Hi everyone!!
I am a 2020 graduate and would like to give you some tips and advice to assist you with your studies. I received an ATAR of almost 98.
I know very well what you all are going through, so I just wanted to share with you some key things that I did to survive Year 11 & 12!!! This is based on my personal experience. I hope this guide helps you
))
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!!!
1. HOW TO DEAL WITH STRESS + HOW MUCH TO STUDY???
So obviously STRESS is one of the main things that most students face and struggle with during their HSC year. I can't tell you not to stress, but I do have some advice that may work to alleviate your stress / make you feel a little more relaxed.
You are probably so worried and stressed about aiming for a certain ATAR, but seriously, I was so overly anxious over this number for no reason. We spend so many years studying for this one number that won't even matter in the far. I stressed TOO MUCH about getting a 90+ ATAR since day 1 of Year 11, write until the day of the ATAR release day. But TRUST ME don't worry about it too much. I know that the phrase 'its just a number' is used so many times - but honestly, it is. After a day of getting your ATAR, everyone forgets about it and no one even asks. You forget about it literally hours later. If you don't get the ATAR required for your course at UNI, there are SO MANY pathways and schemes which you can undertake (and yes you probably don't want to take this path because it takes extra time, but it is a possibility - so you have no reason to stress).
You also need to ensure you maintain balance between study and life. I did not have a timetable, as my life schedule was super messy (as I had to babysit and do other things) and combined with COVID and remote learning, this did not help me. During remote learning (about 2-3 weeks), I barely attended any of my classes and did all my work very late, however, I still managed to get through (by pioritising what was the most important to do!). I didn't study the same amount of time everyday and each day would vary. Sometimes I would come home from school and start my work at 4pm, other days at 6pm. I usually studied as much as I could and my only breaks were dinner, my phone, etc. (this was really unhealthy) - so I would probably say I studied on average 3-5 hour everyday. Some weekends I didn't study as well. This worked for me, but ONLY do what you can, do what fits you and DON’T compare yourself to me or others. You can study only for 1-2 hours a day and still do very well. It's about productive study - remove your phone from your room, and remember to take breaks (unlike me - at times I was super unproductive). I suggest that you don't study everyday - leave one a day of a week study free so that you can refresh your mind.
Leading up to exams, I studied much more - probably around 6-8 hours a day.
2. Year 11 - PRELIM (brief overview)
I won't ramble on too much here but I have a few things to say. Year 11 is just a trial or practice year for Year 12. None of it counts. Nevertheless, you should still try because most of the stuff learnt in year 11 is foundational knowledge for Year 12 (SO PAY ATTENTION AND FOCUS IN CLASS!!!!). Make sure to use this year wisely eg. refine your essay writing skills, do lots of maths questions, and definitely do your homework!!!! This year gives you an advantage and an opportunity to be prepared for Year 12 and have all the skills you need!
I suggest that you write brief study notes (I will go into detail about how to write these later below) so that you can whip these out if you need them for Year 12. This helped me a lot especially for humanities subjects and content heavy courses! Some content between Year 11 and Year 12 definitely overlaps so it's best to understand it in Year 11 so that in Year 12, all you have to do is fully refine your understanding.
I didn’t do extremely well in Year 11, but learnt alot during this year, and thus this helped me to improve in Year 12. I remember how I was ranked 30 for English in Year 11, however, in Year 12 I was ranked 1st!!
3. YEAR 12 - HSC
Okay so this is the year in which you have to pull yourself together and strive for your best.
