How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)-99+ ATAR graduate (1 Viewer)

astroman

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Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

whats ur approach on memorising formulas?
 

strawberrye

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Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

whats ur approach on memorising formulas?
I never really had to memorise any formulas... what subject are you talking about, if you are referring to formulas for maths or science, I usually just do a lot of past paper questions so I not only remember the formulas, but know how to apply or combine them when needed.
 

Christofu01

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Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

I don't know if anyone has asked this yet, but do you have any tips on how to write more effective essays that can gain higher marks? My essays get reasonable marks but I would really like to improve further as English is annoying and has to count...

Thanks in advance :) I think it's awesome what you're doing on here!
 

strawberrye

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Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

I don't know if anyone has asked this yet, but do you have any tips on how to write more effective essays that can gain higher marks? My essays get reasonable marks but I would really like to improve further as English is annoying and has to count...

Thanks in advance :) I think it's awesome what you're doing on here!
Hi Christofu01,
I think the key secret to write more effective essays starts with a very simple practice: focus on answering the given essay question and nothing but the essay question. The marking criteria, no matter what subject you are writing your essay in, will always be on how well you have engaged the question using the appropriate terminology you have learnt in that particular subject. Hence, it is highly advisable you don't memorise whole essays word for word and just regurgitate them in exam conditions. It is also extremely important that you plan thoroughly before you write your essay, without a coherent essay plan, the essay will never be strong enough. Writing more effective essays thus is both a question of deconstructing the given question properly and also a matter of regular practice so that you have the opportunity to refine your essay writing skill. You probably should change your mentality towards English, because thinking English is annoying is going to not be doing much to enhance your enjoyment of the subject in the longer run.

Regardless of what level of English you are studying currently, I would highly recommend Crobat's English Guide, if you read through the guide thoroughly and follow through its tips, you will gain great benefits in seeing improvement in your success in English. http://community.boredofstudies.org...21953/crobats-guide-hsc-english-advanced.html . I would also boldly recommend my own deconstruction of the discovery rubric: http://community.boredofstudies.org...1128/discover-discovery-guide-99-student.html

Best wishes for your HSC journey and hope this helps:)
 

-billiris

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Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

1. How many hours per night do you think we should be studying for Yr 11?
2. Are smaller classes or larger amounts of people doing a subject better? Do people tend to achieve better in subjects with small amounts of people doing the subject?
3. Should we do anything during the holidays to prepare for Year 11 or just relax? (i plan to relax)

If I think of more I'll post :) Thanks!
 

strawberrye

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Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

1. How many hours per night do you think we should be studying for Yr 11?
2. Are smaller classes or larger amounts of people doing a subject better? Do people tend to achieve better in subjects with small amounts of people doing the subject?
3. Should we do anything during the holidays to prepare for Year 11 or just relax? (i plan to relax)

If I think of more I'll post :) Thanks!
1)Regarding to this question, it depends on what ATAR you are aiming for, what particular subjects you are studying and how efficient your study is, it is really more about efficiency rather than quantity, I usually personally studied 4-5 hours throughout year 11-12 per day, but you can adjust it according to your personal needs.

2)To be really honest, it is not about small or large amounts, but the most important thing is your attitude to a subject and whether the teacher you get is good at teaching, you can thrive in either environments if you are determined enough.

3)If you read through the first page of this guide, you will get plenty of ideas what you should do these holidays-this should be in the first post of this thread:) Essentially, I do recommend some light studying ahead, but more so just preparing your psychological mindset for the much heavier workload you should expect in year 11 and year 12 if you want to do well in these two years.
 

astroman

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Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

Do i seriously have to read 1984? I never read before and used notes and got 95%
 

Anthel

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Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

Do i seriously have to read 1984? I never read before and used notes and got 95%
Omg.. dont tell me you're another one doing 1984 and Metropolis for Module A. If so can I hug you.. please..
 

Nekoccino

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Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

Hurro Mei! ^^
I'm currently in yr 12, and you know a 2015er, and well there are quite a few things that I"d like advice on.
I'm a person who never dealt with the stress well in the first place, ^^'
Lemme copy and paste something I wrote onto a facebook HSC discussion group...

