So, it’s finally over. You’ve put down your pen for your final exam, and you’re DONE with Year 12 exams. That’s super exciting - congratulations! 🥳

You’ve probably been thinking about this moment for a long time, but now that you’ve made it, you might not know what to do next. But no stress - that’s what this article is for! Here are some quick ideas for your next steps.

 

Take some time off

The first thing you might like to do is simply take some time to yourself. High school really can be a bit of a slog - particularly the last few years - so it’s nice to think that you have some time to do whatever interests you most. No need to think about studying, no need to think about exams.

In the build-up to exams, you might have dropped off a few of your regular hobbies or interests. Why not embrace this post-high school time to double down on those hobbies, or even take up something new? The Duolingo owl is just sitting there waiting for you to start learning a new language!

 

Travel

If your circumstances allow it, this can be a great time to spread your wings and see the world. It doesn’t really matter where you go - the planning, the exploring, and the adventuring is all part of the fun (and it’s very different to studying for exams!).

 

Work

But to travel, of course, you might need to earn some money. Depending on the area you’re interested in, jobs might be a bit hard to come by at this time of year, but a lot of companies are also hiring pre-Christmas.

You never know what opportunities are out there until you start looking - so why not start looking? Getting a job sorted now could make it easier before next year rolls around.

 

Volunteer

Volunteering at uni can be a great way to spend your time, but there are lots of opportunities to volunteer before university, too. Volunteering is a really neat way of building your CV and professional experiences, but it’s obviously just an awesome way of giving back to the community, too.

Choose an area you’re interested in, and do a little bit of research to see what’s around in your area. Volunteering doesn’t need to be high-commitment or eat up a lot of your time, but it can make a huge difference to both you and others.

 

Get organised

If you’re anything like I was, you’ll probably be inundated with a heap of random notes, textbooks, past exams, and other stuff you’ve accrued from throughout the year. You never really feel like it’s the right time through the year to get properly organised, but now there’s a nice little window!

Get recycling, get donating - whatever you can to get organised. But remember that keeping some of your better materials can be useful if you’re looking to tutor at some point.

 

Give back to ATAR Notes!

There are lots of ways you can contribute back to the ATAR Notes community, but a really easy one is uploading your notes to our online database of free notes.

You might have used these notes yourself through the year. Those notes were only available due to the generosity of past and current students just like you - so we would really appreciate it if you paid the favour forward!

 

Congratulations again on finishing your exams, and best of luck for the rest of the year.