[Sam]

I have never been very academic or an over achiever or even someone that reguarly gets average marks.

But being in year 12 I have been trying to put in 110% and my marks are really showing the opposite. I'm guessing the study methods I have been using really arn't working for me.

Since most of you are big kids in uni now. What was your study method to retain information? I'm slightly disadvantaged in having a learning disorder but i'm trying to ignore it and I really want to do better.

So advice! and hopefully something better than try harder would be most appreciated!

[CH!MP]

well my technique was usually to leave everything to the last minute and try to wing any SACs. Well that's not totally true but yeah...i'm the worst person to be giving study advice so i think i'll quit here lol

[insanekilla]

My first bit of advice to you is for you to ask yourself, what do you want from life?

After you have that in mind, ask yourself if it requires a ridiculously high ENTER. I know that what you want to do doesn't. And there's no shame in it. So long as you're trying your best to achieve your goals and contribute to society, then congratulations Sammy, you are succeeding and VCE can go fuck itself.

But, considering that you want to do well in VCE regardless, here is my study advice:

- Study in bursts of 30 minutes. 30 minutes of good concentration.
- Take a break for 30 minutes.
- Study for 30 minutes.
- Break for an hour.

You should aim to get 1 - 2 hours of study done per weeknight like this (preferably leaning towards two), and 2-3 hours per day on the weekend. That is quite enough.

I had (and still do have) a bit of an attention span problem. Despite liking the subject matter for most of my subjects, I had to physically will myself to do the work. Part of that willing was in the light of the end of the tunnel. I saw my goal (the coveted >99 ENTER and the scholarship it would bring), and went for it.

This leads me to my next point. What is your motivation? That's what you have to find, here. If it's pride, then think of how awesome you'll feel when you wake up on that mid-December morning and read that you've beaten xx.xx% of the state! Is it a prize from your parents? Will you be getting money, perhaps a trip to an exotic country? These are all motivators, and that's what you've got to find.

In the case of your Art studies, perhaps the motivator might be that you just love Art!

An unmotivated student has no reason to study. You have to find a reason and capitalise on it.

Lastly, fuck SAC marks. Fuck teachers.

Man, I cannot stress this enough. I got Bs and sometimes Cs on a fair few of my year 12 English SACs (Albeit, I did pick this up towards the end of the year). My teacher marked me very harshly. I was towards the lower end of the class ranking. That did not deter me and I wound up beating most of the people on the exam who beat me during the year and got a score much higher than the mid-30 that my lovely teacher predicted for me at parent-teacher interviews.

You got a couple of bad grades. It's NOT the end of the world. Chin up, Ma'am, it only counts for a few percentage points of your grade! The exam is where it's at. Study hard and I have no doubt in my mind that you can achieve whatever it is you want.

Finally, and most importantly, have fun. Don't let study get to you. As a sort of irony, I'd go into the study room and do no study. I'd make paper planes and fly them around the room, have jovial conversations with others who had lost their will to keep working. Of course, this did get me kicked out of said room (supposed to be 'silent', though it never was) a few times. But that's the point. Have fun. Go out to the movies, have a life. Study as advised, but don't let study be an excuse for not having a social life. (Unless you want to get into med/law... but I don't think those are your interests )

The ENTER is only as important as you value it. I valued it highly for myself. I had (and still have) a strong interest in academia and valued my academic success highly, thus I coveted a high ENTER. Many others do the same. However, that does NOT MEAN that you should hold the same value for it. Nor should you let others hold you to that value. The only time the ENTER hurts is when you let it define your achievements and you don't do as well as you wanted to. If you know that the ENTER will not be definining the direction of your life (as in your case), why place so important a value on it? It doesn't deserve it.

I hope in that rambling that you were able to take something away that will help you in this year. The VCE is only as stressful as you make it out to be. You want to go into Music Event Management... fuck VCE. Just enjoy the year and try your best.

This post has been edited by insanekilla: Apr 16 2008, 02:19 PM

[Kelevra]

i gotta give props on that post dude, very impressive.

[kiki]

look i'll deny ever saying this but i agree with insanekilla .
depending on what ENTER you're after, depends on how much work you put in. i'm the opposite when it comes to retaining information - if i work for block sessions say 5 hours, i'll retain more than a 30minute session. but after that 5 hours i couldn't motivate myself back to doing any more for another 12 - i know my limits so i structure studying and working around that. while some people did 2 hours a night, i did massive block sessions on the weekend and while many people will advise against it, its what worked for me.
however, once you find whats working for you - stick to it, work around your constraints - get to know the boundaries of the learning mind. and definitely, do not, by any means - give up something you value highly for studying. say your friends are going out saturday night, but you have a sac on monday morning and would prefer to study for it. everyone would probably suggest you stay home and study for it. However, if you're anything like me - any work I got done would not have been productive, i'd be too depressed that my friends are out having fun and I'm stuck in my room on a saturday night. Bearing those situations in mind - always plan to be ahead in study if you can manage it, or find suitable replacement times to do the study you intended to do.

