leehuan
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 31, 2014
- Messages
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- HSC
- 2015
And to further the title, even choose to comment under HERE than making a post where possible.
Note, this post is beyond long. Look out for what you need.
Intro.
Ok, so the most frequent posts under this section of the forum seem to all relate to a bad start to the year. Some people also comment/complain about a bad school rank being an added hinderance. Neither the topic, nor the amount of people who post about this, is a complete surprise.
Here are some likely problems you have had that resulted in what you would interpret to be a calamity:
Problems of a typical student today
Year 11 brain
You just finished Year 11. You either:
a) Studied the crap out of Year 11. -----> This means you were DRAINED
b) Coasted through Year 11 with laziness. -----> This means you were UNPREPARED and your study techniques may have been poor
c) Don't remember things you learn cause Year 11 mode. -----> This means you may need to do more study
HSC Panic
Now that the title 'HSC' is given to your assessment tasks, your mentality shatters a bit over education and with various factors such as stress, you begin to underperform.
Nature of HSC
Some subjects, however not all subjects (e.g. maths) place a focus on different topics, even if they utilise some mere concepts taught in the preliminary course. But you don't feel ready to place this new knowledge into your head because preliminary knowledge is still floating around and taking up unnecessary space. This kind of overlaps with year 11 brain.
Pick a FAQ or frequent problem (use Ctrl+F) and proceed to read through:
1. Can I still get _____ ATAR with this **** mark?
2. Why does everyone keep talking about rank? Are you telling me my internal marks are useless?
3. How can I reestablish my rank now?
4. What was the nature of the task?
5. Subject wise decision making
FAQ: Can I still get _____ ATAR with this **** mark? (No, that is not an asterisk pun you dork.)
YES.
Consider the weighting on your first assessment task. The most it can be is 25%. Many weightings are in fact down at 15%! You only damaged a barely noticeable minority of your internal assessment, which typically only impacts on your rank TEMPORARILY. You could be the student that completely works their butt off after this whilst the rest of the cohort just keep at a 'reasonable' pace, and suddenly you creep back into the top 3 of a said subject you thought you're screwed for. And then what do you do? Kill the external exam (which just means the HSC paper). There, all of your problems in Term 1 HSC were nothing by the end of it.
FAQ: Why does everyone keep talking about rank? Are you telling me my internal marks are useless????
The word useless is false. This is where I will explain the concept of moderation.
SCALING is a COLLOQUIAL TERM, used to refer to three processes, to which ONLY ONE OF THEM IS ACTUAL SCALING.
We divide the colloquial scaling into 3 terms:
- Moderation ---> Benefits the schools that set the better assessment tasks (hence, your HSC exam marks are not moderated)
- Alignment ---> Readjusts moderated marks so that they are relative to how difficult each year was
- Scaling ---> Recalculates moderated marks to compare relative difficult to each other. This is used in the determination of the ATAR, not your HSC marks
Moderation: An example and simplified summary
Note: This part can be skipped. It is for the people who absolutely have no idea how internals impact as little as people portray them to be, and actually want to know WHY.
In the process of moderation, we are interested in four things, and in my opinion in this order of importance (though tbh all are important):
a) Internal Ranking
b) Average of the external exam marks
c) Difference between internals marks
d) First place in internals
Consider a class of six students doing English Advanced who received the following marks in their school assessments:
Student A - 80; Student B - 79; Student C - 73; Student D - 65; Student E - 64; Student F - 30
The average for the internal exam is about 65.17
Then in the HSC the students get these marks:
Student A - 97; Student B - 99; Student C - 94; Student D - 85; Student E - 90; Student F - 80
The average for the external exam is about 90.83, which, admit it, that is quite a jump.
Reminder: The HSC report give 50% weighting on your external exam and 50% weighting on your internal assessment. This means that the examination mark will be locked in (after alignment). We are only considering the internal assessment here, but we will USE the external mark to aid the idea.
Impacts of moderation
- What will happen now is that the average of 65.17 in the internals is EFFECTIVELY REPLACED TO BE 90.83! This is why point b) can be so powerful.
- By default, everyone's marks will increase as a result of this.
