Howdy! Howdy! Howdy! And welcome to today’s post!

Today’s post is about the things that I wish I knew before I started Year 12 in Melbourne and hopefully I can pass on the things I have learnt to those who are about to go into Senior School. I will cover a range of things from subjects, to the importance of Year 12, to social things and opportunities. There might be a bit of cross over or inconsistencies within each section but these are just my thoughts and personal opinion.

I’ll start here; with the subjects and subject selection. Every teacher has always said to pick the subjects you like, and I can only second that advice. Picking subjects you like and have an interest in will always mean you will want to learn about it to some extent, which means you will theoretically do as best as you can since you have an eagerness to study the subject.

In saying that, I think the only idea that would be more important than selecting subjects you like is the subjects you select as a whole and the broader range of different topics you cover. And these two ideas must go hand in hand and should almost be a 60:40 split in favour of broadening your topics. The reason for this, is the knowledge and vast amount of skills you will gain from and if you can cover a science, maths, humanities, arts and even a language; the extensive skills that you will gain will be exceptionally wide and will set you apart from an all STEM or Arts student.

For example, science gives you a better understanding of how the natural world works around us and more importantly gives you knowledge of how to discuss and answer science questions, which although sounds extremely boring to some, this ability is transferable and can be taken into any aspect of your future life. As the ability to hypothesise a situation and come to a conclusion based on facts not only allows you to have your own ideas, but also how to express them cohesively to others — therefore improving your communication skills. This is similar to humanities, although centres around history and culture rather than science, whereas the arts will enhance your creative side of you brain. But again, a variety needs to be balanced with interest and drive to study those subjects! 

When picking subjects and moving into your selected subjects ensure your knowledge of the content and what you will study is better than that of the person sitting next to you, not as a competitive drive, but more importantly it is about not having any regrets in your selections. Picking a subject and finding you don’t like it and having to change halfway through Unit 1/2 or at the end of the year will put you behind, even if 1/2 isn’t in 3/4. As your base knowledge of the subject is discussed at the beginning of the year and that is your last chance to decide if you like it, which begs the question of; why wouldn’t you want to know if you like it before you start? At any school you have access to teachers of the subject, students who are doing it or have done it, so why not ask them? It will never hurt to have an understanding of the topic, and to know what to expect in 3/4.

The main method of knowing what’s in the subject, apart from teachers and students, is by going to the VCAA website and looking for the study design of the subject(s) you’re interested in or undecided on, because it is laid out extremely clearly. Once you’re happy with your subjects and you are pretty sure that’s what you want to do and have the books for the subject, something that I regret I didn’t do was read through the textbook of the subjects or the study guide. This is super helpful for two reasons; first, to cement that you will enjoy the subject and fits your wide range of choices and second, you put yourself ahead of others in your class. If you know what you’re studying and possibly some of the theory 6 months before; you are in a much better position to hit the ground running and come into every class with the best advantage possible. 

Next I want to talk about the importance of homework… (I can feel a whole heap of eye rolls) but it is important, very important. Homework needs a whole new rebrand, it doesn’t have to be this useless and boring work that you do at home because your teacher told you. Homework is improving your learning and helping you understand the concept more, and your teacher is only giving it to you because they believe it will help. And even if you complete the bare minimum required you are probably ahead of a vast majority of the rest of the students in your subject in Victoria. If you think the bare minimum is not enough and you want to keep going, then do, don’t just stop at the end of the homework because if you have time or if you think there is something more you can be doing then do so. This is extremely hard for most of the population and is due to our subconscious and conscious mind. Let me explain;

Our subconscious brain accounts for around 95% of our actions and thoughts, and stores memories, habits, experiences, beliefs and values. In comparison our conscious brain is the thing that sets targets and is used when you consciously make a decision, and because our subconscious is faster, stronger and more advanced it usually takes over, especially when we are tired and have too many things to think about. This leads us to doing things that are good for us now and in the moment, especially when our conscious brain can’t logically decide, and as a consequence our habits take over our thoughts leading us to thinking that chocolate and Netflix is better for us than an apple and going for a run.

