Organising your time for a successful VCE

Often students find the leap between Year 11 and Year 12 to be a big one.  If you have completed a Year 12 subject in Year 11 you might have found that you spent a lot of your time focussing on your Year 12 subject and less time on your Year 11 ones.  You might have struggled with time management. Now you have 4 or 5 Year 12 subjects to complete, you might be asking yourself how will you ever get all the work and study done to stay on top of things.

The key to success in VCE is to stay organised and be consistent.  

A study timetable helps you manage your time in VCE

Stay organised with a study timetable.

Creating a study timetable that takes in to account your prior commitments such as sport and work, and even your favourite TV shows and time with friends means that you will be able to maintain a balanced lifestyle without your study suffering. Although it is not always popular with parents, if there are TV shows you always watch then put them in to your timetable - if you are going to watch them anyway then it is better that they are not interrupting a planned study time.  Put in some time for relaxing things you like to do such as chat online with friends or walking the dog.

To create a study timetable like the one above:

1. Plan out the time you have available for study each night and block out the hours that are already committed to something else.  
2. Spilt your study time in to 1 hour or 45 min blocks as this will give you a good amount of time to get stuck in to each subject.
3. Look at your school timetable for each day.  Try to choose the 3 or 4 subjects from that day you are most likely to have homework for and write these in to your blocks for the night.  Make sure you have a block dedicated to every subject at least 3-4 times per week, even if you do not usually get homework for this subject. By doing this you will find that there is always enough time in the day to get your work done. In fact, you will be quite a distance ahead the whole year long because you will be working consistently each night and rather than leaving everything until the last minute.
4. Grab a few hours on the weekend for study but allow yourself a sleep in or some nights off!

Here is a video I have created that talks you through creating your own study timetable in more detail.
You can also click here for a basic template that you can manipulate.

Being consistent means working on each subject each day, even when you have no "homework."

Leaving things until the last minute does not work in VCE because the work piles up quickly. Being consistent throughout the year means working each night on each of your subjects, even when there is no set homework due the next day.  Here's how it works. On your study timetable you should set aside a time each night for each subject (or a different 3 or 4 subjects each night depending on the time you have available). When you start a block for a subject, for example, English, you first complete any homework or immediate work due within the week.  Once you have finished this work it doesn't mean you can have a break or move on to the next subject.  Instead, you move on to the ongoing study part of the subject.  By that I mean the preparation for the next assessment task or SAC and organisation and creation of your notes for ongoing exam revision.  For English this might involve reading and making notes on your texts or writing practice essays. If you are spending 2-3 hours per week on each subject, and working on exam revision and preparation such as writing practice essays or completing exam questions then by the time you get to the end of the year you will be in a substantially better place than if you had left it all until the last minute! 

Each one hour block on your study timetable should look like this:

Homework (might take only 15 mins or the whole hour depending on what it is)

Ongoing study (an essay plan or some work on a SAC)

Exam revision (practice exam tasks, practice essays, notes)

My advice is the same for every subject.  If you create a balanced study timetable where you are dedicating time to study but also having a life then you will be more motivated to do your study because you are not missing out on all the fun things in life! If each hour in your timetable is utilised to the fullest then you will always be working ahead, consolidating and practising the skills you are learning. Never underestimate the power of a good study timetable!