How to Smash Year 11: Mini Guide
Watch YT video here
Introduction
This resource goes over how to smash year 11 and use it as a way to prepare yourself for year
12 so that you can essentially guarantee your dream ATAR result.
If you’re serious about doing well in year 11 and year 12, you better watch this entire video and
read this entire document multiple times!
🤔Why is year 11 important?
Year 11 is the foundation for year 12 - it gives you the chance to prepare yourself mentally &
physically so that when year 12 comes around, you’re at a different level.
Without year 11, I would’ve not done well in year 12 at all and would’ve NOT made my
academic comeback & achieved a 97+ ATAR against all odds.
Why is that?
Because year 11 gave me the chance to:
-​ fix my bad habits & form good ones,
-​ learn how to study effectively,
-​ reprogram my mind,
-​ correct my routines,
…and overall allowed me to forge myself into becoming a DUX student.
Fun fact: I didn’t even get good results in year 11.
In year 11, I was still an average student who was figuring things out. I was stuck at getting
around 70-75% in my exams.
However, the reason why I was able to do so well in year 12 despite being average in year
11 was because I was BUILDING MYSELF UP!
This is why year 11 is extremely important. DO. NOT. WASTE. IT.
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Year 11 sets the foundation for year 12. Poor year 11 = poor year 12. Good year 11 = good
year 12.
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Important Things to Know
1.​ Year 11 results don’t count towards your final ATAR
Yes, you read that right.
The results you get in year 11 do not directly count towards your final ATAR. This means
that if you do poorly in year 11, it doesn’t mean that you’re screwed and won’t be able
to achieve your goal ATAR.
However, there’s something very important to know:
Although the results you get don’t directly count towards your final ATAR, year 11
indirectly counts and lowkey determines the ATAR you’ll achieve at the end of year 12.
This is because your study habits, mindset, routines, exam preparation strategies, etc
will all be the same in year 12 - unless you change them of course.
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Note: this is why despite me doing average in year 11, I was able to still achieve my goal
ATAR & smash year 12! ​
2.​ Year 7 to 10 is NOTHING compared to year 11
If you’ve done well during years 7 to 10…don’t think you’ll also do well in year 11.
Year 11 is a completely different ball game compared to year 7 to 10.
During years 7 to 10, you could get away with using the wrong study methods, having poor
habits, barely putting in any work and cramming.
In year 11 and 12, this doesn’t work.
I’ve seen this happen too many times:
●​ A student will book a call with me and tell me that they were getting straight A’s in
year 10 yet are getting C’s and D’s in year 11.
In fact, I’ve had many students who were getting straight A’s from year 7 to 10, yet still did
terribly in year 11.
So, final warning: DO NOT THINK THAT BECAUSE YOU DID WELL IN PREVIOUSLY,
YEAR 11 WILL BE EASY!
Do not be entitled to anything. You’re entering a new battlefield.
3.​ Don’t be burdened by your past
I was a terrible student from years 7 to 10.
I literally never studied. I got C’s and D’s.
I was known as that student who ‘doesn’t do anything’, ‘lazy’ and ‘bad student’.
If I had let my past burden me, I would’ve never ‘locked in’!
So, no matter how bad your past has been, DO NOT LET IT DETERMINE YOUR FUTURE!
Your past doesn’t equal your future…unless you stay the same.
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📚 Subject Selection
How to pick your subjects
1. Look at any pre-requisites that may be required for your goal university (nowadays,
there’s none, only assumed knowledge). Select these subjects first.
2. Choose the subjects that you’re genuinely interested in and see yourself dedicating
hours towards mastering.
3. Do NOT pick any subject for its scaling. Scaling is complete BS in terms of achieving
that ATAR you want. You can achieve ANY ATAR doing ANY subject.
❌You do NOT need to do advanced or extension subjects to achieve a high ATAR.
❌ You do NOT need to do chemistry or physics.
I did standard maths and english, no physics, no chemistry and yet achieved a 97+ ATAR. I
could’ve achieved a 99 ATAR too, however, this wasn’t my goal anyways.
What to expect during year 11
●​ Increased workload – more homework, more exams, more assignments.
●​ Increased stress & pressure – year 11 will be your first ‘senior’ year and is one step
closer to finishing high school forever. Because of this, your stress will undoubtedly
increase and the pressure to do well academically will be high.
●​ Increased competition – many students start to ‘click’ during year 11, which means
they’ll become more competitive and aim for 1st rank.
●​ Greater independence – Year 11 often comes with greater independence and
responsibility for your learning.
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The Mindset Needed for Success in Year 11
Mindset = underlying beliefs and attitudes that shapes one’s thoughts, behaviours and
responses to challenges.
Mindset is the most important tool for success in school and life in general.
If your mindset isn’t right, nothing will be.
Mindset → Thoughts → Beliefs → Action → Results
To truly excel in Year 11, the most important mindset you need is the growth mindset.
What is a growth mindset?
A growth mindset is the belief that abilities, intelligence, and skills can be developed
through effort, learning, and perseverance. It's the opposite of a fixed mindset, where
people believe their talents and intelligence are set in stone and cannot be improved.
