You can also find Course and Career Chat on Spotify, Amazon Music and Audible.

What we’re talking about:

1:40 What you can do if your measure of success in VCE is to get the best ATAR you can

Using a planner to keep on track, creating a study timetable, using a calendar to keep track of SACs, extracurricular activities and your casual job if you have one. Work out how you will get help when you need it eg homework club at school or getting a tutor (see the link to an episode below where I talk about how to choose the right tutor for you). Choosing the “right” subjects - some people will think this means choosing subjects that scale up, I think the right subjects for you are the ones that suit you best so that you will lean into your strengths and not have as much trouble finding the motivation to study.

6:21 Why I don’t think that getting a good ATAR should be your only measure of success in VCE.

If your only measure of success in VCE is to get a really good ATAR, you are going to spend a lot of time over the next two years feeling stressed out, feeling inadequate if you’re not ranked first in the subjects you want to rank first in for example or if you’re not doing as well on SACs as you think that you might. If that’s your only measure of success in VCE you are setting yourself up for a pretty awful couple of years. Two years of stress is too much as far as I’m concerned. There’s a difference between little pockets of stress the night before a SAC, and being completely stressed out for 2 years.

7:26 Your measure of success in VCE could be having a really great couple of years.

Take advantage of all the amazing opportunities your school has to offer, including extracurricular activities like sport, drama, music and debating, as well as fun activities like the school formal.

8:30 How can we reframe the importance of your ATAR and it being a measure of success.

The only reason that an ATAR exists is because it’s the most efficient way to get into a course. That’s it. Getting an amazing ATAR and having no idea what you want to do, that’s very short-lived success. And I know that because that’s what I did. I got the great ATAR, I got into the course that I thought I wanted, spent two and a half years in it being miserable until I changed my plans, and went back to wanting to be a teacher. I worked out how to do that and had an amazing career as a teacher. But getting that good ATAR was not what got me there. The plan was what got me to where I wanted, and successfully into a career that I really enjoyed. Really what I want you to think about is what success in VCE looks like to you, and what you can do to have a really great couple of years AND set yourself up for having many many fun, exciting years after VCE as well.

Links mentioned:

Work with me: https://www.roadmapeducation.com/services

Do You Need a Tutor or a Career Counsellor?: https://www.roadmapeducation.com/podcast/76