On spending Christmas holidays before prelim year. (1 Viewer)

[fahrenheitfourfiveone]

I want to know how to spend my holidays before year 11. I'll give you my situation so it's more vivid and personalised.

For leisure: I have so much time on my hands I've been debating what to spend it on, lest I waste it on useless stuff like mindlessly browsing social media. So I want to make the most of this time. I'm not too good at anything sports or socialising-based, my friends don't really go out a whole lot sadly. I don't have any hobbies so lately I've spent my days chilling at home and reading books. But this is probably very bad because I need to touch grass.

As for academics: I go to a top 5 school.
My subject loadout for Y11 is as follows:
- 3U Math
- 3U Eng
- Chem
- Phys
- Eco
If it helps I hope to do 4U math in Y12, drop to either 2U Eng or drop Eco. But ofc now's not the time to be making such decisions; I'll see how Y11 goes.

I won't attend tutoring these holidays so I have lots of free time already.

Now I'm quite good at english so I'm not worried about it; I had lots of free time so I learnt the entire 3U math syllabus for just yr11 earlier this year, right after my exam block. Now I'm just left with Economics (I'm quite natural at any essay writing subjects, so again unworried) and lastly the two sciences, Chem and Phys.
I'm quite worried about these two because I don't know what level of difficulty to expect; I remember being told that science in senior years is a very steep step up from junior science. To add, my school's science faculty is known to be quite poor, especially at a selective school standard, so I don't trust that their education will be too reliable these years. With this I mean: skipping over syllabus dotpoints, poorly written tests, missing lessons, not covering everything that'll be in the exam, lessons that are simply not comprehensive enough.
So from this I want to take it upon myself to self study, pre-learn the entire Chem and Phys syllabi.
> Is this a good idea?
> How long should it take?
> What are some good resources? Such as textbooks, websites, YT channels etc.
> What are some "study techniques" so that i may work "more efficiently" (everyone always seems to put lots of emphasis on this lol)
> What should I avoid doing?
> Importantly: does prelim science content carry over to the actual HSC? To what extent?

 

[synthesisFR]

It may to be feasible to do that much work since you might get burnt out trying to finish 8 modules over the next few weeks, and also you should enjoy these holidays and take some time off. What you could do is focus on learning the first one or two modules of each, as they are both important for the the rest of the course, and most importantly see whether you enjoy them.

 

[carrotsss]

I enjoyed (and did nothing during) my holidays before prelim year and I don’t regret it one bit. It’s not that hard to keep up with year 11 if you’re organised imo so I don’t really think it necessary.

 

[Etho_x]

For leisure: I have so much time on my hands I've been debating what to spend it on, lest I waste it on useless stuff like mindlessly browsing social media. So I want to make the most of this time. I'm not too good at anything sports or socialising-based, my friends don't really go out a whole lot sadly. I don't have any hobbies so lately I've spent my days chilling at home and reading books. But this is probably very bad because I need to touch grass.

It's great to relax at home and read but it's the holidays! With the time that you have, consider if there is a new skill which you would like to develop but perhaps you have not had the time to focus on this particular skill. Or you could possibly find some new hobbies - not necessarily mainstream things like games or watching anime or listening to particular types of music etc. but personally, I do a lot of nature walking during my holidays. It's a great way to exercise whilst also enjoying the weather Summer has to offer, so if you would like to go outdoors that's one option and it is not very intense.

I had lots of free time so I learnt the entire 3U math syllabus for just yr11 earlier this year, right after my exam block. Now I'm just left with Economics (I'm quite natural at any essay writing subjects, so again unworried) and lastly the two sciences, Chem and Phys.

Good to hear that you are at a great position with Maths. Occasionally you may want to solidify your knowledge in certain topics (even though school will assist with this), helping to commit what you have learnt to your long-term memory.

I'm quite worried about these two because I don't know what level of difficulty to expect; I remember being told that science in senior years is a very steep step up from junior science. To add, my school's science faculty is known to be quite poor, especially at a selective school standard, so I don't trust that their education will be too reliable these years.