E.g. Let's say you failed your maths exam. Someone with a growth mindset would believe
that they can improve their math skills through practice and learning from mistakes.
Someone with a fixed mindset would simply believe they’re ‘stupid’ and give up.
Why is this mindset specifically important for year 11?
Because you’re going to make many mistakes! And if you don’t have the growth mindset,
you’re going to get bogged down and give up.
Every single mistake you make during year 11 is a chance for you to improve and get better
for year 12.
If you do not embrace the challenge, love failure and seek improvement, you’ll never ever
achieve that success you’re looking for!
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8 DUX-STUDENT TIPS:
(1) Set Goals
The top students are goal-oriented!
They know where they’re going and have a clear direction.
This is where low-performing/average students fall short - they set no goals and just ‘go
with the flow’.
For year 11, make sure that you’ve set what goal ATAR you’re aiming for – if you don’t know
exactly, that’s fine, at least set a rough estimate.
Setting a goal ATAR will allow you to gauge how much ‘effort’ you need to put in. For
example, if you’re aiming for a 70 ATAR, not as much effort is required as opposed to aiming
for a 95 ATAR.
How to Set Goals:
1.​ Figure out what degree you want to study and at what university (if you don’t know
the exact degree, at least know the field you want to enter)
2.​ Look up the university website and see what the ATAR requirement is
3.​ Add 3 points on top of that ATAR requirement
4.​ You now have your goal ATAR
Applied example: Desired Uni and Course = UNSW, Computer science
1.​ Computer science at UNSW
2.​ Requires 90 ATAR
3.​ 90 + 3 = 93
4.​ My goal ATAR is 93
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⬇️NOTE ⬇️
You do not need to aim for a 99. You don’t need to aim for a 95. Just aim for the ATAR that
YOU actually want to achieve.
A ‘successful’ ATAR is the one that 1) you’re aiming for and 2) gets you into your desired
course.
If your course requires an 80 ATAR and you want to achieve an 80 ATAR, then that’s your
goal!
Don’t feel pressure to aim for something you don’t even want. That’s futile!
⚙️ACTION STEP:
●​ Set your goal ATAR
●​ Read this goal every morning and night
(2) Craft new & ideal life
You want to become a new person in year 11. You want to become an absolute beast. You
want to shock the world and make a huge academic comeback….YET you stay the same?
We can’t let this happen.
You must design your new life ahead of you and optimise it to maximise your chances of
success.
How to ‘craft’ new life:
1.​ Awareness of current self – list out all your bad habits, traits and qualities on a
google doc. This may feel very confronting, but it’s required. The first step to
changing your life is identifying what you need to change in the first place.
a.​ For example, my personal list of bad habits were:
i.​ Cramming
ii.​ Not caring at all
iii.​ Playing too many games
iv.​ Sleeping in
2.​ Evolution of future self – list out the new good habits, traits and qualities that you
want to adopt and evolve into.
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3.​ Map out routines – write out all your routines you want to follow. You should have a
morning, evening, study and night routine. If you need some inspiration, watch this:
My 97+ ATAR Daily Routine
4.​ Self-manifesto – write out a comprehensive description of your ideal self. Who are
they? What are they like? How do they behave? How do others see them? How do
they respond to certain issues? Etc
a.​ For example, here is a small snippet from mine:
i.​ Luqman Arab is an extremely hard working student who outworks
everyone in his school. He is smart, stoic and wise. He is a straight-A
student and extremely intelligent.
ii.​
Every single morning, Luqman wakes up at 5am in the morning
regardless of how he is feeling. He reads every day, he studies every
day and he has extreme focus. He does not waste any time and does
not listen to his weak emotions that tell him to give up
… continues and is very comprehensive.
(3) Planning & Organisation
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!”
- Benjamin Franklin
During year 11, plan every single day and week.
You don’t ever want to start your day without knowing what you’re going to do.
Do NOT study based on ‘feeling’ – study based off of your plan.
⚙️ACTION STEPS:
1.​ Open up google calendar and block in all your routines – morning, night, study, etc.
2.​ Use this template I've created for you to plan your week:
Simple Weekly Plan Template
3.​ Purchase binders and shelves for each subject and store all relevant materials in
there.
4.​ When you start year 11, ask all your teachers to provide you with the scope and
sequence/assessment schedule. Then, write out and stick on your wall what
assignments/exams are coming up. By knowing this early and not forgetting it, you’ll
be able to prepare well in advance.
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(4) Studying Effectively
There’s a high chance that you’re studying completely wrong - in fact, 95% of students
don’t even know how to study.
In year 11, if you’re studying by:
●​ Taking notes
●​ Reading over slides
●​ Highlighting
●​ Re-reading notes
●​ Re-writing notes
●​ Doing a few textbook questions
…you’re not going to perform at a high level.
​
All of the above study methods are passive - which means your brain isn’t being engaged
with and hence none of the information you’re reading will be remembered nor applied
effectively in an exam.
To study effectively, you must use active methods that engage your brain and allow for
long-term memory retention and easy application.
