How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)-99+ ATAR graduate (6 Viewers)

[Sien]

Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

hey strawberrye, i can't get myself to do work (i think might've burnt out)
i probably chilled out too much in the hols. When i force myself to work, i blank out within 10 min.
what can i do to get back on track?

 

[strawberrye]

Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

hey strawberrye, i can't get myself to do work (i think might've burnt out)
i probably chilled out too much in the hols. When i force myself to work, i blank out within 10 min.
what can i do to get back on track?

I get what you mean, I am actually having similar symptoms myself after a month long uni holiday and it is so hard to get back to my mountain loads of law readings. I would write an essay response in the past but now I focus my responses to be succinct and relevant. Essentially it all comes down to self-discipline-ask yourself how determined are you to get to your final goal, remind yourself how much the final goal/destination mean to you and how much sacrifices you are willing to make in order to get to the final goal and then go for it-to be a good role model-I will be trying this out and I will definitely provide an update whether I succeed

 

[AztecWarrior]

Re: Advice from a graduated HSC student on how to excel in senior year studies(yr 11/

No worries-glad to know I am helping people out If you have any questions about senior year studies or any subject specific questions, feel free to reply to this thread and ask-you will get a response as soon as possible Best wishes for the next two years

Hey, Just wondering, do you have any course specific tips for Modern History and History Extension???

Thanks also for setting up the forum as well

 

[strawberrye]

Re: Advice from a graduated HSC student on how to excel in senior year studies(yr 11/

Hey, Just wondering, do you have any course specific tips for Modern History and History Extension???

Thanks also for setting up the forum as well

Sorry I don't have any course specific tips for these two subjects because I didn't do any humanities subject in HSC-however, feel free to ask on the relevant sub-forums to see whether past students can give you tips and of course, your history teacher is always going to be a best advice giver because they probably know you the best

 

[strawberrye]

Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

If you guys have any questions relevant to your senior studies-doesn't need to be academic, it might be something you are undergoing emotionally right now, don't hesitate to ask-because I am always here to help

 

[valenheart]

Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

Hi I'm just wondering if in year 12 you get examined on things you have done in year 11? Because I'm not sure if I should revise year 11 content during there holidays before going onto year 12

 

[strawberrye]

Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

Hi I'm just wondering if in year 12 you get examined on things you have done in year 11? Because I'm not sure if I should revise year 11 content during there holidays before going onto year 12

This depends on what subject you are talking about, but for maths-you do, and for science-you do-on the practical skills you obtained in year 11, and there is assumed knowledge for various syllabus of year 12 that will highlight to you the specific parts of year 11 that you are expected to know already going into year 12.

 

[mreditor16]

Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

bump!

 

[WildestDreams]

Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

Hey Mei! What's the best way to study for physics? And is it hard as people make it out to be?

 

[strawberrye]

Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

Hey Mei! What's the best way to study for physics? And is it hard as people make it out to be?

There was a section on the first page of my study guide that alluded to how to study for all the science subjects in senior years, which are applicable to physics. To be honest, whether physics is hard as people make it out to be is ultimately dependent on your passion and perseverance for the subject. In short, if you are persistent and hard-working, even a hard subject will not be so hard, so really it is up to your own experience to best define whether it is hard or less so.

My top 3 tips for preparing for excelling in science subjects (e.g. Chemistry, Biology, Physics etc)which includes the main types of assessments you will encounter in your senior school science courses.

1)PRACTICAL ASSESSMENTS:
Make sure you know reliability, validity, accuracy, sources of error, possible areas for improvement, independent/dependent/controlled variables, risk assessment for all the experiments you have done in class, make sure you can master basic science skills such as drawing line of best fit, drawing experimental set up accurately, using numbered points in writing a logical procedure, understand the requirements of the exam(I.e. how much time, how many parts) and allocate your time accordingly, make sure you understand the chemical principle/theory behind why you did each experiment

2)THEORY ASSESSMENT AND EXAMS:
Make sure you PERSONALLY write a set of summarised notes according to each dot point of the syllabus in a concise but detailed manner-make sure you include appropriate diagrams as well, after you wrote the notes, make sure to start practising questions and CHECKING YOUR ANSWERS in textbooks-i.e. Roland Smith's Conquering Chemistry has an exam question section which is quite good, ask your teacher for practice questions and make links between dotpoints and across modules to reinforce your understanding. Throughout the year, you should be progressively cutting down your notes as you store more things into your long term memory-revise regularly. Before your final trial exam-you should try to get your hands on as many preliminary exams as possible to practice-and look at the marking guidelines, remember to practice under EXAM CONDITIONS. Make sure when you make notes you are at least referring to 3 different sources to synthesise your information. (colour-code and use mind-maps to make your notes engaging and easy to remember). In your notes, don't neglect to include all your experiments and second-hand investigations.