[chicken wing]

i'd say i spent most of year 12 staring off into space, but when i did study what i did was lots and lots of practice questions. Also this probably depends on your learning style but i found things easier to remember if i talked them over with someone: my parents, a sibling or a friend. It is good to talk things through because sometimes the people you are talking it over with have really good ideas, different perspective or a different way of explaning it which makes it easier to understand.
Good luck with year 12

[kimbanator]

First of all, I had to admit, I was a horrible study freak during year 12. I have learned a few things, I agree with you insanekilla, 30 minute sessions are good, but if you really feel like you are on a roll and are motivated to finish something (like a creepy essay or something fun for art) go right ahead!

Eat well. Then your brain is happy to work for you and try to sleep well. There is no bonus to falling asleep in class (people still do it in uni tutorials)

Read over your notes just before you go to bed the night before a SAC. They will be the last thing you remember before you go to sleep and then you will remember it better in the morning.

Don't be afraid to use lunchtimes to do assignments when you are desperate. It saves becoming tired too often.

Go see art exhibitions. Not only are they fun, but you can call it research or study. I remember for art there is a visual analysis componant, and I found that seeing a few exhibitions over the year helped me get ready to do it. Because when you see artworks for the first time, you analysis them. . The National Gallery of Victoria Permanent collections are free.

If you are doing further maths, I found that doing a few questions of topics covered earlier in the year (eg. Statistics) throughout the year every now and again helped me remember them better at exam time.

Good luck with year 12!!

This post has been edited by kimbanator: Apr 17 2008, 10:34 AM

[Fridgemagnet]

Being also in year twelve, I can say that I learn things much better when I explain them to someone else. If I have a basic understanding of something, it will stick with me if I explain it to someone who can't understand it.

[lozinabox]

don't do what i did-

have too muc extra cirricular activities on your plate (at least keep one- they help get rid of stress ) .. not do much for several hours after school and then study until the early hours of the morning... get minimal hours of sleep.. go to school.. fall asleep in class and THEN....

when it came to mid year break i crashed.
when end of year final exams came i crashed even worse and contracted glandular fever.

believe me. if i had slept more... i might not have crashed the same way that i did. sleep is a good thing

[yellow-button]

i'm a fellow year 12 too!
i know what you mean, sam. i've been trying really hard and thought i was on top of everything, when I get really crap marks.
it's sort of depressing, and makes me not really motivated to do more, cos the whole "well if i tried my hardest and got crap marks, then why try"

but it's comforting to know that there are other options, like TAFE or something along the lines of that.

[slurpee]

I realy dont agree with the studing for 30min followed by 30min break etc i would have got nothing done, half an hour isnt enough to do well anything, sept like the multi choice in a psych exam (lol).

The 3 mounths leading up before end of year exams i went to the baliu or somthing libary at the melbourne uni to study, from around 10am to 8pm everyday, skipping some days at school to do this as later in the year classes become pretty useless compaired to what you can do by yourself. I studied in 2 hour or so blocks with 15 minit breaks give or take in between, took a recess break and lunch break, that worked for me. Took it pretty easy through most of the year (save mid years) which obviosly wasnt the smartest idea but didnt end up effecting me so much. So long as you put the study in towards the end. As have been said, sacs realy arnt as evil as you'd think...sept maybe for english ones they dont count for that much.

This post has been edited by slurpee: Apr 24 2008, 01:59 PM

[insanekilla]

slurpee, 30 minutes at a time is how I studied and I'd say it worked pretty splendidly.

The only time I did more than 30 minutes was when I did practice exams, but that was only at the end of the year.

[Fridgemagnet]

It's been said a few times before, I think. You've gotta find a study method that works for you, whether it's short intervals or long blocks, or something in between

[insanekilla]

Right but Sam is like me... easily distracted by the pretty blue car (Simpson's reference...) 30 minute intervals work best for the attention-span retarded. Or, as we prefer to be called, attention-span challenged.

[chicken wing]

yeh i have a real short attention span when it comes to studying. so during year 12 i did the most important, easy and interesting stuff first so i could try and get myself on a roll. After that it was easier to do the boring crap.

[Sam]

Update: 1st English sac got all lows

but ! after this topic was made just received my English marks for my latest sac. 1 High 2 Medium 1 Low.

[Simonsmp]

try learn it, then teach it to people, like me. Seriously, teaching it makes you learn it best

[Fridgemagnet]

Yeah, I have to agree there. At my old school, I'd get straight A's in maths, then they put me in the advanced group and I'd start getting 49%. I spent 2 years alternating between maths classes every term/semester (Can't remember which). If you know the stuff, but you don't quite understand, explain it to someone and you'll understand better

[kimbanator]

Sam, there is only one way for your marks to go and that is higher!!! Just have some faith in yourself, because negativity does nothing except stress out.

Well done.

[lozinabox]

Sam, keep in mind that teachers often mark year 12 work harder because they want you to improve. Its a crazy tactic they use but yeh.. it does happen.

Remember, its the best that you can do, not being the best out of everyone that matters.