This week, many of our Senior Years students begin their VCE journeys. While our Year 12s settle into Units 3 and 4 of their chosen subjects, our Year 11s and some Year 10s begin Units 1 and 2.

VCE is a marathon, not a sprint and at MGGS, our students are equipped with the support, study skills and learning frameworks necessary to succeed.

The beginning of the school year can bring a number of emotions along with it. Anxiety about which class you’ve been allocated to, where your new locker is, or whether you have chosen the right subjects can make students feel nervous, despite their previous hard work and preparation.

To help alleviate some of the stresses of beginning the VCE journey and returning to school after a long break, we spoke with Class of 2023 graduate and one of our School duces Chelsea Hinh about her top tips for success during VCE.

Last year, Chelsea was busy – she was a member of the Student Executive Council (SEC) and therefore had regular commitments for her role as Music Captain, she participated widely in co-curricular activities including multiple music ensembles and debating, and House events throughout the year. This was all in addition to a committed study schedule, which helped her achieve a fantastic ATAR of 99.9. This year, Chelsea has accepted a place to study Medicine at Monash University and will no doubt be using some of these tips again this year!

Chelsea’s top tips for success in VCE:

1. Allocate your time wisely and effectively. I found that biggest timewaster in VCE were those pesky distractions in the form of social media notifications, YouTube rabbit holes or any type of shortform content on the internet! Identify these distractions and find ways to avoid them. I found website blockers especially helpful, as you can redirect distracting websites to more productive ones.

2. There is this idea that as VCE is such an important milestone, other activities like co-curriculars are dead weight – things that you need to sacrifice for the sake of a good score. This is not true at all, rather, my time spent in the Music department and in debating helped to give my mind a healthy and enjoyable break, which served to boost my academic performance. Each term, I visualised my co-curricular and academic schedule in a weekly timetable and allocated the times for both – the School diaries are great for this, alongside organisation apps such as Notion or even the Sticky Notes app (a personal favourite of mine).
   

   

3. At the same time, don’t bite off more than you can chew – balance is key. If you feel as though you are allocating your time effectively, yet you are becoming highly stressed and unable to properly engage in either your academics or your co-curriculars, choose maybe one activity, or invest a smaller amount of time in your co-curriculars rather than cutting them off entirely.

4. Have confidence in your skills and awareness of your weaknesses. It is important to feel confident and assured in your abilities and knowledge, as this helps you to get into the right mindset for assessments or general learning. However, you also need to acknowledge areas that may need improvement, so you can focus on getting them up to speed. Keep in touch with your teachers to check in on your progress. Something I found helpful throughout VCE was organising meetings with my teachers to go through assessments, clarify content or ask questions.

5. Make the most of your last two years. As previous Year 12s said to me, your VCE scores, ATAR, SAC marks and assessments are not what you will remember when your time at MGGS is over. Rather, it is the time spent with your friends and exploring your passions and skills in co-curricular activities that will bring joy and meaning to your school life.

We wish all Senior Years students the best of luck for the academic year ahead. A year of opportunity awaits…Try something new!