I let stress take over me due to being overwhelmed by studies and other issues .. and it ruined so much, being my physical and mental health. RSI and tennis elbow for a year... and having a weak immune system all due to studying too much causing extreme low grades and constant stress etc... not fun. But now it's time to let stress crawl back into the shadows, rather than stress taking over me again.

First plan, to stay positive!
Second plan... to separate as much unnecessary stress as possible, especially right from the roots- parental stress.

What is your opinion on this?
I'm planning to drop 4U Maths, therefore I shall have 3U maths,adv eng, music, chem and physics.

To summarise it up:
1. how do you deal with parental stress and expectations?
2. how did you deal with the stress? Did it ever get to you?
3. How did you continue to motivate yourself, in the case when you get "shot down"

I know I'm being really specific, but likewise, It saves me explaining anything further ^^.

10305614_821575534569704_1193656484462964002_n.jpg
 

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Nekoccino

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Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

Please ignore the second image, it was a fail TT^TT.
 

strawberrye

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Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

Do i seriously have to read 1984? I never read before and used notes and got 95%
No you don't have to, it is a choice and I have heard of people who've gotten high marks without reading the book. However, I personally think not having read the book decreases the development of a personal understanding and ENJOYMENT of the subject, so I could not recommend it but there is nothing stopping you from doing what you like and what works for you.

When is the best time to prepare for UMAT?
As soon as possible. However, always be prepared you might fail it, I have some friends who prepared for the UMAT for at least two years and still failed. If you are determined enough to get into Med, you will continue to find other pathways once you get into uni. I usually find people who after failing the UMAT in the HSC and giving up on Med to be individuals who actually don't really want to pursue med intrinsically.

To summarise it up:
1. how do you deal with parental stress and expectations?
2. how did you deal with the stress? Did it ever get to you?
3. How did you continue to motivate yourself, in the case when you get "shot down"

View attachment 31537
Hi Nekoccino,
Firstly you seem to have been through a lot, so I am really delighted that you have learnt to adopt a positive outlook-an optimistic attitude is so important for academic and actually success in life in general. I will try my best to reply to your questions as best as I can-if you still have anymore questions, feel free to ask me:)

1. Regarding to how I dealt with parental stress, I actually never felt much stress from my parents. I was extremely lucky to have highly supportive parents and some of the depression problems I had experienced throughout my high school period was due to a combination of another illness which made me more vulnerable to have volatile mood swings and my own very high expectations. Often I would basically put a lot of pressure on myself. I think the hardest kind of expectations I had to dealt with was from my peers and teachers, by year 12, I had been the most outstanding student of my grade for three years in a row successive, hence naturally there is a lot of pressure (unspoken) on me to perform at a very high level(essentially need to come first) for all the subjects I was studying. How I learnt to deal with these pressure is to zone out, when the teacher talks about scaling or anything related to calculation of HSC ATARs, I would physically force myself to continue doing whatever work I was doing at a particular moment, and just focus on myself, by not caring-at least pretending I didn't care and always focus on my intrinsic emotional state-aiming for a stable one-I was able to perform well despite expectations and despite sometimes getting below my expectations. One of the major reasons I was able to maintain long term academic success was because I developed a more resilient mindset than the majority of my peers.

2. I am not going to lie, HSC is a very stressful journey, and in a way, even as I have completed my first year of uni, I still believe HSC was the most stressful period of my life so far, even though first year of uni is often tougher than the HSC. I strongly recommend you to read through my reply to another BOSER called Kittyrules on this page if you haven't-scrolled up and you should see it-it is a post on 30 October 2014-that reply encapsulates a lot of my motivational strategy. One of the major stress I used to cope with stress is I made sure I did something I liked every day, i.e. watching Hong Kong dramas, and I also strategically opted for a low scaling subject such as Visual Arts in my subjects to use the time in doing my major work to relax myself a little bit-and maintain a balanced perspective on the HSC progressively. Always take care of your body-when you have a healthy body and routine, you will be a little closer to academic success and able to maintain a more positive outlook on life. Stress often got to me-but I tried to reduce it before it overwhelmed and drowned me-often did some dancing when I felt very stressed-it is a strange habit of mine, during exam periods, even during uni, the more stressed I am, the more frequent I dance-some sort of exercise is always good to release some good old endorphins and soothe stress.

