The reason this piece of advice is crucial is because one year is plenty of time to form habits that will be extremely difficult to get rid of afterwards. For example, it is common for people to stop prioritising prayer, making excuses of having no time to focus on enhancing the quality of their prayer, and trying to get it over and done with so they can get back to studying. However, when you finish year 12 you’ll realise that the quality of your salah is still considerably low even though your supposed ‘excuse’ is over, and you will struggle to get it back up again. Prayer will continue to feel like a burden that needs to be done quickly, and for the sake of it. One year is made up of 365 days, and studies suggest that it takes around 21 days for habits to form, so imagine how ingrained a bad habit may become after an entire year! There are many other examples of this but the bottom line is – if you neglect all other aspects of your life while studying you’ll find it really difficult to reintegrate balance into your daily life. You shouldn’t decrease the quality of your life because the reality is, you can’t do this for every obstacle you face, i.e. ignore everything during the obstacle, because life is full of obstacles.
It is worth mentioning that you must of course study hard because it’s definitely worth it, but maintain a balance. It feels great at the end knowing you did your best, and not carrying the regret that you haven’t done enough.
At the same time, don’t risk burnout where you lose any motivation to study by the end of year because you’re simply sick of it. A lot of the time, such severe burnout can extend to university. Studying at university will need your time and effort, possibly more so than your VCE years. A common misconception is that university is easier than year 12, however in my opinion this is a mistaken attitude. The degree of difficulty in university is subjective; it depends on the individual, personal circumstances, the university and of course the degree. But at the end of the day, university is tertiary education whereas high school is secondary education, and by this very classification it is likely to be more difficult (at least in terms of content). It is imperative that you, the year 12 student, do not over-work yourself during the year and expect that the rest of life will be smooth and easy.
There is no golden rule
Don’t limit yourself to the study tips you read and receive. The golden rule is that there is no golden rule. Studying tips are great for inspiration, encouragement and reassurance, in fact I do encourage you to look up some study tips and take some inspiration and motivation. However, don’t feel the need to follow them one hundred per cent. I remember when I was in year 12, one of the tips I received was to wake up early and sleep early because there will be more time to study. While that is true and in fact ideal, I for some reason couldn’t manage that no matter how hard I tried. At the start I put a lot of pressure on myself telling myself that if I didn’t do that, I wouldn’t be studying efficiently and therefore I was predisposing myself to failure. But as the year progressed I realised that I must be confident in doing what works for me, because what works for other people may not work as well for you. Simply, don’t feel pressured to do everything you read.
Help each other out
Lastly, don’t feel the need to be competitive. Make it a goal of yours, if you understand something well, figure out a good way to solve/understand something or get extra notes, share them with your peers. Offer to study together, encourage them if they’re struggling with something, motivate others and develop a genuine desire for everyone to do their best. No one loses this way.
Some general tips:
- Make a practical, achievable timetable (especially during exam time) and stick to it
- Write down important pieces of information, inspirational quotes, formulas, key concepts, common mistakes you keep making etc. on sticky notes and stick them on your wall. That way every time you look up from your desk you will see them and eventually it will become solidified in your long-term memory. I did this and I couldn’t recommend it enough.
- Eat at the dinner table, not at your desk
- Don’t feel pressured to ‘study too hard’, go to tutoring, attend after school classes etc. just because everyone else is
- Avoid studying memes – they may be relatable, but they are ultimately negative and demotivating
- Keep prayer as a priority in your day
- Continue doing chores around the house
- Don’t study all the time, but when you do, study well
- Don’t trap yourself inside your home
- You can stress, but only a little bit
- Remember: nothing is the end of the world, except the end of the world 🙂
By Noor Alsaffar
This article is a revised version of a speech given at Ladies as Leader’s Life Made Easy event on 25thMarch 2017.
