Start The Year Right

Start The Year Right

Are you feeling nervous? Have you got all of your books packed, stationery bought and tried on your school uniform?

No? Well in that case you are not as big a nerd as I am, but that's fine, I still accept you 😌
Year 12 is a llllooooonnnngggg year, the days will drag, you'll feel like you're constantly preparing for a SAC and waiting to hear how you went on the last one. Strangely, the year will also pass quickly and you'll be surprised that you've just finished your last ever VCE English SAC. You may not believe me now, but every year students tell me that this ended up being true for them.

Just like breakfast is the most important meal of the day, the way you begin VCE really does matter. The work you do before you even start can really set you up for a great year. I think of this period of time from the end of year 11 until about week 5 of term 1 as a power time. That's because for every hour of work you do now, I feel like it's worth 2 hours of work later in the year. If you work smart now, you can make the work you do later heaps more efficient, and also, unfortunately VCE is a competitive sport, it's essentially a ranking system (see my post on this), which means you need to outperform others (mostly others at different schools).

How many of your peers do you think are spending the end of year 11 holidays and the first 5 weeks of term 1 truly optimising their English result? Not many? Excellent- let's get you as far ahead now as possible!

Another good reason to work now, is that in theory this is the least stressed and most well-rested you are likely to be all year. Let's use that energy and brain power to improve all of your SAC results!

So, now that I've convinced you - what should you be doing?

1. Buy all of your set texts and textbooks as early as possible (sometimes stores run out!)

2. Label all of your books/folders for each of your subjects - absolutely ensure that you have one for each subject! I would love to do a study into predicting students' grades based on their stationery organisation. Each year I have students say "Nah, I keep all my notes in the one book. It works heaps better for me that way." These students ALWAYS end up doing worse than I expect. I don't know if this is cause and effect or correlation (go ask a math teacher) but it happens. Don't be that kid.

3. Read all of your set texts! The first time you read them (yes, you will read them more than once if you want to get a half decent score) you should read it like any normal audience member. Read as if the book is a gift from the author. They want to share something with you, be open to that and see if you can work out what that is.

4. Write down your initial thoughts about the texts and any questions you have.

5. Read all of the information your school has given you about the English course including which Area of Study each set text is for. Write that down in the front of your English note book.

6. Read the newspaper often (start with whatever newspaper your parents read, if they do, and then branch out. Sample from both The Age and The Herald Sun and then look further afield too.)

7. Write. As often as you can. About anything. Don't edit your writing. Don't be critical. Write fiction and non-fiction. Keep it somewhere in your folder.

8. Read. As much as you can. Preferably stuff related to your set texts. Start with Wikipedia (I know you were going to anyway) but then branch out. Check out IMDb if you're studying a film. Google the author of your texts. What have critics and others said about your texts? Any information you store in your brain now acts as a framework for future knowledge to be built up around. Someone in your class will ask "who's (insert name of author or main character here)?" Don't be that person!

Finally, balance everything I've just suggested with some time to yourself. You will be really busy this year. It's important that you don't burn out. Don't give up your team sport or your job, if you love them and they keep you sane, but you will have to organise your time more carefully. Use this time to do some things you love and spend some time with family and friends. Year 12 may be the first time in your life where you have to say no to things you'd actually love to do. So enjoy your free time now, if you are serious about doing well academically this year you will need to prioritise.

Go enjoy the sunshine.