As you are essentially "specialising" in particular science subjects, yes, any of the sciences in the senior years are more difficult. You will explore familiar concepts in much greater detail, and additionally learn new concepts along the way.
If you believe that you will not receive the best quality of education, I would recommend supplementing your learning with textbooks and YouTube videos. Teachers do not have an unlimited amount of time to help unfortunately, so other resources are highly useful wherever/whenever teachers are unavailable.

So from this I want to take it upon myself to self study, pre-learn the entire Chem and Phys syllabi.
> Is this a good idea?
> How long should it take?
> What are some good resources? Such as textbooks, websites, YT channels etc.
> What are some "study techniques" so that i may work "more efficiently" (everyone always seems to put lots of emphasis on this lol)
> What should I avoid doing?
> Importantly: does prelim science content carry over to the actual HSC? To what extent?

Is it a good idea? - Hard to answer, I cannot say it's either a good nor bad idea. It sounds great at face value since you are ahead of your peers, but every module is reasonably content-heavy in it's own way. I would say it mostly depends on how much you can handle, but with the aim of not tiring yourself out before Year 11 starts. As long as you can power through everything and still feel happy at the end, there is no harm in pre-learning.

How long should it take? - Again, this is hard to answer. Depends on multiple factors, such as how long you have every day to devote your time to study, what your attention span is like, how well you grasp specific content within each module (unless you plan on skimming through everything in hopes to retain the most important points) to name a few. I cannot provide a straight-forward answer of "x days/weeks is how long it would take", it solely depends on your schedule and your focus.

Resources - For Chemistry, you can use Chemistry in Focus or Pearson Chemistry, these are the main textbooks. I would recommend a HSC YouTuber called Col Harrison - he covers all of the Chemistry modules from Mod 1-8. For Physics, the textbooks you could use include Physics in Focus, Pearson Physics, and Jacaranda Physics (which imo I liked the most when I did Phys in Y11).
Additionally, there is a YouTube channel called Science Ready which seems to cover parts of the Chemistry and Physics syllabi.

Study Techniques - Another one which is not easy to answer as students prefer to study in specific ways with respect to their attention span or how organised they want to be. A "one size fits all" study method is using the Pomodoro Technique, or using a daily/weekly planner to flexibly organise your days, including your study plans and other events you may have during the week(end). Ultimately, find what works for you - that's all I can say really.

What should you avoid doing? - If I haven't emphasised it enough, it would be advisable to not burn yourself out before school starts. For your own mental health, take heaps of breaks, go outside and touch grass/get sun, and mainly enjoy yourself.
Also as you do have more time, when you are studying if you are unsure about a topic, come back to it eventually. It's not the best idea to dismiss a topic and think "Yeah I understand this" when there might be small things which you do not understand fully.
The alternative is asking your teachers, but given your scepticism on the quality of education you may receive, this could end up being a last resort when you return back to school.

Does prelim science content carry over to HSC and to what extent? - Absolutely - the prelim content solidifies the fundamental knowledge that you will need for HSC. I can't answer for Physics, but for Chemistry, most if not all of the HSC modules require you to have an understanding of prelim content. Chemistry, like some other subjects, is a puzzle - you will only fully understand the whole syllabus once you have all of the pieces put together but in order to do so, the prerequisite knowledge must be understood first.

Hope all of this helps and enjoy your holidays!

 

[jonhysmitw2]

I want to know how to spend my holidays before year 11. I'll give you my situation so it's more vivid and personalised.

For leisure: I have so much time on my hands I've been debating what to spend it on, lest I waste it on useless stuff like mindlessly browsing social media. So I want to make the most of this time. I'm not too good at anything sports or socialising-based, my friends don't really go out a whole lot sadly. I don't have any hobbies so lately I've spent my days chilling at home and reading books. But this is probably very bad because I need to touch grass.

As for academics: I go to a top 5 school.
My subject loadout for Y11 is as follows:
- 3U Math
- 3U Eng
- Chem
- Phys
- Eco
If it helps I hope to do 4U math in Y12, drop to either 2U Eng or drop Eco. But ofc now's not the time to be making such decisions; I'll see how Y11 goes.

I won't attend tutoring these holidays so I have lots of free time already.

