In Australia we are on the final countdown to the HSC exams, beginning 17th October.
Your child may have a week left of actual classes at school, with another week of festivities (graduation ceremonies, formals, year 12 picnics) – a little “break” before whole days are available for study leading up to the exams.
These are some of the trickiest weeks of the whole HSC year – there are still things to do and your child can see the exam date getting closer and closer.
or
Your child feels there’s sooooo much time before the actual exams begin.
Both of these things are sort of right – there is a lot to do and there is enough time to do it (maybe not soooo much, but enough!)
They (and you) just need a plan – and I can help you with this.
I’ve been supporting Year 12 students to the finish time for a very long time (longer than this year’s Year 12 students have been alive!), in the coming weeks I’ll be sharing my top tips to help as many students as I can.
Tip 1
Get a countdown planner reader, you’re welcome to use mine (click here – HSC Countdown). Sit down with your child and help them take back control over these last few weeks.
Simply open it up and enter your child’s exam dates, final school commitments and mark any time that isn’t available. Now you’ve got a roadmap for the next few weeks.
Don’t be put off by the short amount of time (or allow your child to get discouraged), this is now the time to focus and get on with it – the countdown planner simply makes your final goal visible.
Tip 2
Then look at the second page of the planner, or turn over the page of your own countdown planner.
Write your child’s subjects in order from the one they feel most confident about to least confident on the next page of the planner. This highlights where to focus time over the next two weeks.
Next to each of these subjects write the list of topics or skills your child needs to revise a bit more (or learn).
These are the things to focus on this and next week.
Leave HSC practice exams for the moment, these are best practised in 3 hours blocks with time to mark and reflect on these – it’s not a great idea to do this in the evenings after a whole day of school – you’re child has at least 2 weeks to do this in the schools holidays (not really a holiday, the final countdown).
Finally, block out times this week to complete a 2-hour block each night (maybe 2 on one of the weekend days) to get these things done!
I recommend only looking one week ahead – two weeks feels like too far ahead at the moment for your child.
Tip 3
Each morning the week, before your child heads to school, confirm the priority subject for the day – it is now on their mind and a focus area.
At dinner, or before bed – quickly check in with your child – accountability and positive encouragement is definitely in order in the final few weeks leading up to the HSC.
It won’t be long and the HSC will be over – this is a great thing! Your child will be finished school and ready to take control and live a life they love – there are just a few more weeks to finish a set of exams that could open some doors for the next steps.
I’ll be with you in the next few weeks, reach out in a comment below.
Sam
