People who got >90 in subjects: how did you study? (5 Viewers)

[Slice of heaven]

definitely take into account all of the points these people have given you, as most of them did extremely well but I also do recommend that you make study a major priority but not your life but also remeber that going out and partying is not a wise option as many of my friends now regret that they hadn,t done enough and work and unfortuneately cannot get into the courses they wanted to do.

i'll tell you though that I'm no selective school smart guy or anything but I studied quite a bit but got so nervous cos I was basically a hermit too for a few months, about 5 weeks prior to the Hsc i HAD LIKE A BREAKDOWN , alot of negative thoughts creeped into my mind, I wasn't failing or anything I was doinf pretty ok , i topped most subjects at my school except 2nd in adv eng, maybe i hthought i was going to do really bad cos i went to a really poor school in terms of uai and the careers advisor said if i tried really hard i could get into the late 80's at most and if lucky enough in the low 90's but i do understand it was a compliment as our dux every yr gets about that. I told my entire family that I was going to quit school there and then and not even attempt my hsc but my family gave me a lot of support and finally i did it and finished and probably lucky to get out alive, i mean that for real those few weeks prior and during the hsc was the time of my lif

My uai may not seem too impressive to many( 99.05) but it is quite a good save from what could have turned out if I hadn't done the hsc. The thing that savedme was my excessive studying, I thought before I was going into each exam I was gonna fail, but I enede up with a 95 for physics , all the notes andpractice answers came flooding back because I had done a lot of work but lacked belief in myself, so my point is that you should definitely believe in yopurself and try your absolute best cos noone else will believe in you.congrats to spice girl, killah and all the others who killed the hsc, how did you guys handle the pressure?I just barely got through.

 

[Shocker_85]

Same here...
at my school, the career advisor was once telling us dat an average selective school student wud top our school..
i've just started yr 12 and believe me dats exactly how I feel, dat i cant do it..
im very impressed with u...this shows dat if i work hard, nothing can stop me...
by da way which school did u go 2?

 

[Slice of heaven]

i went to james busby and let me give you some advice go for the big time and don't let anyone influence you in a negative way and btw what school r u at?

 

[Shocker_85]

I go 2 Wiley Park girls' High
ppl dont like this school n its students...but yeah, im not one of those who dont value education, i certainly do, n i wanna get a high UAI

 

[drolle]

I made a post in the UAI thread that probably should have gone in this one:
http://hsc.ozlpn.com/community/showthread.php?s=&postid=53742#post53742

I think the *huge* amounts of study option, that most people seem to be advocating, is fairly effective, but it is possible to go really well with barely any study at all!

I think that if you are relying on studying later on, it severly handicaps your ability to learn things because you think "it's ok if I don't quite get this now, I can just read it over later". I have found that even if you do read it over later (which I usually didn't) it's not as good as learning it properly the first time, not to mention more time consuming! I didn't follow this strategy properly, but it's obvious to me that in the areas I followed it, I aced everything, and I'm fairly certain if I followed it for everything I would have got a uai of 100 without more than 1 hour / day study. Maybe even no study at all (I'm not joking here, it's true!)

Also somebody said to study as much as possible the night before an exam, well it may work for you but I've found the most important thing before an exam, and even more so maths competitions, is keeping your mind fresh and making sure you get enough sleep!

My main point is you have to find what works for you, don't just go by what other people say! It was so hard for me to use the strategy above when everyone around me was saying STUDY STUDY STUDY! Well now I'm dux of my school, so there

 

[spice girl]

'Slice of Heaven' and 'drolle'

congrats to both of u (and to everyone else)

But i liked the contrast between the two ways of studying. Slice of Heaven having done "excessive studying" to the verge of a breakdown, and drolle doin most of the work staying awake in class.

Personally, I've had to use both methods in different situations to get where I am.

For english, it was fully working my butt off, churning like 50-70 pages of notes, and then writing practice essays upon practice essays. I reckon 95% of my studies was on english.