3)OTHER:
For other types of assessments such as group presentations, individual research assignments, second-hand investigations-you should strive to always include a comprehensive bibliography that indicates you have sourced your information not only from websites, but from journals/books as well, you should understand how to evaluate accuracy/reliability/validity in relation to the sources of information you are using, like other types of assessment, pay close attention to the marking criteria and make sure you fulfil it as much as possible, make sure your information is comprehensive, non-repetitive and answers the verb of the question: i.e. discuss, evaluate, compare, contrast, assess, examine (so for that matter, memorise what the main verbs used in your exam questions means).

Essentially, to succeed in the science subjects(Biology, Chemistry, Physics etc), you need to understand, constantly apply your understanding through practising questions and adopting feedback from your assessments to do better in year 12-with repetition and consistent application you will achieve your desired marks.

Hope this helps All my best wishes for you to excel in your senior studies!

 

[Celpar]

Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

Hi Mei. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this guide! There's plenty of great advice on here that has made me feel a lot less stressed.
I was hoping to get some advice because I was unhappy with my study during Prelims - I've been worrying to the point that I can't sleep properly and Year 12 only started today. I understand if you cannot answer everything.

1. What did you find to be the best source of past papers? During Year 11 I only stuck to what I was given by teachers. Did you use a combination of papers from teachers, textbooks (i.e Success One) and websites? I have been struggling to find many papers and have been considering buying some past paper books.

2. At what point during Year 12 do you feel a sufficient amount of content had been covered to be able to complete past papers? I feel obligated to be completing them immediately despite not having covered anything yet. I've been thinking revision questions might be a better option for the first term but I'm a little unsure.

3. Would you consider 20-25 pages of syllabus summary notes to be too long? I tend to add almost all the information I can out of bad habit on the basis that it could be examined.

4. How often did you revise previous work? For example if you were in Term 3 of year 12, would you go back to the first topic, read over your notes and then do practice questions every few weeks? Or should most content already be in your long-term memory by that point?

5. Would you recommend revising Preliminary content for subjects other than maths often during year 12?

Once again thank you for this guide! I apologise if some of my questions are odd.

 

[WildestDreams]

Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

Thanks for the advice
I am, in fact, interested in physics, so hopefully I'll do well in it!

 

[strawberrye]

Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

Hi Mei. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this guide! There's plenty of great advice on here that has made me feel a lot less stressed.
I was hoping to get some advice because I was unhappy with my study during Prelims - I've been worrying to the point that I can't sleep properly and Year 12 only started today. I understand if you cannot answer everything.

1. What did you find to be the best source of past papers? During Year 11 I only stuck to what I was given by teachers. Did you use a combination of papers from teachers, textbooks (i.e Success One) and websites? I have been struggling to find many papers and have been considering buying some past paper books.

2. At what point during Year 12 do you feel a sufficient amount of content had been covered to be able to complete past papers? I feel obligated to be completing them immediately despite not having covered anything yet. I've been thinking revision questions might be a better option for the first term but I'm a little unsure.

3. Would you consider 20-25 pages of syllabus summary notes to be too long? I tend to add almost all the information I can out of bad habit on the basis that it could be examined.

4. How often did you revise previous work? For example if you were in Term 3 of year 12, would you go back to the first topic, read over your notes and then do practice questions every few weeks? Or should most content already be in your long-term memory by that point?

5. Would you recommend revising Preliminary content for subjects other than maths often during year 12?

Once again thank you for this guide! I apologise if some of my questions are odd.

1. I find that a combination of resources are usually the best for past papers-in year 11 there is much less past papers available compared to year 12, but there are many resources available on boredofstudies and also other sites on the internet-ask your classmates when you are unsure or just do a simple google search, I always find that past HSC paper are quite good-and the success one books quite helpful. I find trial papers and past HSC papers to be the most useful ones.

