holiday study tips to get ahead in year 11? (1 Viewer)

[niecoups]

Hello! I am a current year 10 student who will inevitably be in year 11 as 2025 starts meaning i'll have to get ready to start my actual hsc subjects. The following are the subjects i'll be taking next year and i was wondering how you guys have studied during the summer holidays in preperation for year 11 and how you guys had begun studying ahead of time, especially for the sciences. I am planning to start making basic notes based off the syllabus points for the sciences but i'm not sure how i should be getting ahead for the rest of the subjects. I currently attend chemistry tutoring too which means i have already begun learning module 1 of the yr 11 chemistry syllabus but i'm a bit worried for biology as i'd also like to get a head start... also for english i've heard from people that you should read your texts ahead of time but if we are doing shakespeare later in the year is it really worth reading it all in the holidays (the crucible is the only thing i know for sure we will be studying next year...)? any resources or tips for studying or getting ahead would be greatly appreciated

Biology
Business Studies
Chemistry
English Advanced
Maths Advanced
Maths Ext. 1
Spanish Beginners

Thank you!

 

[Shavi Masee]

yo you wanna join the notes webb with other yr 10s on here??

limited offer only like 3 more spaces available...



- my school already has our books planned out for every year. If it's the same for you guys maybe you can ask what books some seniors have covered or ask ur teachers? For english it isn't all about understanding the book... it's about integrating techniques/analysis thoroughly, there is no point in reading a book completely but having no idea how to make an essay out of it iygwim yh. So if you won't find out what books ur doing, you can cover structure/analysis shit.
- From A LOT of people on here, I've concluded that getting ahead is really good if you are not the type of person to understand concepts at a fast pace. (since yr 11 is really fast and doesn't cater toward a student specifically). Depends how you study!

hope this helps somewhat!

 

[niecoups]

yo you wanna join the notes webb with other yr 10s on here??

limited offer only like 3 more spaces available...

sure ig

 

[Shavi Masee]

lol really up to you we haven't started much yet (i'll dm)

 

[t234]

i mostly studied for my accelerated subject - 2u math but for the others:

i went ahead for chem which i also got tutored for, i finished all my chem notes for mod 1 which became pretty useful in the prelims. in the term i dont like updating my notes i like spamming questions so this helped me for chem in term 1

i did nothing for business

for english i knew i had an imaginative for task 1 so i worked on my creative writing a bit because im pretty weak at that. i did not read my texts in this 6 week holiday, we did shakespeare term 2 so i just read the text in the term 1 holidays but my classmates who didnt and were fast readers did very well in the task so i dont think it's a must in yr11.

for maths ext 1, i just prepared for my task 1 with past paper questions

overall tho, i was studying for minimal hours daily and took a lot of days off so i would say to chill in these holidays, its one of the last fun times when you dont have to stress about the hsc imo

good luck for yr11!!

 

[v.tex]

Yeah get ahead, it will be really worth it trust me. In terms of chem and bio just buy the text books youll be using and just study based off those and youtube videos with syllabus dot points as reference.

Also don't study too hard, just try and get ahead a bit. You still wanna enjoy your holidays, but yeah getting ahead would be really helpful.

 

[Hehehe22]

Firstly, don't stress too much! It's good to get into the habit of self-study ahead of time, but you also need to relax these holidays so you don't burn out in the middle of year 11. Also, remember that none of your year 11 results will count towards your HSC. The most valuable thing you'll get out of next year is study skills and confidence in your subjects.

For sciences, as v.tex said, it's good to pre-write some notes but don't overdo it. The y11 bio content is pretty easy and you could probably pick up most of it in class, with a bit of consolidation. It might be helpful to find out which textbooks/workbooks you'll be using next year, but you can also buy your own study materials.

