An Overthinker’s Guide to Year 12

By Rose Cunningham

Welcome to Year 12! If you’re reading this, you’re standing at the edge of the most intense, challenging and rewarding year of your school life. With graduation just around the corner—18 days exactly as I write, this Friday when this issue is released—Year 12 isn’t just about marks, exams or ATARs, but about consolidating, refining and working with your cohort to get the most out of it. I’ll be honest, it will be rough in parts and spectacular in others. There will be late nights, tired mornings and even a few tears along the way, but there will also be breakthroughs, victories, laughter and well deserved celebration when you get to the end of your time at Normo.

This guide isn’t perfect but it’s real. It’s what I wish I had been handed at the start of Year 12—not a polished pamphlet from NESA, but honest advice from someone who has just lived it.

This is a long article, so here are the contents and you can scroll through to find the headings you want:

The Big Picture

“Write Your Way Out”

Major Works

Taking Care Of Yourself

Study

Wrapping it up

The Big Picture

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: A marathon, not a sprint. You will hear this a thousand times over but here’s what it means - you cannot pour everything you have into a single week and expect to stop after that and survive the year. Likewise, you can’t be running at full speed ahead without taking a break for forever and expect to be fully functional at the finish line. You need to learn to pace yourself, recognise when to give 100 percent and when to give yourself a break. 

One way that I give myself a ‘break’ whilst keeping momentum is a “half load week.” For example, if I normally work 9-6 (often much longer in busy periods) on a Sunday, I’ll swap it for a long morning and early finish, thus working 11-4 and giving myself time to play board games or go out with my family or do some baking. The same would go for school nights in these “half weeks,” 3:30/4-10 became 4-8. This means I didn’t lose consistency but still had some space to reset.

It’s not about just shaving hours from your desk, but recognising the difference between productivity and performance. You can be sitting at your desk for 10 hours and only remember that the heading for your Module B notes is blue or you can work for a few, shorter, sharper blocks and learn twice as much. It really is a balance of discipline, kindness and honestly, the occasional planning for something to go wrong. Please build in contingency time to your study timetables - maybe you get sick, something comes up or you just don’t get to a bit of study, so that contingency time will allow you the flexibility not to stress too much if something goes awry.

I also found that zooming out helped: rather than obsessing over a single bad essay or a disappointing mark, I looked at the patterns across weeks and terms. Was I moving forward overall? Was I building consistency? I was tracking my syllabus areas for what I know and don’t and keeping track of my marks and feedback, which also helped make studying easier, since I could have focus areas and it stopped me from spiraling when things went wrong. Remember that no single assessment defines your whole year; there is a chance to learn and improve, which is crucial both before your trials and again before your HSC.

“Write your way out”

This year, a specific Hamilton lyric has been my motto - “Write your way out.” It wasn’t just a pretty lyric from one of my favourite musicals but a practical reminder for what to do when I felt stuck. I believe that you can write, learn and practice your way out of most of the corners in Year 12. Putting something on a page, no matter how messy or half-formed it is, is the first step to working it out. Trust me on this one, I spent many hours of Module A study with a huge piece of paper, stacks of books, my laptop (and the ever-present cup of tea) on the floor, untangling arguments and braindumping evidence one scribble at a time. The physicality of the action offered me more space and clarity than my laptop and helped me to learn and recall evidence much faster as I saw connections and thought of ideas which I could get on paper rather than keeping them in my head. It doesn’t need to be perfectly colour-coded to be real and useful.

There’s a reason the lyric is stuck to the wall above my desk and lives on my laptop - it (and the rest of Hamilton) played over and over when working on my English Extension 2 and History Extension Major Works. Even if a draft wasn’t very good at first—if I didn’t get it down on paper, there was nothing to build on. Every messy paragraph, every half-formed idea, every sketch or note was a foundation. Writing it out made it tangible and from that tangibility, I could revise, expand and improve. Without the act of producing something, no amount of thinking or planning would have gotten me anywhere. It was a constant reminder that starting—even imperfectly—is better than waiting for perfection to appear in your head.

