What can I do now? (1 Viewer)

[Maxwell]

Hey, as most of you already know, Year 11 have finished their preliminary course, and are now undertaking their Year 12 course. However, many of the textbooks from the previous Year 12 (seeing as they are doing their exams at the moment) are yet to be returned. Furthermore, we have barely started HSC content in any of my courses. In fact, I am still finishing my Year 11 Mathematics course now (we just have a bit of locus to do). What I was wondering was, what can I do now to ensure my success in the HSC? What would YOU suggest (from personal experience) that I do? I just feel like I should be doing something, but I just don't know what.

Oh, I have gathered past HSC papers and all the syllabuses for my subjects (I do: Advanced English, Extension 1 English, Mathematics, Legal Studies, Business Studies and Economics - 11 units in total).

My other questions are:

i) When should I actually start doing past papers?

ii) Would developing a study regime now be helpful? If so, what should I be actually doing during this time? i.e. What actually counts as legitimate *studying*?

iii) How often should I be legitimately studying, and for what period of time (e.g. 50 minutes, 55)? How many hours should I aim for per day and how many per week?

iv) Finally, with note taking/making, should I be summarising the day's work daily, either by typing them or writing them in a book? Or should I be leaving this activity until the weekend? Does this count as "study" time?

Thanks.

 

[rumbleroar]

Wow you sound really prepared for year 12...haha now you make me look like a potato

i. Do past papers when you have finished the content of a particular course. Or you can select past paper questions on topics you have already finished as extra study or something.

ii. Yes it would be extremely helpful to block out a study timetable and allocate approximately equal amounts of time to each subject (or whatever the relative study time is). IMO, legitimate study = revision, making notes, practicing exam technique and knowing HOW to answer the question as well as the content that is going into the question

iii. Again, the amount of time spent on each subject depends on how much time you need on each subject. I would probably do like 1hr a weekday on English and more on weekend and 1hr a weekday on maths (more on the weekend too). Not entirely sure how much time you need for your other subs, sorry.

Don't forget to take about 10 minutes break for every 1 hour block of study you do, so your brain doesn't burn out. I do about 3-4 hours a day, with exercise, shower and dinner (on good days haha)

iv. Yes, summarising counts as study. I type my notes up because it's more flexible and you can move things around more. I would do summaries and notes straight after finishing any homework or assessments. Write out a priority list of what kind of work you need to do for each subject, i.e. for English, my tasks could be (in order of priority): assessments, class homework, work on related texts, Belonging/Module notes, practice essays, creatives, past papers, revision

It helps because you know exactly what needs to be done first, second, third, etc. and you're guaranteed to always have something to do.

Good luck

 

[Maxwell]

I actually just demanded 6 big-ass books from my mother to write my summary notes out in. I guess I could write my first summary in a book, and type my final summary (or summary of my summary). I find I learn by reading/writing. Might actually look into audio notes, seeing as I spend a bit of time travelling to and from school (approx. 30 minutes per day, which isn't too bad, I guess). Oo, what would you define as revising, as well? A combination of looking over your notes, assuring yourself of your knowledge, as well as sample questions/past papers? Thank you for your reply! I am sure you are no potato. In fact, I am probably the potato. Or a pumpkin. A very white pumpkin (if they can even be white). #whoneedsvitaminDwhenyouhaveschool.

 

[Maxwell]

Bump.

 

[rumbleroar]

Yeah, well, if you prefer reading/writing for notes, go ahead! It might be a bit time consuming because HSC syllabuses are very content heavy for some subjects. I think writing the summaries of summaries would be better than writing the first level of notes, but to each their own

30 mins a day is so good...I spend 1hr travelling l o l I usually use that time to read or play on my phone. You need a bit of downtime don't forget!

Revision for me...oh awks I don't really revise...um, what I'd like to do is start with summarising all my intensive and detailed notes, then go over main concepts. Then, test myself on each section and see which parts I miss before verbally going over everything. Then do stacks of past papers and "master" exam technique haha

Haha why a pumpkin?

(Also your prelim ranks are really good )

 

[Maxwell]

What past papers do you actually do? Hasn't the syllabus changed significantly recently for a good chunk of subjects? I only have 2011/2012 papers. Would getting previous papers be helpful?

And I've always wondered: after completing a past papers, do you do it again sometime later? Or do you just not do it again? I would assume the former.

And a pumpkin because I was in a Cinderella-like mood. I just really wanted to go to the ball.

Also, thank you. c: My mathematics one is now really bad. I didn't really study for my final maths exam, and did badly. :S

 

[titaniumwithin]

For maths, don't really bother doing past papers just yet. Do them when you reach an exam and pick out an Excel Success book and pick past questions from the topic in which you are doing. The best thing you can do for maths is more and more questions to build that solid foundation. Not really on locus though .... haha because there's probably only a 2 marker in the HSC for that topic. Going tutoring also helps you pick up the pace a bit more and provides you with more challenging questions. As for your other subjects, make notes and revise!

 

[Maxwell]

Thank you, titaniumwithin. I find revising for Mathematics hard. Especially so considering if you have no clue how to do something, you can't google it. >.>