And because the ranks are PRESERVED (point a))... A gets the better INTERNAL MARK (note that B beat him/her in the externals), all the way down to F still getting the lower internal mark.
- Student B topped the exam with 99. So student A's assessment mark will be 99 as well now, according to point d). This mark is directly transferred across.
- Point c) is the one I won't go into much depth about. This is because the relative mark differences are accounted for by a parabolic plot of the marks and that is too much to describe.
TLDR: Still read the part about averages. THAT, is why everyone's marks get a huge buff-up if the external exam is slaughtered.
On the other hand, if everyone fails the external exam, THAT is when your marks get dragged down.
You see, although immediately it does appear that 50%/50% weightings are given to your assessment and examination marks, the processes that the HSC use today make the examination mark slightly more impacting.
This is perhaps the more important FAQ:
FAQ: How can I reestablish my rank now?
We jump back to some of the problems.
DRAINED - Although she came out with an ATAR in the 96s anyway (hard work always pays off...), one of my friends worked so hard in Yr 11 that for the most part of Yr 12 she was completely out of it. Her ranks were splendid in Yr 11, then it's like what happened.
If you OVERKILLED Year 11 by accident, you will need to put in effort over the holidays to study for where you fell out in first term of Year 12. HOWEVER, you will need to do this more calmly than others. This means to actually limit the amount of study you do and put a certain amount of focus into RESTING because you will not get another proper holiday until after the HSC exams end.
If you only have one subject you feel miserable about, 2hr of study a day should do the trick as long as it's CONSISTENT.
If you have multiple, for each subject do 1.5hr a day. But chances are that if you have multiple then you have key points where you lacked and others you remember quite well. Thus, FOCUS ON THE KEY POINTS FIRST. But then even things back out because otherwise you forget too much.
UNPREPARED - If your study techniques are poor, this will be addressed later. I'll specifically address the subjects that I did. But poor preparation for any task that's ahead of you is only going to stress you out on the actual day/time period of your task.
Insufficient study - Same as above tbh
HSC panic - You're going to have to realise soon enough that you're no longer doing work in class that's meaningless. But fortunately the problem to this issue does come with experience. The deeper you get into the HSC, the less you focus on the title of the HSC and more on just your academic achievement.
Nature of HSC - Leave preliminary content alone. The HSC's difficulty in itself is not usually that much harder than preliminary (except for maybe bits and pieces of maths). Once you leave preliminary be (but without forgetting it, depending on what subject you do e.g. some physics formulas), you'll have a ton of storage for HSC stuff.
If you have a specific problem, just comment here and I'll consider your case independently.
Frequent problem: WHAT was the NATURE of the task?
Was it an assignment based task (research or practical), or was it an examination type? If it was an assignment, was it written or spoken?
Examinations are gonna be based on the subject, so that will follow. As for assignments however...
RESEARCH - You're usually given an actual marking criteria if the entire assessment is to be completed at home. But you need to break down what the criteria actually MEANS.
Not only do you need to address the main QUESTION/TOPIC at hand, you need to address it in the MANNER that they ASK IT TO BE ADDRESSED.
e.g. Chemistry - If they ask for the 'chemistry' of something, include equations...
I'd also imagine a noticeable decision on biased sources would be necessary for history subjects
Follow a task description, a task rubric (if provided), and most importantly the top range for the MARKING CRITERIA. That's the short.
Speech based tasks
This includes presentations. If you have to give a presentation with it then just make an appropriate powerpoint with images (if applicable) and dot point summaries of what you're gonna say.
Now, when you're writing a report (nearly all research tasks) you're bound to present it rather mundane despite how much flair you're allowed to add. It's supposed to be serious. Just show the teacher exactly what you have found out and present them in a very formal tone.
A speech requires more. A speech requires the element of engaging an audience. This requires much more flair, which you can only do through auditory (and maybe a few kinaesthetic) techniques. You need to be able to change tone where possible in your speech, and put emphasis on specific words. Of course unless you're doing a performing art subject you don't have to be dramatic, but you need to show that you can attract a viewer's attention.
Interestingly enough, when people complain about failing a first assessment, it never is a performing or creative arts subject...