Firstly, assessments. YOUR RANK MATTERS. Although it is a ‘competition’ where you want to rank 1st, I think it is crucial for you and your cohort to work together as staying tightly as a group and doing well overall drags EVERYONE UP. It is such a complicated process which I won’t go into detail about but you can find more info about it online (UAC websites and youtube). Try to rank the best as you can as they will maximise your chance of doing well overall when you receive you HSC mark and ATAR. I ranked top 3 for all my subjects, so if I did flunk a HSC exam or perform poorly, my rank would save me. For example, I did receive an exam mark of 89 for maths, however, because I was ranked 2nd, my assessment mark was 95, and so I ended up getting a HSC mark of 92, which dragged me up to a band 6! However, if you don’t rank too well, you always have a second chance when you take your HSC exams
To prepare for this year, I did write my study notes ahead of time (I only did this for like one topic and gave up). This is a suggestion for those who want to be prepared early - its a good way of gaining a grasp of what you will be learning in class, so all you need to do is listen to your teacher and gain a deeper understanding of a concept/topic. However, what I think is SUPER IMPORTANT is write your study notes as you go. This will reduce the amount of time you need to spend writing study notes in the lead up to exams (purely writing study notes is not an effective way to study). If you write study notes as you go, you will have more time to revise and practice questions during exam blocks!! BUT, you will fall back on writing study notes at times - this happened a lot for me, so don’t stress!!! Try to stay on top of it, but if you fall behind, perhaps use your holidays and weekends to do it. But do not sacrifice your study time before exams to write study notes please!! Use your time wisely. Study notes is only 5-10% study!
Bad mark. If you get a bad mark in Year 12, it isn’t the end of the world. Assessments only make up 50% of your entire HSC mark (the other 50% is your HSC exams). So if one assessment is weighted 20%, in actual fact, its only 10% overall. I remember how I would always get 90+ for all my exams for Maths, however, I got in the 70s for my trial. But in the end that mark of getting in the 70s didn’t even matter at all because I still got a band 6 for Maths. So what you should take from this is that a single bad mark cannot affect your overall performance too much so don’t worry about it too much. Try to seek ways to improve, and you will be fine. It seems like so much hardwork, but little steps can make a huge difference!
4. Study notes tips
First of all, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you write your notes ELECTRONICALLY for humanities subjects (eg. legal studies, English, modern history, SOR, CAFs etc.).
But some people prefer to handwrite their notes which I can’t understand how they do it because you are constantly adding new pieces of information and condensing your notes to make them brief and easy to read! Usually, leading up to exams, I would handwrite my notes VERY briefly (taking away key points from my 1000 page of notes).
If handwriting notes works for you, then do it! And for maths, I didn’t really right notes, just key formulas - maths is heavily based around practice!!!!
#Tip 1
Follow the syllabus: this is a MUST. The syllabus has everything you need to know, and all exam questions are derived from it. I usually structure my notes from the left hand column (Students learn about), and write notes under each heading in DOT POINTS. Do NOT write chunky paragraphs and information - THIS IS NOT EFFECTIVE. I recommend that you try to cut down to about 3-5 key bullet points for each heading/dotpoint of the syllabus.
For subjects that require you to write heaps of essays eg. legal studies, I also write notes for the right hand column (Students learn to). For each dotpoint that had a high order glossary verb such as EVALUATE, ASSESS, TO WHAT EXTENT, DISCUSS etc. I would make very DETAILED essay plans for each of those dotpoints. I think from the whole legal studies course, I created about over 40 essay plans! This may sound overwhelming, but most of the time, specific content areas overlap over a variety of different questions. Be strategic!
For English, I suggest that you structure your notes into key themes. For each theme, have key quotes, identify the technique, and have a explanation for the quote. For certain modules, however, I wrote paragraphs for heaps of themes and just memorised that! This is risky, but it worked for me.
#Tip 2
Be concise and succint: don’t rewrite your whole textbook (although I certainly found myself doing this at times). You probably think that EVERYTHING is important so you just copy down everything that is in your textbook or the worksheet that your teacher gives you. But try to find key words and phrases, and include that into your notes. This is a no brainer, but it takes a lot of practice and time to nail this.
REMEMBER that you can’t remember everything. It is impossible to remember everything unless you have photographic memory. I think that some students feel the need to remember everything from the textbook word to word. YOU DON’T NEED TO. I remember walking into my trials and HSC exams with only like 20% of my notes memorised. You just need to have a key understanding of the syllabus, and being able to skilfully provide examples to support your ideas etc.
You have reached the end! I’m missing out on a whole heap of information, but if you have any specific questions, please feel free to ask!
Goodluck!