It's definitely worthwhile to pre-read your English texts. However, the The Crucible is a y12 text so you won't be learning that for some time - I'd probably save it for later. Once again, ask your teachers about what texts you're doing. It'd be helpful to get into the habit of communicating with your teachers more, too. If you get your texts, just write down some ideas and themes you observe and highlight some potential quotes you can use in essays.

I'm not too sure about maths because I didn't do much myself, but you're probably starting with functions and graphs which you'd probably have learned in y10. If so, you should review that and really be comfortable with the concepts because you'll be playing around with them a lot next year.

Good luck!

 

[niecoups]

Yeah get ahead, it will be really worth it trust me. In terms of chem and bio just buy the text books youll be using and just study based off those and youtube videos with syllabus dot points as reference.

Also don't study too hard, just try and get ahead a bit. You still wanna enjoy your holidays, but yeah getting ahead would be really helpful.

if i could ask, do you posisbly know what textbooks for any of the subjects im going to take will be?for my science subjects my science teacher (hes a senior physics teacher) said that he gave extra materials in the first place whilst teaching us the year 10 content so that he wouldn't have to deal with people asking him for textbooks to study ahead of time for but hoenstly the things he uploads aren't really good for year 11 self study as they are just extension year 10 science worksheets.

Thank you so much for your advice though! i definitely will use my holidays for good this time though i always waste all my holidays

 

[niecoups]

i mostly studied for my accelerated subject - 2u math but for the others:

i went ahead for chem which i also got tutored for, i finished all my chem notes for mod 1 which became pretty useful in the prelims. in the term i dont like updating my notes i like spamming questions so this helped me for chem in term 1

i did nothing for business

for english i knew i had an imaginative for task 1 so i worked on my creative writing a bit because im pretty weak at that. i did not read my texts in this 6 week holiday, we did shakespeare term 2 so i just read the text in the term 1 holidays but my classmates who didnt and were fast readers did very well in the task so i dont think it's a must in yr11.

for maths ext 1, i just prepared for my task 1 with past paper questions

overall tho, i was studying for minimal hours daily and took a lot of days off so i would say to chill in these holidays, its one of the last fun times when you dont have to stress about the hsc imo

good luck for yr11!!

ohhh i see isee

I know its mandated that our first tasks in year 11 are creative tasks but we're doing a discursive apparently which im so bad at i really dont know how to get better at writing discrusives

i see though tysm, i'll def make sure to read shakespeare maybe in the holiday break before we do our task lol

 

[Hehehe22]

if i could ask, do you posisbly know what textbooks for any of the subjects im going to take will be?for my science subjects my science teacher (hes a senior physics teacher) said that he gave extra materials in the first place whilst teaching us the year 10 content so that he wouldn't have to deal with people asking him for textbooks to study ahead of time for but hoenstly the things he uploads aren't really good for year 11 self study as they are just extension year 10 science worksheets.

Thank you so much for your advice though! i definitely will use my holidays for good this time though i always waste all my holidays

We used bio and chem in focus at my school and they're okay, but they're pretty expensive for self-study

 

[niecoups]

Firstly, don't stress too much! It's good to get into the habit of self-study ahead of time, but you also need to relax these holidays so you don't burn out in the middle of year 11. Also, remember that none of your year 11 results will count towards your HSC. The most valuable thing you'll get out of next year is study skills and confidence in your subjects.

For sciences, as v.tex said, it's good to pre-write some notes but don't overdo it. The y11 bio content is pretty easy and you could probably pick up most of it in class, with a bit of consolidation. It might be helpful to find out which textbooks/workbooks you'll be using next year, but you can also buy your own study materials.

It's definitely worthwhile to pre-read your English texts. However, the The Crucible is a y12 text so you won't be learning that for some time - I'd probably save it for later. Once again, ask your teachers about what texts you're doing. It'd be helpful to get into the habit of communicating with your teachers more, too. If you get your texts, just write down some ideas and themes you observe and highlight some potential quotes you can use in essays.