Recently, another Hamilton lyric has started echoing in my mind: “Look at where you are, look at where you started.” It’s surreal to think about how far we’ve all come since those tentative first weeks of year 11 and 12, when graduation and the HSC felt impossibly distant. It’s a reminder not to lose sight of the distance I’ve already covered and to notice the small victories and the growth that happens in the middle of the grind.

Let’s talk about Major Works

(This bit is longer as it was something I went into and wished I’d had a guide for).

If you are doing a Major Work, it will become the heartbeat of your year. For reference, I did Extension English 2 and Extension History, so this is where any advice in this section comes from. These projects are terrifying and exhilarating and have been an absolute highlight of my year. They are awesome and the coolest thing is that I now have become (in Mr Rafe’s words) a “mini expert” on the conditions of McCarthy America (there have already been multiple History Extension quotes in my Crucible trial essay - I couldn’t resist) and will happily talk to anyone about Metamodernity (and I can’t help but analyse if whatever novel I’m reading fits the criteria).

My Major Works have taught me about discipline and persistence (I’ve never disliked my alarm clock more than after a major work submission night), the skills of refining and editing, the harsh realities of the consequences of not adhering to a word count and an incredible amount about my own writing style, and I can safely say that I’m glad to have had the experiences of both of them. You will probably learn to live with a bit of doubt and frustration with this huge piece of work that you have chosen to undertake - there will be stretches where you feel a little lost and where your project feels too big or messy, perhaps much more ambitious than you initially thought. But here’s something good to know - it’s normal. Keep going. You’ve got this.

The best advice I can give? Start early and touch it often. Don’t let weeks go by without opening a document, notebook, or essay/paper. Even ten minutes of tinkering or talking about it is better than nothing because it keeps the project alive in your mind. Major Works don’t just get built in big bursts (though those week long bursts did prove useful at times)—they evolve in tiny, steady steps. For balancing two Major Works, I found cycles of focus were life-saving. I worked in sets of 4-6 weeks, dedicating time to one project while letting the other sit in the background, with a contingency week built in (which inevitably ended up being used). That rhythm was absolutely essential. I generally set tasks to do in each rotation (or sometimes just said “I'm getting as much done as possible”) and these cycles were roughly set based on when my assessments for each Major Work were due. There were a couple of weeks of overlap (but the overlap periods normally looked like 70% on Major Work A and 30% on Major Work B), with extra weight given as I got super close to a due date. 

How I worked

Ultimately, working like that meant that I would return to the ‘other’ major work fresh and just about bursting at the seams to get cracking on an idea I’d thought about (especially when I realised that I could write about Hadestown for my English 2 Major Work super close to a History Extension due date - that was the hardest bit of “stay on track” during the process). It also meant that I was much less likely to get sick of a project - but it doesn’t mean that there weren’t a couple of weeks where the thought of another round of edits or another research paper was super unappealing.  

Holidays are also a secret weapon to the completion of a Major Work. They were the uninterrupted periods of time where I couldn’t wait to let my ideas stretch, evolve and surprise me. If you give your projects space to breathe, you’ll be amazed by what you get back from them - details you missed the first three times you read something, unexpected connections and the excitement of seeing your argument come into focus.

I have a few other tips for you and some of them are almost deceptively simple. I always took notes during meetings, always by hand. I kept A3 logbooks, which are standard for History Extension, (but not so much for English Extension 2 - loved it though) which gave me the physical space to sprawl, experiment and brain dump ideas by hand. I also had much slimmer A4 notebooks which lived in my laptop case at all times, on which I jotted down any ideas which came to me on a day that I didn’t have a log book or in the middle of class - I was not losing anything. I also found it helpful to talk ideas through all year long - that included voice memos on my phone when I was home alone and trying to untangle my argument and a huge number of texts and emails to myself with ideas, quotes or lines that I’d thought of on the fly - many of those messages actually made their way into my final Major Works. Thinking aloud and on paper often helped me find new ideas which papers on my laptop didn’t quite help me form.

