Study tips, a guide to studying and FAQ about studying (2 Viewers)

[donkily]

Re: Study Tips

During term 1 at school:

By this time you shouldn't be focusing on old content as much as you should've done that during term 4 and during the school holidays, instead you should be focusing on new content except when you are preparing for your half yearlies

Since you've already finished the second module of the sciences, it is now crucial that you take a different studying approach. Pay attention in class as this will reinforce what you just learnt in the school holidays. Every day after the teacher has gone through a specific dotpoint with you such as biopolymers, it is crucial that (when you go home) you look at the super detailed notes you made in the school holidays and start summarising that by cutting down on all the unnecessary information and writing what you just need for the exams. Also look at past papers sites like Dan964's THSC and look through the specific exam questions of what you just learnt that day, do the question, check if you were right or wrong and if you're wrong figure out why you were wrong. Understand the "first principles" of why you were wrong. If you are doing short answer and extended response questions, it is crucial that you write down the answer the question by addressing the verb and at the end having an evaluation. You should then bring this to your physics/chemistry/biology teacher for feedback and ask them "how many marks does this deserve" "how do I gain extra marks for this part" etc. If you haven't fulfiled the whole criteria it is important to redo the question and keep asking for feedback until you have filled the whole criteria

If you have already covered all the content and you feel very prepared for your half yearly then start past papers and analyse your weaknesses. Until then keep doing that until you have covered a wide range of questions and have covered every single bit they could possible ask in your half yearly (including scientific skills)

 

[donkily]

Re: Study Tips

During Term 1-2 school holidays:

I emphasise this early as trials are without doubt the most stressful exams for students. As the time of trials approaches quicker for many students, there isnt much time to write notes as you are preparing for trials by doing practice exams. So how d I prevent myself from having the stress from HSC trials?

Start early so then you have more time to do what you need later on. Since you have finished 3 modules per 1 HSC science already, I suggest you now do the same process but for the last HSC science

Firstly start off by watching videos. Youtube channels such as letslearnscience explain these concepts well and these difficult concepts aren't easy to visualise without the help of youtube videos. As soon as you have finished one 10minute-20 minute video which covers one dotpoint in the syllabus, I'd recommend you look at past student notes, whether they'd be a state ranker or a band 6 student, look at their notes and start making your own notes from theirs (and use multiple sources as well such as multiple past student notes and the textbok). This reinforces what you just learnt and you're not as likely to forget later on. Again do this repeat process for every single dotpoint in the syllabus for Module 1 of HSC chemistry, physics and biology. By now you have already self learnt the whole first module of HSC physics, biology and chemistry which saves you so much time later on when you're at school

Once that's done, you've practically self learnt the whole HSC course for HSC physics/chemistry biology

 

[zhu0902]

Re: Study Tips

"Start studying for tests early.
― don’t undo yourself. You should only be reviewing the days before the test. don’t leave it till the last minute!"
this is sooooo true

 

[zhu0902]

Re: Study Tips

This guide is pretty extensive Good work

 

[donkily]

Re: Study Tips

This guide is pretty extensive Good work

Thank you for your support

If anyone has questions feel free to ask

If you studied humanities in high school such as economics, legal studies or business studies could you please share your tips on how to succeed in those subjects like I did here

Thanks

 

[donkily]

Re: Study Tips

During term 2 at school:

By this time you shouldn't be focusing on old content as much as you should've done that during term 1 and during the school holidays, instead you should be focusing on new content except when you are preparing for your trials

Since you've already finished the third module of the sciences, it is now crucial that you take a different studying approach. Pay attention in class as this will reinforce what you just learnt in the school holidays. Every day after the teacher has gone through a specific dotpoint with you such as biopolymers, it is crucial that (when you go home) you look at the super detailed notes you made in the school holidays and start summarising that by cutting down on all the unnecessary information and writing what you just need for the exams. Also look at past papers sites like Dan964's THSC and look through the specific exam questions of what you just learnt that day, do the question, check if you were right or wrong and if you're wrong figure out why you were wrong. Understand the "first principles" of why you were wrong. If you are doing short answer and extended response questions, it is crucial that you write down the answer the question by addressing the verb and at the end having an evaluation. You should then bring this to your physics/chemistry/biology teacher for feedback and ask them "how many marks does this deserve" "how do I gain extra marks for this part" etc. If you haven't fulfiled the whole criteria it is important to redo the question and keep asking for feedback until you have filled the whole criteria