And for phys and chem I just fell asleep half the time in class, just tuning in once in a while.

For maths my teacher let me listen to music, in class.

So how you study really depends what your weaknesses are. IMO there's a minimum mark you can get without any work at all, and there's a maximum mark you can get no matter how much you study.

And did i mention that you should measure effectiveness, not hours?

 

[Sarah]

well as someone said before, it depends on the subject.

But for english, do past trials/practice papers and give them to ur teacher to mark. Also learn quotes which can be applied to more than just one theme. Um... also with each text be aware of themes, techniques, characters and quotes.

With maths, do the same with English cept u can mark the questions urself as past papers and trials have answers

I did business and basically learn all syllabus points. That way if u get stuck just regurgitate the dot points back and write something about them. Business is also part logic anyway (well for me it was).

And as spice girl said, it's effectiveness not hours.

also, never underestimate your ability coz i know i did during the year and was even set on going to tafe next yr coz i didn't think i'd make it into uni but i have. and another thing i found to be helpful was to share notes with friends in different classes. And definately ask ur teacher for help if u need help.

 

[saladsurgery]

mmm.

certain study echniques may work better for certain people.

some people learn best by writing it down (that'd be me)
others can pick up on things just by reading them over and over
some people can learn things by having them explained, or by listening (either to a teacher, or a tape of notes)

a little extra thing that you can do: put up posters or small sheets of info in places you're in alot, like on the toilet door, on the wall next to your bed, or on the outside of the shower if you have one with glass panels (i learnt most of my quotes for english, and my circle geometry rules this way ). it doesn't take much time and if you do it early in the year, the stuff ought to be burnt into your brain come HSC time.

 

[spice girl]

Oh, and lemme compile a list of things you DON'T do when studying:

1) 22 hours a week of tuition (for all you maths ppl, it approximates to 2 hours a unit) And for all you maths ppl, assuming an average of $25 an hour, what would be your expenses per week?

2) Studying till 3a.m., and then falling asleep in lessons the next morning

3) Falling asleep reading Hamlet (which is not what I'd exactly call effective)

4) Asking a fellow maths student why you got a wrong answer (and then finding out you forgot to carry the minus sign)

5) Reading a textbook 3-5 times without having done any of the practice questions or past papers.

6) Studying the week after assessment week.

7) Studying on the desk right next to a functional computer with internet access.

8) Writing booklets and booklets of notes in english without attempting a single essay.

9) TYPING all your essays, notes, answers to past papers, etc. You don't get a computer for the final exam.

10) Having a habit of taking afternoon naps (especially when you know you'll have afternoon exams soon)

11) Doing maths questions without EVER checking the answers.

12) Thinking you've studied something just because you've understood the material. "Understanding" and "remembering" are two different things.

Having said all that you'd prolly be able to deduce that with 2 months of holidays to go I'm shit bored. Can't wait to get out of Sydney!

 

[Twintip]

All of that is so true.

 

[timmii]

I like what Spice girl said previously about effectiveness, as i've been telling that to my parents all year.

1 - have fun, find a regular tv show or hobby or something to break up ur time so that the expansive hours of study aren't too overwhelming (i chose gym, and m*a*s*h at 5pm during hsc exams). I also like to listen to music while i study.

2 - If tutors don't work for you, don't go to one. I was one of (at last count) 4 people in my whole year who did not go to a tutor for anything. I need to figure things out for myself in order to understand, if you're like that as well - recognise it! More than anything its a waste of valuable time.

3 - english: i learnt a lot of quotes. That way during exams/assesmments all i had to do was think of a relevant quote and the point associated with that specific example came to mind. Practice essays are good if u remain within the 40mins time limit. learning them off by heart can be restrictive, just try to keep in mind the key points that you find yourself using time and time again despite the change in the official topic.

4 - maths: trial papers, trial papers, trial papers. For hsc and trials i did slim to none actual revision for maths/going back to textbook. It really helped . Stuff i was really struggling with at the beginning of the year seemed basic methodology by the end.

