Hello, year 12s!
We understand you might feel a bit overwhelmed during this ultimate semester of your senior secondary education. It has been quite a long ride since you first started going to school, and we hope that our study tips on how to study better helped you focus better to tackle this coming exam period. Most of the stress from exams comes from the fact that the ATAR is seen as the conclusion of over 12 long years of study, and that it will be the factor determining your path for the rest of your life. I believe now is a good reminder to say that your ATAR does not define you and that regardless of your goals and aspirations, your dedication and motivation alone will determine whether you achieve those or not.
With all of this said, there is a topic we still haven’t discussed yet. A lot of year 12s are not only worried by the exams, but also by the fact that they simply aren’t sure of what to study after VCE, let alone what field they want to get in. This is a very common issue, not everyone found their vocation when completing year 12, and that’s perfectly normal. Your sole focus if you wish to enter uni is for now to perform as high as you can on the ATAR, and you will be able to figure out more precisely what pathway you wish to follow after that.
It is very common for university students to shift courses and fields during their studies, and universities usually make that process very easy. It is not expected for first-year students to know what they wish to dedicate their career to, and that’s also why most uni courses introduce you to their courses with very broad subjects for the first year. Those subjects give you an idea of all the possibilities in each field: for example, first-year engineering will give you an idea of the focus for each domain of engineering. Similarly, the first year of a Bachelor of business gives you a broad idea of what to expect from each profession within the field.
In the end, no one really knows what they will be happy spending most of their life doing. It is an extremely tough choice that only a very little part of the population gets right. It is a rather known fact that graduates are also likely to end up working in a field that is not related to their studies. And that is all okay because the most important is for you to explore your possibilities and dreams. Making a change is rarely bad: it is best to experiment while you are young than live the rest of your career regretting and wondering whether you should have made the change during your studies. After all, what’s the worst that can happen? Either you like the change you made and stick to it, or if you change your mind, you can revert back to your initial course, or even explore another one. Life is short, make your journey unique and fulfilling!