Setting up a TCE study system over summer before Year 12 (2026 to 2027)

How does the TCE year actually run?

A TASC Level 3 or 4 course has a size value of 15, which TASC equates to 150 hours of design time. Your school decides how it schedules that time, so ask when your Year 12 courses begin. In government schools the 2027 school year runs from 4 February to 16 December, although colleges set their own finishing dates and non-government schools set their own terms. Your teacher rates you on each criterion as the course runs, and TASC's written exams are on 8 to 18 November 2027.

Two things make a strong start worthwhile:

• Internal assessment carries the most weight. TASC says the largest part of your award comes from your teacher's ratings, and those start with your first tasks in Term 1.
• Year 11 Level 3 results can already count. From 2025, your ATAR uses your best results over two years, so Year 12 is your chance to add to, or replace, what you already have. See how the Tasmanian ATAR is calculated.

Step 1: organise everything by criterion

Each TASC course document lists its criteria and the standards for A, B and C ratings. Make that the skeleton of your notes:

1. Download the current course document for each subject from the TASC website.
2. Make one folder (paper or digital) per course, with one section per criterion.
3. File your Year 11 notes, if relevant, into those sections, and note any criterion you have nothing for.

The site's syllabus pages are already organised this way. Start with Mathematics Methods Unit 3, the English syllabus, the Biology syllabus or your subject's hub: Chemistry, Physics, Legal Studies, Psychology.

Step 2: build a weekly routine

Keep it simple enough to keep going in Term 3:

Put your courses and task dates into the study planner, then use Today to see what to do each day. For more ideas, see study routines that actually work.

Step 3: use active recall and spaced repetition

Re-reading notes feels productive but doesn't show you what you can't do. Instead:

• Active recall: close the book and answer a question, write out a definition or do a problem from memory, then check.
• Spaced repetition: revisit material after a gap of days, then weeks, focusing on what you got wrong.

The site's tools are built for this. Use the TCE flashcard decks, for example Mathematics Methods, Chemistry, Biology and English, plus quizzes such as the Biology exam strategy quiz. Revision mixes questions across topics.

Step 4: what to actually study over summer

• Close gaps from Year 11 that later topics depend on, especially in maths and sciences.
• Read ahead lightly: skim the first unit or criterion of each course so Term 1 feels familiar.
• English and humanities: read your set texts if your school has announced them, and practise planning responses.
• Leave past papers for later. Full papers are most useful once you've covered the content: see when to start past papers.

Step 5: rest, on purpose

Year 12 is long. Block out genuine time off over Christmas and January: sleep, exercise, see friends, work a summer job if you have one. Coming into February rested matters more than a few extra hours of study. If stress is already building, read exam stress and mental health.

Next: how Year 12 assessment works and the series hub, starting Year 12 in 2027.