• Congratulations to the Class of 2024 on your results!
    Let us know how you went here
    Got a question about your uni preferences? Ask us here

Study tips for the following subjects (1 Viewer)

jane bubble

Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2011
Messages
45
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2012
Hey, for those who already did their HSC or those who are doing it now, well, what are your recommendations/tips for each of these subjects to acheive band 6

Bio, Chem, Legal, Math 2U, English adv

What textbooks/practice books should I be using to study? For example, I've been using dotpoint for chem, and successone for bio, but my brother goes those aren't really helpful.

For math, i basically just revise what i did by using my school textbook (fitzpatrick), and then do some past papers and successone

For english, i havent really done much, so any tips would be great

Legal, I'm looking for dotpoint

Comments/recommendations/guidance?

Thanks alot :)
 

4025808

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2009
Messages
4,377
Location
中國農村稻農
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Uni Grad
2017
For legal, the Cambridge textbook should be enough. Practice on the specimen paper, HSC paper, trial papers and the resources + questions that your teachers give you.
 

deswa1

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2011
Messages
2,256
Gender
Male
HSC
2012
For maths, do as many papers as you can to get used to style etc. For example, after you finish a particular topic, get a past paper by topic book (get it from your library if you don't own one) and do them. As you cover more of the course, you can do trial papers just skipping the topics you haven't done.

For english, write a few essays and then just practice rewriting them on different questions. What worked for me is don't memorise a whole essay as that limits flexibility but rather memorise 'paragraphs'. For example, for my Robert Frost essay last year, I memorised quotes, the associated techniques and how to link them together, basically the analysis of everything just as generic as possible so you can answer any question.
 
Last edited:

SpiralFlex

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2010
Messages
6,960
Gender
Female
HSC
N/A
English - Prioritise; as in do not leave it to the last minute. Practice essays/notes.

Maths - Understand all concepts and apply them to past papers. The Cambridge or Fitzpatrick text will do.
 

findx

Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2011
Messages
235
Gender
Male
HSC
2012
Legal Studies - Cambridge HSC Legal is the best textbook imo. The Excel HSC Legal Studies is a good supplement. It also provides information on how to answer particular extended response questions e.g. assessing the effectiveness

The hardest part of Legal Studies is the extended responses, so you will need to do practice essays. The multiple choice and short answers can be easily answered if you remember the content.
 

jane bubble

Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2011
Messages
45
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2012
findx,

is crime in the short answer or the the extended response
 

Uniqueness

Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2011
Messages
352
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
Bio: Go over the syllabus and make notes on each dotpoint. Biology is pretty dotpoint based so if you understand the dotpoints you're off to a good start.
 

Kimyia

Active Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2011
Messages
1,013
Gender
Female
HSC
2012
Uni Grad
2016
Use Biology in Focus.
+1. I like the In Focus books because they seem to answer the dot points pretty well and having all the info under the dot point headings makes it a lot easier :)
 

emilyo

apathetic member
Joined
Nov 21, 2008
Messages
188
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
For English (And any subject really) practice questions, practice questions, practice questions. For English I made a list of very well analysed quotes for each text so I could easily remember them in a pinch. This became my bible when it came to exam time and was really easy to study as everything was condensed down and grouped by themes. Write practice essays remembering that you need to mould them to the question during the exam. Planning time is essential during the exams. Jot down your focus topic/theme etc for each paragraph, the relevent quotes and how you will contrast/compare to ORT. Have more than one creative story floating around in your head so you can easily change it to suit the question/stimulus.

For Bio and Chem make your own notes covering the entire stimulus and again the more practice questions you do the better!
 

mahli

Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2011
Messages
43
Location
Northern NSW
Gender
Male
HSC
2012
Chemistry- I've been told to gather all possible notes from as many people as possible, then deduce a few of the highest quality and use them alongside all possible textbooks to write basic notes by syllabus dot point, then attempt all past questions (HSC and trial) for each topic, then write final notes. I bought some pretty good notes from people on BOS, and scored some from friends. After that, you need to make sure you learn all the information and concepts and how to apply them to any question that might spring from a single or combination of dot points, which only yourself will know how to do.
It's a bitch of a workload, considering how hard it is to synthesise so many sources, but it's worked for several friends so I can vouch for it. Good luck!
 

Official

Bring it on
Joined
Feb 18, 2009
Messages
962
Location
Over the Moon
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Hey, for those who already did their HSC or those who are doing it now, well, what are your recommendations/tips for each of these subjects to acheive band 6

Bio, Chem, Legal, Math 2U, English adv

What textbooks/practice books should I be using to study? For example, I've been using dotpoint for chem, and successone for bio, but my brother goes those aren't really helpful.

For math, i basically just revise what i did by using my school textbook (fitzpatrick), and then do some past papers and successone

For english, i havent really done much, so any tips would be great

Legal, I'm looking for dotpoint

Comments/recommendations/guidance?

Thanks alot :)
Chem - Just make sure you have all the 'syllabus dotpoints' down flat, i.e. you can answer all of them under test conditions. Also, UNDERSTAND not just 'rote learn' - thinking that rote learning is enough is the trap that many people fall into with chemistry.
Maths - do past papers and try and understand topics and concepts through questions
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top