strawberrye
Premium Member
Hi there, sorry for the belated reply, I guess my holiday mode got the better of meI've gone through this thread a couple months ago and it was honestly really helpful. I don't remember if there was a post on how to organise everything so forgive me if it's already been mentioned. I'm having a hard time deciding how to keep my notes, worksheets, etc organised for next year. I'm taking very content heavy subjects (Legal, Modern, Ext English, Eco, Business) and I was wondering if someone could give me advice. I was thinking of using binders but I'm a huge perfectionist and I think I would go crazy if my papers started ripping out or getting crinkled. I could use plastic sleeves but aren't they a hassle? Also, how should I revise for these subjects after school other than making notes? Any advice would be much appreciated
. Unfortunately, I am not the best person to ask because I was one of the most disorganised individuals you could know if I was still in high school, because I didn't really study through notes, but rather through the process of writing notes, hence re-finding the actual contents was less important than the actual process of summarising for me. However, I think you can always type your notes up because you can change formatting, colour, add or delete information whenever you want, a much greater flexibility compared to writing everything down. I never really used binders or plastic sleeves, but perhaps get a plastic folder with many plastic sleeves and you can label each sleeve and that would be a way to go, or just stick or write everything in a separate notebook for revision. What I find very useful when making notes is after each topic, I would summarise key content and ideas in a one page mind-map, I am a bit of a visual learner and I find mind-mapping helped me a lot in connecting each area of sub-content together. Besides making notes, one of the most effective way of revision is to attempt past HSC questions or if you are still in preliminary, try to get your hands on some preliminary paper, or try the questions in the textbooks relevant, I think that it is by constant answering questions and testing out how well you know and can apply your content to different situations, you will maximise your learning efficiency and learning outcome <3
Merry Christmas and I hope you have a Happy New Year! Happy Organising
Thank you for your appreciationFirst of all, I really appreciate the help you are giving. I plan to get a high ATAR and hopefully into medicine and I understand it isn't a walk in the park, my issues involve motivation, I do have resources regarding pass papers, text books and the internet as a whole. I understand to get in medicine you have to have a balanced life with social, physical, academic and mental life all in balance. Currently I am in year 10, holidays have started for me and I plan to finish year 11 topics in Cambridge which will help me score 90+ in pass papers. I also have chosen my subjects (Bio, Chem, Physics, 3 unit maths, economics, religion, eng adv)- I basically chose 14 units so I can drop out some subjects I dislike during first 2 weeks. Regarding motivation I usually create short term motivation involving gaming, I usually will study so at the end of the day I can plan video games, this isn't a very good motivation source as I won't study without the thought of video games at the end of the day. Since the holiday started I have created goals; 8 sessions of study per day (1 session = 50 min, usually have 10 min walks). Despite all this I just wanna know what was your motivation to achieve such a great result + how I can develop a long term motivation that will benefit across my 2 years of senior school
I would write a long essay outlining how to develop motivation, but to save you time, it just boils down to finding something you genuinely believe in. Say if you believe in medicine, than become passionate enough about it that you are willing to make sacrifices necessary to achieve the results you need and have the passion to stay and exceed your own performance. I don't think that studying to play video games later is necessarily a bad motivation, I think one of the most important thing to sustain consistency in academic performance is not to deny yourself things you like, but rather do the opposite, make time everyday to do things you like and that makes you happy. I watched dramas everyday after school, but I timed myself so that it doesn't significant erode my study time and despite sleeping often at 10pm or 10:30pm at the latest, I achieved all-rounders so the point of the story is, as long as you study efficiently, i.e. study hard, play hard-it is fine . Perhaps this earlier extracts from my study guide may help you a bit:
I was an extreme case. I valued studying quite a lot, particularly in high school, I knew studying a lot was the only way to achieving my dream degree, i.e. involving the study of law, and hence I knew I didn't have much option but to sacrifice some fun and just focus on my studies in order to achieve a longer term dream. That doesn't have to apply to everyone, it is not a solid rule, as I have made a disclaimer earlier on in my guide, none of the advice was meant to be solid. It was just a sharing of my personal experiences, often based on my own personality traits of being a slight introvert, and as such, doesn't need to be followed, perhaps just considered as a very rough guideline.
Motivation is a product of goals and thoughts, if you changed your thoughts from I am not going to be very motivated to I may not be motivated now, but I can be motivated by establishing some solid goals, having an unstable/flexible way of thinking rather than a stable way of thinking is going to assist you to change your mindset to a more positive one.
I had one motto I adopted throughout my HSC-when you fail, you pick yourself up, dust yourself off and try again. I also only listened to motivational songs on my iPod, you would not have been able to find a single romance song on my iPod during my HSC-songs like Miley Cyrus' The Climb, David Guetta's Titanium, Kelly Clarkson's What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger, even the 2010 Haiti earthquake song-collaboration from various artists was on frequent repeat countless times during my HSC-listening to them not only motivated me but to always remind me there are more unfortunate events and less fortunate people in the world-and this makes me even more grateful to study. I also came from a migrant background, and I personally gained a great appreciation for all the sacrifices my parents made for me to be in Australia and get the opportunity to pursue a territory education, so that really at the end was the strongest motivation-I really didn't want to let them down-so I couldn't stop fighting until the very last second of the HSC exam-I had to give it my best shot regardless of what failures I had encountered. I had this feeling-of fighting hard to prove myself worthy to be called an Australian ever since I came-almost 10 years ago now-and in many ways, the struggle continues-but I never give in and I will never foreseeably give up-hence I saw the HSC as a kind of short finale to all the years of extra effort and study I had put in, unlike most people who probably had more comfortable lives than me(particularly in terms of learning English) and so put a lot more effort in senior years compared to others. For me, I didn't have much of a choice, from my memory, and I still try to do this, I put in 110% in every single thing I devote myself to-a principle and philosophy that has continued with me today in arenas beyond study.
Hope this was somewhat helpful and all the best for your senior studies journey
Hope everyone is enjoying the Boxing Day sales
