Wow, thanks guys! Awesome advice!
Personally I finished half of the content that I needed for that year in the holidays for all my subjects except further and legal. This built a great foundation from me and I kept chipping away at the content as the year went on. I also had a tutor for Methods but honestly I was ahead of that too. It was only of use as extra practice.
Definitely find another activity. School is not a hobby I'd recommend anything from a sport to volunteering in the community.
You don't need to work with genius kids or even kids aiming for a high ATAR. Even people who don't pay as much attention to their studies can offer great ideas and perspectives. While i don't have experience in your position, i'd recommend actually kindling your fellow student's interest in their studies. Believe it or not holding revision sessions for them also will benefit you a great amount. Plus you help others in terms of their education!
Sounds like a great idea finishing half the content from the start of the year, and then progressing from there. I'll definitely do this!
Yes school work probably isn't a great hobby, but the thing for me is I REALLY enjoy my subjects. But, yes, as you say, it shouldn't really a hobby; it's essential to have a life outside of school. I'm just struggling to find anything outside of school that interests me. I mean, I'd like to play a team sport, but my parents just don't really get around to letting me do that. They tell me I can exercise at home which is true, but, I'd really prefer to participate with other people and feel others presence other than my own.
I absolutely agree with you on the group feedback idea, and I would really love to do this, but I have already tried making a study group, and no one was really interested, and the fact that the school library is only open 3 days doesn't really help
. But maybe going into senior years may wake some of my classmates up, so I'll definitely try it again.
Thanks for the advice!
Hey, Twisty314!
Lear's advice aligns with mine I did the HSC instead but I agree with the points raised in this thread. I wanted to suggest assigning "non-negotiables", as I called them during Year 12, for your week so you can pace yourself with tasks that you want to keep at the forefront of your priorities. These are mainly for assessments and homework. This helped with keeping me motivated especially when I had multiple essays to write and allowed me to work the rest of my study schedule around it. I ended up finding myself actually moving ahead with content once I completed my non-negotiables for the week and powering through more work over time.
As for a hobby, I would also recommend just going to the movies or hanging out with your friends. This can at the very least get you out of the house and give you complete down time before, during and/or after periods of stress. You can regulate how much down time you want but I definitely would recommend spending some time away from the desk to treat yourself
Along with Lear's suggestion to invest in the studies of students with a diverse range of abilities, also consider using this forum The community on here is really friendly and willing to help you out wherever we can. You can submit work for feedback, discuss content or even just to ask advice and check in here and there. Hope this helps and good luck with your endeavours!
Angelina
Thanks Angelina, that's awesome!
Creating weekly tasks that need to be completed sounds like an effective strategy to not only getting needed things done, but also if you want to go beyond in your knowledge on a topic. I never thought of doing this, but I'll certainly start doing this this year. Thanks for the tip!
Argh, back to my embarrassing hobby situation ahaha. Well, as I said to Lear in this post, it's not like I dread school, so it's not always treating myself when I go do something else. Occasionally, I don't like to do school related things so I just play games on PC, which de-stresses me. But, it's certainly not an ideal hobby regarding a healthy balance - I can't be sitting all day. I think the thing for me is I enjoy exercise, as long as it's with some other people. Actually, I was at the movies a couple days ago lol. Thanks for the advice though!
I will definitely be using the forums. I just want to say 1 thing about the forums before I continue. It is the nicest, friendliest community I've bumped into so far. No one is selfish and everyone is happy to help each other here. I honestly don't know how this place has maintained such a great community! It's amazing!
Ahem, anyway, yes I'll be using these forums for questions, as well as for trying to answer others questions. With Lear I said a similar thing - I just don't know how to go about creating a study session or the like for unmotivated peers. Don't get me wrong - I will try and I would absolutely love to do study sessions with my peers, it's just I don't know how to begin it. Any ideas?
Thanks a bunch Angelina!!
Know what you need to learn, and learn to understand them WELL, your teachers should be able to indicate what's important and what's not.
Instead of routinely doing practices try to understand every question you get from back to front. Note down specific instances when you are stuck on a question or when you made a mistake, and collate them before your final exams so you know your weaknesses to be able to amend them effectively.
Spend more time on your own studies instead of competing with other people. Rankings might be important, but it's not everything.
most importantly,
Save your time for more important moments in your life, with your friends and family, which is far more important than a 4 digit number in the long run.
I'm paraphrasing this form The Office, but it'd be nice if you know you're in the good old days before you've actually left it
Hey LifeisaConstantStruggle! (sad username btw lol
)
Good advice! Better off understanding things from the start than waste time doing a bunch of prac exams to make sure you have (not to degrade prac exams, though, I probably wouldn't do too much
). Comparing yourself can be a distraction when studying, so agreed, focus on individual improvement, and you'll improve in rankings. Nice tip!
And yes, definitely agree. Friends + family should always be much more important than a your ATAR, and you should treat them accordingly.
Thanks for the advice!