The transition from year 11 to 12 - some advice from a 2014 HSC'er (1 Viewer)

[rumbleroar]

Great guide! Someone should sticky this. What subjects did you do in year 11 and what do you do now? :3

Year 11 - 3U English, 3U maths, physics, VA, FT
Year 12 - 3U English, 4U maths, VA, FT

Oh I checked out your profile just then rumble

I know I'll probably say it in the next two days but I hope you have the best birthday possible!

Party hard this one last time before HSC

hahha thanks
#wot is HSC

+ 1 to this

OP did you do four subjects or five?

And would you definitely recommend a tutor for Extension 2 Mathematics?

Technically 4 subjects

I got a tutor for ext 2 but it was only because I wanted to learn ahead and do a lot more questions. It really depends. If you're really struggling, I recommend you get a tutor because ext 2 can be tricky to navigate by yourself if you lack a strong conceptual foundation.

thanks for the advice <3

I've got a few questions if u don't mind I know that you do 4u math (not a stalker at all). Do you feel that the jump from 3u to 4u is a really big? Also, how much of your overall study time do you spend on maths?

1. TBH I felt the 4U to 3U jump is the same was 3U to 2U jump. It's not too much, you definitely learn very independent topics to what you, i.e. complex numbers, but its manageable.

2. You should probably spend about 40% on 3+4U, but I spend about 30% on 4U and like 2% on 3U (legit never do that much 3U until its 2 weeks before assessments or homework, but homework is relatively quick).

Thanks for this advice rumble you're an absolute legend!

I am honestly hoping that you do well in the HSC and achieve your ATAR Goal as well as your dream course

Not sure why I'm hoping because deep down we all know you will do heaps well!

Hahahah thanks you guys have too much confidence in me lol

also rumbleroar, are u supposed to hand write notes or type them up and print??

I do both. It doesn't matter as long as you get the content in.

i will drink a lot of red bull dw.

Your body won't thank you for that haha

 

[lilcutetricker]

https://www.youtube.com/user/misterwootube/playlists?shelf_id=4&view=50&sort=dd
Former James Ruse IPT teacher^ This may help you to understand particular concepts in IPT. During your holidays, work on notes and make sure you're organised for English (make generic essays if you are planning to take the adapting approach-and refine your essay throughout the year).

Mr woo is a great teacher for maths and IPT as he assists you in understanding the foundations in mathematics; definitely recommend anyone who does 2U - 4U to check out his videos if they are ever stumped by a concept.

Great Advice Rumbleroar!
To give my own personal experience to everyone who is starting preliminaries or performing as poorly as I was in preliminaries, I definitely agree with the milestone concept. As personally; I tried to approach my preliminaries with the study habit of: study all day. Rest. Study. Which I believe is the fault in many students approaching preliminaries and even some in HSC because what I studied wasn't clearly defined in my schedule; but in my half yearlies, I've soon come to realize that it was inefficient as i was productive for maybe 2 hours of my day, I was only somewhat striving for my goals and spent the rest of my day procrastinating; and my ranks were the evidence to it, because it was inhuman to be able to constantly practice without taking breaks and doing something enjoyable - as I proceeded to drop training prior to my preliminaries; my passion and drive for my goals.

In the transitional holidays from term 2 to term 3, I proceeded to try and pick myself up from my terrible ranks, balance my ECs and defined my goals. I studied my butt off i.e. practicing TONS of past papers and revising on concepts. However reserving a few hours hour a day to practice tricking (training) and when term 3 hit, my assessment rank went up from 72/81 to 23ish/82 in extension mathematics and 28/132 from 78/132 for mathematics. While this impressed others and even myself; I know that there is no need to compare myself to others, i'm constantly striving to perform significantly better than the person I was a week ago and exams are only there as evidence that you're either becoming a stronger person than you were a week or a month ago or you're getting weaker; in that you just need to pick yourself up and work harder than you did before. I believe even if you are at the absolute bottom of your cohort, as long as you have that driving force; thats all you need to improve.