I am a 2020 graduate and would like to give you some tips and advice to assist you with your studies. I received an ATAR of almost 98.
I know very well what you all are going through, so I just wanted to share with you some key things that I did to survive Year 11 & 12!!! This is based on my personal experience. I hope this guide helps you
))If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!!!
1. HOW TO DEAL WITH STRESS + HOW MUCH TO STUDY???
So obviously STRESS is one of the main things that most students face and struggle with during their HSC year. I can't tell you not to stress, but I do have some advice that may work to alleviate your stress / make you feel a little more relaxed.
You are probably so worried and stressed about aiming for a certain ATAR, but seriously, I was so overly anxious over this number for no reason. We spend so many years studying for this one number that won't even matter in the far. I stressed TOO MUCH about getting a 90+ ATAR since day 1 of Year 11, write until the day of the ATAR release day. But TRUST ME don't worry about it too much. I know that the phrase 'its just a number' is used so many times - but honestly, it is. After a day of getting your ATAR, everyone forgets about it and no one even asks. You forget about it literally hours later. If you don't get the ATAR required for your course at UNI, there are SO MANY pathways and schemes which you can undertake (and yes you probably don't want to take this path because it takes extra time, but it is a possibility - so you have no reason to stress).
You also need to ensure you maintain balance between study and life. I did not have a timetable, as my life schedule was super messy (as I had to babysit and do other things) and combined with COVID and remote learning, this did not help me. During remote learning (about 2-3 weeks), I barely attended any of my classes and did all my work very late, however, I still managed to get through (by pioritising what was the most important to do!). I didn't study the same amount of time everyday and each day would vary. Sometimes I would come home from school and start my work at 4pm, other days at 6pm. I usually studied as much as I could and my only breaks were dinner, my phone, etc. (this was really unhealthy) - so I would probably say I studied on average 3-5 hour everyday. Some weekends I didn't study as well. This worked for me, but ONLY do what you can, do what fits you and DON’T compare yourself to me or others. You can study only for 1-2 hours a day and still do very well. It's about productive study - remove your phone from your room, and remember to take breaks (unlike me - at times I was super unproductive). I suggest that you don't study everyday - leave one a day of a week study free so that you can refresh your mind.
Leading up to exams, I studied much more - probably around 6-8 hours a day.
2. Year 11 - PRELIM (brief overview)
I won't ramble on too much here but I have a few things to say. Year 11 is just a trial or practice year for Year 12. None of it counts. Nevertheless, you should still try because most of the stuff learnt in year 11 is foundational knowledge for Year 12 (SO PAY ATTENTION AND FOCUS IN CLASS!!!!). Make sure to use this year wisely eg. refine your essay writing skills, do lots of maths questions, and definitely do your homework!!!! This year gives you an advantage and an opportunity to be prepared for Year 12 and have all the skills you need!
I suggest that you write brief study notes (I will go into detail about how to write these later below) so that you can whip these out if you need them for Year 12. This helped me a lot especially for humanities subjects and content heavy courses! Some content between Year 11 and Year 12 definitely overlaps so it's best to understand it in Year 11 so that in Year 12, all you have to do is fully refine your understanding.
I didn’t do extremely well in Year 11, but learnt alot during this year, and thus this helped me to improve in Year 12. I remember how I was ranked 30 for English in Year 11, however, in Year 12 I was ranked 1st!!
3. YEAR 12 - HSC
Okay so this is the year in which you have to pull yourself together and strive for your best.
