What Study Routine to follow to get a 99+ ATAR?

Hi! My name is Sue, and I am a final year medical student who (somewhat) survived the torturous intense study periods and exams in high school. Year 12 is a long year, and building habits that promote focus, consistency and perseverance can set you up extremely well to achieve a 99+ ATAR.

Here is the study routine I adopted to get my 99+ ATAR, and hopefully it can give you some tips on how to structure your own too.

How did I structure my Study Routine?

Beginning of the year

The first few terms of the year are incredibly important, they set you up for smooth sailing later in the year.

1. Be familiar with the subject syllabi and assessment expectations:
   1. Make it a part of your routine to know the syllabus points for each new topic really helps to give you an overarching view of the subject.
   2. I also made my notes COMPLETELY based on the subject syllabus and ensured that I did not miss even a single learning outcome. 
2. Create a study schedule:
   1. Start by assessing your subject strengths and weaknesses, allocating more time to those trickier subjects without foregoing or ignoring your stronger areas.
   2. Divide your schedule into daily, weekly, and monthly goals, setting clear, achievable targets that keep you on track for each subject’s syllabus (e.g a goal could be to finish notes for chapter 2 by week 3 of school, or to finish chapter 4 of your mathematics textbook this week).
   3. If you have free periods at school, consider how you could use them to your advantage, whether by reviewing content covered in classes that day or by previewing content for your next few classes. 
3. Weekly Content Review:
   1. Every weekend, I made it a habit to spend 1–2 hours reviewing the week’s content.
   2. I found this helped keep all the material fresh and reduced the stress of cramming later. You could do some practice questions or create a mind map/summary sheet to actively synthesize your learning.
   3. The key is ACTIVE LEARNING AND RECALL! Passively re-reading your notes is better than nothing, however, it does not make the most of your time in a time-crunched year. 
4. Keep a Mistakes Log-book:
   1. Part of my study would be to keep a log book of all the questions I got wrong, which I would keep updated throughout the year with the question and its details (e.g. textbook name, question number/sub-number, mistake and solution.
   2. Make this a consistent part of your study routine and you’ll be on track to have a personalized set of questions to target your own weaknesses! It is a great resource when it comes to revisions.

Mid-year and end-of-year  

By the middle of the year, you will have become familiar with the flow of senior schooling. It is important to ensure you continue maintaining the good habits you’ve developed in the first part of the year.

1. Maintain focus:
   1. Stay consistent with your habits, but also give yourself time to relax. Ensure you are sleeping enough, because sleep deprivation, especially long-term can really affect your concentration among having many other detrimental effects. 
2. Maintain time for relaxation and hobbies:
   1. Having some time for yourself to decompress is important and helps to reduce your risk of burnout!
   2. In my study routine, I incorporated rest time/breaks, especially after school (from about 3-4:30pm) before even thinking about studying. 

When exam season approaches, your study focus should transition to consolidation and targeted practice. Here are my tips:

1. Develop an exam-study timetable to plan your time and make sure you cover all the topics.
2. Consider whether you are more suited towards high-focus studying in the morning or evening (early bird vs night owl). If your focus peaks in the morning, try to do revise for your hardest topics in the morning, 
3. In your exam revision routine, make sure to consider when your exams are during the day (i.e. a morning, midday or afternoon exam), and try to study for that subject roughly during that time of the day to get yourself into the habit.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, you should still find a study routine that works for you. These are just my tips, and what helped me achieve my academics goals. If you require further assistance, a private tutor from KIS Academics can not only help you with your subjects, but also equip you with the tools you need to study smarter.

FAQs

Written by Sue Nguyen who pursued a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at The University of Adelaide.

Want more personalized study guidance to help drastically improve your marks? A private tutor from KIS Academics can make the biggest difference!