An interactive and comprehensive workshop for current Year 12 students offers valuable tips and insights. By SITARA RAMAKRISHNAN
Champion the Mind, an interactive HSC Workshop for current Year 12 students was organised by the Global Organisation for Divinity (GOD) on February 2 at Eastwood. This three-hour workshop was a community initiative coordinated by young members, designed to assist students about every possible aspect involved in their HSC year. It was a filled with deep learning, networking and lots of fun and laughter.
The workshop was organised at the Delta Specialist English Tuition centre in Eastwood. After several ice-breakers and goal-setting activities, Satvik Sekhar, director of the centre offered a lucid and highly constructive breakdown of the ATAR and his tips for exceeding one’s potential and playing the game strategically to maximise marks for different subjects and the ATAR. Students were then split up into different groups, taking part in a ‘subject rotation round’, where speakers including myself, Satvik Sekhar, Siddarth Shankar, Kumaran Manoharan and Avni Garg gave valuable presentations on exam technique for all subjects across the board from Science to History to Economics, to name a few.
After a quick break and some delicious snacks, a different perspective of succeeding in the HSC was shared via personal experiences of University students who completed the HSC through a methodical approach in terms of management and planning. They explained the reality of the HSC year and what is expected, facing disappointment in assessments despite good preparation, understanding why mistakes occurred and how to make a strong comeback so that long-term goals can be reached, among other topics. There was also a strong emphasis on motivation, short-term and long-term goal setting and ways to achieve these, such as planning ahead, setting ample time, and most importantly, understanding the type of learner a student is and structuring study habits accordingly. An essential message the workshop aimed to get across was how time is a finite resource, so all these things must be taken into account when preparing for an assessment task, to get the possible best results!
Following this, Dinesh Ramanan offered a very engaging presentation on the ‘Power of the Mind’ and how focus, determination, efforts and results are all steered from a personal choice to succeed. There was also a strong emphasis on how the ATAR is not the end of the road in the big scheme of things; however it would have to be the focus during the HSC year in preparing and working towards a goal. Students were provided with a motivational poster of 8 inspirational quotes from great leaders and athletes, and an explanation as to how it applies to the HSC year.
Dinner comprised of pizza and drinks, and students participated in an interactive question and answer session with many young adult members, including current and ex-University students from various professional backgrounds, and special guests, discussed topics ranging from maximising marks in different subjects, to scaling and the ATAR, careers and university courses, scholarships and cadetships and so on!
The HSC workshop received very positive feedback from all the students who attended, and the main request to make it even longer for future sessions, which is always good to hear. GOD hopes to make the event in following years even more informative, interactive and enjoyable. Special thanks to guest speakers and students for attending and making the workshop a success!