As for kinaesthetic, use hand gestures where appropriate. They add to explanation. But it's still something you must not overkill. For example, just do the v- arm-hand shape when you bring up a new or reiterated idea.
If you're really good at hand gestures, even go about claps and stomps. Because they have to be controlled in my opinion.
Subject wise decision making:
Ok, there are tons of subjects out there and I only did a few. I'm only going to address the two cores here - English and mathematics. (My level that is, so mostly Adv and 2U onwards)
If you need specific advice for a SUBJECT I didn't do you shouldn't post in this forum - you should be posting in the corresponding forum FOR YOUR SAID SUBJECT. Or private messaging me, that is ok.
English:
Ok, depending on whether you did a discovery unit or a module first, this will differ a bit:
Discovery unit
If you did the AoS discovery in first term you have a bit of extra work. Because that is your entire Paper 1.
But because you're here because you feel you failed, I'll split things up depending on what you feel you struggled over:
UNSEEN TEXTS - Ok, now that one year of discovery has passed, stimuli are available everywhere with actual questions to accompany them. See dan94's website for some English papers.
Practice answers to some of them. And send to your teacher. However remember the formatting:
2mk - Answer the question with an appropriate reference/quote + technique. Include what the discovery is at the least, if not relate to rubric.
3mk - 2mk + ALWAYS relate to rubric, plus make your answer EVALUATIVE
5mk - Mini essay. (2pg is good enough.)
6mk - Mini essay + stronger evaluation. Typically it's 6mk because the keyword is evaluate instead of analyse.
CREATIVE WRITING - I always recommend preparing a skeleton plot and maybe one sample creative to use. Because the fact is your creative should:
Include AT LEAST THREE aspects of the rubric
Have a discovery that is easily distinguishable from others.
- Avoid the two taboos: Fantasy and teenage angst
Be unique. Also put a title on it please. Creatives are things you shouldn't ever share, unlike essays.
ESSAY WRITING - A discovery essay is out of 15, not 20. Marks are more easily found. If you can attack the rubric by effectively incorporating it into each and every one of your ideas and quotes/scenes, you will be able to find your way around it. In fact, for my essay, I just picked three points from the rubric and used them in my essay anyway!
Remember to always have at least one related text. For some reason the HSC chooses to ONLY ask for one related text nowadays, but you must have AT LEAST one at your disposal NO MATTER WHAT. (The syllabus technically still states that you can be asked for TWO related texts).
Modules
By contrast, if you did a module text, you would've had either a listening task, or a reading task. At this point it's typically too early for your spoken task to appear. If you got given a spoken task, it would likely be a holiday assignment or something. Same goes for representing task.
But the good thing is, you only get examined on that mode ONCE. English assessments need to be across the whole spectrum for you to be reexamined on something.
Nonetheless, if your mark was a bit despairing, it's time to either:
- Option 1: Prepare a ton of quotes and find not only good, clever techniques, but at least TWO techniques for the quote/scene you chose to analyse. Have a skeleton idea to underpin them to as well.
- Option 2: Prepare your essay. 1000 words to go into your head and you must be ready to adapt to the question on the day. Let me tell you now though, if you pick option 2 just to throw it back at the examiner, you are setting yourself up for a band 4 because that shows you can't answer a question.
The following will apply to Adv English:
- Module A - It's a COMPARATIVE study of text, AND CONTEXT. Not only must you show how the texts portray similar or different viewpoints, you must demonstrate how the textual integrity of the texts remain as they depict these messages DESPITE being chosen over different TIME PERIODS, and thus different INFLUENCES.
- Module B - It's a CRITICAL study of text. Your evaluation must be stronger in this essay in comparison to all of the rest. You have ONE PRESCRIBED TEXT AND THAT IS ALL YOU ANALYSE!!! You must show how YOU feel as a responder to this text (e.g. it is the opinion of this responder used twice in an essay) and be able to clearly explain how a text can or cannot relate to what a question is implying.
- Module C - When representing, you shouldn't be taking everything word for word, but don't fully believe that because some things ARE to be taken literally. You need to be able to discuss a scene/quote that seems to portray a certain idea and relate that IDEA back to the question, regardless of how colourful your quote can be. Check out 2015's HSC question; it was quite interesting.
