By Marcus Fernandez

Before our 12th grade journey had even begun we had been sufficiently warned of the magnitude of this year. In many ways 12th grade is the epic finale, it’s the conclusion of more than a decade at school and needless to expectations are high.

In fact 12th grade is often two journeys. One, get cracking with the syllabus and two, figure out your college. Was it hectic? Sure, but not as insane as many describe. There are horror stories associated with 12th grade life, stories of the immense grind and effort required to merely stay afloat in an incredibly competitive environment. I was afraid school would take a turn and I would be forced into this rigorous, stressful, merciless marathon where I would suffer. Fortunately for me this was not the case.

Don’t get me wrong 12th grade was rigorous and you had to be working hard, performing at peak functionality all the time. However, it was far from a miserable experience. So now to break it down, you had two choices in 12th grade. You either take the science group or the economics and business group. I opted for the science group with my eyes set on an engineering degree for college. So that meant, the subjects I had to study where Math, Physics and Chemistry along with English as well as Economics which I did for a year. Doesn’t seem like a lot, just three subjects. No big deal. Right?

I’m not going to lie I was more than rattled by the syllabus. In fact after the first few days of 12th grade I was convinced there were only miserable days ahead of me. Math I could handle, even the more difficult concepts I would work out eventually but the sciences loomed over me like a haunting dream. Organic chemistry was still as foreign to me as Greek and some chapters in Physics felt like electroshock therapy. Now this would have been enough to grapple with except I had to simultaneously figure out options for college. At the time it was still a hazy picture, I wasn’t locked on to a course, I had a faint idea of what I wanted to do but I had no clue where I would find that fit. There was research to be done and that research had to be squeezed in while I memorised the reactions of Benzene or the Laws of ideal gases or the differentiation of trigonometric expressions. Suddenly just three subjects seemed like a not just a big deal but a huge one.

So how on Earth can I justify my prior statement that 12th grade was not a miserable time? First it was our incredible teachers who really helped us grapple with what seemed impossible at one point. For most of my subjects we raced through the syllabus, often at breakneck pace. We’d finish chapters in Physics in a single day and move on to the next one immediately. In the case of English we were done with our syllabus in 11th grade and 12th grade was purely practice. And that’s really the key here, practice. Our efficiency in sprinting through portions allowed us time (precious time) to practice. Whether it was past papers, revision sheets or weekly tests we were prepared to always be prepared. We sprung of the block hard and fast so we’d have a bit of a breather later on. In other words the 12th grade journey got easier as soon as we’d got our syllabus down. We could revise and practice panic free. It got me more relaxed and gave me an opportunity to really figure out my weaknesses and strengths in all of my subjects and improve constantly.

Secondly, I found the best way to deal with everything was to follow Caesar’s advice: “Divide and Conquer”. It all became easier once I broke it down into parts. I would deal with a little bit of Math then a bit of Physics then a bit of Chemistry. Once the subjects were divided up into manageable parts it didn’t seem so intimidating anymore. It was a similar strategy with working out my college plans. I set aside time weekly to focus on that research and gradually things fell into place nicely. I had a plan forming and as the months went by it became more and more solid. College research actually got quite fun, and as long as you’re doing research you can get crazy. I checked out colleges all across the world from Barcelona to Latvia and once you get a list down it’s purely a process of elimination. Soon enough I had a tight list of colleges I had narrowed in on some in India and some abroad. I got the opportunity to visit some of the colleges in India ( a great experience that immensely helps with the process ) and I also attended as many education fairs as humanly possible with the time I had. Not only did that help me gather more information but it also gave me an opportunity to interact with some of the faculty of several foreign universities.

Furthermore, I condensed all my research from fairs, visits and online recon into spreadsheets and docs that helped me organise everything for easy reference. I know that sounds “nerd alert” but it honestly helped. The next step of the process was to actually get things moving, to start applying. About mid year I’d decided to study in Australia and I had a list of about 10 universities I would look at. In my case I sent my applications through an education agent (directly associated with the universities) which allowed me to eliminate a lot of paperwork in the process.

The process itself was easy enough, apart from some basic documents (10th grade scores, 11th grade scores, predicted grades, etc), I submitted the applications and from then on it was a waiting game. Over the course of a month I heard back from the universities and received conditional offers and admission which become confirmed offers once the final 12th grade exam results come out in May.

So that was my 12th grade experience. Intimidating at first but quickly becoming exciting. It’s not a cake walk but nobody said it would be, nor is it the torturous grind that many believe 12th grade is. At least not at Manthan. So good luck to anyone heading into the uncharted lands of grade 12, it’s not the hurricane so many are lead to believe but it does involve hard work and commitment and at the end of the day I had nothing but a great time.