What science/maths/english textbooks are 2021 students using for HSC??? (1 Viewer)

[Leo18032003]

Hey everyone, I'm a year 10 student going to be one of the seniors next year and I'm desperately trying to find all the textbooks, along with new syllabus for Maths, English and the 3 Sciences. Anyone know which textbooks I should be using for the new syllabus, and also the new contents for these subjects in exams?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[elephont]

Hi, I'm in Year 12 right now!

For maths (I do advanced and extension), I would recommend the new Cambridge Textbook, the Maths in Focus and New Senior Mathematics. These are all new syllabus. That being said, don't forget you can definitely utilise 'old syllabus' textbooks because they are still valuable resources (just check they are in the syllabus).

For english, I personally don't use a textbook because there aren't many available in the first place. Ask your teachers on what texts you will be doing in Year 11 and pre-read them over the holidays (and take notes by doing quote | technique | analysis tables). Or, ask your senior friends for notes because they are probably did the same texts.

And for science, whilst I only do chemistry, my school recommends the Pearson textbook for all sciences. It is quite a good textbook in terms of having all the new syllabus information as well as questions to do in each chapter/sub-chapter.

Any other questions let me know I am happy to help

 

[Cherrybomb56]

Hi, I'm in Year 12 right now!

For maths (I do advanced and extension), I would recommend the new Cambridge Textbook, the Maths in Focus and New Senior Mathematics. These are all new syllabus. That being said, don't forget you can definitely utilise 'old syllabus' textbooks because they are still valuable resources (just check they are in the syllabus).

For english, I personally don't use a textbook because there aren't many available in the first place. Ask your teachers on what texts you will be doing in Year 11 and pre-read them over the holidays (and take notes by doing quote | technique | analysis tables). Or, ask your senior friends for notes because they are probably did the same texts.

And for science, whilst I only do chemistry, my school recommends the Pearson textbook for all sciences. It is quite a good textbook in terms of having all the new syllabus information as well as questions to do in each chapter/sub-chapter.

Any other questions let me know I am happy to help

How do you recommend studying chemistry? Like how many hours a day and should I start studying in the holidays?

 

[Cherrybomb56]

Hey everyone, I'm a year 10 student going to be one of the seniors next year and I'm desperately trying to find all the textbooks, along with new syllabus for Maths, English and the 3 Sciences. Anyone know which textbooks I should be using for the new syllabus, and also the new contents for these subjects in exams?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hey, may I know what english and math your planning to do? Is it extension for both

 

[Leo18032003]

Hey, may I know what english and math your planning to do? Is it extension for both

I think I might do Advanced English and Ext1 + Ext2 (if lucky) for Maths.

 

[Leo18032003]

Hi, I'm in Year 12 right now!

For maths (I do advanced and extension), I would recommend the new Cambridge Textbook, the Maths in Focus and New Senior Mathematics. These are all new syllabus. That being said, don't forget you can definitely utilise 'old syllabus' textbooks because they are still valuable resources (just check they are in the syllabus).

For english, I personally don't use a textbook because there aren't many available in the first place. Ask your teachers on what texts you will be doing in Year 11 and pre-read them over the holidays (and take notes by doing quote | technique | analysis tables). Or, ask your senior friends for notes because they are probably did the same texts.

And for science, whilst I only do chemistry, my school recommends the Pearson textbook for all sciences. It is quite a good textbook in terms of having all the new syllabus information as well as questions to do in each chapter/sub-chapter.

Any other questions let me know I am happy to help

Hello, thank you so much for the advice! In terms of new syllabus, it is ok if you could list what I need to study for these subjects, in particular what could be tested in the exams?

 

[Cherrybomb56]

I think I might do Advanced English and Ext1 + Ext2 (if lucky) for Maths.

Yeah that's good choice of subjects, I know a lot who do extension math and extension english

 

[Etho_x]

Hey everyone, I'm a year 10 student going to be one of the seniors next year and I'm desperately trying to find all the textbooks, along with new syllabus for Maths, English and the 3 Sciences. Anyone know which textbooks I should be using for the new syllabus, and also the new contents for these subjects in exams?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

For math, Cambridge and Maths in Focus would be sufficient. Cambridge is good for questions as the textbooks are intentionally made to have a lot of questions in each section. Maths in Focus is good for explanations on how to approach particular things, and sometimes derives a particular formula which may be relevant to what you're studying in math.

For English, you can't really have a textbook. I'm currently a Year 10 too though so I wouldn't know.

As far as I know for Chem and Bio, the Chemistry in Focus and Biology in Focus books are alright. Perhaps having another textbook, such as Pearson, may be helpful as different textbooks may explain topics differently.

 

[elephont]

How do you recommend studying chemistry? Like how many hours a day and should I start studying in the holidays?

