Boredofstudies newcomer here - taking advice with open arms (1 Viewer)

[Emma2004]

Hey people, quarantine has led to me delving down the Boredofstudies rabbit hole, the resources and everyone here is a godsend.
I've got a few questions that may or may not have been answered before, but any fresh answers will be greatly appreciated:

1. Should I take all my notes myself or download some state ranker's notes - and where's the best place to get them?
2. What's the best way to take notes - digitally or hand-written?
3. In general, what are the most important habits in studying for the HSC?

My subjects:

• 3U Maths
• Adv English
• Chem
• Economics
• Multimedia
• Software Design & Development

I'm aiming to go into finance at Usyd or UNSW.

 

[Velocifire]

1) Taking notes yourself is great because when you write them, you know what the content is about. Though downloading other's notes would save time, it might be unclear concept-wise. The best place to get them is obviously from BOS, some share their notes for free others charge a commission.

2) The study has shown that you retain more of the information from notes through Pen and Paper. However, take notes however you are comfortable with. For me, I prefer my Laptop, as I check it more often than an exercise book and it is easier to bring digitized work to paper than vice versa. I have messy handwriting. I could also use images to support my notes which is way harder to do on a workbook. Revolve study notes around the syllabus, you can download my notes in the notes and resources tab. You can see how I take notes I'll send you a "care package".

3) It differs from student to student. Look at my response for "study motivation" if you need extra fuel on your way.
Don't study burn out. Say you don't study for a whole week or something and then study like 5 hours a day non-stop. This is bad, instead, just take regular breaks and it would reduce anxiety. Don't recover lost study-time but rather get back to a routine.

Attempt Practice Papers, though way more important in Y12, past papers allow for you to catch a glimpse in what content will be examined, whether they are hy, prelims, trials or the HSC itself, it shows you the type of knowledge that you will need to have in your "back pocket" on that day.

 

[Emma2004]

Thanks

 

[Velocifire]

NP, you will get a care package from me soon...

 

[_rakelt]

Yep - writing your own notes further consolidate your knowlege and understanding, especially if you forget, you can go back and understand it again.

Again, syllabus notes tend to be quite lengthy so I always prepared digital notes.. However, if there is a specific syllabus dot-point that I didn't understand, I would write it down by hand so that it is ingrained in my brain as I write lol

Important habits .. there is too many -but DONT ever skip something if you don't understand it!!!! It's better to be confused NOW than be confused last minute.

Goodluck!!

 

[Velocifire]

This is off-topic, but you know how you said that joining BOS was a godsend?

*Exponential Graphs In Real Life Situations*
- Coronavirus Cases
- Morale Booster

 

[idkkdi]

Hey people, quarantine has led to me delving down the Boredofstudies rabbit hole, the resources and everyone here is a godsend.
I've got a few questions that may or may not have been answered before, but any fresh answers will be greatly appreciated:

1. Should I take all my notes myself or download some state ranker's notes - and where's the best place to get them?
2. What's the best way to take notes - digitally or hand-written?
3. In general, what are the most important habits in studying for the HSC?

My subjects:

• 3U Maths
• Adv English
• Chem
• Economics
• Multimedia
• Software Design & Development

I'm aiming to go into finance at Usyd or UNSW.

If you can memorise your textbooks, you don't need notes .

 

[Velocifire]

If you can memorise your textbooks, you don't need notes .

I was waiting for a shutdown to taking notes from you. But we get it, ur smart AF

 

[Opengangs]

Everyone have different ways of studying - using other people's notes may give you some ideas for how you may like to go about structuring your personal notes but you shouldn't want to rely on them. You should be making your own personal notes that work for you. What works for one person may not work for you. When it comes to writing notes, I have two systems that I follow to uni.

Spoiler: TL;DR: My two systems of note taking (~2 hours)

1) Hand write class notes. When you're in class (whether it's a lecture at uni or in a lesson), your best bet will be to handwrite notes. You should aim to be concise with the notes; write in dot points rather than full sentences. It allows you to capture the key ideas that your teacher and class brings to light. You'll typically have a fairly messy structure of notes but try your best and make it neat! In your spare time (whether that's during the breaks or at home), restructure those notes so that it's in a linear order according to the class. Again, these notes should be really, really brief. Nothing too in-depth. You're now ready to begin building upon those notes.

