Hey there!!
First off, I feel you. Let me give you my rankings/marks for all my subjects in my year 11 yearly report -
English Advanced - 30/67 - 73%
English Extension 1 - 5/10 - 82%
Mathematics - 49/93 - 51%
Legal Studies - 3/54 - 88%
Economics - 13/30 - 83%
Biology - 49/60 - 40%
Multimedia - 1/30 - 88%
I was SO upset at how inconsistent my marks were at the end of year 11. I was mainly disappointed that I didn't exceed 90 in anything, despite trying SO hard and compromising SO much time for school. Keep in mind, I did try really hard in year 11 - probably just as hard as I do now - but my study techniques just weren't ideal. I go to a school ranked in the early 100s.
My English improvement is the best comeback story in my experience though. In English Advanced for prelim, I felt as though I put in way more effort into the subject than my friends and STILL was ranking exponentially below them. What was even more embarrassing, was that while they were hating on how horrendous the subject was, I actually liked it. Yet, I managed to JUST make the cutoff for Advanced in year 12 - our school forces the bottom half of the prelim cohort into Standard. I remember after half-yearlies in my prelim year, I posted on an HSC forum panicking for advice after getting only 65% and 80% in my assessments at that point. Looking back, I should NOT have put myself in so much misery for that. But I know, it seriously sucks expending so much effort into something and your results not be reflective of it, I get it.
The important thing though, is to focus on your weaknesses. For me, exam technique is always what compromises my marks (specifically time management in exam conditions) - but for you, it might be formulating a cohesive and sophisticated argument itself. I worked my ass off in year 11 despite my shortcomings, and now, I'm ranked 2nd out of 40 students for Advanced with consistent marks of 90 in all assessments thus far. For my half yearly assessment, I went out the night before for my birthday and still managed to achieve a 90+ mark. I cannot stress to you enough how important it is to hand in drafts BEFORE the assessment date. I'm quite fortunate in this regard as my school's English faculty is blessed with extremely competent teachers and my one happens to be the head and the best, but even if this is not the case for you, their feedback is absolutely invaluable!! There is no way I would've even imagined achieving marks this high back in year 11 - when I thought it was a lost cause - were it not for the support, expertise and mentorship of my English teacher. It is all literally hard work, and insurmountable levels of drafts, emails, questions etc. I got 60% for creative writing - my absolute weakness - in prelim, but I attained a mark of 93% in my AOS creative for discovery in year 12. That was, after a debilitating back and forth drafting process with my teacher, which involved probably 5-8 emails hahaha. I don't even exactly remember, but it was definitely a LOT more than usual.
After dropping subjects that placed me in abject misery (bio lol), focusing on my weaknesses and expending so much time into refining exam technique, my results are stronger than they have ever been after half-yearlies (I'm in my HSC year rn).
After 2 assessment periods, my current final marks/ranks are as follows -
English Advanced - 2/36 - 90%
English Extension 1 - 2/8 - 96%
Mathematics - 1/84 - 90%
Legal Studies - 3/35 - 95%
Economics - 2/23 - 87%
Multimedia - 1/20 - 88%
As you can see, after shifting study habits to ones that are more effective in the long run (not cramming), my results overall improved EXPONENTIALLY. I went from bottom 10 in my cohort for some subjects in prelim, to top 3 in every single subject. Whereas I was getting marks as LOW as 20% in year 11, my lowest result in year 12 thus far has been 85% (which actually topped the class, believe it or not). I have never hired a tutor either. At parent teacher interviews, my teachers ALL said that they were expecting a Band 6 from me. This would have seemed impossible to me in year 11. Funny thing is, I don't think the time I've spent studying have even changed, just my ways of studying have. I've found that doing millions of past HSC papers and mountains of practice essays before the exam helps me immensely.
By no means do you have to sacrifice your social life for the HSC - I did not have a job in year 11 and did shit, but I've been working 25 hours per week for all of year 12 and my results have infact gone up! It's all about time management, really. I spend about 20-30 hours studying per week, if you want a rough idea - and up to 40 during assessment periods. I still indulge in TV shows (Suits!!) and stuff, of course. You can't completely deprive yourself of entertainment - you'll go insane!
I hope this helps you, even if it's a little bit!! In the case of English, it was easier for me to improve because I'm one of the rare people that actually enjoy it (absolutely hate maths though HAHA), but if you even have a glimmer of passion of subject - pursue it! It will motivate you to actually work hard on it. Seek out your errors and work on them, it pays off.
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