Should I Be Studying During My Holidays?

In retrospect, my biggest advice to my ‘year 12 self’ would be to stress a little less, especially if you are surrounded by high-achievers who spent their holidays studying. You do not have to study throughout the whole summer break, but you can train and strategise to ensure you have the optimal chance of emerging victorious from the battlefield of Years 11 and 12. Let me share my best tips!

Table of Content:

1. Mentally Prepare yourself for the School Year ahead
2. Gather the Necessary Resources for the Next Year
3. Set up your Study Routine for the rest of the Year
4. Take Care of Yourself
5. FAQs

1. Mentally Prepare yourself for the School Year ahead

How many times have you heard the phrase, ‘Year 12 is a marathon, not a sprint’? It’s cliched, because it’s true. Burnout is an extremely common phenomenon amongst students, and it can be extremely detrimental to your mental health and subsequent academic performance.

Firstly, prepare for it to be a taxing year. Prepare for exam marks that you weren’t expecting despite putting in hours of study. Prepare for teachers who might not meet your expectations. Prepare for sacrifices to be made, and disappointments.

But also know that these won’t define your final score, nor should it affect your personal sense of value or belief system. Things may not necessarily go your way, but these things will make you stronger and more determined.

Have avenues in place that’ll ensure you’re taking care of your mental health throughout the year. Book an appointment with a psychologist, organise study groups, listen to podcasts, watch Netflix. Oh, and attend your friends' 18th celebrations, because there’ll be a lot of them.

2. Gather the Necessary Resources for the Next Year

One of the biggest things that helped me during Year 12 was ensuring I was well-stocked with resources for the coming year. Having resources meant that I was able to better fill in gaps of knowledge when I came across them, and have a variety of sources to diversify my understanding of topics. Each resource was beneficial by fulfilling a particular niche. For instance:

• Student-made resources would identify the key pieces of information that I’d need for exams, whereas textbooks were comprehensive for holistically understanding concepts.

There are a myriad of second-hand notes and textbooks constantly being circulated on Facebook marketplaces and Year 12 groups. Ask friends in older year levels whether they’d be willing to share their notes with you. Seek out free resources hiding in the crevices of Google. Obtaining resources doesn’t have to be expensive, and it shouldn’t be. If you’re looking for some online courses, KIS Academics has some available here!

3. Set up your Study Routine for the rest of the Year

You’ll rarely find a successful student who didn’t possess a strong sense of organisation. When you’re juggling 5-6 different subjects, you often don’t have any choice but to be.

What will free up your mind is to have a flexible roadmap of how you want your year to progress. Set broad goals, such as:

• When you’d like to finish parts of the curriculum
• When you’d like to start doing practice exams
• How many you’d like to do

This will do two things:

1. Keep you accountable during your Year 12 journey; and
2. Force you to get vaguely familiar with the concepts that you’ll be covering over the next 12 months or so.

Keep these goals in mind, but also remember that you should be to be kind to yourself.

4. Take Care of Yourself

Even soldiers going to war need to be well-rested for optimal performance. Enjoy the rest of your summer break before re-embarking on your academic pathway so that you’re excited to give everything you have to the coming year. After all, if you’re embarking on a journey, you’d want to get going on a full tank of gas!

Conclusion

The holidays are meant to be for relaxation, and to get you well-rested before the new school year begins. It never hurts to do a little preparation though, and the above tips are the bare minimum things to do. For more advice, check out these KIS Academics articles:

Back to School Checklist: The Ultimate Checklist for both Students and Parents to make Back-to-School a Breeze | KIS Academics

Use this handy back-to-school checklist to keep on top of planning and preparations, making it a smooth and stress-free transition back into the school term rhythm.

KIS Academics BlogManoj Arachige

How to get a 99+ ATAR - A Medical Student’s Study Routine

As year 12 rolls around, one of the most commonly asked questions by students is: “How should I study to get an ATAR above 99?”. If this is something that has crossed your mind, this is the right article for you.

KIS Academics BlogManoj Arachige

What the future high-achieving students of 2023 have been doing in their summer holidays to ensure success

So you want to be in Australia’s top 5% of students? Well, you need to be doing something outside the ordinary - here are some habits you should start over the school holidays to get ahead.

KIS Academics BlogManoj Arachige

FAQs

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