Firstly, assessments. YOUR RANK MATTERS. Although it is a ‘competition’ where you want to rank 1st, I think it is crucial for you and your cohort to work together as staying tightly as a group and doing well overall drags EVERYONE UP. It is such a complicated process which I won’t go into detail about but you can find more info about it online (UAC websites and youtube). Try to rank the best as you can as they will maximise your chance of doing well overall when you receive you HSC mark and ATAR. I ranked top 3 for all my subjects, so if I did flunk a HSC exam or perform poorly, my rank would save me. For example, I did receive an exam mark of 89 for maths, however, because I was ranked 2nd, my assessment mark was 95, and so I ended up getting a HSC mark of 92, which dragged me up to a band 6! However, if you don’t rank too well, you always have a second chance when you take your HSC exams
To prepare for this year, I did write my study notes ahead of time (I only did this for like one topic and gave up). This is a suggestion for those who want to be prepared early - its a good way of gaining a grasp of what you will be learning in class, so all you need to do is listen to your teacher and gain a deeper understanding of a concept/topic. However, what I think is SUPER IMPORTANT is write your study notes as you go. This will reduce the amount of time you need to spend writing study notes in the lead up to exams (purely writing study notes is not an effective way to study). If you write study notes as you go, you will have more time to revise and practice questions during exam blocks!! BUT, you will fall back on writing study notes at times - this happened a lot for me, so don’t stress!!! Try to stay on top of it, but if you fall behind, perhaps use your holidays and weekends to do it. But do not sacrifice your study time before exams to write study notes please!! Use your time wisely. Study notes is only 5-10% study!
Bad mark. If you get a bad mark in Year 12, it isn’t the end of the world. Assessments only make up 50% of your entire HSC mark (the other 50% is your HSC exams). So if one assessment is weighted 20%, in actual fact, its only 10% overall. I remember how I would always get 90+ for all my exams for Maths, however, I got in the 70s for my trial. But in the end that mark of getting in the 70s didn’t even matter at all because I still got a band 6 for Maths. So what you should take from this is that a single bad mark cannot affect your overall performance too much so don’t worry about it too much. Try to seek ways to improve, and you will be fine. It seems like so much hardwork, but little steps can make a huge difference!
4. Study notes tips
First of all, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you write your notes ELECTRONICALLY for humanities subjects (eg. legal studies, English, modern history, SOR, CAFs etc.).
But some people prefer to handwrite their notes which I can’t understand how they do it because you are constantly adding new pieces of information and condensing your notes to make them brief and easy to read! Usually, leading up to exams, I would handwrite my notes VERY briefly (taking away key points from my 1000 page of notes).
If handwriting notes works for you, then do it! And for maths, I didn’t really right notes, just key formulas - maths is heavily based around practice!!!!
#Tip 1
Follow the syllabus: this is a MUST. The syllabus has everything you need to know, and all exam questions are derived from it. I usually structure my notes from the left hand column (Students learn about), and write notes under each heading in DOT POINTS. Do NOT write chunky paragraphs and information - THIS IS NOT EFFECTIVE. I recommend that you try to cut down to about 3-5 key bullet points for each heading/dotpoint of the syllabus.
For subjects that require you to write heaps of essays eg. legal studies, I also write notes for the right hand column (Students learn to). For each dotpoint that had a high order glossary verb such as EVALUATE, ASSESS, TO WHAT EXTENT, DISCUSS etc. I would make very DETAILED essay plans for each of those dotpoints. I think from the whole legal studies course, I created about over 40 essay plans! This may sound overwhelming, but most of the time, specific content areas overlap over a variety of different questions. Be strategic!
For English, I suggest that you structure your notes into key themes. For each theme, have key quotes, identify the technique, and have a explanation for the quote. For certain modules, however, I wrote paragraphs for heaps of themes and just memorised that! This is risky, but it worked for me.
#Tip 2
Be concise and succint: don’t rewrite your whole textbook (although I certainly found myself doing this at times). You probably think that EVERYTHING is important so you just copy down everything that is in your textbook or the worksheet that your teacher gives you. But try to find key words and phrases, and include that into your notes. This is a no brainer, but it takes a lot of practice and time to nail this.
REMEMBER that you can’t remember everything. It is impossible to remember everything unless you have photographic memory. I think that some students feel the need to remember everything from the textbook word to word. YOU DON’T NEED TO. I remember walking into my trials and HSC exams with only like 20% of my notes memorised. You just need to have a key understanding of the syllabus, and being able to skilfully provide examples to support your ideas etc.
You have reached the end! I’m missing out on a whole heap of information, but if you have any specific questions, please feel free to ask!
Goodluck!
Last edited:
