Starting the Year for Success

Coming out of 6 weeks’ summer holidays, the last thing anyone’s prepared to do is go back to the eight-hour- a-day grind of school. But sadly the year waits for no one and you’re thrown straight in the deep end, being viewed a ‘leader’ of your school (whether or not you actually want to be) and being forced to prepare for upcoming SACs, all the while attempting to retain some sort of social life on the side.

So, while it might be time to say goodbye to the summery 12+ hours of sleep, all is not lost! There are a few things you can do right at the start of the year, to form habits that will help you better balance your time and have a far less stressful final year of school - who knows, you might actually enjoy yourself.

Plan, Organise and Plan Some More 
I for one know this is far easier said than done, but the more you organise yourself during VCE® Exam, the better off you’ll be. It’s hard because life gets in the way – you’ll have unexpected 
events each week, you might even get sick – but if you can get yourself into the habit of a consistent study routine right from the get go, you’ll find yourself far more relaxed knowing that everything is a little bit less chaotic.

By no means do you have to plan everything you do for every subject down to the minute – if that works for you, sure, but you really can keep it as simple as saying you’ll study for a certain amount each night before taking a short break – but even just a little bit of time management goes a long way to helping you stay on top of what can be a very busy year.

Keep those Notes Clean
Now, bear with me. I know this might seem a bit trivial, or even a bit of a waste of time, but you’ll never truly realise how helpful it is until its 1 AM and you’re rifling through scribblings on the corner of a piece of paper, trying to find out something the night before a SAC. 

So, to ensure you always can find what you’re looking for, take some time – even just for a couple of hours one weekend – and make sure all your notes are tidy. Not only does this consolidate content by reading over it, but the process of writing it out clearly in your own words may also help. In fact, while you’re at it, develop a colour-coding system – one colour 
for key names or formulas, another for places or examples etc. This makes it even easier to look down at your notes and pick out certain relevant bits, rather than having to read a whole page of blue or black pen.

If you can get into the habit of devoting time to cleaning up your notes right from the start of the year – particularly before everything starts piling up - you’ll find yourself in a much happier place when it comes to revise later on.

Balance
This is the one most often neglected, but also the one that can make or break your year. Teachers obviously applaud students who spend all their time studying – they feel it shows dedication, which it definitely does. But in terms of mental health, you really shouldn't be locking yourself in your room or in the library pouring over practice questions every waking hour of the day. 

It might be a bit idealistic to say you’ll give yourself one whole day off a week – particularly as exams draw closer towards the end of the year – but it’s at least something you can do when you start the year. Particularly after summer when you’re used to having time to relax, taking time for yourself is particularly important. Go, do some exercise, get lunch with some friends, paint or even just watch some movies. It’s not being lazy, it’s balance. There’s no point going all out for the first semester, only to find you’ve burnt yourself out completely by the end of the year.

So, get into the habit right from the start of trying to give yourself a day off each week – you’ll be much happier for it, and far more motivated to keep going and put in 100% for the rest of the year.

So, there you have it, my top 3 tips to start your VCE® Exam off rearing for success. They might not seem like much, but I guarantee they’ll go a long way to keeping you stress free for the whole year.