Mathematics:
The nature of maths is different to every other course in that the PRELIMINARY COURSE IS EXAMINABLE! This means if you killed prelim maths then you have a head start, whereas if you flunked prelim maths you KNOW where to begin your holiday study for maths. (Of course, the exception is Extension 2 because that has no prelim course altogether. Ext 2 will be addressed a bit further below.)
These topics will typically be the ones affecting individual students:
Plane geometry
Circle geometry (MX1)
Trigonometric functions (+ MX1 component)
Locus and the parabola
Parametric representation (MX1)
Permutations and combinations (MX1)
For individual topics, please inbox me as I can give a very detailed explanation on all of them, but this post is already ridiculously large for me to add them here.
Formulas are a starting point
To start: Compile a formula book/sheet. 'Notes' in maths don't pay off much at all, because you don't apply them. Whereas formulas, you do.
- Include the formulas that BOSTES give you for free. But colour-code them to be green or something to show that you will have that formula on the day. Whereas the ones that you don't get given put them in red instead.
- Don't forget you get 0 geometry theorems on the day so you want to include them as well. I laugh at how people easily forget what are corresponding angles. MX1 also seem to forget the alternate segment theorem a lot.
- Also, with things like parametrics, know that for example point of intersection of two tangents (a(p+q),apq) usually requires the method of derivation. Do say "solve simultaneously y=px+ap^2 with y=qx+aq^2" or something like that as a note in black/blue pen or something.
And that's about it for the notes.
Now, textbooks such as Cambridge and Terry Lee have solid questions that will gear you up for the actual questions in the paper. And I do advise doing them where possible. They do secure you a fair bit of marks.
But the closest you get to the HSC exam in maths is unquestionably ALWAYS past papers. To excel in maths requires drilling into far more papers than any other subject would normally demand. This is because the questions in maths TWIST with what you know, and the hard ones make you THINK you weren't taught how to do it, but in reality your toolbox was just too far in the back of your brain for you to reach because YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW TO USE THAT SPANNER.
An example - Similar triangles are the most hidden things in the HSC ever. Take the 2015 2U HSC last question part (i)
Time for some past papers
- Start open book. Have everything you know right in front of you before you tackle your first paper. I would rather you build up your confidence than straight away plummeting into the deep end.
- The worked solutions for a maths paper are for two purposes only:
a) You're genuinely stuck. You spent 10mins already on one flipping mark and that's without procrastinating...
b) You have an answer and it's time to check it.
- Start on Q11-14 (post-2012) or Q1-7 (pre-2012) first. Then start doing them closed book once you have a better feel for them. You need to always be able to grab bag easy marks first to get that band 4 before you progress further.
- Once you feel confident enough, then go Q15-16(post-2012) or Q8-10(pre-2012) and start working for your band 5/6. Repeat the process; open book then closed.
Ext 1 equivalent - Q11-13/Q1-5 first, then Q14/Q6-7 last
Except, when you do Q15-Q16 type, note that the questions twist with your mind more when you reach this point. Maths is a paper designed to increase in difficulty as you progress. So when you're doing Q15-Q16, if you're genuinely stuck FEEL FREE TO COPY THE WORKED SOLUTIONS. Reading them won't do anything, but copying them will make you memorise a process. +1 nail to your toolbox.
The idea is, the more you do Q15-Q16 type the more patterns you realise in the trend of questions. This I can't really describe; this is more of a personal feel and grasp.
Note: Of course, at this point in time you've hardly covered any of the HSC content. Be smart about it and pick the topics that you have done
The note on Ext 2: If THIS was the subject you messed up that's because you simply weren't prepared for completely new topics in maths and a difficulty spike. Complex numbers is absolutely easy; every former Ext 2 student will tell you that, but they probably weren't ready at the start of the course either. Use the same study methods, but you have to realise that this subject does get a tiny bit different treatment simply because of it's nature as new and tedious. Also, remember that alignment AND scaling favour this subject a lot more than EVERY other subject in existence.