If you have already covered all the content and you feel very prepared for your trials then start past papers and analyse your weaknesses. Until then keep doing that until you have covered a wide range of questions and have covered every single bit they could possible ask in your trials (including scientific skills)

 

[plane]

Typing Notes Guide

Set up folders for each topic. Create these folders before class and save your notes into the correct ones. It will keep all of your notes organised and easy to find. You might want to have different folders for class and reading notes. Develop a system which is intuitive for you.

Know the program. Choose which program you’re going to use to take your notes. There are lots of options available, including Microsoft Office. If you can’t afford Office, then you can look into free downloads of it. If you have Office, you could also use Onenote. Alternatives include free programmes like Evernote which allow you to access your notes from anywhere on any device.

Get a template (M Office only). On Microsoft word, you can download different templates. See if there is a template that you can use for taking your notes. Alternatively, you can create your own template by adjusting the margins, font, size, etc. and saving your preferences. If you don’t want to use a template, you can just use the default settings.

Name the notes. Make sure that you name the notes so that you know what’s inside. On Microsoft word, when saving documents you can add tags. Then you can search these tags for any documents with that specific tag. This is a really useful organisational tool.

Do you need anything to take your notes? If you’re using a tablet, you can buy Bluetooth keyboards which will connect and can be quicker than typing on the screen. You can also buy a stylus which will let you write like you would with a normal pen; some devices also have the option to convert your handwriting to typed notes.

Get to know your keyboard. If you’re using a keyboard, then I suggest looking at this website which will teach you how to touch type.

Become familiar with keyboard shortcuts. Especially for things like bold, italicise, underline, highlight.

Downloads. If the teacher/lecturer puts up any material for the class download it. These are typically powerpoint slides. Downloading these and putting them up as split screen between word and powerpoint. You’ll be able to copy and paste material and diagrams straight from the actual powerpoint, speeding up my process.

Back up. Back up your notes on google docs. If your computer crashes you will have a backup of your notes that will be essential to studying!

Creating your notes. Use the technology to your advantage.

- Use bold/highlight/italic. Make your heading and subheadings stand out from the rest of your text.
- Use bullet points.
- You can even make sub bullet points (like this) using the tab key to follow your line of thought/reason.

- Highlight the important things; you could even use different colours for different things. E.g. yellow for important dates, blue for important quotes.

- Develop an annotation style. For example, sometimes you might fall behind a bit, and miss a detail. When this happens insert a series of dots into your notes, like this (……..) which means that you missed something so you can return to the recordings to find out what you missed. You could use question marks (?) to indicate something that confuses you that you need to do more reading on. There are lots of different symbols so you can develop your own system.

- This also works with words. If you have certain words which you’re typing a lot then you can make them shorter and easier to type.

 

[donkily]

During term 2-3 school holidays:

This is the time you should start preparing for the HSC trials and disregard your study techniques in the usual holidays because you've already completed all of the HSC science course by yourself. Keep in mind that when you are studying for your school trials, it is important that you dont just do past papers but like I said so many times, focus on your weaknesses. Before doing a past paper for the day, you should spend at least 1 hour studying everything you are weak at as opposed to everything you know and then when you are doing the past paper, it should be somewhat fresh in your mind. After doing the past paper, it is important to mark the paper, identify mistakes and correct them (i.e. keep redoing them until you get 100% on the trial paper). Repeat this continually

 

[donkily]

During term 3:

You've finished your trials, now it's time to make a completely different approach to studying. (I will finish this when I have the time to do so)

 

[donkily]

Some tips from a 99.95er who did Extension 1 and 2 maths, as well as physics and chemistry

Hello everyone! I hope the title caught your attention

My name is Akhil and I just graduated this year with an ATAR of 99.95. I did Mathematics Extension 1 and 2 (scored 98 in both), Physics and Chemistry (96 in both) and English Advanced (97). Since this forum has been so useful for me over my last few years of school, I thought I would just share some of the insight thaht that I gained during my HSC. Certainly, there are people who have scored higher than me in each of the subjects that I did, but nonetheless, I do feel like there are some general tips and strategies that helped me get my marks.

