How much work did you put in for HSC (1 Viewer)

[brent012]

this is exactly what i meant, some people can do little work and end up with an alright atar but this guy for example did heaps of work but received a relatively low atar

finding out how much work others put into their hsc won't help you, instead what you should find out is how much work YOU need to do in order to achieve what you want

+1

Paid attention in class most of the time, for most subjects that meant writing notes or watching power point slides (LOL at my physics teacher). Software Design i have always been good with algorithms so that made what is supposedly the hardest part of the course simple for me. Didn't complete a lot of homework and did minimal in class work. Did do a couple of hours of tutoring for chem/physics on weekend but got lazy with it - so maybe once a month or so, also went Chem + Physics enrichment lecture. Started most assignments pretty late but completed them to a good standard. Studied the night before and day of (ensuring i always had 6+ hours sleep though) exams.

My study was pretty efficient imho though, used sets of notes downloaded off here combined with Excel guides - i have a good memory however. English i essentially winged up until the HSC, walked in remembering main points and quotes for paragraphs in essays before the HSC. In the HSC i had previously sent some essays to my teacher to check and ended up winging module b + creative, regurgitating belonging essay (had to adapt it quite a bit though, wasnt hard though), and remembering most my points for module a and c. Didn't write my own notes, regularly revise or do past papers. School is ranked around 200, neither selective or private.

I ended up getting an ATAR of 88.05 which i am personally happy with, if i had put in a bit of effort and wrote my own notes and revised off them just a bit a day and then did multiple past papers in the weeks leading up to trials and/or HSC i'm fairly confident i would have been able to get an atar of around 95 (few ranks higher in some subjects + 5 to each of my exam marks would allow that). Everyones brains work differently and some people react differently under exam pressure or have varying exam technique, so what you have to do is find out how much study YOU need to achieve what YOU want and disregard everything you had read here.

 

[smartalec]

i got 92.7 with shit scaling subjects. just write practice shit and do individual study every night. anyone can tell you that.

 

[wogboy23]

99.3 ATAR here. I can honestly tell you that consistency is key. Try not to think of study in 'hours' though, because there was a period in which I did as such, and didn't study efficiently. It's best to put achievable and realistic goals regarding what you have to do, how you will do it and how you would adapt said information in a particular response (this is paramount particularly for humanities subjects). So, really, do not worry so much about the duration of revision spent on each subject - seek advice from teachers, practice essays for advanced is ESSENTIAL (cannot stress that enough) and simply doing past paper questions ensures success. This is the god's truth - I did work fairly consistency throughout the year (writing notes respective to syllabus dot points, lots of practice essays + a good memory helped). But I did have many lapses - lengthy periods of no work, watching tv (lol) and even before the last few weeks of hsc I did barely anything (I have my own study though of regurgitating information in my head ensuring I remember facts as well as memorising essay paradigms that could fit under any key syllabus subheading - most of which were abandoned and needed to be effectively abandoned come HSC - so I guess that is a form of mental study that I could do during the majority of afternoons whilst listening to music on my ipod and watching tv.) It is a bit bizarre but it has always worked for me. My final week of hsc exams this year consisted of Ext 1 on the Monday, Modern on the Tues and y fnal hsc exam being Legal on the Thurs. By Tuesday arvo I was so exhausted from the mental and physical energy expunged into my exams (I write quite fast naturally) that I did literally absolutely NOTHING in lead up to legal yet managed my highest mark of 98 and a state ranking (see signature). So really, whilst revision is important, consistency is key, but lapses and breaks are both inherent and vital. Hope this helps

 

[2011_]

IMO: It's not how smart you are but how hard you work (but intelligence does help).
My average mark in prelims was about 50% (easy subjects too), I was ranked very close to the bottom of all my subjects. I go to a rural school (rank 600 or something) , so this was not a good thing at all. I worked very very hard and payed no attention to what other people around me said. I made sure I had goals, timetables and deadlines and did my best to stick to them. I did many past papers for each subject and was constantly talking to teachers after class for extra help. I might not be the smartest cookie, but I've shown that if you work hard you can get the marks you want. Good luck mate.

I agree 110%. Hard work was the key for me, and although I did subjects that some people say don't scale well, I got an ATAR over 97 (also at a school ranked around 600).
I did at least 3 hours of study / homework per day on weeknights and all weekend during Year 12 was spent on homework and study. However it is important to have an outlet to relax - I enjoy taking a walk, for example. Everyone has different ideas but my suggestions are:
- Don't be afraid to ask your Teachers questions - if they see you want to learn and will work hard they will do even more to help you.
- Start your summaries for each subject as soon as you have time.
- Do as many practice / past papers as possible - especially for Math (whether it be General or 4 Unit).
Good luck

 

[Leoong]

if you really want to get the highest atar with the least amount of effort, for the love of god do 4u maths and other high scaling subjects like physics and chemistry, it takes so much less effort to get to the higher end of ATARs (i played through dragon age 2 and starcraft 2 during trials). It also helps a lot if you go to a selective school because there is that drive, and your fellow students will help you by asking intelligent questions.

But then if you aren't as lucky to be in these circumstances, you should put in a consistent effort throughout the whole year (getting above average in every exam is better than coming first in half and then bombing half of them) and by the HSC you should have a developed knowledge base in your entire topic instead of having gaps in your knowledge. I didnt pay much attention in school (and nor did most of us) but if you dont receive extra tuition then school is your most efficient source of knowledge, and you should stay away from the "bad" groups if you want to focus on the HSC.

Apart from that though you have to revise extremely hard for hsc, cos itll be a real tragedy to flunk those. If you study smart and do only the relevant exercises and not just any homework your teachers chuck at you a good 2 hours of solid studying each day will suffice until trials/hsc,

Good luck!

 

[jamesfirst]

memorise shit for english.

always works brah

 

[LightXT]

CRAM FOR EVERYTHING. Except Maths.