BlogStudyThe Top 4 Mistakes Students Make When Starting Year 11 (And How to Avoid Them)

The Top 4 Mistakes Students Make When Starting Year 11 (And How to Avoid Them)

Think Year 11 is going to be a breeze? We’re sorry but this definitely isn’t the case. Unfortunately, there are a few mistakes that Year 11 students tend to make, that they pay for until the finish school.

So here are the top 4 blunders that most students make starting Year 11, and more importantly, we’re going to give you tips on how to avoid them.

Let’s dive right into this!

Mistake #1: Thinking That Year 11 Doesn’t Count
Mistake #2: Falling Behind On Your Notes
Mistake #3: Reducing Your Co-curricular Activities
Mistake #4: Waiting Too Long to Get Tutoring Help

Mistake #1: Thinking That Year 11 Doesn’t Count

False, false, false!

While your performance and marks from assessments in exams won’t directly impact your final HSC marks, that doesn’t mean Year 11 shouldn’t be taken seriously. There are two main reasons for this — what you do in Year 11 affects your early entry opportunities and sets the foundation for Year 12.

Early entry opportunities

When applying for early entry programs and scholarship schemes in Year 12, universities will often look at your Year 11 results. So if you haven’t been working your hardest, this will lessen your chances of getting early entry.

Not only does early entry mean you’ve gotten into university before even sitting the HSC, but there’s a huge weight lifted off your shoulders in Year 12. Knowing you’ve got that safety net of a university entry will reduce the overall stress, and your future Year 12 self will be very grateful for that!

Looking for more help with applying for early entry? Check out our book here!

Year 11 as a Foundation for Year 12

With the recent changes to the HSC syllabus, there’s a greater relevance between Year 11 and Year 12 content. So it’s incredibly important that you’re applying yourself to your studies throughout Year 11 to ensure that you have a strong foundation to work off in Year 12. 

If you choose not to put in 100% of your efforts in Year 11, you’ll find that Year 12 content becomes a lot more challenging than it needs to be. So do yourself a favour, and build some solid foundational knowledge throughout your preliminary year!

Stay on top of your studies with our downloadable study planners here!

Mistake #2: Falling Behind On Your Notes

Without fail, a common denominator amongst all Year 12 students when asked, “What’s the one thing you wish you did differently throughout Year 11 and 12?” is that, “I wish I stayed on top of my study notes.”

Don’t let this be you! We’ve heard it time and time again, falling behind on your notes by a lesson or two is alright, but if you keep putting it off, the work will just snowball.

There are numerous benefits to staying on top of your notes, and here are just a couple to give you an idea.

Check out our guide on writing effective study notes for any subject here! Or reach our to our expert Parramatta Maths Tutors today for tailored support!

Great foundation of knowledge

Your notes are like a thumbnail to a video — the video being your syllabus. Of course you have information from your textbook, powerpoint slides, and other resources provided by your teacher.

However, creating notes allows you to transform all this content into a concise foundation of knowledge. It condenses everything you’ve learnt into a format that you understand!

Gives you more time to do practice papers

A big problem with falling behind your notes is that you end up cramming it all in a week before your assessment. The main issue with this is that the week before your assessment you should be doing practice questions and more applicational studies.

Now you might want to take a short cut and not make study notes — instead jumping onto doing past papers and questions. Nice try! But you’ll find that your responses aren’t as strong as they could be, and you’re digging through your class notes to find the relevant information to answer the question. 

So how do you stay on top of your notes? Do them gradually! 

Essentially, you need to find what works for you — and that’s what Year 11 is for. It’s a year for you to trial different tactics and routines to settle on the most effective solution for Year 12.

Often, setting up a time at the end of each week to summarise your class notes is a great way to build up your foundation, and have all your notes prepared for when assessment time comes around!

Click on the links below for our tips on creating study notes for a range of different subjects:

Mistake #3: Reducing Your Extra-curricular Activities

The final main mistake that students make when starting Year 11 is dropping extra or co-curricular activities, such as dance, music, sport, art, volunteering, etc. 

While the intention is to help you focus on your academics and give you more time to study, giving up these activities altogether have adverse effects. 

Parkinson’s Law

You may not have heard of Parkinson’s Law, but what it encompasses is the idea that “work expands to fill up available time”. So if you drop all your extracurricular activities, you will find that with so much time you end up procrastinating even more.

Contrastingly, when you are involved in other activities, you are forced to complete your work in a smaller time frame, so you end up studying more efficiently and proactively!

The Benefits

Research over the past decade has shown that most high-performing students in academics maintained extracurricular activities. It’s proven to improve cognitive performance, memory and your capacity to maintain focus. 

If you enjoy playing the clarinet, swimming, dancing, or painting, why would you deprive yourself of this outlet in a very stressful time? Of course, this does mean you need to establish a newfound balance between co-curricular activities and school work… but that’s what Year 11 is for!

Use this year to figure out how much extracurricular you can take on, and at what point it becomes too much. This way you’ll be able to manage enough allocated study time each week to perform to the best of your ability.

Discover how to maintain your extracurricular activities throughout senior schooling here!

Mistake #4: Waiting Too Long to Get Tutoring Help in Year 11

It is important to get tutoring help in Year 11 as early as possible because there are only three terms before the HSC begins. Essentially, if you wait too long to get help, you’ve only got 1-2 terms to try and fix things (and eventually your marks DO start counting towards your HSC)!

Should you wait until later in the year, you will have less time to work on improving your skills and understanding of the material. This can make it more difficult to achieve the marks or bands you want in the HSC.

Looking for support? Our Hoxton Park tutors are here to help!

Additionally, your marks in the HSC will have a significant impact on your ATAR, so it is important to start preparing as early as possible. By getting support in place early, you can make sure you have enough time to address any areas of difficulty and improve your performance before the HSC, where your marks do matter.

Mark improvement

Well, there you have it!

The top FOUR mistakes you should avoid if you’re in, or are starting Year 11. 

If you’re looking for some more guidance, whether that be help with studying or guidance throughout your senior years in general, reach out to our helpful team here at Art of Smart!

Good luck for your final years of high school, and remember, Year 11 is just as important as Year 12!

Looking for some extra support while making the leap to Year 11?

We pride ourselves on our inspirational HSC coaches and mentors!

We offer tutoring and mentoring for Years K-12 in a variety of subjects, with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home or at one of our state of the art campuses in Hornsby or the Hills!

In Victoria? We have an awesome tutoring team state-wide, including personalised tutoring in Essendon!

To find out more and get started with an inspirational tutor and mentor get in touch today! 

Give us a ring on 1300 267 888, email us at [email protected] or check us out on TikTok!


Nandini Dhir is a Content Writer at Art of Smart and is currently studying a Bachelor of Arts (majoring in Marketing) and a Bachelor of Advanced Studies (Media and Communications), as a Dalyell Scholar, at Sydney University. She enjoys covering local issues in her area and writing about current events in the media. Nandini has had one of her pieces published in an article with the Sydney Morning Herald. In her free time, Nandini loves doing calligraphy, ballet, and sewing, or is otherwise found coddling her cats.  

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