Examples of active study methods:
●​ Flashcards - use a software like anki to create anki cards off of your textbook
●​ Active recall questions – create questions for yourself
●​ The Feynman technique - teaching the information to someone else (or pretending to
at least)
●​ Blurting - writing down what you know from memory on a blank sheet of paper, and
then correcting yourself for all the stuff you’ve forgotten
●​ Past papers - the best study method out there actually!
Watch a full YT video:
How to ACTUALLY Study (95+ ATAR tips)
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(5) Use your syllabus (very important)
During years 7 to 10, the ‘syllabus’ isn’t really important and no one cares.
However, in year 11, the syllabus is extremely important!
The syllabus is a document that outlines all the content you’ll be learning in a specific
subject. For example, here’s the year 11 biology syllabus for NSW - HERE
The reason why the syllabus is extremely important is because you cannot be tested on
anything outside of it. This means that every single exam question you could possibly get
in an exam…MUST come from the syllabus - it’s a legal requirement.
⚙️ACTION STEPS:
●​ Print out the syllabuses for all your subjects (can be found by simply searching it up
using the template - “Year 11 [subject] syllabus [state] ”)
●​ Go through each syllabus for all subjects and read through it – get an idea of what
you’ll be learning (this should be exciting)
●​ Highlighting key points
As you learn each topic, check it off the syllabus so you know that you’ve covered it already.
(6) Preparing for Exams
How do you effectively prepare for exams in year 11?
Watch this before your next exam...
(7) Mental health
How to take care of Mental health & prevent burnout
-​ Sleep → aim for 7-8 hours
-​ Diet → just don’t eat high sugary foods for breakfast
-​ Exercise → aim for 3x per week minimum. Doesn’t have to be some crazy gym
workout. Even a 10 minute walk is good!
-​ Rest days → choose 1 day during the week for rest. Mine was Friday.
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(8) Use weekends!
Most people in your cohort won’t study on weekends. This is good, because it means that
you’ll be having a serious advantage over all of them.
Don’t use weekends as your chance to bludge. Use them to get ahead and review material!
Common Mistakes to Avoid
1) Putting in your 100% effort from the beginning
Achieving your goal ATAR is a marathon, not a sprint.
A big mistake that students make is that they go all-in with 100% effort from the beginning
of year 11, but then burnout for year 12.
Start small, and gradually increase over time!
E.g. I started studying for just 1 hour per day in year 11. Then, overtime, I increased to 2
hours and then 3 hours.
2) Not taking year 11 seriously
Remember, year 11 is preparation for year 12. If you decide to slack off and do nothing,
then you’ll be impacted in year 12 and you won’t succeed.
Also, when I say ‘slack off’, I don’t mean in terms of results - remember, I did average in year
11.
I mean ‘slack off’ by not working on yourself, not studying, not fixing the way you study etc.
3) Putting too much weight on exams and assignments
Year 11 results do NOT count towards your final ATAR…so don’t get so upset every time you
don’t perform well in an exam or assignment.
You might think it doesn’t impact you, but when you stress so much over year 11 results, you
end up developing this fear of failure that really makes it hard for you to improve.
Embrace every mark you get, and learn from it!
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4) Not learning from mistakes
Mistakes will definitely happen, when it does, you have 2 choices:
1.​ You ignore it and trick yourself into thinking it’ll improve over time, or
2.​ Ruthlessly figure out why you made the mistake and actually learn from it!
Every single mistake brings you closer to success…if you actually learn from it.
5) Complacency
There are two types of complacent people in year 11:
First type: the student who has always done well in school and now believes that they’ll
automatically ace year 11
Second type: the student who does well in year 11, and then automatically believes they’ll
smash year 12.
6) Cramming
Please do NOT cram for your exams and do NOT leave things to the last minute.
During year 11, practice getting things done fast and early. Practice starting your
assignment the DAY you receive the notification.
Practice studying for your exams 4 weeks before.
Cramming and leaving things to the last minute SAPS your potential like crazy. Do not
do it!
Final Words - from someone who went from D’s to a 95+ ATAR against all odds
Year 11 is your time to become ‘that’ student!
If you’ve failed year 7 to 10, year 11 is your chance to fix yourself entirely so that you can
make the GREATEST academic comeback for year 12.
Don’t mess around this year!
However, at the same time, don’t stress yourself out too much.
I’m rooting for you!
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Let’s do this,
Luqman.
Other useful videos:
The only 3 things you need for a 95+ ATAR...
●​
●​
The 7 Pillars for a 95+ ATAR (Guaranteed)
●​
How badly do you want that ATAR?
The Mentality that Got me a 97+ ATAR
●​
Why tutoring WON'T save your ATAR!
●​
●​
My 97+ ATAR Daily Routine
●​
How I Stayed Motivated During Year 12 (97+ ATAR tips)
© DUX Academy - All rights reserved. Do not share, copy, reproduce or sell any part of this document unless you have written permission from DUX Academy AU. All infringements will be prosecuted. If
you are the personal owner of the DUX Academy AU End User Licence then you may use it for your own use but not for any other purpose.