Do I need a study camp?

Study camps - Do you love them? Hate them? Didn’t know they existed?

So controversial.

If you’re not in the know, a study camp is basically a week long camp where year 12 students go and have designated blocks of study each day - usually supervised by tutors - and then blocks of non-study activities as well.

Sure, like anything else, there are pros and cons to study camps but the bottom line: you don’t need a study camp to do well in the HSC.

But because it’s about the time when some year 12s are starting to look at study camps and maybe even book them in for next holidays, let’s take a second to work through the whole idea of study camps and what really matters.

The basics you need to know

First things first, study camps cost money.

Different camps have different prices but honestly, if you’re not in the position to afford to go, you definitely aren’t being disadvantaged in your HSC. Everything offered at a study camp can be accessed or replicated outside of one - we’ll show you how in a sec.

Another big factor of study camps is the social side. As well as the study, students choose camps because they get to live and interact with year 12s from other schools for an entire week and the socialising and solidarity is pretty decent. No arguments there.

While forced socialising can be nice, again, it’s not going to make or break your HSC and there are plenty of other ways to make friends (apparently).

So basics aside, let’s look at the benefits of a study camp.

When study camps can be useful

So while study camps aren’t the be-all and end-all, they definitely can be useful in some situations.

Some of us just get to to the point where we convince ourselves that we couldn’t possibly study at home for any longer. You feel like you need constant supervision to actually get any study done and you aren’t exactly sure how to perfectly manage your study and your work-life balance.

If you’re really struggling with your study, constant access to tutors can also make a big difference in helping you immediately overcome study barriers and keep you working.

Study camps are basically there to keep you studying and provide support for you. It’s important to be motivated and on task and if you feel like a study camp is the only way for that to happen then hey, you know you best so go for it.

How you can get those benefits outside of a camp

So if you can’t go to a study camp or choose not to (or still don’t know what a study camp is), no need to stress. You can still get every benefit of a study camp outside of one.

When it comes to meeting boys/girls, well you’re on your own there. But we can help with the effective study.

• Create your own study space

If you can’t focus at home, make your own fresh study space. It might be the local library, it might be a room in your house you don’t hang out in too often. Just make sure there are minimal distractions, bright lights and anything you need (water, laptop, pens) to bang out some effective study.

• Create a solid study timetable

You don’t need a camp to follow a study timetable. You can either create a really good, personalised one for yourself or you can be sneaky and just follow the itinerary of a study camp in your own life.

• Ask a parent or sibling to keep you on track

If you really want to replicate that ‘breathing down your neck’ attention of a study camp, then give a copy of your study timetable to a parent, sibling or friend and ask them to touch base with you every day to make sure you’re on track. If you really want to go OTT here, you can even ask a teacher to check in on you via email.

• Build up a bank of resources that will support your study outside of school hours.

During holidays, most year 12 teachers will still be contactable via email and you can send them work to mark, or questions about content you’re not quite understanding yet. You also have options like HSC Hub with 24/7 access to videos that break down the content, complicated ideas and application skills to support you while you’re studying.

Remember

You seriously do not need a study camp. There are some situations and some people that study camps work really well for and if that’s you then go for it! But if you’re not so keen on the idea or you know that it’s just not something you would be able to go to then don’t stress, you can still get all those sweet benefits of a study camp from the comfort of your own life.