Now I'm quite good at english so I'm not worried about it; I had lots of free time so I learnt the entire 3U math syllabus for just yr11 earlier this year, right after my exam block. Now I'm just left with Economics (I'm quite natural at any essay writing subjects, so again unworried) and lastly the two sciences, Chem and Phys.
I'm quite worried about these two because I don't know what level of difficulty to expect; I remember being told that science in senior years is a very steep step up from junior science. To add, my school's science faculty is known to be quite poor, especially at a selective school standard, so I don't trust that their education will be too reliable these years. With this I mean: skipping over syllabus dotpoints, poorly written tests, missing lessons, not covering everything that'll be in the exam, lessons that are simply not comprehensive enough.
So from this I want to take it upon myself to self study, pre-learn the entire Chem and Phys syllabi.
> Is this a good idea?
> How long should it take?
> What are some good resources? Such as textbooks, websites, YT channels etc.
> What are some "study techniques" so that i may work "more efficiently" (everyone always seems to put lots of emphasis on this lol)
> What should I avoid doing?
> Importantly: does prelim science content carry over to the actual HSC? To what extent?

How did you learn the entire mx1 syllabus? What resources did you use?

 

[Hivaclibtibcharkwa]

I want to know how to spend my holidays before year 11. I'll give you my situation so it's more vivid and personalised.

For leisure: I have so much time on my hands I've been debating what to spend it on, lest I waste it on useless stuff like mindlessly browsing social media. So I want to make the most of this time. I'm not too good at anything sports or socialising-based, my friends don't really go out a whole lot sadly. I don't have any hobbies so lately I've spent my days chilling at home and reading books. But this is probably very bad because I need to touch grass.

As for academics: I go to a top 5 school.
My subject loadout for Y11 is as follows:
- 3U Math
- 3U Eng
- Chem
- Phys
- Eco
If it helps I hope to do 4U math in Y12, drop to either 2U Eng or drop Eco. But ofc now's not the time to be making such decisions; I'll see how Y11 goes.

I won't attend tutoring these holidays so I have lots of free time already.

Now I'm quite good at english so I'm not worried about it; I had lots of free time so I learnt the entire 3U math syllabus for just yr11 earlier this year, right after my exam block. Now I'm just left with Economics (I'm quite natural at any essay writing subjects, so again unworried) and lastly the two sciences, Chem and Phys.
I'm quite worried about these two because I don't know what level of difficulty to expect; I remember being told that science in senior years is a very steep step up from junior science. To add, my school's science faculty is known to be quite poor, especially at a selective school standard, so I don't trust that their education will be too reliable these years. With this I mean: skipping over syllabus dotpoints, poorly written tests, missing lessons, not covering everything that'll be in the exam, lessons that are simply not comprehensive enough.
So from this I want to take it upon myself to self study, pre-learn the entire Chem and Phys syllabi.
> Is this a good idea?
> How long should it take?
> What are some good resources? Such as textbooks, websites, YT channels etc.
> What are some "study techniques" so that i may work "more efficiently" (everyone always seems to put lots of emphasis on this lol)
> What should I avoid doing?
> Importantly: does prelim science content carry over to the actual HSC? To what extent?

Advanced math alone is harder than chem
If you can handle 3u math then the sciences will be a walk in the park

 

[synthesisFR]

Advanced math alone is harder than chem
If you can handle 3u math then the sciences will be a walk in the park

Isn't it harder to do better in the sciences compared to maths? Everyone, including my genius friends all say so. Also, if u ask for most ppls hsc scores they usually score higher in 3u than in chem, etc. E.g one friend got 98 in 3U but 94 in physics, and these r the top ppl from this years hsc as well.

 

[Hivaclibtibcharkwa]

Isn't it harder to do better in the sciences compared to maths? Everyone, including my genius friends all say so. Also, if u ask for most ppls hsc scores they usually score higher in 3u than in chem, etc. E.g one friend got 98 in 3U but 94 in physics, and these r the top ppl from this years hsc as well.

Yes getting close to a 100 is harder on the sciences due to more complex marking than math. But getting a good score is easier. I know many people including myself who did well in chemistry, but struggle with 4u math regardless of how hard you study.

