I remember being taught about how to do homework. Coming home and spending hours doing essays and assignments when all I really needed was to unwind and decompress after a day at school. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was masking at school and needed a break.

I remember being told ‘strategies’ on how to do things, and knowing now that these things didn’t suit my brain. Being told to sit there until the task was done, memorising facts and figures (which I would promptly forget), making posters and documents look pretty.

Being taught to push through even when every fiber of my being was screaming for a rest or to do something else.

We were told that these skills would set us up for success in life. That knowing how to study would help us in our professional lives.

I’m honestly not sure how valuable they were.

Study skills taught me to ignore my own needs for rest and to let my brain have a break.

Study skills taught me to put everyone else first in that the work came before what I needed.

Study skills taught me that if I wanted to learn something, it had to be in a way that suited other people.

Study skills taught me that my knowledge didn’t matter if it couldn’t be rehashed in an essay or exam.

I know this method of learning and rehashing information works for some people, but it didn’t work for me. I love to learn. One of the reasons I love reading so much is that I can learn so much through books, including fiction. However, writing essays and doing exams drives me crazy and makes the learning harder.

Another thing with these ‘study skills’ is that, as soon as I left formal study, I pretty much forgot all about them, until I had to sit through information sessions for kids when they were at school & hear about those things that didn’t work for me, and, as it turned out, didn’t work for them either!

I keep thinking that we need to rethink education, especially homework at all levels, and how students prove what they know… but that’s a topic for another day. I figure primary schools talking about no longer having homework is a great starting point.

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After 13 years of school, year 12 can be a big year. There is so much pressure to perform to get in to the right uni course or to use it as a springboard for future careers.

I know that I found it overwhelming. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I made the right noises and chose a uni course that I thought was the right one… it wasn’t!

My advice to year 12 students is simple:

Year 12 doesn’t define you. If you don’t know what you want to do as a career, that is okay. You can try different things and work it out as you go. I’m in my mid-40s and only just getting a feel for what I want to do.

After this year, no one will ask what your ATAR was or what results you achieved. Year 12 is one year.

Enjoy the end of the year as much as you can, I know exams can be stressful, do the best you can, and remember, this year does not define you. You have plenty of years ahead of you to work it out.

For all the year 12 students, I wish you all the best for your exams and whatever the future holds for you.

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