A to-do list works great.
Mark all of your assessment dates on your calendar. Make sure it's somewhere you can easily see.
It's not necessary to stay ahead of your class in order to do well. But if you really want to, subject-wise:
- Mathematics: As straightforward as doing an extra exercise whenever you have time (typically on weekends, or the last thing you do on weekdays if you still feel like studying). Sometimes while doing your maths homework, you may pick up momentum, which you can use to continue onto the next exercise. Working ahead with mathematics can actually be quite therapeutic (especially since you're doing only the 2U and 3U Preliminary courses).
- English: Read your prescribed texts well ahead of the class and get them out of the way as soon as possible. I recommend doing this in the next two or three weeks, since there isn't a lot of homework at the beginning of the year. Apart from that, there isn't very much you can do for English, because what your English teacher presents in the classroom is typically quite valuable. However, you should gather your analyses/arguments and work on essays at least a few weeks before your assessments. Many, many people in my cohort made the mistake of cramming English, which often result in their unfamiliarity with their own prepared analyses that really do show in their responses.
- The sciences: Find a decent set of notes to read from. I scarcely used my science textbooks during my senior high school years (actually, throughout my whole high school life). Notes are typically more organised and easier to work from (though from time to time, you may find that you're in need of a more thorough explanation, which only textbooks can provide). For the Preliminary courses, it may prove to be difficult to find a decent set of notes. You may end up relying on your teacher's notes, which can prove to be an issue if you want to work ahead, as teachers usually distribute their notes as they go along. Working ahead in science is quite literally just reading. So if you really feel like you need to stay ahead of the classwork, then I recommend using the syllabus as a reference for your accelerated textbook reading (as textbooks often don't strictly follow the syllabus, and tend to contain a lot of unnecessary information).
- I don't do Business or Legal, but I've heard that they can be content heavy (though never difficult). Again, like the sciences, it's a matter of reading ahead with a set of notes, or - with syllabus guidance - from the textbook.
Keep in mind that working ahead of the class is never necessary, and your classwork should always come first. Reading ahead should be be done in a well-paced, almost a leisurely fashion, such as a one or two dot-point of the syllabus (e.g. typically a few pages) at a time.
For example, in the Preliminary Biology syllabus, a part of the first topic has the following dot-point:
"describe the relationship between the structure of cell organelles and their function"
So if you're working ahead on that dot-point, all you have to do is to read that part of your textbook/notes where several cell organelles are described (one or two pages), and boom, you're ahead of the class.
I personally suggest to write your own set of notes as you're working ahead. For example...
- It's a Thursday night.
- It's 6:52pm.
- You've just finish your maths homework earlier than expected.
- Since you have plenty of time, you decide to work ahead with your Biology notes.
- You open your Biology notes and see that you've been working on identifying cell organelles using electron and light microscopes.
- You then find your Biology syllabus, and see that the dot-point after that has to do with the "relationship between the structure of cell organelle and their function".
- So you open your Biology textbook to page 76, where it describes how the internal structure of mitochondria elegantly provides the organelle with a high surface area to volume ratio in order to maximise energy production.
- After reading descriptions of several more organelles, you've realised you satisfied the requirements of the dot-point. You now continue on your personal handwritten/typed notes, describing the useful structures of organelles.
- Done.
- It's now 7:16pm.
- You decide to microwave the leftovers of last night's lasagna, while simultaneously contemplating whether you should try to start another conversation with your crush on Facebook without it being as awkward as last time.
Enjoy the senior high school life. And remember: working ahead of the class should never be stressful.
