Everyone tells you that achieving your maximum potential means to do more than your best; to push your boundaries at every opportunity.
Whilst, I understand this approach I think there is a far better one to adopt for your HSC year.
Your maximum potential is essentially aligned with your personal best. With every task you complete, you should be able to move closer and closer toward this maximum potential; a potential that is constantly moving and is asymptotic in nature.
This being said, the most important part of your hsc year, is to do your best to make sure that whatever you do is of a quality you are proud of given the circumstances.
During your HSC year, nothing will go according to plan … trust me. You need to understand now that situations will shift, circumstances will shift … what will remain constant is that you are in year 12 and you are on the trek to complete your higher school certificate.
That is what it is.
The HSC is a trek, where you push a rock up a hill and in true Sisyphean spirit push against the constraints of the education system, which whilst flawed allows you to tap into your true consciousness. Who are you, when you are tested against the seemingly useless rules of a flawed bureaucracy?
Whilst, this post may seem sombre in tone it’s merely a wakeup call … how are you going to spend your last year at high school? Are you going to waste it or are you going to do your best, even when you may encounter hurdles that’ll most likely push you down?
Nothing is worse than looking back on Year 12 and only remembering a blur … there’s nothing interesting about a blur.
Tips:
1. Keep up with your study notes
a. Personally, since I was a humanities student I had a summary book- 64 pages A4 book – one for each unit for each subject, where I collated all my information and broke it down according to the syllabus requirements
i. These were my best friends for the HSC
ii. Whilst they may not work for you, you need to find a study note method that will allow you to keep on track with your notes, so you have more time for proper revisions and study, or so that you have more time to do the activities you want to do but that time inhibits.
2. Organisation!
a. I was never a fan of a study timetable, even in the weeks leading up to the exams, I didn’t have one. I always used to a to do list and planned in advance specific tasks I wanted to do. Sometimes I was ambitious, and sometimes I was the opposite. The important thing is to understand your capabilities and how much approximately you an achieve in your day given your specific lifestyle.
3. Marks and ranks are toxic … trust me
a. Whilst marks and most importantly ranks hold significance in your hsc, you mustn’t let them consume you. It’s easy to become so focused on the marks you get and the marks you need to get, but every now and then you need to unwind, take a day to just forget about your marks and your ranks … after all in a few years’ time (probably earlier) their significance will be minuscule.
4. Keep your ego in check
a. It’s easy to become so confident that you overestimate yourself … this will only bring suffering if you don’t get the marks you so eagerly desired. So keep your ego in check, and most of all have some perspective. Getting 77% isn’t the end of the world if you were usually achieving percentages in the 90s.
5. Why so serious?
a. Relax … I mean it! Yes, it’s the hsc but it shouldn’t mean that you throw the rest of your life out of balance. People would tell off those who worked even one shift a week, saying that it was distracting them from studying. The truth is that
i. A) Activities not involving school are therapeutic. They offer an escape from an institution that’s consumed with marks and ranks and scrawls on a paper
ii. B) If you work even only 3 hours a week … are you telling me that those three hours were always going to be dedicated completely to study without any form of procrastination. If not, then when you think about it those shifts are actually productive rather than being counterproductive.
iii. C) Outside school activities are great for resumes they show your ability to juggle which is something employers admire.
I hope these tips were helpful, and I hope you choose to adopt a sensible mindset for your hsc and do your best to maintain it.
Good luck!
Whilst, I understand this approach I think there is a far better one to adopt for your HSC year.
Your maximum potential is essentially aligned with your personal best. With every task you complete, you should be able to move closer and closer toward this maximum potential; a potential that is constantly moving and is asymptotic in nature.
This being said, the most important part of your hsc year, is to do your best to make sure that whatever you do is of a quality you are proud of given the circumstances.
During your HSC year, nothing will go according to plan … trust me. You need to understand now that situations will shift, circumstances will shift … what will remain constant is that you are in year 12 and you are on the trek to complete your higher school certificate.
That is what it is.
The HSC is a trek, where you push a rock up a hill and in true Sisyphean spirit push against the constraints of the education system, which whilst flawed allows you to tap into your true consciousness. Who are you, when you are tested against the seemingly useless rules of a flawed bureaucracy?
Whilst, this post may seem sombre in tone it’s merely a wakeup call … how are you going to spend your last year at high school? Are you going to waste it or are you going to do your best, even when you may encounter hurdles that’ll most likely push you down?
Nothing is worse than looking back on Year 12 and only remembering a blur … there’s nothing interesting about a blur.
Tips:
1. Keep up with your study notes
a. Personally, since I was a humanities student I had a summary book- 64 pages A4 book – one for each unit for each subject, where I collated all my information and broke it down according to the syllabus requirements
i. These were my best friends for the HSC
ii. Whilst they may not work for you, you need to find a study note method that will allow you to keep on track with your notes, so you have more time for proper revisions and study, or so that you have more time to do the activities you want to do but that time inhibits.
2. Organisation!
a. I was never a fan of a study timetable, even in the weeks leading up to the exams, I didn’t have one. I always used to a to do list and planned in advance specific tasks I wanted to do. Sometimes I was ambitious, and sometimes I was the opposite. The important thing is to understand your capabilities and how much approximately you an achieve in your day given your specific lifestyle.
3. Marks and ranks are toxic … trust me
a. Whilst marks and most importantly ranks hold significance in your hsc, you mustn’t let them consume you. It’s easy to become so focused on the marks you get and the marks you need to get, but every now and then you need to unwind, take a day to just forget about your marks and your ranks … after all in a few years’ time (probably earlier) their significance will be minuscule.
4. Keep your ego in check
a. It’s easy to become so confident that you overestimate yourself … this will only bring suffering if you don’t get the marks you so eagerly desired. So keep your ego in check, and most of all have some perspective. Getting 77% isn’t the end of the world if you were usually achieving percentages in the 90s.
5. Why so serious?
a. Relax … I mean it! Yes, it’s the hsc but it shouldn’t mean that you throw the rest of your life out of balance. People would tell off those who worked even one shift a week, saying that it was distracting them from studying. The truth is that
i. A) Activities not involving school are therapeutic. They offer an escape from an institution that’s consumed with marks and ranks and scrawls on a paper
ii. B) If you work even only 3 hours a week … are you telling me that those three hours were always going to be dedicated completely to study without any form of procrastination. If not, then when you think about it those shifts are actually productive rather than being counterproductive.
iii. C) Outside school activities are great for resumes they show your ability to juggle which is something employers admire.
I hope these tips were helpful, and I hope you choose to adopt a sensible mindset for your hsc and do your best to maintain it.
Good luck!