IF YOU HAVE FOOTNOTES AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY

I cannot emphasise this enough - keep track of them from the very beginning. Learn how to do them manually and efficiently because I ended up finding citation tools unreliable. The “My Bib” software had a massive glitch which cleared all of my bibliographies and footnotes just 2 hours before I needed to submit my Extension 2 Major Work (do not leave anything this late - a perfect storm of tech issues and underestimating how long components would take got me here) and trying to race through my internet history, relocate quotes and find reliable citation guides to re-do my bibliography and footnotes as I was counting down from 120 minutes was a nightmare. Even when the tools do work, they aren’t always super accurate and it’s much easier to log and organise your citations as you progress rather than sorting it at the end (and it gets tedious too if you have to give a day or two entirely over to citations).

In the end, what surprised me most was how much these projects taught me not just about literature and history but about myself too. They showed me that I thrive on rhythm, time and the time to let ideas breathe in unexpected ways. They reminded me that the best insights come when you least expect them—scribbled in a notebook margin, muttered into a voice memo or pieced together weeks later when two threads finally converge. And they proved that the process, frustrating as it can be, is as valuable as the paper you print out and add to your box of Year 12 achievements.

Taking Care Of Yourself

There’s a lot of pressure associated with year 12. Between the media which says that “Senior Year” should be the best year ever and the endless discussions about Band 6s, study channels which inevitably flood Instagram feeds around assessments and worries about what course you’ll get into (on top of all the other ‘life’ happenings which just happen), it can be easy to feel like you can not stop. Something I’ve had to learn in the last 2 years is that you can’t be productive and creative if you are running on empty. Make sure you sleep (occasional late nights are fine but try to catch up on sleep on the weekend), keep moving and stay connected to people - it isn’t a reward, but an important thing to keep your personal ‘check engine lights’ off. Even small breaks are important - lunch on the verandah or front steps, a short afternoon walk, an hour to read your favourite book, movie night with your family - can help you to reset. Recognising your limits and seeing when your fuel tank is almost empty is part of this - it’s ok to say no to a social event or re-delegate tasks occasionally, or ask for notes from that class that went by in a blur. The point isn’t being perfect (stop listening to social media when it makes you look unaesthetic or like everyone else has their lives together - none of us do), it’s about being sustainable. Building deliberate moments into your timetable for break time will make it much easier to tackle the intense periods of year 12.

Maintain your connections to sport and other extra curriculars. In year 12, most of us cut down at least a little bit of our extracurricular activities, but there are some vital ones which I kept (no way I was dropping debating, netball or clearly, The Mary Word). After my first week of trials, or a particularly grueling week of study, I found myself itching for netball training or a good matchup on court, even when I had something due in the coming week - it gets tricky to think about Indochina when you are trying not to get pulled up for “obstruction” (again) or get trampled in the race to the goal circle. This chance to have a proper circuit breaker, whilst I didn’t want to work on Saturday afternoons, always felt good. Even something as simple as a walk along my favourite route, watching the leaves change colour and feeling the wind as the sun began to set in summer became a way to recharge and reset a little. I had days where I was insistent that the time to have that one walk or one netball match would be the difference between me smiling when I got a paper back, and not wanting to see it ever again - it wasn’t. That hour always re-energised me and meant that I could think clearer - if anything, it would have been more of a waste to keep sitting at my laptop all afternoon feeling paralysed by my SOR notes (it turns out Mum was right on that one).

Real screenshot from my study plan

A little thing that I’ve been doing this year as a reminder to myself is my quote wall. On my laptop, the pinboard above my desk and even my bedroom door, I’ve been sticking quotes, lyrics, lines from Shakespeare and Romantic poems, film references and more, just as a little reminder to keep going. Whenever I think of something I could really use right now (Spotify kept giving me Vienna by Billy Joel - look it up if you don’t know it - when I was exhausted, “Non Stop” when I was researching like a Madwoman In The Attic Study, and moved onto “One Day More” in the weeks which preceded English and History due dates). It has been nice to see any number of these quotes next to my keyboard when I could use a reminder about how close a project is to finished or the fact that the next step is simple (“write your way out”) - even though I put it there, it is a mini pep talk every time.

