GRADE 11s: INVEST IN YOUR ACADEMICS NOW, REAP THE REWARDS LATER

Grade 11 students preparing for their final exams of the year should aim to perform at their very best and go the extra mile where needed, as this year’s marks will not only help them start their final year off on a strong footing, but also make their road a little easier come 2023, an education expert says.

“Students and parents often consider Matric to be ‘the big one’ in terms of their academic journey, but Grade 11 is actually a very important foundational year, and performing well can make a major logistical and performance impact down the line,” says Wonga Ntshinga, Senior Head of Programme: Faculty of ICT at The Independent Institute of Education, SA’s leading private higher education provider.

“It is therefore important not to cruise along if you have been doing so, thinking that you’ll give it your all next year. Consider how seriously you will be taking your Matric final exams, and then try and replicate that effort right now in preparation for your Grade 11 finals,” he advises.

Ntshinga says Grade 11 should be viewed as a foundation upon which Matric success is built, and is effectively a launch pad for one’s final year of school. So by positioning that launch pad as favourably as possible, a student will enter Grade 12 with much-needed momentum, insight and strategy.

One of the most important reasons for excelling at the end of Grade 11, is because these results can be used to gain provisional acceptance into the student’s public university or private higher education institution and qualification of choice, says Ntshinga.

“Nobody knows what the future holds, so if you can start your final year of school with excellent marks, you already have a winning ticket in your back pocket. It will take significant stress off of you to know that you are already able to start investigating your higher education options, and start applying without having to wait in the back of the queue until you are able to submit good marks achieved in Grade 12.

“Furthermore, you will be able to get applications out of the way earlier, before they start flooding into institutions. This will free up valuable mental and emotional energy which you can apply with lazer focus to your Matric studies. And finally, if you start out poorly in Matric, you then also know you have something to fall back on while you work on improving your grades.”

Leaving applications until later in the year will likely mean one’s options become more limited, as spaces would already have started filling up, Ntshinga notes.

Viewing Grade 11 final exam preparations as part of the Matric year will also help students improve their Matric performance, he says.

“Your Grade 11 performance, including your preparation, your composure during the writing of the exams, and your actual grades, provide an invaluable baseline from which you can strategise your final school year. Devising a strategy before you set foot in the halls of Grade 12 in January will help you work smarter on the way to peak end-of-year performance.”

Factors that should be taken into consideration include:

STUDY METHODS

You should be entering Grade 12 knowing which study methods work for you and which do not. Your last year of school is not the time to be experimenting for the first time in this regard. Know what you are going to need to study and how you are going to do it right from the start to optimise the work and time you put in behind the books.

TIME MANAGEMENT

Your preparation now will give you insight into how much time you need to dedicate to revision and what kind of schedule works best for you. If you find you study best at night and do well with getting in some exercise before hitting the books, for instance, you can apply these insights to your Matric revision schedule without having to experiment next year.

You will also be clear on issues that stand in the way of you doing your best. Are you a procrastinator? Do you feel an intense need to clean your room just when your next study slot comes up? Understanding how you stand in your own way can help you confront and address these barriers before you sit down for your final exams next year.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

Knowing what each subject requires of you – which ones come naturally and which ones need more work – will help you devise the correct strategies for dealing with your work next year. Perhaps you realise you may need to get a tutor or other support in a particular subject from early in the year. Maybe you see that this one subject really just isn’t going to work out, no matter what. If that is the case, you will be able to change, but keeping in mind that only one subject may be changed in Grade 12, and that needs to happen within the first week of the year.

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