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Differences between a good student and an Excellent student (1 Viewer)

123ash

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hi, a general question. All the HSC students out there, why are some students very smart and they can top all the exams and assessment tasks. i have been working sooo hard for the past few months, but there are always the same people who get the top marks. sometimes i think they are just nerds. But..
Can you suggest any tips to push myself from the average to the top.
 
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Doctor Jolly

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When you mean 'working sooo hard' what do you mean? What do you do that makes you think you're 'working sooo hard'?
 

123ash

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Doctor Jolly said:
When you mean 'working sooo hard' what do you mean? What do you do that makes you think you're 'working sooo hard'?
i have been trying to push myself to get better marks by accually studying. i hear diffent advices from many people. my parents always say to do that you have to work 24x7. is it just the pressure??
MATHS 3U
MATHS
ADVANCED ENGLISH
PHYSICS
CHEMISTRY
IPT
 
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hollyy.

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get teachers to check assigns before the due date/specifically talk to the teacher marking the assign to get tips of what they expect. + past papers, just study study study
 
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123ash said:
i have been trying to push myself to get better marks by accually studying. i hear diffent advices from many people. my parents always say to do that you have to work 24x7. is it just the pressure??
MATHS 3U
MATHS
ADVANCED ENGLISH
PHYSICS
CHEMISTRY
IPT
maths - learn all the formulas, and learn how to apply them in all situations.

advanced english - lots of practice essays, looking at the criteria youre marked on. talk to teachers - ask for feedback on your work.

physics and chemistry - write your own syllabus dot point summaries, learn them.

im not overly familiar with IPT.



not that i do this, but i should.
 

tommykins

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I find the only difference between a good student and an excellent one is either natural talents (which is uncontrollable) OR the excellent student goes a step further during exams.

For example, a math question - a good student does it in 5 minutes, an excellent student finds a quick way to do it in 2 minutes.

For a science question, the good student provides the same (more or les) answer as an excellent student, but the issue might be the question asks "Evaluate". The good studnet provides information but has no evaluation, an excellent goes a step further and reads the question and provides an evaluation, obtaining the marks required.
 

agua.fuego

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scaredytiger said:
maths - learn all the formulas, and learn how to apply them in all situations.

advanced english - lots of practice essays, looking at the criteria youre marked on. talk to teachers - ask for feedback on your work.

physics and chemistry - write your own syllabus dot point summaries, learn them.

im not overly familiar with IPT.



not that i do this, but i should.
Lol. You haven't changed :D
 

selablad

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Based on what I've seen:

1. Taking control of your own learning.
That is, if there is something you don't understand, do something about as soon as you realise. Go to another textbook, ask friends/teachers/parents to explain, do extra homework until you understand it. Don't just wait for someone else to tell you what to do.

2. Sucking up to teachers.
No, not really, but make sure you're friendly with them and feel comfortable asking them for help. Also, even if you don't need help, if they like you and sense that you really want to learn, they'll sometimes share tips or tell you extra stuff that the other kids didn't learn. :lol:

3. Understanding *how* you learn.
This might be one of the most important ones. If you learn better by, say, drawing diagrams of relationships, then don't waste your time copying out formula after formula. It's really helpful if you even just do a simple google search for "ways to learn effectively" or "learner types" or something similar. Once you understand the best ways for you to learn, you don't have to waste your time doing less effective things - which means no 24/7 study :D

4. "Exploit" your tasks.
Haha, I don't know how else to say it - that's my old English teacher's favourite phrase. I think this is pretty important too. Basically I mean read the assignment sheet and find out exactly what they want. If they want a feature article for the local newspaper, don't write an analytical essay. Write a feature article, with all the extras: be informal, talk to the audience, etc. Too many people (that I've seen anyway) just write the same thing regardless of what the task actually asked for - going back to the example, it might be a really brilliant analytical essay, but it's a terrible feature article. This also applies to those "terms" they use (discuss, explain, contrast, whatever).

Wow, I just read that and realised I sound kind of stuck up. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be :eek: That's what I've seen the 'top' students at my school doing...I hope it helps you, somehow :)
 

munchiecrunchie

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some people are just naturally smart, and can ace things with little effort.

others aren't so lucky.

you've just gotta work with what you've got, and make the most of it.
 

osamaelias

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Same dilemma with every human. But know everyone is equal , and have equal minds.

For example compare yourself to a James Ruse Student. From what i understood from "A current affair" from a 100 UAI student that was talking , he said the average JRAHS student comes home , goes to tutoring , comes back studies, eats if he wants , studies then goes to sleep. Thats his life. You usually see them with Noah beards and dont go out etc.(No racist). But after Uni they open up.

