Remember the absolute, overwhelming sense of freedom that came with the sound of the final bell on Friday afternoon that signalled school holidays? In VCE, the same bell rings somewhat bittersweetly: although it’s a welcome relief from the high-pressure cycle of classes, SACs, co-curricular activities etc, there’s also an understanding that holidays might include some studying too. So how can you find the right balance of hitting the waves and hitting the books?
Based on my own VCE experience, finding the sweet spot will require a bit of discipline and planning. Here are my top tips for getting the most out of VCE school holidays.
Map out your Daily Schedule on Paper
Having a schedule down on paper helps you understand exactly what the end goal is in terms of study progress. Business leaders love to yap on about how you are 42% more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down, and the same goes for VCE.
Here are some useful digital tools if you prefer making the schedule online:
- Canva
- Notion
Make sure you intersperse time doing what works best to keep your physical and mental health in check: walking the dog, movies with a friend, even a two-minute intermission to meditate can be all you need to feel energised to smash out the rest of the practice SAC before you call it a day.
At the end of each week, check in with yourself to see how you’re tracking against your goals:
- Are you getting through as much content as you’d like?
- Did you get enough time outside to soak up some much-needed vitamin D?
By constantly reviewing your schedule, you’re more likely to return to school feeling positive about how you spent your holidays and positive about the rest of the year too.
Maintain a Regular Sleep Pattern
My rule is to go to bed by midnight, but I also understand that we all sit somewhere on a wide spectrum of sleep-wake cycles. For some of us, a regular sleep pattern can go from 9pm to the crack of dawn, and for others, it’s quite some hours behind that.
Regardless of whether you’re an early bird or a night owl, it is super important to make sure you’re getting the right amount of sleep over the holidays. Ideally, do not veer too far away from the sleep schedule you keep during term, as it can be a big shock to the system when you go back to school.
Find Creative Ways to Study
Even if you set out with the intention to smash through countless hours of essay writing and practice exams, chances are you’ll burn out sooner rather than later if you don’t mix it up a little.
One way I did this was studying biology through making flashcards that were colour-coded by topic, and then quizzing myself. This was, I ensured that I covered everything in the study design.
To make this process more fun, I made up a story that linked all the flashcards in a particular topic to a TV show. For example, the topic of cellular respiration was SpongeBob SquarePants, with Mr Krabs representing the Krebs cycle, and so forth… Corny as it may be, this certainly beat drilling a long list of terms with often archaic Greek names into my brain.
Start doing practice questions
One of the most valuable things for your VCE study will be sitting down towards the end of the year and doing trial exams (past VCAA papers and otherwise).
However, I would caution against smashing the trial exams out too early in the year. Past papers are most useful when you’ve covered all the learning objectives, so the holidays might not be the best time yet. Starting to do some exam-style questions, MCQs and the like, can be useful mid-year, but your time is probably best spent at this stage revising all the topics from semester one before you go on and learn a whole new chunk of content.
You could also do some research on the scaling of each subject you want to do. Here is a quick scaling report breakdown for 2022.
Conclusion
Of course, these are just my two cents, and different people will have different study patterns. Regardless, use the opportunity to take a break from the physical environment of school, and find what works best for you to feel comfortable and motivated to study at a sustainable pace.
Consider booking in a free 30-minute study skills consultation to discuss your holiday study strategy with an experienced tutor, so you can set yourself up for success in VCE and beyond. Have a look at these study guides too:
Manoj Arachige
Manoj Arachige
Dylan Kay
FAQs
How many hours should I be studying?
- That is up to you, and how much is effective for you. It also depends on how much content you have to catch up on.
- If you have a lot of content to catch up on, you might need to study a little more to ensure you do not fall behind in the new term.
- There is no golden number, you have to decide this for yourself. Make sure you still leave time for recreational activities!!
Can I choose not to study in the holidays?
- Absolutely! If you think that a break is what you need, take it! Your mental health is more important than anything, and you should do what is best for yourself.
- However, if possible, I would still recommend doing a few practices here and there to make sure you do not forget everything you learned in school.
Where can I find practice questions?
- You can ask your teachers for some practice questions if they did not give any homework.
- Practice your textbook questions.
- If you have a tutor, they should have some resources too!
Written by Dee Tomic who completed her PhD in epidemiology with Monash University.