This is heightened when you are tired and have a lot of hard tasks in front of you, as your subconscious just wants to make you happy now and give you are dopamine hit that you know is easy to get. Your subconscious is concerned with keeping you safe in times of difficulty or adversity or change and can result in you creating excuses that seem logically to you but you know they are not. However, changing your habits through everyday tasks can change this and change your subconscious into it telling you that doing that science project is good for you. Start with awareness (reading this gives you awareness, so you can’t say you didn’t know), try to notice the things your brain is telling you to do and write them down if you think its necessary and just judge the stuff your subconscious is saying, you don’t have to tackle it and try and push it down because it is a losing battle — like trying run 100m against Usain Bolt.

Next is to set some goals and what you want in the future, there is not much that will change in the moment for you, but realigning your subconscious with what you want to achieve is the point of this exercise. This you have to write down. Find some motivation, some pictures or something and add it within in your goals, make sure they are clear and measurable and achievable, make it obvious as to what your subconscious should desire.

Then turn this into a habit, with small baby steps each time. Your subconscious is telling you to not do this because you can’t be bothered, but if you do, you can reprogram it so that this will be something you want to do anyway. And just some house keeping, use a diary if you need, and a to do list and plan out and tick off the things you have done. (1)

Continuing from this I want to discuss your overall motivation and what it should be. I think about motivation has having two different paths and you can decide which one works for you. One centres around your end goal and if you have a plan after school, and the other is about your love and appreciation of learning and information.

I started with the second motivation driver, that I love learning and learning about anything that anyone puts in front of me and I thought that this would drive me to work and do that little bit extra, simply because I would want to learn about the topic. This for me sounded extremely nice and sat gently on my morals and values knowing that I would do well because I like to learn. This kept me motivated for a very long time, especially in younger years, where I could put myself above others in marks because I just wanted to learn. For me this is something that I was born with and developed over time, so to say that I would know how to find the love of learning would be difficult.

I can say, however, that this relates to your subjects and selections as having interesting subjects will drive you to do them naturally. But, when the going gets tough and you have 3 SACs in one week and folio due, with band practice and basketball after school doing that other bit of reading for your politics class does not seem viable, and therefore your subconscious brain — no matter how much you love politics — will nine times out of ten, tell you that you shouldn’t do it. This I learnt the hard why, when I didn’t do that little bit of work because I had a heap of stuff going on and I couldn’t rely on my interest to drive me. Don’t get me wrong, if you believe that this will take you to the end and get you good marks then go for it because it will push you quite far. Or you can go on the other path, or find somewhere in between, where you refer to your end goal.

This end goal for me is to become a psychiatrist and study medicine after a science degree, and to get there you need pretty good marks. So I have to remind myself of this and that if this is what I want to achieve I have to do the work in front of me, no matter how boring it is. Even if someone put a business management or accounting paper in front of me, and said I had to do it to become a psychiatrist I would (sorry business people). You just have to do it to get there.

I say this because the education system relies on you to do well in a pressurised environment under timed conditions to get a number that ranks you with others, and unfortunately as much as I despise this way of thinking, no one is going to make an exception for you because you don’t like the education system — I know right, how annoying. To tie this together, these two ways of thinking are more like a spectrum and you can use them together, although they morally clash in my head, because one is a sunshine and rainbows approach that you love learning, and the other is a harsh reality, and they can collide in the middle somewhere (which, again, is why subjects are so important). 

This is probably going to be my favourite topic… 

The unimportance of Year 12. The two years of studying a 3/4 makes up about 11% of your life so far, and will make up roughly 2.5% of your overall life… Its so small that the amount of pressure and stress that people put themselves through to get a number at the end of the year is unjustifiable. Simply because there are an infinite amount of pathways to get where you want to end up. So please take Year 12 to learn about yourself, friends, and life skills over trying to get a 99.5 ATAR. As I mentioned before, the situation and expectations that are put on exams is ridiculously unrealistic and will never happen again in the real work environment and the only purpose is to rank people. It doesn’t consider those that have the skills needed for a high tier job, so just remember that no one defines you by your ATAR and no one will ever care about it after you get into uni. 

