As you prepare to enter your final year of high school, you may find yourself feeling increasingly overwhelmed with the thought of what is to come over the next year. School is never an easy time, and the final year can bring with it more stress and pressure than ever before.
However, before you fall into a complete panic, there are things that you can do, and habits you can form in order to make your final year as stress free as possible. So with that in mind, we have compiled a checklist of the top things you can do to ensure that you start the year right, and venture through your final year feeling as calm and in control like never before.
1) Be Organised
You have probably heard people say from time to time some variation of an organised life is an organised mind and vice versa. Well, we cannot stress enough how true this is. Organisation is key to reducing feelings of being overwhelmed; check out your timetable well in advance and get any necessary books and stationery sorted out beforehand so you are ready for each class.
It would be wise to check out study guides to see exactly what you are in for for each of the subjects you have chosen, and the minimum requirements to pass. Students in Victoria, Australia can find study guides on the VCAA website.
Additionally, make sure your uniform or other school related clothes are ready, get your bag, your water bottle and anything else you need set to one side and ready to go. Being prepared with everything in place will save you a lot of time and worry once school starts.Check this out for more organisational tips for the beginning of the year.
2) Complete Any Due Assignments
If you were given any homework or assignments to complete before the final year starts then do them, do them now. Don’t wait until the last minute, and don’t think that you do them on the side once you are back at school. Firstly, when you go back to school you will more or less immediately be given more work, more things to study, and more assignments to complete, if you have to add them to the previous ones you haven’t finished then you are going to quickly become swamped with work and fall behind before the year has even properly begun, once this happens it will be hard to catch up.
Secondly, if your teachers know that you didn’t complete any work over the holidays, you are now on the wrong side of them; few excuses are good enough to explain why you never did it, and you don’t want there to be any fallout or bad footing with your teachers.
3) Make a Study Planner
Whether you make one on your computer or one that can hang on your bedroom wall, it is always a good idea to have a study planner that you can see and refer to. Having a planner will allow you to prioritise studying, stop you from falling behind, and keep you accountable for the hours you need to put in.
4) Talk to Someone
It can be your favourite teacher, your parents, or anyone that you feel comfortable opening up to, the important thing is that if you are finding aspects of your final year difficult then tell someone about it. Ask for help from your teacher if there is something you don’t understand, or ask your parents for a tutor if you think you need extra lessons. Even if you believe that the problem can’t be fixed, just talking about it will help relieve some of the worries and pressures you are keeping bottled up. Opening up about what’s on in your mind is good for your mental health, it is nothing to feel embarrassed about and talking is incredibly important when it comes to getting through school.
5) Don’t Worry About Little Things
There will be a lot that you have to handle at times during your final year, so it is vital that you don’t waste any time worrying about small things. The types of things we are referring to include your best friend not being in all your classes, your teacher being different than the year before, your timetable not being in the order you prefer; these are all little thing that cannot be changed, and it will serve no positive purpose for you to waste any time stressing about them, just focus on the big tasks at hand and getting to the end of the year.
6) Look Through Your Classes
A great way to start the year right is by getting a good overview of the classes you have and what expectations these classes have. Head over to the VCAA website where you can find study designs on all subjects you will be studying. Reading through these beforehand will help you feel as prepared as possible and ready for what will be covered in each class.
7) Look to the Future
Even though you have one more year it is still a good time to start thinking about what you will do after the year ends, if you leave that until too late in the year then you will just give yourself something else to feel anxious and overcome by. Now is the perfect time to think about what you will do after this year ends to ensure you are taking the right classes for your future.
There is no quick fix to making your final year a care-free walk in the park, but by following the advice above and making sure you try your best to always stick to your goals and keep on top of your work, you will find yourself with a lot less to worry about!
