How did you get a 90+ atar?? (1 Viewer)

[mz_sarah]

I need an atar of 90 and over and I just dont think I can achieve such a high result, so for the people who achieved so high could you help me out with how you did it??? Study tips would be awesome too

 

[LightXT]

Being confident in yourself is the main thing. If you view it as being difficult, or out of reach, that makes it a lot harder than it should be.

As for specific study tips, I'm one of the worst people to ask for advice from.

 

[madharris]

Ill give you my life story (not really):
Year 7-10: I got really good marks without studying (was considered 'smart' without trying)
Year 11: I didn't study as much as I should and did terribly overall!
Year 12: Took my experiences from year 11 and used it as motivation

Basically: I made notes for every subject (except english and maths) and regularly read one subject worth of notes (e.g. one day I will read biology, one day I will read chemistry - like on the bus if I had no friends that morning, before I slept, when I was procrastinating - yeah I procrastinated with note reading)

I did as many past papers as possible for each subject (except music) just so I could get a feel for the type of questions they ask! - they also regularly reuse questions

I found that a way to concentrate was at the library (school or public library), just because there were no distractions there

 

[cheepy5]

Study

 

[JohnMaximus]

Doing my HSC this year too, and I figure that passing that 90 threshold just requires you to:

1. Learn the concepts as you go through them in class, making sure that you understand everything from the topic you are taught today before your teacher moves onto something tomorrow. Looking at the textbook notes for what's ahead will make it even easier to understand what's going on once your teacher gets to it.

2. Prepare to be tested in the weeks leading up to your exam. By now you've got the knowledge, you just need to get used to test conditions and conveying that knowledge the way the examiners want you to by doing past papers.

Past papers from what I've heard and experienced are basically the most important thing, my friends are always telling me how they only got through their most difficult exams because of past papers.

 

[Capt Rifle]

Study

Yes, studies show that 'studying' may enhance your performance in assessment tasks, thereby producing a high outcome.

 

[LoveHateSchool]

1) Goal based studying-I worked off to do lists with incentives for when I crossed off items off the to do list. I found this far more effective than time based study. It also enabled me to do things in a streamlined path to have a lot of time for ECs.
2) Consistent work-not clockwork rigidly so, but not leaving it all to assessment time or all to the last minute. There's always periods where you are more productive and less productive, so do make use of that. I was glad I had done work during the year as it meant I was able to be overseas for 3 weeks not studying for trials, while everyone else was floundering last minute for trials. It also meant that I really didn't feel under the pump to do massive amounts of study for the HSC. It was more some quick touch up stuff from after trials.
3) Confidence, good sleep before assessments, and knowing when taking a break was more effective than more study. Balance is really key in HSC-keep up some exercise or a relaxing arvo once in a while.
4) Use of stayfocused to help check my fb etc. usage. I only needed it on for a little while until I got right into the habit of starting on work as soon as I got home then having a break and doing more later.
5) Targeted usage of study time-no use doing easy textbook differentiation questions if I needed to practice those pesky harder type Trig questions.
6) Having goals-not just a random far away ATAR number goal. I did have that, but I had goals for each assessment to make that far away atar and course goal more tangible to me. I'd say the most important thing is motivation has to come from within. Though there are things that can help along the way likes study incentives and I was even known that making a tea would help me power through some more reading or a psyche up song could help me power me through a bit more study.

 

[madharris]

Hey for music, how did you study and do so well at it?

Ummm... tbh I didn't study for music :s

I analysed 3 core piece and 3 additional topic pieces and went into the exam knowing that :s

however, I don't really know if you would call this studying but i did:
1 sight singing everyday (just so I got good at it, find random things on the internet and stuff that you can do) - if you absolutely can't sight read then you should learn to identify intervals first, i used to use songs and sometimes still do (m2 - chromatic scale, M2 - diatonic scale, m3 - axel F/crazy frog song, M3 - Oh when the saints, P4 - national anthem, tritone - the simpsons. P5 twinkle twinkle little star, m6 - (no song i just learnt it eventually), M6 - my bonny lies over the ocean, m7 - no song, M7 - always sounded incomplete as it's a leading note (like a perfect cadence), P8 - some where over the rainbow) ---- this also works for melodic dictation when you're first starting out
1 melodic dictation regularly
What I already had done was 1st-5th grade music craft which was really all I needed

What you should learn to identify would be things such as
Keys (learn how to draw a circle of 5ths (it really helps a lot), key changes/modulations, terms (In class I built a dictionary of terms that I hadn't seen before), names of instruments (this should help http://www.library.yale.edu/cataloging/music/instname.htm), know a bit of background about a few composers, know a bit of backgroud about the main eras (baroque, classical, romantic, modern and obviously australian), how to transpose between clefs and instruments, what key + register each instrument of the orchestra is in (+ things like the saxophone, tuned percussion, etc)


I recently explained a bit here (not in too much detail though)
http://community.boredofstudies.org/showthread.php?t=302297

and also here, you should know a bit of this as well
http://community.boredofstudies.org/showthread.php?t=297128

I'm sorry that I couldn't really be of much help but don't hesitate to pm me if you have any specific questions or need help in anyway (or alternatively post your question on the music forum, i check there regularly)

 

[Captain_Krunch]

I found that preparation was key. This meant no stress at assessment time and a more level head when you were in the exam room.I found it important to be prepared enough for an assessment about 2 days beforehand so I could go in knowing I had done everything I could. With internal assessments try to get your ranks as high as possible so you are not affected overly by your cohort.

Studying:
1)Make SIMPLE easy to digest notes from a number of sources such as textbooks and notes from others on Boredofstudies with information that is relevant. These simple notes are used for the day or two before an assessment. Have a master copy of detailed notes as well for when you are generally studying.

2)I found allocating more time to subjects I was worse at worked eg: I found Geography easy so I spent little time studying for it and more time on English.

3)Do as many PAST PAPERS as possible to familiarise yourself with the exam style questions

4) Know every dotpoint in your syllabus, read your syllabus and if there are unknown dotpoints find out what are the concepts behind them.

5) If you are unsure of any question or concept go and seek out a teacher to explain how to get full marks so you know how to answer a question in depth.

6) Try to take an interest in the material you are studying, the more interested you are in your coursework the easier it is.

Overall be prepared enough before assessments so that you go in confidant that you will ace them.

PS: No matter where you come from 90+ is achievable, I came from a 600+ school and managed to get 91.25, its never too late to turn things around

 

[btx3]

according to the great mod something do "fuck all"

 

[Nws m8]

How did I get 90+ ATAR? um I think I studied ? What else you do ?

 

[jamesischool]

made notes for my content based subjects weekly throughout the year
did my homework
in the weeks before exams i'd do past papers
read my notes as procrastinating
not much else to it besides lots of study in the weeks leading up to HSC exmas