How to work smarter and not harder in VCE?

[geek123456]

Any tips on working productively will be appreciated!
Cheers

[Poet]

Hi,
I am currently struggling to manage my four 1-2s and 2 3-4 s together in year eleven.I seem to be putting more hours of hard work which are not being reflected in my results.The competition in my class is intense and sometimes overwhelming.I am struggling to manage my stress and work productively at the same time.The intense load of my 1-2 s is causing me to neglect my 3-4s sometimes which I know should be the other way around.I am running low on motivation even though it is start of the school year.Any tips on working productively will be appreciated!
Cheers

Hey geek,

I know the feeling. Doing 6 subjects, two of them Year 12 in year 11 is a huge challenge. It sounds to me like you're already burning yourself out.
In order to help you with this, here's a great guide by Joseph41 on burnout. For the rest of it, here's my thoughts:

As someone who did a 3-4 subject in Year 11, I know how difficult it can be. I found that giving myself set hours every night (this year I'm doing 4-5 hours a night, but I did 3 in year 11) was really helpful. Do you have a study plan? This is definitely a good thing to get yourself. Be realistic about the time you have and how productive you will be at certain hours of the day. Find your element. Prioritise work that is due, and treat all of your subjects with the respect they need - if you have to choose between year 11 and 12, choose 12. Your teachers will understand if the workload is just too big for you at some point or another, especially if you talk to them about it before class or in your spares. This will reduce that stress of yours and help you feel like you're truly working towards something, because having a final goal is really important.

The competition can be super intense in some classes, and I know this can really weigh down on you, but try not to worry about it. Instead of stressing about comparisons, just do the best you can. Your Year 11 subjects don't matter that much when it comes to ranking, anyway. Know that no matter how this year goes, it'll be over one day. Every day is closer to the end, and so just do the best you can today instead of worrying about tomorrow.

Checklists are really good for this sort of organisation. Here's another article on using them!

As for working productively:
- Use Edrolo if you have it, or use another tool, even recording your own voice to listen through your notes. It's really important to take in all kinds of information: not just visual or rote learning, but listening to the information.
- Highlight or colour code
- Find the best times to study and use them
- TAKE BREAKS. This is vital. DON'T think you can work day and night and not get tired.
- Find what works for you. These are just suggestions of things that work for me, so it's okay if you don't like some of these suggestions.
- Ask other people what they do to study smart. You've done that already by hopping on ATAR Notes - well done with that, btw - but real people in real life can help you a lot, too. Teachers as well.

I think I've exhausted my current supply of advice, so I wish you well. You'll do great. Don't stress, you'll get through it!

[darkz]

Hey,

This year I'm also doing two 3/4 subjects - Methods & Biology and in my opinion I've been coping quite well, but it might be due to the fact that we don't have any Methods SAC's this term. However nevertheless, a good habit that I have would probably be that I use my time conservatively - so I pay 100% concentration during classes and make sure that I understand the content. And then in the classes where I've got spare time or I know the work, I just spend some time doing my 3/4 subjects, for example looking at biology notes, or completing left over methods exercises that I need to complete. By doing that, you can minimise the amount of time studying at home for memorising notes or concepts, rather applying them in practice questions.

I know that teachers generally get really offended if you use an upcoming SAC as an excuse for handing in work late, however ultimately, you should prioritize your 3/4 subjects over your 1/2 subjects, so wherever possible, try and get your 1/2 work in time, but if you can't then just cop a roast and move on. And besides, if you get mediocre scores for tests and assignments for your 1/2 subjects, don't worry. Just make sure that you spend the time to revise and review the content and make sure that you understand it when you're not busy e.g. with SAC's / 3/4 work.

Well these are just things that I'm doing/are working for me this year, so don't worry if they don't work for you

[Joseph41]

Hi,
I am currently struggling to manage my four 1-2s and 2 3-4 s together in year eleven.I seem to be putting more hours of hard work which are not being reflected in my results.The competition in my class is intense and sometimes overwhelming.I am struggling to manage my stress and work productively at the same time.The intense load of my 1-2 s is causing me to neglect my 3-4s sometimes which I know should be the other way around.I am running low on motivation even though it is start of the school year.Any tips on working productively will be appreciated!
Cheers

Hey geek123456.

Some good advice above, so I'll just say this:

Perhaps a bit of reflection would be useful here. Why do you think your work isn't being reflected in your marks? What's your gut feeling? How is it that you're actually working when you're studying? What's your set-up? What time do you try to study?