I dont think theres a real secret to getting HDs. Speaking from a science/maths perspective, to put yourself in contention to get HDs in first year units in this area (note: I'm not saying you will get ones if you do this, but you're at least giving yourself a chance):
1. Regular study helps throughout the semester. This doesnt mean you have to go study 3 hours a night for one unit right from the start of the semester, but just make sure you keep up and dont leave all the learning to the week before exams. I found this to be most important for concepts which i did not easily grasp in lectures or didnt understand at all, just go back and look over it and try understand, if not use the lecture consultation times, they are there for a reason.
2. Do tute questions, if not in tutorials, then at least do them at some stage. E.g. I usually do maths tutes the weekend after the tutorial
3. Do not choose advanced streams simply because you hear about the scaling. If you have the ability to excel, then by all means challenge yourself in a more difficulty stream, but don't choose it if you're thinking that a bare pass would be scaled up to credit/distinction. One must keep in mind HDs arent given out loosely. From a usyd perspective, technically speaking, only 3% at most are going to get HDs in a unit. This also means there can be less than that, like stazi said, sometimes no people get HDs.
4. In maths/science units, assessments (not including final exams) are often a giveaway for people who are truely in contention for HDs, so try to drop as little marks as possible in these, especially in maths.
I dont think there's any real secret, just keep it simple. Do the work often and you'll ge the best you possibly can out of it.
Note: the above probably all seems obvious, and that's good because thats how i wanted to sound
1. Regular study helps throughout the semester. This doesnt mean you have to go study 3 hours a night for one unit right from the start of the semester, but just make sure you keep up and dont leave all the learning to the week before exams. I found this to be most important for concepts which i did not easily grasp in lectures or didnt understand at all, just go back and look over it and try understand, if not use the lecture consultation times, they are there for a reason.
2. Do tute questions, if not in tutorials, then at least do them at some stage. E.g. I usually do maths tutes the weekend after the tutorial
3. Do not choose advanced streams simply because you hear about the scaling. If you have the ability to excel, then by all means challenge yourself in a more difficulty stream, but don't choose it if you're thinking that a bare pass would be scaled up to credit/distinction. One must keep in mind HDs arent given out loosely. From a usyd perspective, technically speaking, only 3% at most are going to get HDs in a unit. This also means there can be less than that, like stazi said, sometimes no people get HDs.
4. In maths/science units, assessments (not including final exams) are often a giveaway for people who are truely in contention for HDs, so try to drop as little marks as possible in these, especially in maths.
I dont think there's any real secret, just keep it simple. Do the work often and you'll ge the best you possibly can out of it.
Note: the above probably all seems obvious, and that's good because thats how i wanted to sound
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