Great responses everyone! Great to see everyone being so involved and actively keeping themselves mentally healthy. Here's the summary for this year's final Getting Real session!   Over the summer holidays parties tend to be wilder and involve more drinking and even drugs. Are there any strategies that you use or could use to stop being peer pressured in these situations?   A large part of what we’ll do at a party is influenced by who we hand around with. So to prevent ourselves from being put in positions where we will be peer pressured, it is best to choose to hang around people who are more responsible and know their limits. Another strategy is to pre-empt, this is achieved by talking to your friends beforehand about your intentions to either drink moderately or not drink at all. One important thing to keep in mind when we are peer pressured is to be assertive, it is tough going against a crowd but stick to what you have decided is best. For more info on staying safe while partying check out http://au.reachout.com/Safe-partying.   Parties over the summer holidays tend to be awesome fun but also can get out of hand. What are some dangerous situations at parties that you have seen? How do you avoid becoming wrapped up in these situations?   Over the summer, as we experience the highs of partying with friends and the lows of boredom, we can find ourselves in some pretty dicey situations. Some of the common situations which we can get ourselves wrapped up in during the summer holidays involve activities that are especially dangerous after drinking like: swimming, driving and getting into fights. To avoid getting caught up in these situations and doing something we regret we must remember to drink moderately. And if we are too intoxicated, remove ourselves from the situation such that there is no escalation or chance of doing something we regret. Another great strategy is to stick around friends, especially those who haven’t been drinking. Contracting an STI is a bummer on so many levels – not only does it affect our physical health, it can affect our mental health too. What are some ways to protect yourself from STIs this summer? The best way to avoid the nasties is protection! If you are going to do the deed you need to be prepared, if not do not proceed! It may be embarrassing to be seen buying condoms but getting an STI is magnitudes worse. To be extra cautious it is best to only hook up with partners that you trust.   People were initially really happy with the holidays and their newfound freedom but it didn't take long for boredom to set in. However, everyone was also able to think of ways to combat the boredom. Examples include finding more opportunities to hang out with friends, and cultivating skills and hobbies. The Christmas holidays is a time for extended family contact. This can be stressful because everyone has different expectations and ideas and these can clash over time. People suggested that ways to make things easier for everybody included taking time out, and respecting one another and their space. It was also suggested that one should not favour one family member too much and to spread their attention amongst family members. Having a routine or weekly schedule is important in helping us achieve a good physical and mental lifestyle. Some of the more common and helpful suggestions to incorporate into our schedules were exercise, having some sort of work to do, social outings, and cultivating hobbies. While it's great the holidays allow us to relax, it's also important to keep ourselves both physically and mentally healthy by having routines. One important point for keeping mentally healthy is to make sure to get out of the house more!   Have a great holiday everyone! And thanks for making this year's Getting Real sessions so real! ... View more

@delicatedreamer Wow, that's a great plan. Especially the point about getting up at the same time everyday. I know that all of my friends and I have really erratic sleeping patterns now and it's affected all of us negatively. ... View more

Next question guys!   Throughout the year we put off things that we’d like to do due to a lack of time. Now that it is the holidays, what are 3 things that you would like to work on or do? Can you think of a routine  or weekly schedule that will incorporate these things to make your holiday more productive? ... View more

Seems to be the opposite for me. The holidays were so boring for me at the start but I'll finally be having stuff to do in the coming weeks. I think something people could do is to compile a list of things they want to do. For me, that's been reading and learning how to code. ... View more

Great responses guys, always wear a raincoat. Now on to the next question...   6. After the initial rush of excitement to start the holiday’s boredom usually kicks in as we aren’t used to having so much free time. How do you deal with the boredom? ... View more

Fights on occasion, but good thing about having security in parties so they can handle things without getting police involved. I think it's important to just stay level-headed and not to be too wrapped up with group behaviour. ... View more

Good responses everyone! Here's the next question...   4. Parties over the summer holidays tend to be awesome fun but also can get out of hand. What are some dangerous situations at parties that you have seen? How do you avoid becoming wrapped up in these situations? ... View more