So it's more like math is harder in getting a band 6, whilst chem and physics is easier to get a band 6 in. But to get to a 100, math becomes easier due to simpler marking

 

[idkkdi]

Isn't it harder to do better in the sciences compared to maths? Everyone, including my genius friends all say so. Also, if u ask for most ppls hsc scores they usually score higher in 3u than in chem, etc. E.g one friend got 98 in 3U but 94 in physics, and these r the top ppl from this years hsc as well.

1. sciences marks like a bitch
2. science qs are sometimes more random
3. there's better resources for maths, i.e. cambridge

 

[Hivaclibtibcharkwa]

1. sciences marks like a bitch
2. science qs are sometimes more random
3. there's better resources for maths, i.e. cambridge

Yea i'd like to add this as well
It's very hard to get good at 4u math and learn the content, if you struggle with it. But once you learn all the content it's smooth sailing on the exam.

Science is much easier to learn the content, but once you get to the exam the questions will trick you no matter how much you prepare. Hence why way less people get 100s in science compared to math

 

[Vall]

Obligatory nerd emoji:
Personally I wouldn't do any work between yr10 and yr11 (and I didn't) but also any work (no matter how little) you do now can only help.

 

[Aroo($)]

Don't study you will forget everything

 

[Hivaclibtibcharkwa]

Obligatory nerd emoji:
Personally I wouldn't do any work between yr10 and yr11 (and I didn't) but also any work (no matter how little) you do now can only help.

jeez dude how many subjects did you do in the hsc? like 14 units?

 

[Vall]

jeez dude how many subjects did you do in the hsc? like 14 units?

12 units during yr12

 

[carrotsss]

Advanced math alone is harder than chem
If you can handle 3u math then the sciences will be a walk in the park

I think it depends on the person, I definitely find sciences harder than advanced maths

 

[fourteenninetwo]

read your books for english. thats probs it.
in terms of maths, doing like 30mins-1hr a day on weekdays if you really wanted to do some work.
Id skim and get familiar with the topics for the sciences and maybe maths like a week or two before the term starts. But again, you're only in year 10 going into 11 so have a fun break and go out w friends or something.

 

[nathanzhou1234]

I want to know how to spend my holidays before year 11. I'll give you my situation so it's more vivid and personalised.

For leisure: I have so much time on my hands I've been debating what to spend it on, lest I waste it on useless stuff like mindlessly browsing social media. So I want to make the most of this time. I'm not too good at anything sports or socialising-based, my friends don't really go out a whole lot sadly. I don't have any hobbies so lately I've spent my days chilling at home and reading books. But this is probably very bad because I need to touch grass.

As for academics: I go to a top 5 school.
My subject loadout for Y11 is as follows:
- 3U Math
- 3U Eng
- Chem
- Phys
- Eco
If it helps I hope to do 4U math in Y12, drop to either 2U Eng or drop Eco. But ofc now's not the time to be making such decisions; I'll see how Y11 goes.

I won't attend tutoring these holidays so I have lots of free time already.

Now I'm quite good at english so I'm not worried about it; I had lots of free time so I learnt the entire 3U math syllabus for just yr11 earlier this year, right after my exam block. Now I'm just left with Economics (I'm quite natural at any essay writing subjects, so again unworried) and lastly the two sciences, Chem and Phys.
I'm quite worried about these two because I don't know what level of difficulty to expect; I remember being told that science in senior years is a very steep step up from junior science. To add, my school's science faculty is known to be quite poor, especially at a selective school standard, so I don't trust that their education will be too reliable these years. With this I mean: skipping over syllabus dotpoints, poorly written tests, missing lessons, not covering everything that'll be in the exam, lessons that are simply not comprehensive enough.
So from this I want to take it upon myself to self study, pre-learn the entire Chem and Phys syllabi.
> Is this a good idea?
> How long should it take?
> What are some good resources? Such as textbooks, websites, YT channels etc.
> What are some "study techniques" so that i may work "more efficiently" (everyone always seems to put lots of emphasis on this lol)
> What should I avoid doing?
> Importantly: does prelim science content carry over to the actual HSC? To what extent?

I definitely think its good to start learning the Prelim content earlier cos it’ll give u a headstart - typically the textbook is fine for content cos the content itself isn’t too difficult but answering questions well is a massive pain in the ass. Quite a bit of prelim science actually carries over to the HSC so I definitely think it helps to do well in Prelim.