Often, on these forums, I see people post, with a cocktail of stress, motivation and arrogance, how much work they have been doing and/or their arduous study schedules. Unfortunately, this doesn't translate into results, most likely because the time that you are studying isn't being fully utilised

First of all, there is no ONE rule/plan that will get you the ATAR that you are striving for. I will share with you how I studied for each individual subject, since they are all different and require different approaches. Secondly, I know that there are people who will have scored higher than me who did everything completely different to me, but I just wanted to share what I found worked for me. Thirdly, I know that I only did 4 of the many subjects on offer, but hopefully the skills translate across into other subjects.

Science- Physics and Chemistry

1 (I know this will be disagreed with)- I don't think it is particularly useful to study a whole module ahead. I know that some people try and learn the whole syllabus as quickly as they can. I would say that you won't retain that knowledge since it won't be tested at school and hence it won't be consolidated. This means that you just learn the material on a superficial level, which will mean that you really lose any advantage you might hope to gain. My advice is to just stay a section or two ahead of class. This will mean that you will be ready and prepared to absorb information in class.

2. Making notes- I know that a lot of people spend a lot of time making beautiful notes, and whilst that is great, I think it is wasted time. I recommend that you find a set of notes which are good (like Ahmad's for chemistry), and use them as a base. THis just means that you use all his formatting and content, and just change or add information as you read/learn/do questions. This will help save you a bit of time

3. How to study- There are two things that I think you need to do concurrently to do well; make good notes, and answer questions. First up, you should learn the stuff in class, read textbooks to start building your notes from the 'base notes'. Throughout the year, continue answering questions and adding extra information/notes from those questions. If you are consistent, doing a few questions a week for each science that you do, you will consolidate your knowledge, and have a really comprehensive set of notes that you can read over closer to the exams

4. Doing past questions- There is very little point doing lots of questions if you are just going to answer them and then put them in a folder. I would suggest that first up, try and do questions which have answers. If they don't, then ask your teacher/tutor to mark them for you. The most frustrating part of science for me was the small details in the marking criteria which meant that, even if you understood the material, you might end up with 2/4. You MUST MUST MUST get all the questions that you do marked from a crib or someone else, otherwise you don't gain anything

Mathematics

I did both Mathematics Extension 1 and 2, and I found that if I was consistent with my work throughout the year, unlike science (where to a certain extent you have to just memorise some content before exams) you don't need to spend that much time just before exams on it.

With math, once you understand the basic concepts (whether that's from your teacher, textbook, or tutor--- make sure you understand the concepts before anything else) it is all about practice. Even if you are a maths genius, you should practice both easy and hard questions.

Be consistent with your maths- if you are doing 4U, it's very likely to be 40% of your HSC (I can do percentages), so make sure that you try and do a few questions every day or second day. Do the questions your teacher/tutor sets, and then a few more.

If you constantly are just doing a few problems a day, you will begin to recognise patterns in the questions, and the speed and accuracy with which you work will increase.

I also recommend that you, in a spare notebook, write down pointers/interesting questions/stuff you get wrong that you come across as you work. Having a look at these every few weeks or before exams will help you develop your skills and make sure you don't make the same mistakes.

Sorry if that was brief, but I feel like the main thing you can do for maths is just QUESTIONS QUESTIONS QUESTIONS.

English-- last but certainly not least

I think it is in English where there is the greatest tendency to waste time, and I am definitely guilty of this as well.

