For many students, the first day of Year 12 feels less like stepping into a classroom and more like stepping onto a treadmill that never stops running. There’s so much noise swirling around even before the year begins: from exaggerated horror stories to dubious “AI study hacks” circulating social media, you’re faced with an overwhelming landscape that breeds more anxiety than productivity.
I still remember the feeling vividly - I’d always been a decent student, but the HSC brought a new level of pressure, a quiet fear that every mark would define the rest of my life. Between managing school assessments, co-curriculars, and a tendency to procrastinate, it sometimes felt like everyone around me was moving forward while my feet were stuck to the ground.
Over time, however (and after countless bouts of falling down and getting back up), things changed. Perhaps it was out of sheer necessity, or a need to prove something to myself, but I learned to implement intentional shifts in my mindset and habits that helped me work smarter, in less time. When I look back now, three strategies in particular stood out: setting realistic time goals, reflecting after exams and assignments, and fully connecting with the wide range of people and resources around me. None were revolutionary, but each of them, practiced consistently, made the HSC much less intimidating and helped me achieve results that I could be very satisfied with.
1. Time Management
I think everyone’s heard the phrase “time management” thrown around so often that it starts to sound like white noise, but there’s some truth to why it’s so heavily stressed as an effective tool. For me, time management wasn’t about creating the most perfect, disciplined schedule that I could follow to a T, but rather being honest about what I wanted to do and what I needed to do. Being realistic with your goals makes them easier to achieve and feels a lot better than guiltily realising you didn’t actually complete the four-hour Chemistry grind you penned into your calendar.
I found that writing out a schedule the night before a “study day”, accounting for both work and hobbies, helped me visualise what I could comfortably achieve. Seeing something like:
- 2-2.30pm: Chemistry MCQs
- 3-4pm: Eco Past Paper Review: Q21, 23c), 24b)
- 4-5pm: Go for a Walk
on a piece of paper on my desk not only served as a reminder of what I needed to do but also gave me something to look forward to afterwards, and I could cross out my tasks to identify activities that I’d missed (or avoided 😅). Moreover, scheduling in hourly or half-hourly blocks of time made tasks seem less overwhelming. You don’t have to try to complete an assignment all in one go and end up burning out five hours in; doing a quick 20-minute MCQ session instead of a 3-hour past paper when you’re tired doesn’t make you less effective of a worker.
It wasn’t about always completing everything I wanted to pack into a day - wishful thinking can sometimes lead you to think you have more time than you do - but it became an effective way to hold myself accountable for the time I did have, while also maintaining a level of flexibility.
