Year 12 is a weird stretch of time, as it has built up the reputation of the “most important year of your life” and all your efforts and struggles within this year boils down to a 4 digit decimal that seemingly determines the trajectory for the rest of your career and life.
However, for such an important 365 days, it seems that there isn’t enough guidance on the what/when/who/where/why/how questions: what to do? When should I study? How do I prepare for an exam? And this leaves many students feeling directionless and often doing stuff just for the sake of doing stuff so they don’t feel guilty about scrolling reels all afternoon (speaking from personal experience).
Starting off with a bit of ethos for those English fanatics: my name is Chen Liang, and I graduated from The King’s School in 2025 with an ATAR of 99.90 and a State Rank 6th in English Advanced, and I am going to be studying a Bachelor of Science/Doctor of Medicine degree at USYD for the next 7 years! Yes SEVEN. For me, Year 12 was probably the most demanding, stressful, difficult, taxing, exhausting, tense year of my life (ran out of words on thesaurus.com), and you may also be feeling the same way if you just started Year 12, but I think that that feeling is perfectly normal, and by the end of this article, I hope to bring some confidence and reassurance to this arduous HSC experience!
So I’ve collated 4 main tips that I think will help you not just survive, but thrive and enjoy your final year in high school a little bit more.
Tip 1: Be purposeful about what you do, rather than blindly ramping up volume
“Clarity about what matters provides clarity about what does not.” - Cal Newport in “Deep Work”
The biggest trap that students fall into is thinking that the amount of hours you study will equate 1:1 into results. Although there is some correlation, the relationship between volume and outcome is not that simple. One famous saying that sums this up nicely is: “work smarter, not harder”, and I think that it applies here too - being very intentional with your practice will be much more efficient than having the mindset of “the more the merrier”, and not only will you see better results in exams, but it will decrease stress as volume is being reduced.
Below are some do’s and don’ts that can help you be more deliberate with your study.
| DO | DON’T |
|---|---|
| Do more study on the areas you struggle with | Keep spamming the easy questions/content you already know |