Instead of an unstructured rant as I have done above, I will just outline what I did/would have done in retrospect for each text that we studied (I am not going to try and give advice for creatives)

1. Read text once to get a feel for it
2. Read the rubric, and find what the main points of the module are/what the major themes are e.g. for Belonging, if you look at the rubric, you will find, amongst many more, the following themes/ideas

-identity
-place
-change in belonging over time
- choices to belong or not belong
- barriers to belonging
-perceptions of belonging and how they vary
- potential of the individual to enrich or challenge a community or group


3. Read essays on the text, both from other students, academic publications and books, and make notes on them
4. Read the text again, starting to make annotated notes, underlining important quotes and noting their techniques
5. Answer practice questions and start compiling a 'bank' or paragraphs

So a lot of people disagree on whether you should write a fully prepared essay, or just have quotes, and I think I lie somewhere in the middle. I think that you should write a number of paragraphs by theme/idea on the text, and on the day, depending on the question, pick a few of those paragraphs (maybe 2 get combined), and FRAME them under an argument that answers the question. So you are basically moulding those paragraphs to answer your argument, which should be a direct response to the question. That way, you make sure that you are writing with the fluency of something that you have partially written before, but whilst still making sure that you are answering the question and not just spouting themes and ideas which are irrelevant to the question.

In terms of how many paragraphs you should have in your bank, that depends entirely on the module. What I did was start with 3 or 4, and as I answered some past questions, I added paragraphs. By the end, I had 8 or so paragraphs for belonging and Module C (4 on core text, 2 on each related) and 6 for Module A (3 on each comparative text).

Obviously, everyone, this is just what I did and found worked for me. I am sure that there are people who scored higher than me who did everything completely the opposite way. I invite you to share your different study methods, and tell me what you think might have been lacking in mine

Thanks and good luck to everyone. Make the HSC your bitch!

 

[donkily]

Very detailed and helpful post on how to get a band 6 for physics and chemistry

Hey for these subjects it often requires a lot of natural ability and being able to understand complex things which helps if you are naturally good at these subjects especially physics. However, do not let that deter you, because you may not start off at the same understanding as others but you can develop this by doing many questions based on the area from HSC and other exams and over time you will become better. That is one of the important areas to do past papers for these subjects and get them marked by your teachers, tutor or even other classmates who are achieving high marks ask them for some feedback. However, in saying that, I myself did do a lot of questions from different places, but not many under exam type conditions of 3 hour exams, but I would rather do lots of questions based on areas I was having problems in or did not have much experience doing. I think this is important to do targeted improvement, because you may be consistently receiving 23/25 in a topic while you are receiving 15/25 in another area, by doing questions from your weaker areas you are more likely to increase your mark as you have 10 marks to gain opposed to 2 marks in the other topic.

Also, exam technique is very important as there are things that band 6 students do in these physics and chemistry examinations that distinguish them from lower bands. For instance in Chemistry writing chemical equations wherever you can for questions even if they don't ask for it for example in a question that asks about Arrhenius acid and base theories and is 3 marks, providing equations shows an example and also your deeper understanding in being able to apply his concepts. So remember to write equations wherever you can. Also, when asked about processes such as addition polymerisation draw diagrams representing the steps: intiation, propogation and termination, these diagrams add to your written description. These diagrams are also useful when describing properties of polymers as you draw the structure of ldpe and hdpe showing their relative amount of chain branching. In physics it is also helpful to draw diagrams because if your English abilities to express yourself are not strong, a well labelled diagram can add to your answer and get you the full marks and using formula within your answer such as in rocket launches with momentum shows your knowledge of the topic.

Also, in these subjects the way you answer questions is very important. What I have developed over the year especially in chemistry, is an ability to predict the marking criteria in exams. You have to understand that the markers will be following a strict marking guideline and this generally means you have to say certain specific things for each of the 3 marks, so being able to break down questions like this is helpful in answering them. Although, many top students do write over the lines like myself, you have to understand that this information is normally adding value to their answer and is not irrelevant to the question, so make sure you are always answering the question. For example if there is a 2 marker about explaining properties of ozone and oxygen in terms of bonding and intermolecular forces for reactivity and boiling point. Do not waste time writing the definition of an allotrope. The way I would answer these questions is not done by many in formatting answers. What I recommend you do is writing a heading reactivity, underline it and begin writing, then write boiling point and underline this and continue writing, also include the structures of these molecules. This structure of breaking down your answer into headings is really useful in longer response questions, so please use this as it really makes it easier for the marker to see each section of their marking criteria answered so they can just tick, tick, tick instead of trying to see where you have written information if you write one massive paragraph. I have attached some examples below of me doing this in exams, it looks like I've written a lot but it's not that much since my writing is big, but note how I answer the questions in a clear, well formatted manner with only relevant information.

http://postimg.org/gallery/2yig9a1km/

Lastly help your peers and share your resources with them, because if it was not for this between me and my classmates, I would not have been able to improve my understanding as much and also it improves your HSC marks as if you're not first they affect your marks, but still for example I am first in both subjects at my school, but I have shared all my notes with my classmates and this has undoubtedly improved their marks as well.

