How do you know when your week is balanced? (1 Viewer)

[lilcutetricker]

Hello my lovely BoSers! As i approach the end of my preliminary i have finally gotten my studies and extra cirriculars in order, vaguely know what im striving for and pretty keen on the HSCs. However, after I complete my 4 hour a day study session and 1 hour of training; I feel like I should contribute whatever left of my day to studying. The dilemma is that i'm too exhausted to continue studying and end up being productive for maybe 30 minutes and falling asleep. So I don't know if my current habit is working for me or not, but I know I have definitely improved since I've definitely risen about 50 ranks for maths, chemistry and physics since my half yearlies, but i would like a second opinion about it.

Could you guys tell me how you guys balanced your ECs during your HSCs? And did you feel guilty when you weren't studying?

 

[mreditor16]

I think that its great you're keeping up with so many extra-curriculars! This sounds like me in year 11, literally had one extra-curricular thing on every single day after school, left no time for study. For HSC, I've pretty much ditched everything except for one hour of dance a week (and this used to be 6 hours per week last year, and 9 hours the year before lol), but I plan to get everything back on track again after HSC. I'd advise you to do something similar– maybe not cut so drastically, but do prioritise what it is you want to do and limit the number of times and the hours you spend on extra-curriculars– just temporarily. The time you invest into studying of course should depend on your aims, so maybe define what it is you want to achieve and based on that allocate accordingly (e.g. if you have an atar goal of 60s, you may only need to spend a few hours a week leaving more time open for ECs, but if it is in the 90s this number may have to go up significantly)

Studying 4 hours a night is definitely a heavy workload after a day of school and if you spend large amounts of time on extra-curriculars, this will become even greater. I'd say either cut down on what you do (e.g. 2 days a week), or try and do extra-curriculars at school (e.g. play for school team rather than weekend sport), or alternatively participate in 'flexible' extra-curriculars where you pay for one-off sessions because then at least you have the flexibility of organising your schedule around exams etc Like I usually play netball/badminton only on gala days– just an example.

But definitely remember to take time off from working and have a balance

basically this.

 

[rumbleroar]

Hey! I wrote up a thread about time management during HSC: http://community.boredofstudies.org...11-12-some-advice-2014-hscer.html#post6694620

I think if you're getting exhausted regularly, you need to fix up your study patterns. You don't want to be overwhelmed pre-HSC because that can have a seriously detrimental effect on your wellbeing. I suggest you take a break right now and take some time to think about how you can work with your current constraints (i.e. training, etc.)

4 hours of study a night might be a bit excessive - maybe lower it to 3 hours but make it extremely efficient. No point in forcing yourself to reach a set quota if it won't be efficient.

In terms of balancing time, I always made sure I devoted some time to my EC's because they were a really good break from studying I guess about a week before exams, I would drop them but only if I felt it was necessary. I never felt guilty about not studying. If you're really worried about not doing enough study, always see if you can find extra ways of doing work, i.e. doing it on the train.

Hope this helps!

 

[lilcutetricker]

I think that its great you're keeping up with so many extra-curriculars! This sounds like me in year 11, literally had one extra-curricular thing on every single day after school, left no time for study. For HSC, I've pretty much ditched everything except for one hour of dance a week (and this used to be 6 hours per week last year, and 9 hours the year before lol), but I plan to get everything back on track again after HSC. I'd advise you to do something similar– maybe not cut so drastically, but do prioritise what it is you want to do and limit the number of times and the hours you spend on extra-curriculars– just temporarily. The time you invest into studying of course should depend on your aims, so maybe define what it is you want to achieve and based on that allocate accordingly (e.g. if you have an atar goal of 60s, you may only need to spend a few hours a week leaving more time open for ECs, but if it is in the 90s this number may have to go up significantly)

Studying 4 hours a night is definitely a heavy workload after a day of school and if you spend large amounts of time on extra-curriculars, this will become even greater. I'd say either cut down on what you do (e.g. 2 days a week), or try and do extra-curriculars at school (e.g. play for school team rather than weekend sport), or alternatively participate in 'flexible' extra-curriculars where you pay for one-off sessions because then at least you have the flexibility of organising your schedule around exams etc Like I usually play netball/badminton only on gala days– just an example.

But definitely remember to take time off from working and have a balance

Hey! I wrote up a thread about time management during HSC: http://community.boredofstudies.org...11-12-some-advice-2014-hscer.html#post6694620

I think if you're getting exhausted regularly, you need to fix up your study patterns. You don't want to be overwhelmed pre-HSC because that can have a seriously detrimental effect on your wellbeing. I suggest you take a break right now and take some time to think about how you can work with your current constraints (i.e. training, etc.)

4 hours of study a night might be a bit excessive - maybe lower it to 3 hours but make it extremely efficient. No point in forcing yourself to reach a set quota if it won't be efficient.

In terms of balancing time, I always made sure I devoted some time to my EC's because they were a really good break from studying I guess about a week before exams, I would drop them but only if I felt it was necessary. I never felt guilty about not studying. If you're really worried about not doing enough study, always see if you can find extra ways of doing work, i.e. doing it on the train.

Hope this helps!

Thank you for everyone's positive feedback and solid advice.