Start Fresh for the New School Year – Be Prepared!

Successful grades are not a matter of studying hard before the exam. They are about all the work you have done throughout the year to get you there. If you can start your school year in January, rather than February, when school commences, then you are already ahead of the game. You should be doing some work during the holidays to prepare you for success in 2019.

Here are six ideas to help you get ready for a successful school year.

1. Have you had to purchase any new textbooks? Open them up!

Have a skim read of some of the chapters inside. Write a list of five things you may find interesting, and five things you may find difficult. Attached to the ‘difficult list’ write a plan of what you can do to overcome any difficulties.

Ideas such as :

• Look up the dictionary any words I don’t understand,
• look up Google any concepts I don’t understand,
• take a look in the glossary if there is one,
• read on...you might find the answer.

2. Read your English texts before you start school.

This will not kill you. Do it at the beach, in a café, before bed. Before you start school you should have a good idea about the plot of your text and how the characters interact. This is really going to help you get ahead. At VCE level, teachers want to discuss themes, motifs and characters motivations in your text. These discussions with your teacher will allow you to analyse and show your understanding at a deeper level. This cannot be achieved if you are still struggling with plot.

3. Structure your homework timetable.

Before you start school, most of you would have a pretty good idea of your social timetable, your work timetable and your family commitments – you need to structure your homework time around all of these distractions and school! Type up an Excel / Numbers document to schedule your homework timetable – if it’s done on the computer it is easy to change if you need to. While creating this, think about when you work best. Some of you could easily fit in a solid hour study with a clear head before school, munching down breakfast. Other’s couldn’t even think about study before school – getting out of bed is hard enough!

4. If you have been given holiday homework – do it!

Many schools run a ‘Head Start’ program, where your teachers will give you a summary of the units in the new year and may even leave you with some work to complete over the holidays. It may be the last thing that you feel like doing, but it will give you a good start to the new year. It is easier to learn