2) Transcribe the notes onto your laptop and keep track of the date in which you finished the notes. You'll need to begin expanding upon the brevity of your handwritten notes with additional research or study notes. This is where other peoples' study notes may come in handy. From there, you'll have some nice notes (hopefully) that makes it easier for you to keep track of.

For maths, you typically won't have that many class notes because your best call would be to practice problems from the textbook and past exam papers. But when you're doing practice problems, don't do all of them - that's pointless. Make your problems as general as possible. For example, if you can differentiate , then don't do problems like "differentiate ". That's just a waste of your time. Instead, selectively choose different types of problems and ensure that you can do them. If you can't, do more. If you can, move on.

Most importantly, make sure you're looking after yourself!!!! I can't stress this enough but I have seen students who struggle with day-to-day activities because of studies and the HSC. Yes, it's important. Yes, marks do count. But they are not nearly as important as your mental health. If you genuinely do struggle to keep up with the demand of your schoolwork, take a break. That sounds counterintuitive now, but often a fresh start is what you need to get back into the swing of things. And this is something that's crucial to do well in university as well. Take a walk around your park, do some stretches or exercises, and have a balanced sleep cycle. You'll be fine.

 

[Velocifire]

I agree, forgot to talk about the health aspect, sure you can have a GREAT ATAR but if your health (all types) isn't in a great state, what's the point?

 

[Emma2004]

Truth

 

[Accurate]

Hey people, quarantine has led to me delving down the Boredofstudies rabbit hole, the resources and everyone here is a godsend.
I've got a few questions that may or may not have been answered before, but any fresh answers will be greatly appreciated:

1. Should I take all my notes myself or download some state ranker's notes - and where's the best place to get them?
2. What's the best way to take notes - digitally or hand-written?
3. In general, what are the most important habits in studying for the HSC?

My subjects:

• 3U Maths
• Adv English
• Chem
• Economics
• Multimedia
• Software Design & Development

I'm aiming to go into finance at Usyd or UNSW.

1. Download a state rankers notes to crosscheck any missing gaps in your knowledge. I would do this after you have learnt the topic though not straight out memorize as soon as they have been downloaded.

2. Notes aren't really necessary imo, just keep doing practice questions and it'll stick to your head better than just memorizing off paper (I'm not sure on Multimedia and SDD though). There are plenty of resources on the internet, Pearson, In Focus, DOTPOINT, Surfing, Strive, you will literally never run out of practice questions to do. Then once practice questions are done, I would crosscheck with state ranker notes and check if I have any missing gaps in knowledge.

3. Be consistent, that's literally it.

 

[Drdusk]

If you can memorise your textbooks, you don't need notes .

This!

I memorised straight from the textbook for my most content heavy subject and it got me a high band 6! Everyone studies differently as mentioned above.

 

[stickyricebuns]

1. Should I take all my notes myself or download some state ranker's notes - and where's the best place to get them?
2. What's the best way to take notes - digitally or hand-written?
3. In general, what are the most important habits in studying for the HSC?

1. here is the best place to get them! i personally don't like taking notes because i find that i end up just copying straight from the textbook and realise i wasted 2 hours after the fact, so i just look at other people's notes and read the textbook + DO PRACTICE QUESTIONS/PAPERS. practice questions is what i spend 95% of my time on during study instead of writing/revising notes
2. if you really want to understand a topic, hand write your notes. but if you just need brief notes or something just type them up
3. base your notes off the syllabus. for chemistry, our teacher gave us a checklist for each module about what the syllabus wants from us and it's very helpful so i just made my own for biology (i don't really need notes at all for my other subjects). also past papers are really important

of course the best way to study is different for everyone, for me i prefer to do practice questions because i think there's no point writing your own notes if you have 1. extensive "notes" in your textbook already, 2. resources from your school+other schools+BOS, and 3. a way to consolidate your knowledge and check that you can apply that knowledge you've acquired thru textbook+other people's notes (ie practice questions). but definitely by year 12 you should have your study habits ironed down bc year 11 is a time to experiment with study methods imo