q’s for those who got a 95+ atar (1 Viewer)

[489]

1. How many hours daily did you study/complete homework (school days and weekends)?

2. How many hours did you sleep daily?

3. How many hours/minutes did you exercise daily?

4. Did you do any extracurriculars, if so what were they and how much time did you dedicate to them?

5. How long were your study breaks?

 

[_Anonymous]

Just adding to question 1, in Year 11 - what extra studying would you do apart from homework? Would you just revise over each lesson's content and sorta memorise the content?

 

[jazz519]

1. On school nights really depended upon what subjects I had the next day but I would like 2-3 hours of doing hw and for making notes and stuff maybe like 2 hours total throughout the week. On the weekend hw 4-6 hours in total and studying 2-3 hours a day.

2. School days slept around 11-12pm and woke up at 6:45am, so roughly 7 hours. on weekends 8-9 hours.

3. Just basic stuff like pushups and jogging for like 1-2 hour a week, I would've exercised more (probably would've kept playing soccer in year 12 like I did in year 11), but I tore my ACL and other ligaments in my left knee, so wasn't able to do that until after HSC when I could have the time to get a surgery.

4. Volunteering at the local temple maybe like 1 hour a week.

5. I would try to study for like 1 hour with 15 min breaks in between during the day, but have a bigger break of 1 hour after eating lunch or dinner.

 

[jazz519]

Just adding to question 1, in Year 11 - what extra studying would you do apart from homework? Would you just revise over each lesson's content and sorta memorise the content?

I'd make notes on the dot points for subjects within like the first two to three weeks in the term and throughout the term I would improve upon them as I gained more knowledge from like worksheets or exam questions the teacher gave us and about 2-3 weeks before the exams I would start memorising those notes.

 

[KingOfActing]

1. How many hours daily did you study/complete homework (school days and weekends)?

I never did homework. I studied for like < 1 hour a day usually, 2-3 during exams, except for maths which I spent like 5-6 on (mind you, it wasn't HSC content I was studying ). Same school days/weekends.

2. How many hours did you sleep daily?

3-7

3. How many hours did you exercise daily?

barely any, like 2 hours/week lol

4. Did you do any extracurriculars, if so what were they and how much time did you dedicate to them?

heaps
musical - 4 hours/week rehearsals, way more the two weeks before show
singing - 2.5 hours/week rehearsals
band - 2 hours/week
piano practice - 2 hours/day

5. How long were your study breaks?

I'd tell myself I'll take a 15 min break and then actually procrastinate for anywhere between an hour to the rest of the day tbh


summary: study less, have a good time and don't freak yourself out over everything and you'll do well (if you pay attention in class)

 

[pikachu975]

I never did homework. I studied for like < 1 hour a day usually, 2-3 during exams, except for maths which I spent like 5-6 on (mind you, it wasn't HSC content I was studying ). Same school days/weekends.


3-7


barely any, like 2 hours/week lol


heaps
musical - 4 hours/week rehearsals, way more the two weeks before show
singing - 2.5 hours/week rehearsals
band - 2 hours/week
piano practice - 2 hours/day


I'd tell myself I'll take a 15 min break and then actually procrastinate for anywhere between an hour to the rest of the day tbh


summary: study less, have a good time and don't freak yourself out over everything and you'll do well (if you pay attention in class)

Good point made there about paying attention in class

 

[stopcrying]

5. How long were your study breaks?

This is for you to figure out (you have to find a sweet spot).

For example: I do 40 minutes study 20 minutes break and repeat

 

[strawberrye]

1. How many hours daily did you study/complete homework (school days and weekends)?
I don't advise this many hours, but I did around 5 hours after school, and during weekend around 10-12 hours, but bear in mind I had a major work to complete for visual arts so sometimes in holidays I would just spend like 3-4 days, 12 hours each day to just work on my major work...

2. How many hours did you sleep daily?

Had quite a bit of sleep, usually sleep no later than 11pm, and wake up around 7pm

3. How many hours did you exercise daily?

Walked for 40 minutes every day-because walking to and from school, sometimes when very stressed would dance for half an hour minimum


4. Did you do any extracurriculars, if so what were they and how much time did you dedicate to them?
I didn't really do any extra-curriculars in the last two years of my school, and I wish I did to have a more balanced life

5. How long were your study breaks?
I devote an hour for my lunch, and an hour for dinner to relax, shower and eat, but I rarely had study breaks, I was able to usually hold concentration for long periods of time by practice in the past. But if I finish all the work or did so much study that my brain is too tired and can't handle any more information, then I use the rest of the night to just relax.

