Physics:
- Study Notes for each module. These notes would include key concepts e.g formulas as well as common errors e.g forgetting units made in the module. I would do this after mastering a module i.e being confident in doing qs and explaining it to someone else.
- StrivePhysics (
@idkkdi pointed it out). It was extremely helpful in just grinding out physics qs. Really important to be able to get the routine questions down for physics since these are where the majority of marks lie in and being able to minimise silly errors, know common mistakes and different methods is vital if you're serious about a B6.
- Online physics resources. Often you'll get a poor physics teacher so knowing where to learn is beneficial. Personally I used stuff like scienceready physics, uni lectures on topics, yt videos on HSC physics and etc.
- Trying to explain what I'm learning. Being able to articulate what you know on physics is crucial for those short answer to long answer questions, first you need to have clarity in what you are saying to do this. Trying to explain physics concepts helps you understand if you truly understand it or you're just reciting textbook pages.
- Practicing succinct responses. Many people in Physics waste time on being verbose in their answers and don't realise it contributes negatively to the quality of their answer, when doing 5+ mark qs, I would draw a mini-map of what I would write;
> The content I am supposed to talk about e.g EM induction and break it down into X points
Point A:
> What laws I would need to cite e.g Faraday's law
> What equations this would entail e.g
> What terms I might need to explain e.g N is the number of coils,
Point B:
..
and so on, in this way I'd have a rough checklist and guide to follow when doing the question. I would allocate the first 5 mins after reading time just doing this for my long answer questions in Trials/HSC exam so when I reached that question I wouldn't forget any key points.
- Minimising silly mistakes. Ensuring that you frequently revise on questions you make errors on e.g torque questions will help you minimise silly mistakes and regularly reading them also gives you a mental reminder.
- Staying ~2-3 weeks ahead of physics content. There's no point learning 2 modules ahead if you'd forget it by the time you learn that module in class. A more helpful tracker would be to be ~3 weeks ahead of your class content so that at most you'd have enough time to master the class content you're learning by the time you reach it while also freshly learning future stuff.
- Treating physics practical skills seriously. Most people forget the practical side of Phys. and only focus on the theory which is a big mistake, make sure that you are well versed in the three variables, reliability, accuracy, controlled etc. and you know what are the possible errors, how to calculate percentage error, how to improve these variables etc. Its very simple to do but surprisingly people ignore this aspect and consequently lose marks they were given for free.
- Doing abstract physics Qs that appear in uni worksheets or from physics exams. Most of the time, you will see in the middle of the HSC Phys exam, content from different modules are required to be synthesised to respond to abstract physics Qs, this is prolly the hardest part of the HSC Phys exam and to be ready for this you need to not only be confident in the content but also experience solving these type of questions. They usually require you to start from a simple step e.g Keplers Third Law and then extend it further. Just having that experience and problem solving skill for these type of Qs is invaluable.
There's so much more but these are the ones i can remember off my head. I'll respond to MX1 later.