I'm not too sure about maths because I didn't do much myself, but you're probably starting with functions and graphs which you'd probably have learned in y10. If so, you should review that and really be comfortable with the concepts because you'll be playing around with them a lot next year.

Good luck!

Thank you so much for all that advice! All of what you said was really helpful. I still really want to try my best for year 11 as a dress rehearsal type thingy for the actual hsc in order to do pretty good and gauge what i'll be struggling with and i see what you mean!

i'll def still look over the year 11 bio content in the holidays . Also wdym the crucible is a y12 text? our school did plays like macbeth and a midsummers night dream in years 7 and 8 i think and romeo and juliet in year 10 when i am pretty sure other schools had done them way in a more progressively maturing plot manner so idk if our school would follow that bc i had overheard my teacher saying wed be doing the crucible in yr 11. i'll def maybe consolidate that with my teacher tho

 

[niecoups]

We used bio and chem in focus at my school and they're okay, but they're pretty expensive for self-study

ohhhhhhh

Now this all makes sense lol i've seen senior people in my school come to the library to borrow that book bc i think its provided at our school! does the content it teach all align with the syllabus or smth?

 

[Hehehe22]

Thank you so much for all that advice! All of what you said was really helpful. I still really want to try my best for year 11 as a dress rehearsal type thingy for the actual hsc in order to do pretty good and gauge what i'll be struggling with and i see what you mean!

i'll def still look over the year 11 bio content in the holidays . Also wdym the crucible is a y12 text? our school did plays like macbeth and a midsummers night dream in years 7 and 8 i think and romeo and juliet in year 10 when i am pretty sure other schools had done them way in a more progressively maturing plot manner so idk if our school would follow that bc i had overheard my teacher saying wed be doing the crucible in yr 11. i'll def maybe consolidate that with my teacher tho

Glad I was helpful!
I say that because The Crucible is usually chosen as the main text for the common module in y12 (Texts and Human Experiences) which my grade is currently doing now. I don't think you're even allowed to do it in y11. I might be wrong though, fact-check it
WAIT I THINK I WASN'T CLEAR, I mean that you do the Crucible in the last term of next year, which is y12 since y11 is only 3 terms.
Btw we did those identical texts in yr 7/8 and 10. Wait...

 

[Study to success]

ohhhhhhh

Now this all makes sense lol i've seen senior people in my school come to the library to borrow that book bc i think its provided at our school! does the content it teach all align with the syllabus or smth?

I can send u textbooks. Just dm me ur email

 

[Hehehe22]

ohhhhhhh

Now this all makes sense lol i've seen senior people in my school come to the library to borrow that book bc i think its provided at our school! does the content it teach all align with the syllabus or smth?

Yess it does, it's written completely based on the syllabus and even goes into a bit too much depth at times

 

[wollongong warrior]

Libgen is your friend
or filetype: pdf (insert textbook name)
Don't waste your money of physical books nor go through the trouble of borrowing them
unless you're especially enthusiastic about studying from a physical book

 

[t234]

ohhh i see isee

I know its mandated that our first tasks in year 11 are creative tasks but we're doing a discursive apparently which im so bad at i really dont know how to get better at writing discrusives

i see though tysm, i'll def make sure to read shakespeare maybe in the holiday break before we do our task lol

for discursive i think it would be beneficial to read several examples

also something my teacher recommends is to keep like a short journal, write random ideas you have in it. if you watch a film, write your thoughts on it so that overtime you have ideas to talk about not only in discursive but also creatives

 

[Hehehe22]

ohhh i see isee

I know its mandated that our first tasks in year 11 are creative tasks but we're doing a discursive apparently which im so bad at i really dont know how to get better at writing discrusives

i see though tysm, i'll def make sure to read shakespeare maybe in the holiday break before we do our task lol

We got a booklet of examples for discursive texts and learned about the techniques we can use, e.g. personal anecdote, figurative language, conversational tone
Just sort through your life experiences lol and dig something up that is poetic/inspiring and use that as your anecdote