For context, I got 99.20 in 2013 for my ATAR

 

[_Anonymous]

I'd make notes on the dot points for subjects within like the first two to three weeks in the term and throughout the term I would improve upon them as I gained more knowledge from like worksheets or exam questions the teacher gave us and about 2-3 weeks before the exams I would start memorising those notes.

Write notes on the syllabus dot points or would you just write down notes from the topic being taught? You said you would do it within the first two to three weeks, do they usually teach the main content within three weeks and then focus on past papers and worksheets for the remainder of the term? Also, does that also apply to Math or do you continue to learn content throughout the term similar to Junior years in HS and write notes every lesson?

 

[jazz519]

Write notes on the syllabus dot points or would you just write down notes from the topic being taught? You said you would do it within the first two to three weeks, do they usually teach the main content within three weeks and then focus on past papers and worksheets for the remainder of the term? Also, does that also apply to Math or do you continue to learn content throughout the term similar to Junior years in HS and write notes every lesson?

thats what I did in year 11 I would just make notes on the topic being taught that term before the teacher got into like all the content, so before I came to class I would have some sort of idea (not a great one) but just a feel for what they were going to teach, so that the 2nd time around looking at the content it would be easier to understand and I would just have to update my already written notes. I did that cause I wanted to not have to spend a lot of time stressing during the assessment period writing notes and just be able to memorise them while being as relaxed as possible during those stressful periods

For year 12 though for the sciences and business studies I practically self-learned like 3 topics in the Christmas holidays by making notes using a textbook and watching videos online (a bit over the top but I was aiming for a 99+ ATAR so I was motivated to do that extra effort) and ended up probably benefiting from having less stress during the school year with less work, but that was just my personal preference

For maths I did the accelerated course for 2 unit in year 11 did quite a bit of study then with past papers, but when I decided to repeat it in year 12 didn't do that much maybe like less than 10 papers cause I already knew the content. For 3 unit though since my school liked to finish all content by like week 5 term 2 we had a lot of time to practice with HSC and trial papers.

 

[_Anonymous]

thats what I did in year 11 I would just make notes on the topic being taught that term before the teacher got into like all the content, so before I came to class I would have some sort of idea (not a great one) but just a feel for what they were going to teach, so that the 2nd time around looking at the content it would be easier to understand and I would just have to update my already written notes. I did that cause I wanted to not have to spend a lot of time stressing during the assessment period writing notes and just be able to memorise them while being as relaxed as possible during those stressful periods

For year 12 though for the sciences and business studies I practically self-learned like 3 topics in the Christmas holidays by making notes using a textbook and watching videos online (a bit over the top but I was aiming for a 99+ ATAR so I was motivated to do that extra effort) and ended up probably benefiting from having less stress during the school year with less work, but that was just my personal preference

For maths I did the accelerated course for 2 unit in year 11 did quite a bit of study then with past papers, but when I decided to repeat it in year 12 didn't do that much maybe like less than 10 papers cause I already knew the content. For 3 unit though since my school liked to finish all content by like week 5 term 2 we had a lot of time to practice with HSC and trial papers.

Ahh I see. A bit off-topic question, but were you always a top student in your junior year classes and also for Year 11 and 12? For example, would you always top the class/grade for English, Science and Math tests back in Year 9-10 and continued to do so in Year 11 and 12?

 

[jazz519]

Ahh I see. A bit off-topic question, but were you always a top student in your junior year classes and also for Year 11 and 12? For example, would you always top the class/grade for English, Science and Math tests back in Year 9-10 and continued to do so in Year 11 and 12?

I always was pretty smart naturally I'd say, but wasn't until the 2nd half of high school I did pretty well. I think in year 7-8 I was decent like top 10 in maths, science and other subjects. I think maybe that could be cause I played too much playstation lol and didn't do enough work. Year 9 I started to do better in stuff like placing 1st in maths, and like top 3 in science and like 2 other subjects, and ever since then I practically just kept on improving in everything up until the point I was like first in all my subjects apart from 3 unit in year 12. However, I did sort of drop a bit in maths in year 11 accelerated cause my ranking wasn't that great but I did well in the external exam and had to put in a lot of effort until I was able to reach that 99 exam mark, which probably helped me in 3 unit getting a better HSC mark the next year.

But for English I was probably like a top 30-40/180 student for year 7-10, but in year 11 I almost thought I was gonna get dropped to standard cause I got 8/15 for the first assessment. I recovered by the end of the year in terms of the rank I think I was 3rd, but no where near like a higher band 6 level (I was probably going to get around a 90-92 at that point). I think it was cause I never really analysed how to actually write a good English essay up until the end of year 11 and maybe even till like halfway through year 12, but ended up putting a lot of time into English in year 12 even though I didn't do any past papers for it but studied in a different way.