How I've been doing it is:
*disclaimer, everyone works differently but this is what I did in Yr11 and got rank 5/110 DD*

1. Get out the physical copy of my textbook (Pearson for chemistry is highly reccommended) (reading digitally tends to make me bored within an hour, as I can't physically interact and write on it)
2. Make sure you've asked/emailed your teacher on what Module you are starting with (usually you start with Module 1 but some schools like to mix it around)
3. Start with that module and read the first chapter of the module
4. Highlight key terms and explanations in different colours (don't highlight too much)
5. After you have read the chapter (it shouldn't be too long), write notes on a google doc/handwritten (whatever floats your boat) and snipping tool necessary diagrams and tables from the electronic copy of the textbook
6. The notes are the time-consuming part, but quite important because you don't want to be reading a textbook before an exam
7. Do the key questions at the end of the chapter
8. Make sure you do entire chapter reviews and module reviews if you have time!

^Now, this is the preliminary step and you should do this for at least 1/2 the Module before Term 1 starts. And keep chipping through it once Term 1 starts, as you always want to be a step ahead of what you are learning in class. I made the mistake of being behind in class as I hadn't pre-done the chapters, it is not a good feeling and you waste a lot of time in class.

I would say, if you do 1 or 2 chapters (or sub-chapters, depending on the textbook) per day, you will finish the Module. This allows for about 1-2 hours of chemistry per day. This to some people might be a lot but if you picked chemistry for the right reasons, this shouldn't be a burden.

Also, nearer to the exam period, I used atar notes for Chemistry to supplement the textbook and I found these questions were a lot more advanced/different to the textbook. Also do past papers, but you have to prioritise finishing all textbook questions in my opinion because they give you the fundamentals for all questions.

 

[elephont]

Hello, thank you so much for the advice! In terms of new syllabus, it is ok if you could list what I need to study for these subjects, in particular what could be tested in the exams?

This is for preliminary chem:



For maths adv/ext pls refer to the textbook's table of contents bc it's vv long ;-;

Or drop your email and I'll give you some juicy mAtEriAls

 

[13yearsofschoolingalllwas]

Hey everyone, I'm a year 10 student going to be one of the seniors next year and I'm desperately trying to find all the textbooks, along with new syllabus for Maths, English and the 3 Sciences. Anyone know which textbooks I should be using for the new syllabus, and also the new contents for these subjects in exams?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

For maths, the Cambridge one is good for questions, and the In Focus one is good for explanations. New Senior mathematics is also good according to a lot of people (however I can't say based on experience as I haven't used it myself). Having just the Cambridge textbook however, will suffice.

For english, just ask ur teacher what texts u will be studying, get an excel english guide (it has notes for all texts) And study using that. English does not require a textbook, most people don't use one.

For biology, Pearson and In Focus are the ones to go, with Pearson being more in depth. I also used excel for light reading, and "dotpoint" for revision.

For physics, off personal experience, Jacaranda and In Focus are the best combination. Jacaranda at times has extra stuff that is not syllabus related, however. As mentioned with biology, i used excel and dotpoint too.

Chemistry I cannot provide a personal opinion but I have heard from many people that Pearson and In Focus are good.

If possible, for any of ur subjects, get a copy of the atar notes course notes, topic tests, or text notes. These are extremely helpful and are easy to understand, with the topic tests having in depth solutions and increasing difficulty of questions (this helped significantly for those band 6 questions). I had access to every single subject through a friend.

 

[ultra908]

Imma just agree with all the textbook recommendations on this thread. Ideally, your school will tell you what textbooks they will be using for each subject. Your teachers should also break down the syllabus/ explain the content to you. The syllabus in all subjects dictates what you learn, so you can find all your answers to 'what I'll be tested on' there. Any school-specific stuff, ask your teacher: they are always there to help you learn.

If possible, for any of ur subjects, get a copy of the atar notes course notes, topic tests, or text notes. These are extremely helpful and are easy to understand, with the topic tests having in depth solutions and increasing difficulty of questions (this helped significantly for those band 6 questions). I had access to every single subject through a friend.

btw, did your friend happen to have a digital copy of these atar notes textbooks?...

 

[AKONS]

Is there any good textbooks for economics or business studies anyone can recommend?

For ECO I'd recommend primarily the Dixon market economy book, but supplementing it with Tim Riley. Dixon is pretty good at explaining but sometimes he can miss out on some specific content, that's where Riley comes in! DONT COPY EVERYTHING IN RILEY, there's way too much irrelevant information.

For BUS, all the textbooks are pretty fluffy in the way they describe things. I personally use the Jacaranda textbook supplemented by the Cambridge textbook. Just make sure you're able to make their chapters more concise in your own notes. But watch out, Cambridge tends to take a different direction so make sure the information applies to the syllabus.

Hope this helps, best of luck!!!

 

[imapedo321]

This is for preliminary chem:

View attachment 27942

For maths adv/ext pls refer to the textbook's table of contents bc it's vv long ;-;

Or drop your email and I'll give you some juicy mAtEriAls

pheboustre@gmail.com can you send materials here? thanks

 

[TheShy]

past papers beats all