hi guys!
i just completed my first set of year 12 internal exams yesterday and to be honest...i feel like i definitely underperformed compared to year 11. i don't know what to do or how to feel - i'm so scared about all the 'what if's; if i fell way below my previous estimate, if i won't be able to recover from this...
does anyone have advice about how to overcome this slump? i just feel so pressured right now
I was in your exact same position last year with my first Modern History assessment. I achieved 73% and came 8th in the cohort which was a major shock for me as my final rank in Year 11 was 5/30. I was pretty devastated. However, throughout the rest of year 12 (pretty much the beginning of 2018 onwards) I kept doing practice essays and handed them up to my teachers. After receiving the feedback I kept editing my responses until they were at a band 6 level. As a result I came 1st in the Trials and 2nd overall by the end of the year. : )
The good thing is that usually the first assessments have a lower weighting which usually ranges from 10% - 15% of your internals. What I think you should do is when you receive your results make a list of which topics in each subject you are struggling with and then focus on trying to improve.
English, History, Essay subjects etc:
- DO PRACTICE RESPONSES! Especially over this upcoming 6 week holiday. If it's one thing I know some students regret is not taking advantage of this 6 week break to go over your mistakes or brush up your content in your notes. Make sure these are marked by your teachers and edit your responses until they are flawless/band 6 level.
- Share notes with your friends. I did this with my friend for Modern History (who came first overall in the cohort haha) and she helped me out by sending me some of her notes and giving me advice about how to improve. I suggest you do this with other students in your class.
- Keep doing practice responses and practice papers after you complete each topic, this will help you in preparation for the Trials!
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Maths, Science:
- For these subjects I suggest once you receive your assessments back redo the questions you didn't understand or got wrong. It's better to go through these questions with your teacher too to try to gain a more thorough understanding of the course content.
- Complete practice questions (use the 6 week break wisely!), especially in the topics you are weaker in. For example if you are really good at Trigonometry in Maths Ext 1 but you struggle with Polynomials, focus a bit more on doing some Polynomials questions. THIS IS THE SAME FOR SCIENCE (I dropped Science in Year 12 so I do apologise for the lack of ideas for Science).
- Do past HSC questions for the topics you have completed so far for Year 12, so for Maths Ext 2 I did some practice questions on complex numbers and that helped me develop a deeper understanding of the course content.
- Ask your teacher for help if you don't understand a topic or to go over some content during class (one on one though so you won't be distracted by anyone else haha).
Make sure you do have a break too! Don't burn yourself out - this will cause you to be more stressed and you won't be able to perform at your best level either.
All the best!
Gallen88