Idk how much of this you'll read. But it's there. In the future, feel free to comment questions under here.
Note, this post is beyond long. Look out for what you need.
Intro.
Ok, so the most frequent posts under this section of the forum seem to all relate to a bad start to the year. Some people also comment/complain about a bad school rank being an added hinderance. Neither the topic, nor the amount of people who post about this, is a complete surprise.
Here are some likely problems you have had that resulted in what you would interpret to be a calamity:
Problems of a typical student today
Year 11 brain
You just finished Year 11. You either:
a) Studied the crap out of Year 11. -----> This means you were DRAINED
b) Coasted through Year 11 with laziness. -----> This means you were UNPREPARED and your study techniques may have been poor
c) Don't remember things you learn cause Year 11 mode. -----> This means you may need to do more study
HSC Panic
Now that the title 'HSC' is given to your assessment tasks, your mentality shatters a bit over education and with various factors such as stress, you begin to underperform.
Nature of HSC
Some subjects, however not all subjects (e.g. maths) place a focus on different topics, even if they utilise some mere concepts taught in the preliminary course. But you don't feel ready to place this new knowledge into your head because preliminary knowledge is still floating around and taking up unnecessary space. This kind of overlaps with year 11 brain.
Pick a FAQ or frequent problem (use Ctrl+F) and proceed to read through:
1. Can I still get _____ ATAR with this **** mark?
2. Why does everyone keep talking about rank? Are you telling me my internal marks are useless?
3. How can I reestablish my rank now?
4. What was the nature of the task?
5. Subject wise decision making
FAQ: Can I still get _____ ATAR with this **** mark? (No, that is not an asterisk pun you dork.)
YES.
Consider the weighting on your first assessment task. The most it can be is 25%. Many weightings are in fact down at 15%! You only damaged a barely noticeable minority of your internal assessment, which typically only impacts on your rank TEMPORARILY. You could be the student that completely works their butt off after this whilst the rest of the cohort just keep at a 'reasonable' pace, and suddenly you creep back into the top 3 of a said subject you thought you're screwed for. And then what do you do? Kill the external exam (which just means the HSC paper). There, all of your problems in Term 1 HSC were nothing by the end of it.
FAQ: Why does everyone keep talking about rank? Are you telling me my internal marks are useless????
The word useless is false. This is where I will explain the concept of moderation.
SCALING is a COLLOQUIAL TERM, used to refer to three processes, to which ONLY ONE OF THEM IS ACTUAL SCALING.
We divide the colloquial scaling into 3 terms:
- Moderation ---> Benefits the schools that set the better assessment tasks (hence, your HSC exam marks are not moderated)
- Alignment ---> Readjusts moderated marks so that they are relative to how difficult each year was
- Scaling ---> Recalculates moderated marks to compare relative difficult to each other. This is used in the determination of the ATAR, not your HSC marks
Moderation: An example and simplified summary
Note: This part can be skipped. It is for the people who absolutely have no idea how internals impact as little as people portray them to be, and actually want to know WHY.
In the process of moderation, we are interested in four things, and in my opinion in this order of importance (though tbh all are important):
a) Internal Ranking
b) Average of the external exam marks
c) Difference between internals marks
d) First place in internals
Consider a class of six students doing English Advanced who received the following marks in their school assessments:
Student A - 80; Student B - 79; Student C - 73; Student D - 65; Student E - 64; Student F - 30
The average for the internal exam is about 65.17
Then in the HSC the students get these marks:
Student A - 97; Student B - 99; Student C - 94; Student D - 85; Student E - 90; Student F - 80
The average for the external exam is about 90.83, which, admit it, that is quite a jump.
Reminder: The HSC report give 50% weighting on your external exam and 50% weighting on your internal assessment. This means that the examination mark will be locked in (after alignment). We are only considering the internal assessment here, but we will USE the external mark to aid the idea.
Impacts of moderation
- What will happen now is that the average of 65.17 in the internals is EFFECTIVELY REPLACED TO BE 90.83! This is why point b) can be so powerful.
- By default, everyone's marks will increase as a result of this.
