Very good write-up! I pretty much agree and endorse everything that has been said, especially regarding the impacts of how these summer holidays are utilised by the student. I literally wasted my summer holidays and had to work my ass of Term 1 and Term 2 2014 to make up for the massive deficit I had left behind.
However, I got one bone to pick -
Self learning definitely, people should stop getting things spoon fed to them
What you should do in the holidays
1. Make as much notes as possible in the holidays, at least minimum to your HY
As for self-learning and learning content in advance, I am actually quite against it. I never went ahead of the course and still did well. I personally would prefer students to be properly learning and revising the content that they have learnt instead of getting lost in the quest to learn ahead. e.g. in these holidays, for English, I would recommend practicing Discovery short answer tasks, refining your Discovery essay(s) and creative(s) to its best and revising fully the Discovery rubric. That is more than enough imo. If you end up having time left over, then maybe read some of your prescribed texts for the Modules.
Then for Maths, I would recommend revising all content learnt over the last term, catching up on any HW or textbook practice that has been left behind, and doing questions on all topics learnt over the last term from many many past trial papers. Then, if time remains, make sure all content learnt in first three terms of 2014 is solid and concrete, and maybe even practice some hard Qs on the topics learnt in the prelim course, as those topics are still tested in your HSC final exam, and even in some of your internal assessments, if your school wishes to do so (most do so, for HYs and trials). Also, the reason I say do trial questions is imo it is best to leave past HSCs until after trials, as you can rip through them gradually in lead up to your final exams, and also because it is best to do the types of questions that pop up in internal assessments to practice for internal assessments and likewise it is best to do past HSCs to prepare for the actual HSC exam. If that makes sense....
Then, for humanities and sciences, if you make notes, then make sure you get all your notes done for HSC content covered thus far. Also, do practice Qs (try to include past HSC Qs and/or past trial Qs) to consolidate. Then, if you have time left over, maybe do a bit of light reading over what you will cover in Term 1 2015 to introduce yourself the content you'll learn, but I really don't get why one would bother making notes for content you have not properly learnt yet.
Well, that's just my 2 cents. I do certainly agree with Kaido's opinion:
Whilst OP's advice is solid, it is important to note that this NOT a guide. It's advice (ie. a compilation of opinions)
Doing well is doing what you do (not simply what others do) to the best of your capabilities. (Cliche, ironic and hypocritic? lol)
Oh, and beast the hsc. It's an examination for little kids. You'll get a load of more complicated and stressful things coming your way after it...
Good luck guys!