Year 12 is long, and the pressure can feel relentless but these small, deliberate acts of self-care aren’t just nice extras—they are essential tools. Sleep, movement, walks, sports and even just a few quiet moments with a book or a cup of tea, are what allow you to keep going, for yourself, your work and the people around you. They give you the energy to focus when it matters, the patience to work through confusing feedback and the clarity to untangle complex ideas without spiraling. Maintaining these habits also reminds you that your wellbeing matters just as much as your marks and that taking care of yourself isn’t always indulgent—it’s strategic. In a year that will test your stamina, creativity and resilience, building space to breathe, move and reconnect with the things you love will help you approach the HSC not just as a race to survive, but as a year to engage with, learn from and even enjoy.

Study

There’s no real answer to how to study or how many quotes you need. It’s unfortunate but true. What works for one person might be completely useless for someone else and part of Year 12 is finding your own rhythm. For me, past papers became my bread and butter. Doing past paper after past paper (or Atomi revision after Atomi revision) showed me which quotes I kept reaching for, which examples were flexible across questions and which areas I needed to drill more.

Handwriting is essential, and not just for English or History! Writing notes by hand forces your brain to process the material differently, which improves recall. Start your notes early but don’t stress about perfection—your system will evolve as the year goes on. You don’t need flawless colour-coded pages to remember a concept; even messy notes can save you when the pressure hits. Your exams are also hand written! Building the stamina to sit a 3hour exam takes time, so hand write as much as you possibly can. Timed conditions are also your best friend for prep. Whether it’s doing a full past paper, writing paragraphs in 10 minutes, full essay plans in 5 minutes, forcing yourself into a timed setting teaches your brain how to work efficiently and also makes sure that you know what you are doing (and know this too) when the real exam rolls around.

Everyone is in the same boat, all you can do is show up every day, put in the work and build habits that will carry you through. Your teachers and friends are invaluable resources—don’t hesitate to reach out. If you need help with structures, feedback, notes, understanding content or planning study, there’s nothing wrong with asking for advice. Collaboration doesn’t make you lazy; it makes you smarter. Sharing ideas, debating interpretations (I once spent an hour discussing the value of Empirical history - I’m still not a massive fan) and even just talking through what you’ve learned can clarify your own thinking in ways solo study sometimes can’t.

Organisation is key. Use a calendar or timetable to map out your weeks, balancing assessments, past papers and major revision. Build in contingency time and breaks—you’ll be amazed at how much smoother your study goes when it isn’t constantly reactive and has buffer zones to prevent one bad day pushing the rest of your plan down like dominoes. For example, I liked to spend my morning on a Major Work, then the middle period working on notes and short answers, and my afternoons on essays, with evenings either on more Major Work time or quote/plan recall. The exact structure is up to you, but having a visual guide keeps everything in perspective and stops tasks from creeping up on you at the last minute - I liked to set up a calendar for the 2-3 months of each term, and use that, writing my exams and assessments in bold and colour-coding everything else. On this one below, I printed it out, and then hand wrote the rest of the tasks based on what I felt I needed to do more or less.

Wrapping it up

Year 12 is long, intense, sometimes exhausting and sometimes amazing. There will be late nights, moments of panic and times where you think you just can’t do one more thing—but there will also be breakthroughs, small victories and days where everything clicks in a way that makes the hard parts feel worth it. What matters most is how you move through it: keeping yourself fed, rested and moving; making time for walks, sport, and little joys; leaning on friends, classmates and teachers when you need a sounding board; and steadily building habits that carry you through.

By the end of it, you’ll have survived, yes, but more than that—you’ll have learned what you can actually do when you pace yourself, take care of yourself and lean on the people and things that matter - it really is a lot of work, and that’s part of what is so rewarding about it.

Breathe, keep going and try to enjoy the ride—because somehow, all the chaos, the million cups of tea, the notes, the stacks of research and all the late nights will be worth it. 

So, for the final time in The Mary Word, I leave you with a quote which right now sits above my laptop, the mantra of Coach Taylor from Friday Night Lights.

“Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.”