3. The answer to this question is basically encapsulated in my response to Kittyrules on this page, but essentially, I had one motto I adopted throughout my HSC-when you fail, you pick yourself up, dust yourself off and try again. I also only listened to motivational songs on my iPod, you would not have been able to find a single romance song on my iPod during my HSC-songs like Miley Cyrus' The Climb, David Guetta's Titanium, Kelly Clarkson's What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger, even the 2010 Haiti earthquake song-collaboration from various artists was on frequent repeat countless times during my HSC-listening to them not only motivated me but to always remind me there are more unfortunate events and less fortunate people in the world-and this makes me even more grateful to study. I also came from a migrant background, and I personally gained a great appreciation for all the sacrifices my parents made for me to be in Australia and get the opportunity to pursue a territory education, so that really at the end was the strongest motivation-I really didn't want to let them down-so I couldn't stop fighting until the very last second of the HSC exam-I had to give it my best shot regardless of what failures I had encountered. I had this feeling-of fighting hard to prove myself worthy to be called an Australian ever since I came-almost 10 years ago now-and in many ways, the struggle continues-but I never give in and I will never foreseeably give up-hence I saw the HSC as a kind of short finale to all the years of extra effort and study I had put in, unlike most people who probably had more comfortable lives than me(particularly in terms of learning English) and so put a lot more effort in senior years compared to others. For me, I didn't have much of a choice, from my memory, and I still try to do this, I put in 110% in every single thing I devote myself to-a principle and philosophy that has continued with me today in arenas beyond study.

Believe in yourself, persevere in your optimism and always pursue your passion, drop 4 unit if you are finding it too stressful, I got a 99+ ATAR without doing extension two english or maths, in fact, besides music, I had almost identical subjects to you, unlike you, I did extension one english and visual arts to complete my 12 units. Hope this helped a bit-may you DEFINE your HSC results, and NEVER let your HSC results define YOU!

Happy New Year to everyone and I hope you all celebrate well in this wondrous festive season!:)
 

Nekoccino

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Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

Hi Nekoccino,
Firstly you seem to have been through a lot, so I am really delighted that you have learnt to adopt a positive outlook-an optimistic attitude is so important for academic and actually success in life in general. I will try my best to reply to your questions as best as I can-if you still have anymore questions, feel free to ask me:)

1. Regarding to how I dealt with parental stress...
2. I am not going to lie, HSC is a very stressful journey, and in a way, even as I have completed my first year of uni, I still believe HSC was the most stressful period of my life so far, even though first year of uni is often tougher than the HSC...
3. The answer to this question is basically encapsulated in my response to Kittyrules on this page, but essentially, I had one motto I adopted throughout my HSC-when you fail, you pick yourself up, dust yourself off and try again...

Believe in yourself, persevere in your optimism and always pursue your passion, drop 4 unit if you are finding it too stressful, I got a 99+ ATAR without doing extension two english or maths, in fact, besides music, I had almost identical subjects to you, unlike you, I did extension one english and visual arts to complete my 12 units. Hope this helped a bit-may you DEFINE your HSC results, and NEVER let your HSC results define YOU!

Happy New Year to everyone and I hope you all celebrate well in this wondrous festive season!:)
Thank you Mei, this is extremely good advice for me ! ^^

~I'm doing my best to reduce the parental stress. Right now is the holidays, and I want to use it to my advantage, as I know that I'm no longer a fast learner as I used to be, take long twice as fast to do an exercise/activity as I forget about it the next day and the lack of revision.

~For my sake, I'm planning to make hsc syllabus structured notes, revise reliability/validity/ accuracy for chem and physics and also do further calculations.

~I'm using a voice response software known as " Dragon Naturally Speaking" to aid me for typing up long stories and essays rather than me physically typing, so I can avoid any necessary arm strain.

~I regained my passion for music, my best subject right now is music! Like what you said about art, music is where all my stress is lifted ( leisurely, rather than the studying for tests and the theory) but it allows me to express myself in ways that I also express myself in art.