Although Year 12 isn’t relatively important, using your teachers and experts around you is. If you’re fortunate enough to go to a school that has teachers that write the study design, or mark the exams, or lecture about the topic then please use them as they are the best resource. Teachers know the topic extremely well and can help explain theories better than any textbook could, so if you don’t understand anything just ask. I know it can feel bit awkward sometimes to ask a teacher that you don’t know a question, so you should make an effort to build a good relationship or if your teacher tries to make an effort to talk to you and engage please reciprocate, because it will make your life that little bit easier. 

A big topic of school is your social group and the friendships that you form. I think school is the most known for being an environment where you most care about what people think of you but where you should care the least. This is especially true during the younger years of high school and until you find your group and the people you think you will know for the rest of your life will you realise that no one cares about you as much as you think.

This is most known as the spotlight effect, which can sometimes lead to imposter syndrome; the spotlight effect is where we other think and overestimate how much other people are taking notice of us. In other words, we tend to think there is a spotlight on us at all times, which highlights our flaws and never exaggerates our positive aspects. As a result it can cause us to become a victim of imposter syndrome. It is the feeling that you don’t deserve the success you have received and that you are not as good as what other people think of you. Anyone can suffer from each of these mental blocks and both are valid reasons to talk to someone to overcome and conquer these roadblocks as that is the only way for you to move forward and do the best you can in life and in Year 12.

If you notice that you are not meeting the expectations of others, which I will tell you now that it is false, you should chat with a friend, a parent and a professional. Social groups and who you are friends with will constantly change and you have to be able to tackle those adversities within the social norms.

I also believe that everyone should make an effort to know everyone in your year level by name and have the relational ability to say hi to them without it being too awkward. In saying that, you also need to find your people and who you relate to, who you can convene with regularly, who you can feel comfortable knowing that you will know them for a long time.

This, for most, is extremely difficult as the weight and pressure that the elephant of being cool and liked is placed on people, and unfortunate as it is, the state of being cool is defined by drinking at Year 10 and vaping at every party — because damaging your health is “cool”.

For me this notion of what cool is needs to hastily be rediscovered and redefined, although it is going in the wrong direction because of things like social media (a post for another time). Being ‘cool’ needs to be about being a compassionate, empathetic leader who can talk with everyone and is respectful.

As that to me is the most important characteristic, rather than being the prettiest, risk-taking 17/18 year old there ever was, because no one actually cares by Year 12 and no one will care how many followers you have or your snap score after school. Making friends and being confident in who you are to create a network to support you in your future endeavours should and must be at the forefront of your mind.

Last main point is about taking up the opportunities that are at your disposal. This I understand can be a matter of circumstance as I was fortunate enough to play multiple sports, sing in a choir, perform in a musical and shows, have a competition based on a mock court case et cetera. But if you do have these opportunities please utilise it and if you are not interested in something then don’t do it, but only that reason is valid. If you are too concerned about what others think about you if you stand in the middle of a stage with a tiny bit of makeup on or if you’re on a footy field, then you need to change your attitude. Even not having enough time is 99% invalid, everyone has time, it just depends upon what you do with that time, because the saying that; ‘give a busy person something to do, they will get it done’ is absolutely true. And the ability to manage a busy schedule not only allows you to develop amazing skills like organisation and communication but it also gives you the ability to put yourself in a better position than most others. My last point on this is to make sure you don’t regret anything before you leave, and its as simple a that. If you wish you did a sport or played an instrument, you can’t go back in time…

Last note is to have fun! Again, school relatively does not matter at all and you should in the midst of everything have fun and find productive time to yourself and maybe not use your off time to sit on the Xbox and rather read or write! And especially have fun at schoolies at the end of the year, if you go!!!

https://mindsetforsuccess.com.au/why-dont-we-do-the-things-we-know-are-good-for-us/

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-spotlight-effect-3024470

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/overcoming-impostor-syndrome.htm