Study subjects you love

Tenison Woods College dux Max Patzel not only topped his school but also secured the highest ranking ATAR result across the Limestone Coast, putting his success down to spreading his workload over two years, incredible support from teachers, choosing subjects you enjoy and good, old fashioned hard work.

Max was rewarded with an ATAR of 98.70 and is now set to follow a career in animal health.

“I am not 100 per cent certain which university I want to attend, but for my undergraduate, I am interested in studying a Bachelor of Animal and Veterinary Biosciences at La Trobe in Melbourne,” Max said. “Following this, I hope to gain entry into the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine so I can become a qualified veterinarian.”

Before that, though, Max is taking a gap year and heading to the United States during the northern hemisphere summer to work at a Summer Camp.

Max achieved five As in his school based subjects – Spiritualities, Religion and Meaning, Ancient Studies, General Mathematics, English and Activating Identities and Futures (previously known as the Research Project), which he completed the previous year while he was completing Year 11.

Max also completed his Flinders Uni Extension Course in each semester.

“Completing a Year 12 subject in Year 11 was probably one of the best decisions I made academically,” Max said. “I significantly improved my writing skills, but it was daunting at times, especially because I skipped Stage 1 English, but I am extremely thankful for my teacher, Ms Pearce, who went above and beyond.”

And Ms Pearce was not the only teacher to get a shout out from the high achiever, with Max’s maths teacher, Mr Virgo, also singled out.

“I also really enjoyed Math all throughout my high schooling, I had the same teacher, Mr Virgo, for all my math classes from Year 10-12,” he said.

“I was lucky enough to have a close relationship with all my Stage 2 teachers and it played a huge role in my success. I think that a teacher can make or break a subject for students and I never really enjoyed Math during Middle School, but Mr Virgo was very passionate and knowledgeable around Math making it much more doable and less daunting.

“My History teacher Mr Taylor and my Religion teacher Mrs Wilson gave me a lot of support and care during the year, especially with my perfectionism. They both helped me manage my expectations and understand that I cannot and do not have to be perfect in everything. I really appreciated how they were there to help me develop myself not just as a learner, but as a person.”

And it was dealing with his own expectations and the associated anxiety with striving for success that challenged Max most during his 2024 final year of school.

“Many of my Year 12 classes involved a lot of writing and written assignments so I would always try to get a draft in as soon as I could so I would have sufficient time to go over feedback and ask any questions,” Max said. “I get a lot of test anxiety so I would sometimes leave studying for tests pretty late, but I always tried to stay on top of my content and review past content throughout the year that is examinable.”

He also has advice for other students when it comes to not allowing your studies to consume you during Year 12.

“I do not think I balanced myself well in Year 12 and I think that it is one of my biggest regrets since leaving school,” Max said. “If I were to repeat Year 12 I wish I developed a better social life. I did face a lot of personal issues at school, but I also was so focused on studying that I neglected a lot of my relationships and I became quite reserved from friends and the rest of my cohort. I don’t think students realise how important it is to have a good social connection at school, especially in your final year.”

From a study perspective, staying on top of your workload and ensuring you complete tasks in time to get teacher feedback and make any changes are top of Max’s list of advice.

“You have to be consistent and pace yourself during the year,” he said. “Initially, I was putting in 100 per cent to everything I did and I realised that I would neglect other subjects because I was fixated on perfecting one piece of work at a time.

“Apart from staying on top of your work, I would say the most important thing is understanding how the SACE works in terms of scaling and the performance standards. I found it helpful to understand what was required of me to achieve the highest mark by referring to the performance standards.

“Another important part of SACE is choosing subjects you enjoy, I usually chose the hardest subjects earlier in high school when I didn’t really need to. It’s important to choose subjects that you enjoy and are good at and not worry too much about scaling because you can still achieve a good a score.”

And it was the Activating Identities and Futures that Max enjoyed the most.

“I enjoyed it the most as I got to explore a topic of my own interest and individualise my work rather than being restricted by assignment instructions and word counts like most other SACE subjects.”