2. It is hard to say-given such a broad question. The important thing to remember-is only attempt a part of a past paper after you complete an entire topic, and don't complete every past HSC paper, like leave the last 3 years for completion in a whole sitting after you actually finished all the topics of the year. Don't feel obligated to complete papers immediately-not much point when you haven't grasp the knowledge. I find textbook questions are often quite helpful to grasp the content, and so is homework given by teachers.

3. To be honest, once again it actually depends on font, diagrams, layouts etc so it is hard to advise you. Further, I personally didn't really type up any summaries during my senior years but rather wrote summaries by hand but I remembered through the process of writing rather than reading over the actual summary itself. To be honest, don't freak out, just add the most relevant information in, if you end up doing chemistry or physics, a google search of 'HSC student guide to chemistry/physics'-will give you a good model of how much depth you should go into for each dotpoint-don't spend an excessive amount of time making notes because you could well have better spend that time doing past papers or genuinely understanding how each dot point interconnects.

4. I revise previous work whenever I can, I definitely went back to the first topic in term 3-but it was just to look over the content and revise, once again, I didn't read over my notes since I didn't make legible ones, I prefer to read through the textbook, at least for science subjects, but as I said, study methods are unique to everyone, what has worked for me may not necessarily work for you. To be honest, there is no right or wrong way-you should find a way that suit yourself the best-often by trial and error.

5. I wouldn't really do that, because it will usually be a waste of time and to be honest, you probably don't have time in year 12 to revise preliminary content anyways beyond maths.

I am glad you find this guide helpful-All my best wishes for your HSC and if you ever have any further questions, feel free to ask, the only odd question is a question not asked

 

[Celpar]

Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

Thank you for responding

 

[Green Yoda]

Hey, I will be starting year 11 soon and next year I really want to smash it and come 1st for most subjects. What strategies in study can I use to achieve this?

 

[calamebe]

Hey, I will be starting year 11 soon and next year I really want to smash it and come 1st for most subjects. What strategies in study can I use to achieve this?

Study a lot, however don't burn out. Have fun with friends and exercise also. Maybe go ahead in class and write some notes before hand, then in class it can be more like revision. Something major, do lots of past papers to solidify your knowledge, especially in maths.

 

[vel0city]

Thank you for the helpful tips present on this thread. They'll be extremely beneficial and influential to my studies next year.

 

[strawberrye]

Thank you for the helpful tips present on this thread. They'll be extremely beneficial and influential to my studies next year.

I wish you all the best for your studies for this coming year

 

[mollytee]

I've gone through this thread a couple months ago and it was honestly really helpful. I don't remember if there was a post on how to organise everything so forgive me if it's already been mentioned. I'm having a hard time deciding how to keep my notes, worksheets, etc organised for next year. I'm taking very content heavy subjects (Legal, Modern, Ext English, Eco, Business) and I was wondering if someone could give me advice. I was thinking of using binders but I'm a huge perfectionist and I think I would go crazy if my papers started ripping out or getting crinkled. I could use plastic sleeves but aren't they a hassle? Also, how should I revise for these subjects after school other than making notes? Any advice would be much appreciated

 

[Slifahh]

First of all, I really appreciate the help you are giving. I plan to get a high ATAR and hopefully into medicine and I understand it isn't a walk in the park, my issues involve motivation, I do have resources regarding pass papers, text books and the internet as a whole. I understand to get in medicine you have to have a balanced life with social, physical, academic and mental life all in balance. Currently I am in year 10, holidays have started for me and I plan to finish year 11 topics in Cambridge which will help me score 90+ in pass papers. I also have chosen my subjects (Bio, Chem, Physics, 3 unit maths, economics, religion, eng adv)- I basically chose 14 units so I can drop out some subjects I dislike during first 2 weeks. Regarding motivation I usually create short term motivation involving gaming, I usually will study so at the end of the day I can plan video games, this isn't a very good motivation source as I won't study without the thought of video games at the end of the day. Since the holiday started I have created goals; 8 sessions of study per day (1 session = 50 min, usually have 10 min walks). Despite all this I just wanna know what was your motivation to achieve such a great result + how I can develop a long term motivation that will benefit across my 2 years of senior school much appreciated!