I will probably say a lot of things that will annoy ppl....but oh well, I hope I help at least ONE year 11 student...
The key in my opinion was RELAXATION.
I totally just relaxed....I took the first week of every stuvac I had off to just sleep. I slept like you would not believe, and it helped.
I got over 90 in four subjects and I can tell you the study that I did was minimal up until the last two weeks before the HSC began. I never studied during the week, I only did my homework and studied only if I had an assessment. I did not study in preparation for the HSC -- no notes or anything on week days during school terms.
What I found was that the notes that I made for each little assessment built up, and by the time the trials came I had many notes made, all I needed was to put them together and make sure I had notes for each dot point on the syllabus (I agree with each person that is praising this method).
ENGLISH: Figure out early on which method is best for you to learn quotes, saves time doing experimental cramming for trials (which happened to me). The method for me was to find the most striking or fitting SINGLE word (that you will remember) for each quote and then I would memorise them by putting the words to a tune of a song or a beat -- you may think, it's just a pile of words how will they make sense?? It's funnier if they don't make sense, helps you remember, especially if you laugh at how ridiculous it sounds -- it calms you in the exam and helps you remember.
MODERN: Usually the prime thing to remember are dates, I would have okay time remembering years but the months were hard. So I would associate the month with a friend/relative who had a birthday during that month....if I didn't know anyone, I would look up a celebrity who had a birthday in that month, worked so well. When it comes to WWI -- don't spend the bulk of your time studying it....you will only have to know things pretty generally, not in great detail. And basically in WWI you are ASSURED of getting at least 10/30....and if you are good at usefulness and reliability 20/30. That's my prime advise for the core. OH and with the evidence in WWI think broadly, analyse everything you see and read -- the basic who, what, where, when and why answer those q's in your head and you'll be fine.
OH, AND GET EXCEL!!!!! I basically taught myself the cold war coz I was away a lot and that book seriously saved my ass.
ANCIENT: My main key for ancient I guess is heading....that's what worked for me, and listing evidence logically under specific, bold headings. If you make your headings large and each dot point under the too (and remember the number of points you had) it is so easy to visualise and remember your notes. Other than that.....ancient is an extremely fair subject in terms of exams. They pretty much assure you that you'll be able to write essays on topics you know about because there are so many options and combinations of essays.
GEN. MATHS: Get the excel book and do the prac questions.
I know ppl won't be happy with this....but I didn't do past papers OR practice pre-prepared essays. I find this to be a mistake because it gives you false expectations of questions you might get. I find prac essays a big mistake, opt instead for a dot point of points you would make and how you would expand in the essay. It saves time and allows you to be able to be flexible in case you get a wordy question that may get you to have to deal with many other issues.
I studied with the tv on at a low volume, I can't study in silence and I have foxtel in my room so that was trouble. You can also trick yourself into spending hours on the internet and I suggest having a timer or something. Because you can go on the net to check a fact or something.....then will go, hmmm better check my email, then someone will come on msn.....next thing you know you've lost your alert period. So limit yourself and be tough in THAT particular aspect.
AND AGAIN, RELAX and do what works for you -- a lot of ppl won't be able to deal with some of the hours these extraordinary ppl put in....I know I was way too lazy and restless to. The most I prob studied in one day was 6 or 7 hours....and that was on a few days, definately not everyday.
You'll do fine.