And because the ranks are PRESERVED (point a))... A gets the better INTERNAL MARK (note that B beat him/her in the externals), all the way down to F still getting the lower internal mark.
- Student B topped the exam with 99. So student A's assessment mark will be 99 as well now, according to point d). This mark is directly transferred across.
- Point c) is the one I won't go into much depth about. This is because the relative mark differences are accounted for by a parabolic plot of the marks and that is too much to describe.
TLDR: Still read the part about averages. THAT, is why everyone's marks get a huge buff-up if the external exam is slaughtered.
On the other hand, if everyone fails the external exam, THAT is when your marks get dragged down.
You see, although immediately it does appear that 50%/50% weightings are given to your assessment and examination marks, the processes that the HSC use today make the examination mark slightly more impacting.
This is perhaps the more important FAQ:
FAQ: How can I reestablish my rank now?
We jump back to some of the problems.
DRAINED - Although she came out with an ATAR in the 96s anyway (hard work always pays off...), one of my friends worked so hard in Yr 11 that for the most part of Yr 12 she was completely out of it. Her ranks were splendid in Yr 11, then it's like what happened.
If you OVERKILLED Year 11 by accident, you will need to put in effort over the holidays to study for where you fell out in first term of Year 12. HOWEVER, you will need to do this more calmly than others. This means to actually limit the amount of study you do and put a certain amount of focus into RESTING because you will not get another proper holiday until after the HSC exams end.
If you only have one subject you feel miserable about, 2hr of study a day should do the trick as long as it's CONSISTENT.
If you have multiple, for each subject do 1.5hr a day. But chances are that if you have multiple then you have key points where you lacked and others you remember quite well. Thus, FOCUS ON THE KEY POINTS FIRST. But then even things back out because otherwise you forget too much.
UNPREPARED - If your study techniques are poor, this will be addressed later. I'll specifically address the subjects that I did. But poor preparation for any task that's ahead of you is only going to stress you out on the actual day/time period of your task.
Insufficient study - Same as above tbh
HSC panic - You're going to have to realise soon enough that you're no longer doing work in class that's meaningless. But fortunately the problem to this issue does come with experience. The deeper you get into the HSC, the less you focus on the title of the HSC and more on just your academic achievement.
Nature of HSC - Leave preliminary content alone. The HSC's difficulty in itself is not usually that much harder than preliminary (except for maybe bits and pieces of maths). Once you leave preliminary be (but without forgetting it, depending on what subject you do e.g. some physics formulas), you'll have a ton of storage for HSC stuff.
If you have a specific problem, just comment here and I'll consider your case independently.
Frequent problem: WHAT was the NATURE of the task?
Was it an assignment based task (research or practical), or was it an examination type? If it was an assignment, was it written or spoken?
Examinations are gonna be based on the subject, so that will follow. As for assignments however...
RESEARCH - You're usually given an actual marking criteria if the entire assessment is to be completed at home. But you need to break down what the criteria actually MEANS.
Not only do you need to address the main QUESTION/TOPIC at hand, you need to address it in the MANNER that they ASK IT TO BE ADDRESSED.
e.g. Chemistry - If they ask for the 'chemistry' of something, include equations...
I'd also imagine a noticeable decision on biased sources would be necessary for history subjects
Follow a task description, a task rubric (if provided), and most importantly the top range for the MARKING CRITERIA. That's the short.
Speech based tasks
This includes presentations. If you have to give a presentation with it then just make an appropriate powerpoint with images (if applicable) and dot point summaries of what you're gonna say.
Now, when you're writing a report (nearly all research tasks) you're bound to present it rather mundane despite how much flair you're allowed to add. It's supposed to be serious. Just show the teacher exactly what you have found out and present them in a very formal tone.
A speech requires more. A speech requires the element of engaging an audience. This requires much more flair, which you can only do through auditory (and maybe a few kinaesthetic) techniques. You need to be able to change tone where possible in your speech, and put emphasis on specific words. Of course unless you're doing a performing art subject you don't have to be dramatic, but you need to show that you can attract a viewer's attention.
Interestingly enough, when people complain about failing a first assessment, it never is a performing or creative arts subject...