I guess my journey shows that you can improve a lot if you put in some effort cause start of year 11 I was aiming for a 95 ATAR, and in the end a guy who got like first in 6 or 7 subjects year 7 - 8, didn't do that well compared to that, but that could also be cause I didn't really take year 7-10 that seriously like would just study a few days before exams

 

[hayabusaboston]

tfw 94.5 ATAR

*cries*

 

[_Anonymous]

I always was pretty smart naturally I'd say, but wasn't until the 2nd half of high school I did pretty well. I think in year 7-8 I was decent like top 10 in maths, science and other subjects. I think maybe that could be cause I played too much playstation lol and didn't do enough work. Year 9 I started to do better in stuff like placing 1st in maths, and like top 3 in science and like 2 other subjects, and ever since then I practically just kept on improving in everything up until the point I was like first in all my subjects apart from 3 unit in year 12. However, I did sort of drop a bit in maths in year 11 accelerated cause my ranking wasn't that great but I did well in the external exam and had to put in a lot of effort until I was able to reach that 99 exam mark, which probably helped me in 3 unit getting a better HSC mark the next year.

But for English I was probably like a top 30-40/180 student for year 7-10, but in year 11 I almost thought I was gonna get dropped to standard cause I got 8/15 for the first assessment. I recovered by the end of the year in terms of the rank I think I was 3rd, but no where near like a higher band 6 level (I was probably going to get around a 90-92 at that point). I think it was cause I never really analysed how to actually write a good English essay up until the end of year 11 and maybe even till like halfway through year 12, but ended up putting a lot of time into English in year 12 even though I didn't do any past papers for it but studied in a different way.

I guess my journey shows that you can improve a lot if you put in some effort cause start of year 11 I was aiming for a 95 ATAR, and in the end a guy who got like first in 6 or 7 subjects year 7 - 8, didn't do that well compared to that, but that could also be cause I didn't really take year 7-10 that seriously like would just study a few days before exams

Were you in a Selective school?

 

[jazz519]

Were you in a Selective school?

got into one but didn't go cause it was too far to travel and already my brother was going to the school I went to. It's a decent school usually like top 70 sometimes top 50 (probably would be a bit better but we suck at English lol compared to other schools)

 

[keogh]

1. How many hours daily did you study/complete homework (school days and weekends)?
All dependent on the assessments around that time. If I had nothing due, 0 hours - absolutely nothing except when necessary. I would knock out assignments in big chunks ie. longest amount of time I spent on an assignment was one weekend but it was about 20 hours of work crammed into a couple of days. Leading up to exams I generally started around 3 weeks before with about an hour a day and 2 hours a day on weekends, 2 weeks 2 hrs a day, 1 week about 4hrs a day and during exam periods a lot more than that.

2. How many hours did you sleep daily?
Regular term 7-8 hrs. Assessment periods I'd sleep from 2:30/3am to 6:30am, go to my exam, come home and have a 2hr power nap and repeat (only do this if you're a good sleeper who can get back into routine quickly otherwise it will mess you up)

3. How many hours/minutes did you exercise daily?
1hr

4. Did you do any extracurriculars, if so what were they and how much time did you dedicate to them?
I played lots of netball which was about 5hrs of training a week and at least 6hrs a day of umpiring/competition on weekends, with state championships the weekend before mid courses started (0/10 do not recommend doing anything weekend before exams, this was the reason I dropped from ext 2 -> adv maths - however I do not regret playing as much as I did even though it was stressful at times)

5. How long were your study breaks?
Depends on where I was studying - if I went to the public library I would work an hour and a half, 10 min off. If I was at home it was 40min on 20min off.

Extra studying:
- Writing out work to syllabus dot points - you may hear it a lot but studying smarter not harder is definitely the way to go. If it's not in the syllabus, DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME. Some of my teachers tended to over explain certain things that became huge tangents and they were not able to be tested because they were outside the scope of the syllabus. I did such a tiny amount of work compared to my friends but got similar or better results because I was only learning relevant info.
- Finding essays/literary techniques/themes and any extra resources to you can find for English and compiling it with class notes in any easy to understand guide to your text - saves soooo much time and stress when writing essays because you just need to link and synthesise the info from that

Other tips:
- Make fun a priority
- Do not give up in the final holidays like I did, if I had pushed myself I could have done a bit better and maybe gotten into courses that I thought I would have never stood a chance for