~Well in terms of sports and recreation, I " used to" do taekwondo , "used to"... being that period 1 year before my RSI kicked in. I also did piano too. I had to stop these activities out of fear that it will further strain and harm my health. But I realised that ever since I have, I've been yearning to go back not only for the fitness, as I am an extremely passive person, but also for the extremely supportive environment, my passion in music etc. I think that even just popping into taekwondo classes just for visits would help me maintain my mood.

~I've been looking up a positive quote everyday, writing out memorable paragraphs from a book known as " Be Happy", by Patrick Lindsey, pretty much surrounded myself with plushies and whatever makes me happy.

~I also did art in yr 9 and 10 but I chose music over art for the prelims/hsc. I still paint for leisure, and I'm going to begin again ^^
~I also actually did ext 1 English, but then I decided to drop it, in the consideration of avoiding stress for my arm.
~And dropping 4U is probably going to be the greatest decision of my life!

So thank you for everything! You are truly inspirational!
And I follow if not similar, the same motto as you
" You MARKS do not define YOU" and also helping others and cheering others up is my remedy for all the stress in my own life.
Enough is enough.
I won't let stress weigh me down anymore.
I'll come back if I have anything else to ask~!

This is how I'm planning to deal with my situation right now, anyone is free to ask about anything as well ^^

Once again, I am truly grateful of your advice Mei ^^
 

strawberrye

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Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

Hey Nekoccino, I am so glad you have learnt to adopt such a detailed and positive outlook to resolve your stress in the HSC-make sure you try your best to stick to your plan and I am sure you will ace this year. If you have any questions throughout the year, please don't hesitate to ask.

This goes for anyone else who might still have questions unanswered, no question is too stupid-ask away and you might just get another worry about your senior studies resolved! Happy New Year everyone!-hope everyone's new year resolutions shall be achieved this year!
 

-billiris

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Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

do you get study periods in year 11 if you're doing ext eng (which is before school twice a week) and if so, how many do you get?
 

EarthSci34

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Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

do you get study periods in year 11 if you're doing ext eng (which is before school twice a week) and if so, how many do you get?
Hey, I guess you would be getting 4 in one fortnight, as EX1 is usually 4 period in a cycle. :)
 

strawberrye

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Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

do you get study periods in year 11 if you're doing ext eng (which is before school twice a week) and if so, how many do you get?
It depends on how many units you are doing overall and your school's overall structure, it would vary depending on your school so I could recommend you to follow your school timetable.
 

swagmeister

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Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

Hey strawberrye,

When you are having a long day full of study, short breaks and some meals how do you manage to keep your productivity levels up? On the weekend at the start of the day my note taking speed is pretty decent for example, but by the afternoon it gets to around 1/3 what it was in the morning...

On that note, do you have any other tips on improving your efficiency well you are studying? Do you just 'tell yourself' to concentrate more?
 

strawberrye

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Re: How to excel in senior year studies (yr 11/12)

Hey strawberrye,

When you are having a long day full of study, short breaks and some meals how do you manage to keep your productivity levels up? On the weekend at the start of the day my note taking speed is pretty decent for example, but by the afternoon it gets to around 1/3 what it was in the morning...

On that note, do you have any other tips on improving your efficiency well you are studying? Do you just 'tell yourself' to concentrate more?
Actually, this is a really good question to ask, these days it is very difficult for me to actually have the opportunity to have a long day of study. When you get to uni, many other things takes over, but I think the same principle that helps me after a long day of tutoring will definitely apply to a long day of study as well. I think I do something I like to keep my productivity up, for example, something that I have recently started doing is doing some baking, even if I am extremely tired, it strangely helps me to maintain my focus. I think the decrease in the note taking speed is related to something else, and that is, you should focus on having shorter study sessions so you can always perform at your optimal level, and sometimes, note-taking all day may not be the most productive way of using your day, you might consider trying to explain some of the key concepts you intend to take notes to get a more holistic understanding of everything.

I never tell myself to concentrate more, it doesn't work. As I said before, I give myself small rewards when I finish a goal, it might be eating a snack, watching a short drama etc, essentially for me, the key is to give yourself some time every day to do something you love. I also often dance or do some sort of physics exercise to improve my concentration. Try different things and see which works for you, perhaps you can also try to see whether group studying works for you-sometimes studying with like-minded friends can greatly improve your efficiency-provided you can have the self-discipline to not talk too much:)
 

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