Compare yourself to a person like that. You have other things he does not have. But you have a thing he has that you want. You have to sacrifice things to become the best.
 

jellybelly59

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Exphate said:
That makes no sense.
LOL what u mean? What i meant to say was that there are some crazy naturally smart kids out there that may work just as hard if not harder than u.... Combination of hard working + natural student = unbeatable.. Maybe i didn't get my msg out correctly sorry... :(
 

Aplus

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selablad said:
Based on what I've seen:

1. Taking control of your own learning.
That is, if there is something you don't understand, do something about as soon as you realise. Go to another textbook, ask friends/teachers/parents to explain, do extra homework until you understand it. Don't just wait for someone else to tell you what to do.

2. Sucking up to teachers.
No, not really, but make sure you're friendly with them and feel comfortable asking them for help. Also, even if you don't need help, if they like you and sense that you really want to learn, they'll sometimes share tips or tell you extra stuff that the other kids didn't learn. :lol:

3. Understanding *how* you learn.
This might be one of the most important ones. If you learn better by, say, drawing diagrams of relationships, then don't waste your time copying out formula after formula. It's really helpful if you even just do a simple google search for "ways to learn effectively" or "learner types" or something similar. Once you understand the best ways for you to learn, you don't have to waste your time doing less effective things - which means no 24/7 study :D

4. "Exploit" your tasks.
Haha, I don't know how else to say it - that's my old English teacher's favourite phrase. I think this is pretty important too. Basically I mean read the assignment sheet and find out exactly what they want. If they want a feature article for the local newspaper, don't write an analytical essay. Write a feature article, with all the extras: be informal, talk to the audience, etc. Too many people (that I've seen anyway) just write the same thing regardless of what the task actually asked for - going back to the example, it might be a really brilliant analytical essay, but it's a terrible feature article. This also applies to those "terms" they use (discuss, explain, contrast, whatever).

Wow, I just read that and realised I sound kind of stuck up. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be :eek: That's what I've seen the 'top' students at my school doing...I hope it helps you, somehow :)
Nice post :uhhuh:
 

Doctor Jolly

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123ash said:
i have been trying to push myself to get better marks by accually studying. i hear diffent advices from many people. my parents always say to do that you have to work 24x7. is it just the pressure??
MATHS 3U
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ADVANCED ENGLISH
PHYSICS
CHEMISTRY
IPT
Okay, so maybe you ahve been studying 24/7, but you do realise that unless you study effectively then you might as well be sitting around watching tv. You should instead of studying in a way that doesn't really suit you, find an environment or study technique that does. I think selablad already mentioned this, but there are various types of studying techniques. It's just a matter of finding which one suits you the best and stick to it. I know with me, I learn better through examples. So I just really need to remember examples and I'm fine :) But some might need more than that for the same result. Just go with whatever suits you best.

Also, with maths, chem and physics, I highly recommend that you use more than one textbook to study out of. Almost every weekend I do maths "reinforcement" work from 4 different textbooks and apply them in different levels ranging from Easy Textbooks such as MIF to harder ones like Cambridge. Also, with Physics (because I do it too) might I suggest that you read AHEAD of your class? It really helps in terms of grasping information and when the teacher explains it the next day you'll already know what their talking about and won't be so lost. And if you encounter something that you don't understand, you'll take notice of it in class. That way your learning is used more effectively. This is similar with English. If you're studying on novel read a few chapters ahead so when you do read it together in class your mind can just snap on easily to what the teacher is talking about and you can look pro :cool:

Hope that helped!
 

fareezuh

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123ash said:
hi, a general question. All the HSC students out there, why are some students very smart and they can top all the exams and assessment tasks. i have been working sooo hard for the past few months, but there are always the same people who get the top marks. sometimes i think they are just nerds. But..
Can you suggest any tips to push myself from the average to the top.
study, revise, apply study then do it all over again
 

emytaylor164

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Just work hard.. get a good balance your whole life sound not revolve around school by anymeans.
 

foram

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You have to be born smart to be an excellent student. Hard work can never make up for a lack of genius. This is the truth.
 

Sarah182

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Many students always complain they are working "soo hard" and not beating the people who always come first but their definition of working "sooo hard" may be very different from someone who is topping their subjects.
Just doing home study may seem difficult for some but for others 2 hours study a day is completely natural for others.

Natural talent plays a part from Year 7-10, once you hit Year 11 there is no way to work around the effort and hard work required to excel.
If you ask someone how to get a UAI of 100, their answer isnt going to be natural talent.
 

foram

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Sarah182 said:
Many students always complain they are working "soo hard" and not beating the people who always come first but their definition of working "sooo hard" may be very different from someone who is topping their subjects.
Just doing home study may seem difficult for some but for others 2 hours study a day is completely natural for others.

Natural talent plays a part from Year 7-10, once you hit Year 11 there is no way to work around the effort and hard work required to excel.
If you ask someone how to get a UAI of 100, their answer isnt going to be natural talent.
Yes. Natural tallent does not guarantee success. However, a lack of tallent means that you won't be an excellent student, because no matter how hard you work, a person with tallent can work the same amount (or less) and still get the better mark.
 

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