How to do Better in Your VCE Exams
User Blog #003
Have you got VCE exams coming up? Are you stressed? Nervous? Feel like no matter how much work you do, it’s not going to be enough to hit that ATAR goal? Well, I’ve been there too. I’m going to share with you the strategies that helped me. Most of them will seem obvious, but use this post as a reference for each day as to what you should be doing. They’re obvious and well-known for a reason.
Let’s start with how much study you should be doing (/how much I did). Simply put, whilst you’re at school throughout the day still, you should be doing 1 hour for 4 subjects (with the exception of SAC studying) every night. That’s 4 hours each night. Break that down in half by doing the first 2 subjects when you get home. Make these 2 the ones that you’re struggling with the most. Dinner, longer break, get the other 2 done.
*Do the hardest ones first so other ones seem a lot easier. You’ll also be less tired earlier in the night.
Say by the time you get home, eat, pat the dog etc. it’s 4pm. Another 10 minutes to get settled at your desk and put your phone in another room.
4:10–5:10pm: Subject #1
5:10–5:25pm: Break
5:25–6:25pm: Subject #2
6:25–7:00pm: Dinner + Break
7:00–8:00:pm: Subject #3
8:00–8:10: Break
8:10–9:10: Subject #4
9:10-bedtime (around 10:30): Relax
I found that rotating one subject out each night helped with time management and made me focus better on the other ones. You also might be thinking that 9pm could be too late to stop studying. It’s not. You’ve only got 1.5 months left until your exams. Just get it done. Also, if you’re doing sport of some sort on some weeknights, record which subjects you didn’t get much work done on and focus a bit more on those ones for Saturday + Sunday.
On weekends, I would still rotate a subject out, but would do 2 hours for each subject instead of 1. For the nights you feel less motivated to do a practise SAC from Term 1 or revise content, just get your notes perfect. Make sure you have everything in the study guide (+ some) and that they’re neat and well-ordered. This will save you a lot of time/headache during SWOTVAC.
Another thing I did was keep a live sheet (I did mine in Notion) that tracked my progress. I would write out all the main topics from Unit 3 + 4 of each subject and give myself a progress score (/10) on how well I felt I understood the topic at the end of each week.
Here are some tricks I have implemented since VCE that I find help with productivity + concentration a lot, and wish I had done when I was in Year 12.
- 5 minute meditation every morning
- Cold shower every morning (it’s gonna suck at first, especially during winter)
- Consistently drinking water (lots of people don’t)
- Drink coffee (I did this during VCE too)
- Go for a run 2–3 days a week (especially when your brain feels fried)
These little things work wonders.
Extra tip: Don’t sweat it if you have a bad study night and feel that you were unproductive. Just try again tomorrow.
In SWOTVAC, there is no structure. Just work. A lot. (Take the structure bit lightly, create a plan and follow it religiously; just make sure it includes a lot of time spent studying!). At the end of the day, it all just comes down to discipline and consistency in your study.
So, delete that ‘Deakin ATAR calculator’ tab and get back to work.
