Same bro, wrote my com mod essay in 5 hours yesterday and memorised for an hour this morning. My internal ranks are rip except for 2u. My school is highly ranked but don't think that'll save me from a gg atar unless I somehow ace my sciences.
But for 'success stories', I know a guy called Jake who games til 12am every night in the boarding house, always crams for assessments and assignments 1 or 2 days before(except for 4u, ppl from his boarding house said he studied 8 hours for 2 weeks for the trials). Ranked top 10 for every subject and 2nd for 4u. I'm assuming he listens in class so he's able to cram efficiently. He does get tutoring for maths tho so that's that. Probably just smart
Also most people and teachers I have talked to suggests pathways to uni as opposed to repeating year 12 at TAFE; maybe repeating if you are obviously capable and get a 50 star from an misadventure, malpractice, not trying or sth, even then it is a waste