Interview with 2017 General Exhibition Winner
The very impressive Jaslyn Woo is a musician, a student, a past General Exhibition winner, a future doctor and an Ace tutor. Having highly achieved in her year 12 subjects of physics, chemistry, maths methods, maths specialist, music and literature, she is now studying medical science at UWA with a direct pathway to a postgraduate medicine degree. We caught up with Jaslyn to get her advice on year 12, studying for WACE and how to choose a degree at uni.
On how she chose her degree:
When I was thinking about what I wanted to do in uni, I thought that I would really like to work in a career that is very hands-on and practical. I think with medicine, you’re not only able to apply stuff practically in the workplace and interact with lots of different people, you’re also able to make a positive impact on society as well, which is something that I think is really great. So yeah, I thought I’d give it a shot! I do like a little bit of a challenge as well so that’s also why I decided to go with medicine.
On expectations versus reality in year 12:
I think year 12 was a little bit different to what I expected, I sort of thought it would be extremely hard and everyone would just be stressed all the time and that I wouldn’t be able to cope. But, I think that over the year I sort of managed to find what worked best for me in terms of studying and that made it a little less stressful and less hectic than everyone sort of makes it out to be.
On what she would do if she had her time again:
If I could redo year 12, one thing that I would do a little bit differently would be to start thinking about uni and what I wanted to do a bit earlier, because when I was in year 12, I was just kind of stuck in the moment of getting through assessments and stuff. I kind of left thinking about the future until the end and then that was a little bit stressful, just trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I think if I had read up a little bit more on courses at university or how the application process and everything worked that would have been good because uni is really different from high school, so you have to do a lot of things independently. I think if I had started that a little bit earlier, it would have made that transition a bit smoother.
On how she chose her degree:
I talked to a lot of people that were currently studying the courses that I wanted to go into. Like, a couple of people that just graduated from medicine and stuff and just asked them about what the course is like. I also applied interstate as well, so I wanted to know what the benefits were of going interstate, or what the challenges would be to try so I could decide whether I wanted to stay in Perth or move over. So, that was my main point of contact for that. But I also visited uni open days and stuff as well.
On her study technique:
My study technique is not as organised as people might expect it to be, just because I had a lot of stuff going on, like extracurricular activities in year 12. I found that it was easier for me just to sort of plan each day as it came, rather than to force myself to do certain things. Instead, I just kind of improvised. I usually tried to work in short amounts of time, especially when I was feeling really distracted, so like 20 minutes of just doing study and not going on my phone or anything and then after that I would reward myself with like a 10 minute break, where I can just chat with people on Facebook or something like that.
On studying in year 12:
My top tip for studying in year 12 is probably to use as many resources as you can, school tends to give you quite a lot in terms of practice papers and exams so, I would say, those are the best form of studying because the more you practice the more you become familiar with the kinds of questions that they ask and that just makes you a lot more comfortable when you go into an exam, because you kind of know what to expect and you’re able to practice the same skills that they actually examine you on. For maths and science in particular, definitely just do practice questions. That’s pretty much the main way to get the concepts into your head because it’s not really a rope memorisation thing, you have to develop the concepts and learn how to apply them, rather than just memorising a definition of something like in human bio and stuff.
On how to enjoy year 12:
Just keep things in perspective, it’s really hard sometimes, in the moment, because you forget and you think that year 12 is such a big year and everything is so stressful. But at the end of the day, coming from someone that’s just graduated, you kind of realise it wasn’t that much of a big deal and so it’s okay every now and then to take a bit of time off for yourself and make sure you’re still enjoying yourself because year 12 is a really special year as well, so if you try to keep perspective as well and realise that one bad mark isn’t really going to affect your entire future, then that is what helps you enjoy the year the most.
On ‘traps’ that students fall into:
Probably the biggest trap that people fall into in year 12 is cramming, because everything just, sort of, piles up and then you have to suddenly power out like a bajillion assessments in one go. So I would say, in order to tackle that, just try to think ahead a little bit, plan ahead of time, know what’s coming up and try to prioritise the things that you need to get done first so that you kind of avoid having to do everything in a really short period of time.
On private tutoring:
I didn’t [use private tutoring] but sometimes I wish I did! I think it would have been nice just to have someone to go and ask questions when I needed to. A lot of the time, when I got stuck I just had to ask my friends and if we were both stuck then we would have to go to the teacher or something but I think private tutoring is definitely beneficial because I tutor people myself and I see how helpful it can be to them. So, I think I would have benefited from it as well.
On time management:
In terms of dividing up your time, as I said before, you just need to try and think ahead. Just write everything down that’s coming up and try to see what is the biggest priority, or maybe what things you think you might need to spend more time on. Once you’ve done that you can basically just fill in the gaps with free time or hanging out with friends, or just doing things that you enjoy to have a break. I think it’s really important to make sure you’re not just studying 24/7 because you just get too tired from that and then everything just becomes unproductive.
On advice for parents:
I would say to parents of people in year 12, just do your best to make sure that your child is enjoying their time in school and not getting too stressed out. Parents have so much experience in terms of life after school, try to help them keep perspective sometimes if they’re feeling stressed out.
Jaslyn also works as one of our incredible Ace tutors! Download the app today to request a lesson with her.
Click here to learn more about the Ace Tutors app.
Click here for more handy tips on year 12, WACE and life after high school.
