There’s something unusual about the way time seems to behave in the senior years. Assessments sit a little too comfortably in the distance, making progress feel invisible and motivation hard to find - until deadlines suddenly arise, and the pressure begins to build.
This pattern, believe it or not, is completely normal (one could even say it’s a universal human experience!). What sets aside the top achieving students however, is how they escape that sense of “Sisyphean stagnancy”: this cycle of easing off when exams are distant, only to scramble when they arrive.
Energy and effort is finite, top achievers know it’s not about endless studying and rather about allocating effort where it generated the greatest return. Understanding what genuinely deserved my attention and what didn’t. Figuring out what approach worked for me and what didn’t. That balance became especially important while taking on leadership responsibilities as Vice-Captain, and still trying to enjoy the year as it unfolded.
That approach led to a 99.80 ATAR, two state ranks (10th in Mathematics Extension 1 and 9th in Information Processes and Technology), All-Rounder, the Future Innovators Award, 98th percentile in the UCAT (2470), and an offer into UNSW Medicine. But none of those outcomes came from natural talent or constant motivation.
1. Break the “Coast then Panic” Cycle
One of the very first changes I made to my studies was breaking that Sisyphean cycle I had mentioned above; the temptation to slack off when assessments seem distant, only to scramble and stress out when they suddenly aren’t. Just as you wouldn’t split a 10k race into 100m sprints and 1k jogs, don’t let this rhythm manipulate the term into a sequence of artificial sprints, where urgency becomes the primary motivator.
I broke this cycle by introducing the following structure at the beginning of each term. During the first week back, I mapped out everything that was to be taught before the exams. If our teachers didn’t provide a scope (most of the time), I defaulted to assuming it would include the full module, which rarely proved to hurt. I then distributed and learnt this content from Week 2 up until one or two weeks before the exams, leaving enough time for any necessary revision of previous terms’ content/past papers.
But don’t stress if you find yourself stuck in this loop as there’s always time to reset your approach! Even well into Year 12, I caught myself falling into it. Heading toward Task 2s for English, I convinced myself there was plenty of time and delayed properly refining my Mod B drafts. Alas, a week before the assessment, I realised I didn’t have a response I was confident in. The result was memorising something underdeveloped, walking into the exam hoping it would hold together, and - unsurprisingly - receiving marks that reflected that lack of preparation.
Working through material consistently throughout the term shifted my focus from late stage crisis management to gradual cumulative progress. This even ended up reducing my cognitive load, as I no longer had to decide what to study each day. That decision had already been made, removing one of the most common barriers to starting.