5 - Chem: Just go though each dot point, making sure you can answer it.

6 - economics: read the newspapers and on each bit of breaking news go through the hypothetical consequences. We had a brilliant assessment where we had to collect 2-3 newspaper articles per week throughout the year and analyse them. It meant i barely had to study for trials, and it reduced the necessary study for hsc. Collecting articles on case study countries is also helpful, u get a feel for the country without having to cram in heaps of facts in a day or two.

Thats all i can think of at present. Modern history i wrote copious notes but i only got 89 so i dont think that should technically be included!

 

[schwang_thang]

Originally posted by timmii

2 - If tutors don't work for you, don't go to one. I was one of (at last count) 4 people in my whole year who did not go to a tutor for anything. I need to figure things out for myself in order to understand, if you're like that as well - recognise it! More than anything its a waste of valuable time.

this is soooo tru! the entire past 2 yrs, my parents had been nagging me abt goin 2 a tutor (mayb cos im asian n its a trendy thing 2 do hehe) but i resisted n ended up doin relatively gud (97.50) n im happi i never went tutoring
like timmii, i only learn when i figure stuff out by myself, so basically if u feel tutoring isnt ur thing, then dont go! plus, think of all the things u cuddve bought w/ the cash spent on tutors!!

 

[zannaz]

i studied on average about 5 hours each night.

i also typed up study notes for each subject and used a wide range of texts eg. excel.

be organised

 

[MiKeY]

How long before the HSC exams did you start studying?

 

[schwang_thang]

Originally posted by MiKeY
How long before the HSC exams did you start studying?

i started in the 2nd wk of the holz b4 the hsc
term 3 was 4 me a really festive term, i barely attended ne classes towards the end, the formal n graduation had put us all in a blaze mood. having sed that however, all my notes were already prepared (prior 2 the trials) so it wasnt as tho i had 2 write nething new, all i had 2 do was start memorising 4 the humanities exams. i had a few days 4 maths in the 2nd wk of exams, n 2 wks 4 chemistry, so i decided i wud study then.

studying kinda depends on ur strengths n weaknesses, as well as ur timetable n organisation.

 

[1 more]

Originally posted by schwang_thang


this is soooo tru! the entire past 2 yrs, my parents had been nagging me abt goin 2 a tutor (mayb cos im asian n its a trendy thing 2 do hehe) but i resisted n ended up doin relatively gud (97.50) n im happi i never went tutoring
like timmii, i only learn when i figure stuff out by myself, so basically if u feel tutoring isnt ur thing, then dont go! plus, think of all the things u cuddve bought w/ the cash spent on tutors!!

the dux of my school didnt have any tutors, and neither did several other top students.

 

[pri]

tutors are only good for some ppl , like for maths they can be helpful

 

[Minai]

Originally posted by MiKeY
How long before the HSC exams did you start studying?

I'm pretty much a dumbarse, so I started a week after trials (7th week of the 10 week term for us)
paid off though - got a UAI over 95
for most ppl, Trials should identify your weaknessess, and u should act quick to make sure u cover what u dont kno/are weak on.
By the time the holidays came, I was at the library up to 10 hours a day, cramming everything (preprepared essays for english and economics, syllabus notes for physics, and past papers for math).
I'm not saying this method would work for everyone, but it did for me.

the mistake I made however is that I made all my concise notes etc way too late, when it shouldve been done before the trials

 

[del]

We had our trials at the end of Term 2, so I started studying around week 2-3 of Term 2. For the trials I only studied a couple of hours each day (2 - 3 max).. once the trials finished I took a week break then re-started studing but this time gradually building the study sessions up, so by the time the HSC started I was doing 6hr+ a day.

But once the exams started I did pretty much nothing. I guess for me, studying over a long period gradually building up, then laying off it once the time came, worked well...

basically whatever routine works best for you and stick to it.

 

[Shocker_85]

Re: 'Slice of Heaven' and 'drolle'

hi i hate my phys teacher...
how shud i study....i havent been performing very well.