Hi guys, thought I'd share this Stuvac study guide which I wrote a couple of years. Feel free to PM if you have any questions.
Stuvac:
• 2-3 weeks is a lot of time so make sure to use this period productively. If you have performed well until now that’s great but this only counts for roughly half your marks so you still need to keep up your momentum going. If you haven’t done as well as you wanted to up until, don’t worry a good performance in the HSC can pull you up. Although technically speaking it’s a 50:50 split between internal school marks and the external HSC, on the whole the actual HSC exams are what really counts, especially from your whole school’s point of view
• ALLOCATE time for study, it’s fine that you have all day but this is extremely unrealistic and very much unsustainable – I found what worked for me was:
• Make sure to set QUALITY-based goals and not quantity based, i.e. it’s better to “finish 1 HSC 2 Unit Maths paper” (even if it only takes 2 hours) than studying mindlessly for 3 hours with no set task
• In terms of specific subjects:
During the HSC period:
• There’s no need to study excessively now (i.e. no more late nights, definitely no all-nighters etc.) – remember all the hard work is already done and you’re just in the final stretch. If you feel like the content is getting really repetitive and boring by now, it means your well prepared and ready to go
• Focus solely on consolidating the material you already know, unless it’s something really important which you’ve missed I wouldn’t learn anything new
• Night before an exam: take it really easy – I still think you really should do some light revision like reading over your notes but nothing much harder. Make sure to stay relaxed and get an early night sleep
HSC Exam:
• Try to get to your exam venue at least 1 hour before, last thing you want before a test is being stressed out because you’re train got cancelled or having to run into the hall a couple of minutes before the exam starts
• Once you get to school, I would say try and focus solely on yourself
• Some actual HSC exam tips:
Stuvac:
• 2-3 weeks is a lot of time so make sure to use this period productively. If you have performed well until now that’s great but this only counts for roughly half your marks so you still need to keep up your momentum going. If you haven’t done as well as you wanted to up until, don’t worry a good performance in the HSC can pull you up. Although technically speaking it’s a 50:50 split between internal school marks and the external HSC, on the whole the actual HSC exams are what really counts, especially from your whole school’s point of view
• ALLOCATE time for study, it’s fine that you have all day but this is extremely unrealistic and very much unsustainable – I found what worked for me was:
o Getting some study done in the morning from maybe 9-12 (this would be the exact time of your HSC exams as well!): normally it was 1 whole HSC paper (timed, no notes, exam conditions)
o Take a lunch break/RELAX (i.e. don’t half heartedly read your notes whilst relaxing) until around 2, then do something from around 2 to about 4 (good practice if you have 2 exams on 1 day): try and get through 1 paper as fast as you can
o RELAX until the night: do something completely different which takes your mind off studying - e.g. exercise, spend some time family etc.
o Get some study/revision at night: marking the paper with the marking criteria and marker’s notes (http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/hsc_exams/hsc2012exams/) [this gives you an idea as to what exactly markers were thinking as they marked responses, pay close attention to the common pitfalls and mistakes – make sure not make them when you’re sitting your exam!], going over mistakes with notes and a textbook (you should aim to not make the same mistake twice), doing some preparation for the practice papers which you’ll try the following day. Again, some people really think the longer they stay up, the more they retain but I can guarantee this doesn’t work for most us because let’s face it we end up procrastinating after a couple of hours anyway. I always ensured I was in bed by 11 at the latest, and unless you’re really a night owl I would probably recommend the same
o Another quick note: at times there might be some days where you might have to skip some of these times for one reason or another. This is OK and stressing/feeling guilty about this isn’t going to bring that time back, you just need to make sure you work a little bit harder the next time you study to catch up!
• Make sure to prioritize your time effectively: start off studying your weakest subjects (not your favorite/best subject!) – key to HSC is consistency so there’s no point getting 95 in 4 of your subjects only to be brought down by a low score in your last subjecto Take a lunch break/RELAX (i.e. don’t half heartedly read your notes whilst relaxing) until around 2, then do something from around 2 to about 4 (good practice if you have 2 exams on 1 day): try and get through 1 paper as fast as you can
o RELAX until the night: do something completely different which takes your mind off studying - e.g. exercise, spend some time family etc.
o Get some study/revision at night: marking the paper with the marking criteria and marker’s notes (http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/hsc_exams/hsc2012exams/) [this gives you an idea as to what exactly markers were thinking as they marked responses, pay close attention to the common pitfalls and mistakes – make sure not make them when you’re sitting your exam!], going over mistakes with notes and a textbook (you should aim to not make the same mistake twice), doing some preparation for the practice papers which you’ll try the following day. Again, some people really think the longer they stay up, the more they retain but I can guarantee this doesn’t work for most us because let’s face it we end up procrastinating after a couple of hours anyway. I always ensured I was in bed by 11 at the latest, and unless you’re really a night owl I would probably recommend the same
o Another quick note: at times there might be some days where you might have to skip some of these times for one reason or another. This is OK and stressing/feeling guilty about this isn’t going to bring that time back, you just need to make sure you work a little bit harder the next time you study to catch up!
