Are You Doing The VCE in 2017?

With the holidays nearly over, many Year 12 students will have mixed feelings about returning to school. Some will be dreading VCE® Exam: the burden of expectation, exam stress and assignment deadlines, as well as the prospect of receiving their ATARs at the end of the year. Though Year 12 is a stressful year, there is also plenty to be excited about. Year 12 is packed with events at school like the formal and graduation. It is also the final year that you spend at school, which means that it is sure to be a memorable one… provided you find the right balance between work and enjoyment.

Assessment

Exams are typically the first thing that comes to mind for most people when VCE® Exam is mentioned. Everything in the year seems to lead up to those fateful final exams in November. Students are expected to forage through their minds and reproduce twelve months of learning, all in the space of three hours or less.

Naturally, Term 4 is the most important period for Year 12 students; it’s the time when all your hard work pays off. Because of the importance of these final exams, all Year 12 students have a shortened Term 4 so that they can spend time at home focusing on revision. The exam period lasts around four weeks, beginning with the most important exam for most students: the famous three-hour English exam, which leaves all students who confront it with sore wrists and aching heads.

The final exams aren’t the only assessments you will be doing this year. Throughout the year, there will also be SACs to complete at school. These are worth less than the final exams but are challenging in their own way. SACs are scattered throughout the school year on different dates depending on the subject. Because most students will be doing four and six subjects in the year, there will be numerous weeks where you have multiple tests. While there is ample time to prepare for the main exams in November, this luxury does not always exist for SACs – throughout the school term, you will be expected to be ready for all your SACs without falling behind in your regular schoolwork.

 

Uni preferences

VTAC preferences open in August. From there, students have to make what can be quite a difficult decision. To help you with your preferences, all major universities have open days in the second semester of the year where you can meet teachers, lecturers and professionals in a vast array of fields. This is also the best time of the year to speak to your school careers counsellor, who can assist you in your choice of tertiary courses. If you are planning to go to several different open days, you may become quite busy outside of school hours in Term 3 simply assessing your career options, along with your normal study and exam revision.

It is crucial to decide on what you’re going to do next year early. There are many options out there for prospective university students, including gap years and interstate universities.
 

ATAR results

After your exams are done in November, you can finally hope to relax! But not for long: ATAR results come out only a few weeks after the end of the exam period. After several sleepless nights, you receive your ATAR, either by text or logging into your online account. Then comes the feeling of elation and satisfaction… or, if you’re unlucky, the feeling of disappointment.

Whatever ATAR you do get, you must rebound quickly. You have just a week to change and finalise your course preferences. Then you’ll have to wait for round one and potentially even round two offers in early 2018. After that, your communication with VTAC ends as you officially become a student of your chosen institution.
 

The last year of school…

Everything listed above is crucial to your success in VCE® Exam. A good ATAR that gets you into your top preference course could kick-start your career. But Year 12 is about more than that. Regardless of your ATAR and your grades, Year 12 is special simply because it’s the last year you will ever spend at school.

Most schools are keen to treat their soon-to-be high school graduates. The year is filled with social occasions such as the school formal and graduation, which give students the opportunity to celebrate their achievements – both academic and co-curricular – with their peers, teachers and families. In Term 4, students have last week activities to look forward to. The mood changes as the year progresses and students come to terms with the fact that school is ending.

School provides us with an opportunity to spend every day of the week with people who are our age and share our interests. Many students will be saying goodbye to classmates they have known for all of high-school. Keeping in contact with old school friends during university and work can be difficult as everyone becomes busy with their own careers. That’s why it’s important to cherish this last year of school.

Thanks for reading! - Mayukh