As for kinaesthetic, use hand gestures where appropriate. They add to explanation. But it's still something you must not overkill. For example, just do the v- arm-hand shape when you bring up a new or reiterated idea.
If you're really good at hand gestures, even go about claps and stomps. Because they have to be controlled in my opinion.
Subject wise decision making:
Ok, there are tons of subjects out there and I only did a few. I'm only going to address the two cores here - English and mathematics. (My level that is, so mostly Adv and 2U onwards)
If you need specific advice for a SUBJECT I didn't do you shouldn't post in this forum - you should be posting in the corresponding forum FOR YOUR SAID SUBJECT. Or private messaging me, that is ok.
English:
Ok, depending on whether you did a discovery unit or a module first, this will differ a bit:
Discovery unit
If you did the AoS discovery in first term you have a bit of extra work. Because that is your entire Paper 1.
But because you're here because you feel you failed, I'll split things up depending on what you feel you struggled over:
UNSEEN TEXTS - Ok, now that one year of discovery has passed, stimuli are available everywhere with actual questions to accompany them. See dan94's website for some English papers.
Practice answers to some of them. And send to your teacher. However remember the formatting:
2mk - Answer the question with an appropriate reference/quote + technique. Include what the discovery is at the least, if not relate to rubric.
3mk - 2mk + ALWAYS relate to rubric, plus make your answer EVALUATIVE
5mk - Mini essay. (2pg is good enough.)
6mk - Mini essay + stronger evaluation. Typically it's 6mk because the keyword is evaluate instead of analyse.
CREATIVE WRITING - I always recommend preparing a skeleton plot and maybe one sample creative to use. Because the fact is your creative should:
Include AT LEAST THREE aspects of the rubric
Have a discovery that is easily distinguishable from others.
- Avoid the two taboos: Fantasy and teenage angst
Be unique. Also put a title on it please. Creatives are things you shouldn't ever share, unlike essays.
ESSAY WRITING - A discovery essay is out of 15, not 20. Marks are more easily found. If you can attack the rubric by effectively incorporating it into each and every one of your ideas and quotes/scenes, you will be able to find your way around it. In fact, for my essay, I just picked three points from the rubric and used them in my essay anyway!
Remember to always have at least one related text. For some reason the HSC chooses to ONLY ask for one related text nowadays, but you must have AT LEAST one at your disposal NO MATTER WHAT. (The syllabus technically still states that you can be asked for TWO related texts).
Modules
By contrast, if you did a module text, you would've had either a listening task, or a reading task. At this point it's typically too early for your spoken task to appear. If you got given a spoken task, it would likely be a holiday assignment or something. Same goes for representing task.
But the good thing is, you only get examined on that mode ONCE. English assessments need to be across the whole spectrum for you to be reexamined on something.
Nonetheless, if your mark was a bit despairing, it's time to either:
- Option 1: Prepare a ton of quotes and find not only good, clever techniques, but at least TWO techniques for the quote/scene you chose to analyse. Have a skeleton idea to underpin them to as well.
- Option 2: Prepare your essay. 1000 words to go into your head and you must be ready to adapt to the question on the day. Let me tell you now though, if you pick option 2 just to throw it back at the examiner, you are setting yourself up for a band 4 because that shows you can't answer a question.
The following will apply to Adv English:
- Module A - It's a COMPARATIVE study of text, AND CONTEXT. Not only must you show how the texts portray similar or different viewpoints, you must demonstrate how the textual integrity of the texts remain as they depict these messages DESPITE being chosen over different TIME PERIODS, and thus different INFLUENCES.
- Module B - It's a CRITICAL study of text. Your evaluation must be stronger in this essay in comparison to all of the rest. You have ONE PRESCRIBED TEXT AND THAT IS ALL YOU ANALYSE!!! You must show how YOU feel as a responder to this text (e.g. it is the opinion of this responder used twice in an essay) and be able to clearly explain how a text can or cannot relate to what a question is implying.
- Module C - When representing, you shouldn't be taking everything word for word, but don't fully believe that because some things ARE to be taken literally. You need to be able to discuss a scene/quote that seems to portray a certain idea and relate that IDEA back to the question, regardless of how colourful your quote can be. Check out 2015's HSC question; it was quite interesting.