• Make sure to set QUALITY-based goals and not quantity based, i.e. it’s better to “finish 1 HSC 2 Unit Maths paper” (even if it only takes 2 hours) than studying mindlessly for 3 hours with no set task
• In terms of specific subjects:
o Make sure you have your English essays sorted and ready to go, practice adapting and actually writing out responses to different questions
o Other subjects: past papers are the best form of revision, if you run out of these then specific school trial papers (e.g. CSSA, Independent etc.) are fine as well
o Don’t skip any part of the syllabus: there’s no pattern to HSC questions so questions asked last year could come up again and likewise if something hasn’t been asked for the past 5 years there’s nothing stopping the BOS from putting it in this year’s paper
• Always get some good sleep (at least 7-8 hours) and keep some time out for relaxing like watching your favourite TV program, spending time with family, sport etc.o Other subjects: past papers are the best form of revision, if you run out of these then specific school trial papers (e.g. CSSA, Independent etc.) are fine as well
o Don’t skip any part of the syllabus: there’s no pattern to HSC questions so questions asked last year could come up again and likewise if something hasn’t been asked for the past 5 years there’s nothing stopping the BOS from putting it in this year’s paper
During the HSC period:
• There’s no need to study excessively now (i.e. no more late nights, definitely no all-nighters etc.) – remember all the hard work is already done and you’re just in the final stretch. If you feel like the content is getting really repetitive and boring by now, it means your well prepared and ready to go
• Focus solely on consolidating the material you already know, unless it’s something really important which you’ve missed I wouldn’t learn anything new
• Night before an exam: take it really easy – I still think you really should do some light revision like reading over your notes but nothing much harder. Make sure to stay relaxed and get an early night sleep
HSC Exam:
• Try to get to your exam venue at least 1 hour before, last thing you want before a test is being stressed out because you’re train got cancelled or having to run into the hall a couple of minutes before the exam starts
• Once you get to school, I would say try and focus solely on yourself
• Some actual HSC exam tips:
o You get reading time, so use it wisely! Read through the whole paper and have a mental idea of which questions you’ll be attempting first, second, last etc. Aim to do the easy questions first and save the harder questions until the last. Sounds straightforward but a lot of people I know got stuck up on question 2 or 3 and lose time for some of the easier questions later on.
o Remember all the stuff on exam technique and how to structure your responses (especially for science)
o You may get a feeling like there’s a question, which you haven’t covered; isn’t part of the syllabus or has never been asked in past HSC papers in the exam. TRUST ME, you would have seen this question before just in a slightly different form, make sure not to panic and try an alternate approach – it’s in your mind somewhere, you just have to find it!
o Stay for the whole time of the exam! 3 hours really isn’t too long considering that you’ve spent the last 6 years of high school for the HSC, so make sure to double and even triple check your work (for Maths), and for science and English there’s always somewhere you can keep improve and fine-tune your sentences/structuring
o There’s no marks allocated for neatness, spelling or grammar but make sure you’re wary of it. In my opinion, this subconsciously tilts some of the answers from a 2 to a 3, 3 to a 4, etc.
o Once you finish an exam, you’re allowed to take out the actual HSC paper, please DON’T. What’s done is done, and there’s no point dwelling on and discussing where you got your marks and where you lost them.
o Remember all the stuff on exam technique and how to structure your responses (especially for science)
o You may get a feeling like there’s a question, which you haven’t covered; isn’t part of the syllabus or has never been asked in past HSC papers in the exam. TRUST ME, you would have seen this question before just in a slightly different form, make sure not to panic and try an alternate approach – it’s in your mind somewhere, you just have to find it!
o Stay for the whole time of the exam! 3 hours really isn’t too long considering that you’ve spent the last 6 years of high school for the HSC, so make sure to double and even triple check your work (for Maths), and for science and English there’s always somewhere you can keep improve and fine-tune your sentences/structuring
o There’s no marks allocated for neatness, spelling or grammar but make sure you’re wary of it. In my opinion, this subconsciously tilts some of the answers from a 2 to a 3, 3 to a 4, etc.
o Once you finish an exam, you’re allowed to take out the actual HSC paper, please DON’T. What’s done is done, and there’s no point dwelling on and discussing where you got your marks and where you lost them.