Hope this helps

 

[boredofstudiesuser1]

Typing Notes Guide
Get a template (M Office only). On Microsoft word, you can download different templates. See if there is a template that you can use for taking your notes. Alternatively, you can create your own template by adjusting the margins, font, size, etc. and saving your preferences. If you don’t want to use a template, you can just use the default settings.

Any template recommendations?

 

[clown50nh]

Re: Study Tips

*should have

 

[boredofstudiesuser1]

Using blue ink improves recall memory.

Wow really? Blue ink is hard to read when doing an all-nighter...

 

[donkily]

here is a guide to being organised

Organisation​

Imagine that you have a magic genie that organises your life for you. When you ask him what you need to do for today, he will go back to his vase and come back out with the things you need to do. If you ask him what you need to do for the next 30 days, he comes up with all the necessary things that need to be done by the next month. If you ask him where can you find this paper that you filed away two months ago, he will give you the information.

Without this genie, you will have to store assignments and assessments deadlines in your head, and hope that you don't forget them or your friend will remind you of them. You will be constantly worried about what to do next because you don't have a solid plan laid out. Not to mention that you will have to keep track of where you placed the myriad sheets and booklets you get from your teachers. "Now where did I leave my maths handout that I received 2 weeks ago?" You have to store a lot of information in your brain. You become stressed without even realising it. This is the hidden stress and anxiety that many people experience, because their brain never fully relaxes.

A good genie will take this cognitive load from you so you can free your mental space for more productive actions and yet remind you about the things that you need to be reminded about. Unfortunately life isn't a Disney movie. We don't have a genie to tame. However, we can create the next best thing. We can construct a system that will structure and organise our life with little maintenance effort on our part.

Now you might have already tried to implement a system before, but most likely it would have only worked for a week or two before it started to slowly fade away. Reintroducing the chaos that you tried to lock away in the first place. A common mistake is that people create overcomplicated systems, so by using it you induce more anxiety than from not using it. Thus our aim is to construct a powerful system, yet simple enough so that employing it is not a hassle. On a similar note, a good system will:

1. Help you to easily find the resources you filed away
2. Alleviate the cognitive load of organisation and keeping deadlines in your head

What do you need?​

1. A folder for each of your subjects and two extra folders.
2. A digital calendar (I use outlook calendar)
3. A diary

The system​

1. Write down everything you need to do in your diary. Look at the previous day’s entry and also write down the stuff that hasn’t been completed from that day. Whenever you have completed a task, then cross it out in the diary. This way you can accumulate a list of tasks you need to do. Check your diary every morning so you can plan out your day.
2. Everytime you get a time sensitive task like an assignment, record it on your digital calendar. Make sure you check your calendar everyday, so you don’t miss out on any deadlines.
3. Get a folder for each of your subjects and store your handouts and your stray sheets in the corresponding subject folder.
4. Get 2 more folders and label them as ”ToBeFiled” and ”CurrentlyProcessing”
5. ”ToBeFiled” should contain everything that you haven’t had a chance to put them into the proper place yet. If you are doing a math past paper and then it is the time to switch to chemistry, put your math paper into the ”CurrentlyProcessing” folder so you can easily find it later when you resume your math studies. Whenever you are switching from one context to another, place the materials from the original context into the ”CurrentlyProcessing” folder.
6. At the end of each day go through your ”ToBeFiled” folder and sort them out the best you can so it doesn’t pile up. Nothing makes you want to procrastinate more than a whole pile of paper waiting to be sorted out.

Conclusion​

Being organised is one of the keys to HSC success. You won't suddenly be organised the day you implement this system, but if you stick with it, you will reap the benefits from having a system where everything has some place to go. If you want to learn how to fight procrastination, then check out this: http://community.boredofstudies.org/1178/general-discussion-2017-hsc/358669/how-dig-grave-your-procrastination.html

 

[lolcti]

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