Top 4 Ways to ‘Smash’ Year 12
Why do most articles on this subject start with How to Survive Year 12 exams? Survive…really? Do students who fail to get a significant ATAR get dragged into some Hunger Games type battle, never to be seen again? How about we give kids some tips that will help them ‘smash’ Year 12 exams. To me this is a far more positive way to approach the topic.
These are my top 4 tips that will help you ‘smash’ Year 12 exams (and other years for that matter).
- There’s no such thing as Time Management – Unless you are Dr. Who and have access to some sort of time machine, you can’t manage time. It just literally keeps ticking along. What you can ‘manage’ is your level of discipline. I guarantee you’ll have enough time to get everything done if you don’t waste time on unnecessary activities. Only discipline will help you avoid distractions and cement good study habits. You know what needs to be done so just do it. Don’t worry about the Grumpy Cat on Facebook, it will still be there in 2 hours. Basically stop farting around and making excuses about not enough time – be disciplined.
- Do your dreads first – There’s a reason why your parents told you to eat the stuff on your plate you don’t like first. It stops all the fighting and arguing and makes the rest of the dinner far more pleasant. Studying is the same. Do the stuff you don’t like first and then you can relax and enjoy the stuff you do like doing. If you hate studying for chemistry, get it out of the way so you can then study for geography, which you love. Studying then becomes far more palatable and less stressful once you have your ‘dreads’ out of the way.
- Master your mind – If you’re a person who stresses before exams try this trick. I hate scary movies. Even though I absolutely know that a psycho clown is not going to jump out from under the couch and attack me, I still get chills and the hair stands on the back of my neck. The tricks my mind plays are so strong it effects my whole body. Before your exam starts, take some time to close your eyes and picture yourself walking out of the exam room ecstatic that you blitzed the test. See yourself high fiving your friends with a huge smile on your face. Feel the relief washing over you when it’s all done. I guarantee that your mind will trick your body into relaxing, and this will put you in a far better frame of mind to extract all that knowledge you have stored inside. Trust me it works just as well in the exam room as it does on the sports field.
- You are not your ATAR – Understanding this will help you keep things in perspective. Good marks do not equal good person and bad marks do not equal bad person. Think about all the other things you are – brother, sister, friend, boyfriend, girlfriend. What you are like in these aspects of your life is so much more important than an ATAR, so don’t forget them. Pay attention to this area of your life and be a good person, because good things come to good poeple. Also your dream job isn’t necessarily gone if the marks aren’t there. It just means you may have to take the more scenic route to get where you want to be.
So good luck to you all over the coming weeks, do your best but always remember what Albert Einstein said – ‘imagination is more important than knowledge’
AUTHOR:
Nathan Burke is the founder of Nathan Burke Consulting – a Melbourne based firm that offers training and coaching solutions helping people and businesses achieve High Performance.
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