It definitely wasn't easy to get where I am now with my life in order, but I always had the support of others around me e.g. the people I train with, my parents. Which leads me to believe that when someone achieves something significant e.g. 2nd in mathematics, a text or a call to congratulate on their achievement and commend for their efforts is always in order and it definitely will lighten their day as it does goes a long way. NEVER EVER put someone down for their achievement because you think that they got it from 'natural talent'. That was my mindset, as I always believed that the people who were on top of everything was due to their talent, something that I didnt have. As well as pushing your friends to study harder or stop procrastinating. As soon as you pick yourself up and increase your positive energy, that force of never giving up on your work; it drives others to follow and just makes everyone around you so much more close.

Oh and summarise your passion in 4-10 words, helped me a lot because I didn't have to watch hours and hours of motivational videos; as it constantly reminded me why I worked so damn hard. And its kinda feels cool to have your own philosophy

Just to give some perspective from someone who did AWFUL in their preliminaries. Hope this is a valuable post to exemplify rumbleroar's advice.

 

[ishfish]

@lilcutetricker

i love your quote man, its freaking beautiful <3

 

[jdennis]

I just want to emphasise one key point. These holidays, between term 3 and term 4, are probably your last chance to have two full weeks of actual holidays. I cannot advise you strongly enough to do just that. Not looking at a textbook for a fortnight might seem crazy when you're about to start year 12, but the thing is that assessments can only really happen after at least 4 or 5 weeks as you have to start the HSC course.

So do yourselves a favour and have some real time off, so that you can start year 12 with a rested, happy and optimistic attitude.

And all the best for those of you sitting your prelim exams!

 

[zhertec]

This might seem dumb, but I just realised that Rumbleroar is a female...LOL But in all seriousness, there are two subjects that I want to mainly improve from perlim to HSC and I was wondering if you could give any advice for it (Eng. adv and Maths)
For english like how do you jump from a B-range essay to and A range? I mean I get that teachers say like more textual analysis etc but like how do you improve like your method of writing, like through re-reading texts or other people's analysis? And when you learn these new techniques etc how do you effectively implement them in exam conditions? (As I tend to revert back to my old self when under pressure )
For maths, I understand most of the questions in a test, but during one of the major tests I kinda panicked and well gg, so um how do you improve speed (usually can't finish the test when under the time limit, brain freezes etc) and confidence?

Thanks
Zhertec

 

[Mikasa]

This might seem dumb, but I just realised that Rumbleroar is a female...LOL But in all seriousness, there are two subjects that I want to mainly improve from perlim to HSC and I was wondering if you could give any advice for it (Eng. adv and Maths)
For english like how do you jump from a B-range essay to and A range? I mean I get that teachers say like more textual analysis etc but like how do you improve like your method of writing, like through re-reading texts or other people's analysis? And when you learn these new techniques etc how do you effectively implement them in exam conditions? (As I tend to revert back to my old self when under pressure )
For maths, I understand most of the questions in a test, but during one of the major tests I kinda panicked and well gg, so um how do you improve speed (usually can't finish the test when under the time limit, brain freezes etc) and confidence?

Thanks
Zhertec

For English, I recommend continually refining and editing your esssays and doing lots of past questions under exam conditions. Keep in mind that you don't have to write out full blown essays every time - maybe take 3-4 mins writing an intro to a different question every week or so. I personally memorized essays (because lazy as hell lololol) so this method worked well for me I don't think there's any point in rereading texts - just extract some good analysis and content from them the first time around, then focus on flowering it up. Remember, hsc eng is about how well you answer the question on the day, so make sure you don't lightly skim the surface of the Q on the day. You must ensure you directly address and argue the question.

For maths, just do lots of past papers and past HSC questions. Make sure you understand the concepts behind every question style/in every topic and you should be fine. idk haha, all I did were past papers. Doing more will increase confidence and speed!

 

[kalstar]

Nice thread.