In this Highschool Afterhours episode (11!), I’m taking you through a super packed exam-season week where I’m trying to balance study, life, and a few random opportunities that pop up. It starts pretty casually with an after-school dinner at Dookki with my friends (our yearly tradition, apparently), but once I get home it’s straight into “okay… I’ve done nothing today, let’s reclaim this” mode. I plan out my schedule, clean up, and settle into a late-night routine with milk + Modern History essay planning (total war impacts on civilians in WWII), then finish off by prepping lesson plans for a study session I’m running. The next day is heavy on Studies of Religion (SOR): I run a group study session, go through content + sample responses, and then keep the momentum going at home with Judaism practice responses (including Moses Maimonides), plus some maths homework (differential calculus) and Business Studies finance questions. One thing I really stand by is changing your scenery when you’re stuck—switching to my dad’s desk genuinely helped me lock in. To end the week, I head to a Gelato Messina factory tour in Marrickville, which was such a cool behind-the-scenes look at how they pasteurise ingredients, make flavours in-house, and run their operations. It was a nice reminder that even during intense study periods, you can still find little resets and new experiences that keep you motivated.