Female 1:
Action!
Male 1:
When I was in year ten and going into VCE, I thought it would be just kind of really like stressful and just a lot of work all the time and I was kind of right, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I think I managed better than I expected I would. So that was positive, yeah.
Female 2:
I remember doing my first exams at the end of year nine and I was terrified. I was like, is this what exams are going to be like? How am I supposed to get through year 12? But it absolutely wasn't like that at all, especially the exams. They were a lot more relaxed than I thought.
Male 2:
I think it is pretty manageable. There's still time to, you know, do other the stuff like exercise or do all the stuff like watching movies. It's not all you have to study if you want a good mark, it's not like that.
Male 3:
Year 12 was a blast. Year 12 was great. It was great to get back in person, have a laugh with some mates, but also have all the experiences that we hadn't been able to have for the last few years.
Female 2:
Top three tips for my year 12 self? First of all...
Male 2:
Maybe just don't stress over the little things.
Female 3:
I find that currently being in VCE, there's obviously a lot of overwhelming stresses sometimes...
Male 2:
But that sometimes led me to, you know, take small things too much, too much stress. And I was like, you know, I just need to chill out and just keep looking forward.
Male 1:
The second piece of advice I would give is have some kind of hobby outside of work. Just keeps your mind off it, good for mental health.
Male 2:
I definitely think, you know, doing anything, it doesn't have to be very vigorous. So, for example, I did boxing maybe once a week, so it didn't have to be very common.
Male 4:
That's pretty much all I did. Every recess and lunch was go in the music rooms and play music. Good way to relieve stress as well. So, yeah.
Female 3:
And I find that when I get a bit overwhelmed or a bit stressed, I often go back to photography. It's a really great escape. Definitely helped me to, you know, balance out kind of all the stresses of VCE.
Male 3:
I'm really outdoorsy, so I enjoyed a bit of hiking, a bit of running, but I also do a bit of music stuff. So I was in bands throughout school. A couple of things like that that just keep it interesting.
Female 2:
And third piece of advice would be, ask more questions for your teachers. I definitely realised that towards the end of the year that my teachers were there to support me so I could ask them any questions that I wanted to.
Female 3:
I know myself, I found it a bit daunting to kind of put my hand up and ask the first question. But once I made time with my teacher to go over things that I was unsure of, I gained so much more confidence to do things by myself.
Female 1:
I think the main thing that helped me succeed in Year 12 was having belief in my own abilities rather than thinking of comparing myself to other people or seeing how I was tracking compared to all my classmates and all my peers, I found that if I did my best in the moment and tried my hardest that everything would work at the end.
[End of transcript]
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