Handling workload in the holidays (1 Viewer)

[the_runic]

I have so much work to do in the holidays. It's insane. Let me show you what I have to do:

• English Advanced: Two booklets, one for exam prep and one for Module C, plus revising for AOS, Modules A and B, plus finding related material
• English Extension: Revising, plus finding related material
• Ancient History: Oral speech plus catching up on study notes
• History Extension: Major project plus catching up on study notes
• Senior Science: Research task
• Drama: Going over texts again, plus working on major projects
• General Maths 2: Revising

I'm sure plenty of others have workloads as bad as this. But I don't know how to handle mine. If I spend an hour a day on every subject, well, there are things that are gonna be favoured over others. I want to favour my assignments, but then that leaves me about two weeks of hard studying for the Trials after school gets back, and that's not on. But I can't spend two hours a day on every subject because that means I spend 14 hours a day studying, and that's insane. I don't want to spend more than 6–8 hours a day studying.

I just don't know how to handle this workload or which tasks to prioritise. Any advice?

 

[KingOfActing]

forget about sleep
forget about healthy eating habits
????!?!?!
enjoy 99.95 ATAR

 

[the_runic]

Aaah, I wish. I'd dearly love a 99.95 ATAR, but I'm not setting my hopes that high.

 

[KingOfActing]

But seriously you need to choose between a healthy lifestyle with lots of breaks in studying or optimal studying. You either handle your workload and give up on other things, or you accept that you won't be studying as much as you should because you'd rather get things like proper sleep, socialisation, etc.

 

[the_runic]

Good point. I should have given up on other things a loooong time ago. Maybe it's time to start pulling all-nighters.

 

[KingOfActing]

Good point. I should have given up on other things a loooong time ago. Maybe it's time to start pulling all-nighters.

It's all about compromise. Like, I'm doing fine with my workload + musical + other extracurricular activities, but it means my normal bed time is 1am-3am and that I don't get to hang out with friends as often as I'd like.

 

[the_runic]

Yeah, may be time to start considering pushing my bedtime back. Only problem with that is I often have early morning lessons. I guess we'll have to see what works best for me.

 

[leehuan]

Prioritise.

Otherwise, timetable and take KoA's advice. Unlike him though I for one do not like the idea of diminishing health

 

[the_runic]

I guess prioritising is what I should do. Catching up on study notes I can leave till when it comes time to revise. Assignments first.

 

[BandSixFix]

I'm sure you can do all of that if you allocate 3-5 hours per day.

 

[the_runic]

Truly? It doesn't seem like it to me... Maybe that's because I have anxiety issues.

 

[KingOfActing]

Prioritise.

Otherwise, timetable and take KoA's advice. Unlike him though I for one do not like the idea of diminishing health

No one likes the idea, but we do what must be done - no rest for the wicked

 

[the_runic]

Right. It's all worth it in the end! Hopefully.

 

[RyanT7]

If i get less than 7 hours of sleep, as well as not keeping my nutrition and fitness into check, , I usually feel pretty sluggish throughout the day

 

[leehuan]

No one likes the idea, but we do what must be done - no rest for the wicked

It's not that.

Of course, I can't relate since I didn't do so many units, hence why I can't dispute the idea in your regard. I personally always maintained proper rest during the HSC.

 

[igotoschool]

idk about you, but in 1 hour i can't get enough done per subject. I prefer having a list of achievable things for the day for 2 or 3 subjects.
For example, -Find related text for Mod C, maybe analyse
-Write plan for Ancient Speech, maybe intro or body 1
- Something for maths
Depends on the heaviness of things you have to do for each subject. Then the next day you'll make a similar list, either continuing from yesterday's subjects or new subjects. This way, i find, you are more consistent, and you're not doing the same 7 subjects every day- that's gonna kill you.
Yeah, so I don't really study by hours, but by workload and how I feel. In the end, do try to make your schedule busy so that you're forced to do work NOW rather than the ever-dreaded """later""""

 

[dan964]

forget about sleep
forget about healthy eating habits
????!?!?!
enjoy 99.95 ATAR

actually sleep is probably really good for memory retention. the trick is finding the balance.
the trick is to set realistic goals within a realistic timeframe. sometimes that may mean you find your concentration is better first thing in the morning, so study then.

 

[the_runic]

Good point. It's just that I have so much to do for everything that I don't think I can afford to miss a day for any one of my subjects at this point. I don't know...

 

[oht]

To reiterate what others have said: sleep is imperative for achieving the best possible results, and you really do need to prioritise and break tasks down into smaller, achievable goals.

I'd definitely work on your assignments first if they are due sooner, but when you get to the fiddly stage in which you stare blankly at the screen for thirty minutes and change one word, move on to something else more revision based.
With revision, it is again important to prioritise... say for general maths 2, you're going to have topics you're good and bad at; focus on your weak points and save time (but you still can't neglect the other parts). Same with revision of your drama texts (I didn't do drama) but focus on the texts you are less confident with or lack sufficient knowledge on.

Also, your study notes going into trials don't need to be perfect. You'll probably tweak and change and modify them in the lead up to the HSC when you have more time anyway.

Without much sacrifice on quality and quantity of work or sleep, I believe you'll be able to get through the all the tasks you've mentioned + study for trials pretty well if you just keep at it and study efficiently. Once you get into it I'll think you'll find it's easier than you think.
I'm not sure what kind of marks/atar you're aiming for but I thought I'd let you know I got an ATAR of 97.9 on similar subjects & I still had time for other non-study-related things, as well as getting around 7-9 hours sleep on average. (My brother used to always tell me how important sleep was for the HSC so I followed his advice, slept even more and beat him lmao)

P.s. What texts are you doing for English Adv? I could help you out with related texts if I did the same ones last year. You can message me if you like.

 

[the_runic]

Yeah, good point. I am focusing more on my assignments than my study notes and revision right now; I just don't want to completely neglect the latter two until the end of the holidays.

I'm aiming for a 76+ ATAR, but ideally above 80, and the texts I'm doing for Advanced are The Tempest, John Donne and Wit by Margaret Edson, the Speeches, and Brave New World. For related texts, I'm actually going to use Inside Out and probably Animal Farm and V for Vendetta.