Mathematics:
The nature of maths is different to every other course in that the PRELIMINARY COURSE IS EXAMINABLE! This means if you killed prelim maths then you have a head start, whereas if you flunked prelim maths you KNOW where to begin your holiday study for maths. (Of course, the exception is Extension 2 because that has no prelim course altogether. Ext 2 will be addressed a bit further below.)
These topics will typically be the ones affecting individual students:
Plane geometry
Circle geometry (MX1)
Trigonometric functions (+ MX1 component)
Locus and the parabola
Parametric representation (MX1)
Permutations and combinations (MX1)
For individual topics, please inbox me as I can give a very detailed explanation on all of them, but this post is already ridiculously large for me to add them here.
Formulas are a starting point
To start: Compile a formula book/sheet. 'Notes' in maths don't pay off much at all, because you don't apply them. Whereas formulas, you do.
- Include the formulas that BOSTES give you for free. But colour-code them to be green or something to show that you will have that formula on the day. Whereas the ones that you don't get given put them in red instead.
- Don't forget you get 0 geometry theorems on the day so you want to include them as well. I laugh at how people easily forget what are corresponding angles. MX1 also seem to forget the alternate segment theorem a lot.
- Also, with things like parametrics, know that for example point of intersection of two tangents (a(p+q),apq) usually requires the method of derivation. Do say "solve simultaneously y=px+ap^2 with y=qx+aq^2" or something like that as a note in black/blue pen or something.
And that's about it for the notes.
Now, textbooks such as Cambridge and Terry Lee have solid questions that will gear you up for the actual questions in the paper. And I do advise doing them where possible. They do secure you a fair bit of marks.
But the closest you get to the HSC exam in maths is unquestionably ALWAYS past papers. To excel in maths requires drilling into far more papers than any other subject would normally demand. This is because the questions in maths TWIST with what you know, and the hard ones make you THINK you weren't taught how to do it, but in reality your toolbox was just too far in the back of your brain for you to reach because YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW TO USE THAT SPANNER.
An example - Similar triangles are the most hidden things in the HSC ever. Take the 2015 2U HSC last question part (i)
Time for some past papers
- Start open book. Have everything you know right in front of you before you tackle your first paper. I would rather you build up your confidence than straight away plummeting into the deep end.
- The worked solutions for a maths paper are for two purposes only:
a) You're genuinely stuck. You spent 10mins already on one flipping mark and that's without procrastinating...
b) You have an answer and it's time to check it.
- Start on Q11-14 (post-2012) or Q1-7 (pre-2012) first. Then start doing them closed book once you have a better feel for them. You need to always be able to grab bag easy marks first to get that band 4 before you progress further.
- Once you feel confident enough, then go Q15-16(post-2012) or Q8-10(pre-2012) and start working for your band 5/6. Repeat the process; open book then closed.
Ext 1 equivalent - Q11-13/Q1-5 first, then Q14/Q6-7 last
Except, when you do Q15-Q16 type, note that the questions twist with your mind more when you reach this point. Maths is a paper designed to increase in difficulty as you progress. So when you're doing Q15-Q16, if you're genuinely stuck FEEL FREE TO COPY THE WORKED SOLUTIONS. Reading them won't do anything, but copying them will make you memorise a process. +1 nail to your toolbox.
The idea is, the more you do Q15-Q16 type the more patterns you realise in the trend of questions. This I can't really describe; this is more of a personal feel and grasp.
Note: Of course, at this point in time you've hardly covered any of the HSC content. Be smart about it and pick the topics that you have done
The note on Ext 2: If THIS was the subject you messed up that's because you simply weren't prepared for completely new topics in maths and a difficulty spike. Complex numbers is absolutely easy; every former Ext 2 student will tell you that, but they probably weren't ready at the start of the course either. Use the same study methods, but you have to realise that this subject does get a tiny bit different treatment simply because of it's nature as new and tedious. Also, remember that alignment AND scaling favour this subject a lot more than EVERY other subject in existence.
Idk how much of this you'll read. But it's there. In the future, feel free to comment questions under here.
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