@Pillow That's great. It can seem hard to withstand peer pressure at times but I've never seen anything bad come out of someone standing their ground. If they're good friends, then they should understand. ... View more

@rt262 Not entirely sure yet. All I know is that it'll be experimental studies involving rats and it could involve nicotines or diet studies. I'm really just excited for being able to be more hands-on with my uni experience! ... View more

@Myvo Haha superficiality depends on how you want to spend the money. ... View more

Going skydiving some time in late December. Also got a research project to do in January that I'm really keen on. So the latter half of the holiday has much more going on for me. Really looking forward to it. ... View more

Great responses guys! Seems like for most people, it's been a shift from doing lots to doing nothing at all...   Here's the second question:   2. What are you most looking forward to over the coming holidays/summer? ... View more

Yea, it's actually really weird. Being busy and then suddenly having nothing to do has in its own way added a ton of stress for me as well. ... View more

Have a friend who's been doing the same thing for a while and he introduced me to his agent. Nice way to make some spare cash haha and pretty much anyone can do it ... View more

Holidays sucked for the first few weeks, because it's weird having no routine when one's been so busy for the last couple of months. But things are starting to be better with more things to do. Had a fun experience being an extra in an airlines advertisement ... View more

Great responses guys. It was really cool to see everyone so engaged with the discussion! Here's a summary of all of your responses.   People said that the best thing about their schooling years were the friendships and relationships they made. Towards the more senior years, people became less focused on drama and relationships became more deep and meaningful. Music also seemed to be a big part of people's schooling experiences.   When we talked about things we enjoyed about the HSC, it was hard to find things we truly enjoyed but there was the practical aspects as well as laughing with friends while studying – and most of all – we enjoyed when it was over!   It seemed like the most challenging aspect of people's final examinations was how stressful it was and the pressure surrounding it. People were made to feel like failing would have really bad consequences. The importance of high grades was probably the biggest factor contributing to people feeling stressed out. The huge increase in workload from the junior years to the senior years also stressed people out.   The support of family and friends is very important in helping cope with the stress of the final exams. Also, it's very important to recognise that your final exam is only one way of entering uni. There are many other pathways available. It really is not that big of a deal in relative to other stuff in your life. Being able to see beyond the immediate uses of the stuff you're learning about may also help increase motivation to study.   Emotions that people felt after completing their exams included relief and anticipation (for the results). It was also strange how school is something spend 13 years of our lives on and after a couple of days of exams, it's over. But that was made up for by the fact that everyone gets to party and celebrate afterwards.   For our sole HSCer, thinking about beyond the HSC that finished today, Bee said “I am still kinda unsure about what I will do. I have a couple plans and ideas, but nothing is set in cement. Whatever happens happens”. But for others, there was a gap year, travelling volunteering, work and uni. In terms of immediate celebrations, chilling out and treats were the order of the day. ... View more

@Bee  I was quite sad during the graduation ceremony, especially seeing my year advisor start crying towards the end. Made me tear up too haha. ... View more

Not sure if this counts for as a tip but a few days ago, I was thinking about how much I wish I could redo my HSC. I remember back during high school, I felt like the stuff I was learning was useless. But my attitude towards that has changed. I guess in advice format it would be: try not to find any immediate use in what you're learning but realise that the stuff you learn could somehow really benefit you in the future. ... View more

The most challenging for me was knowing that I wasn't going to get a good ATAR but having to try my best regardless. Although looking back, not doing well during my HSC has provided me a lesson in failure which I'm sort of grateful for now. ... View more

Wow, sounds like most people had a rough time during their final exams. At least everybody appreciated it being over. On to the next question then...   3. Again, whether you did it this year or not, what was the most challenging thing about the HSC? ... View more

During the HSC period, all of my friends and I spent most of our time in the library. It was funny, because there was a lot of socialising and I'd met a lot of new people as well. So I guess the HSC wasn't that bad. ... View more