for those who got 99+ what did your study pattern look like (1 Viewer)

[fourteenninetwo]

^^^

 

[geik]

nice q

 

[nathanzhou1234]

Typically I would chunk my studying into half an hour then a break for 5 minutes, to restore focus and concentration. The only times I didn't do this were during full mock exams. I'd study a bit more on weekends and holidays but not that much during weekdays cos there wasn't much time.

 

[cyniczny]

tbh my studying wasn't very structured at all. i did almost all essay subjects and for those the main thing was scaffold and practice essays, rinse and repeat. make sure you have a solid idea of what you would write for each possible question or topic. i didn't really have a set study schedule during the term, maybe 1-2 weeks before the exam i'd grind out a few practice essays - on paper as much as possible, and timed if you can. if you don't want to do a full 40-60min practice essay, timed paragraphs are also good to give you an idea of their length and your writing speed. just make sure you have solid, adaptable paragraphs first

 

[stressedessert04]

I only got a 98+ but happy to offer some advice!! which may or may not have gone on a tangent outside of study patterns...

Overall though,
- i would definitely recommend to always stay on top of hw, and use your study periods proactively! i did 10 units! 1/2 of my study periods were genuinely dedicated to studying whereas the other half were used to socialise with friends and hv lunch, or just chill (bc worklife balance is key to good mental health! and good mental health is key to being less stressed!)
- be forgiving. i wrote ambitious to do lists every single day and sometimes i just wanted to lie on my bed and stare at the ceiling. i really struggled with forgiving myself and id end up in a vicious cycle of being unable to do work and then hating myself for it, and then still being unable to do work... and so on. it wasnt until my friend nonchalantly told me that having non study days were compulsory in their life that i realised that i should too! i was a lot more happier letting myself have days off bc i rlly struggled w my mental health --> it made me less stressed and i found myself being more productive REGULARLY
- enjoy ur school holidays! def hv fun and go out with friends... but some subjects could be self taught early so i would get on top of it only if ur bothered (this includes doing maths hw early or analysing eng!,,,, or u could do some past papers for maths and just keep practicing regularly)
- i had friends who were really studious and they motivated me. we often used discord and engaged in silent study sessions over the weekends/the holidays! we chatted a bit during our breaks and were really productive!! would highly recommend. you can also ask each other for help too
- PRIORITISE SLEEP i always made sure to sleep lol i never let myself sleep less than 7 hrs bc if i did i was just groggy and so out of it during the day (me in every chemistry lesson) i struggled to pay attention in class (coffee didnt help)... especially leading up to exams i made sure to maintain a regular sleep schedule! i never really crammed for exams (except for my final mod exam where i slept a good 3 hrs and it was genuinely traumatic i would never do it again)

Maths! (could be applied to science too but personally i failed chem due to my dislike for the subject and lack of motivation):
- keeping up with maths hw! i religiously kept on top of maths hw after EVERY LESSON using study periods or making sure to complete it after school on the day. I was also supplementing school work through tutoring (and actually doing all their hw bc more questions = more practice), if u dont go tutoring thats fine too, i would find resources or just do past paper questions (finding relevant questions under the topics to help consolidate your knowledge --> you learn to be more flexible with the way questions can twist or turn)
- NO CRAMMING!! my school always made sure to cover maths topics way before exams (unlike many other subjects) and i started grinding past papers around 2/3 weeks before the actual task (im lazy so i honestly never really did this for other subjects + i liked maths so i was more committed to doing well) always making sure to sit them timed and going thru all the relevant ones that my school had before finding other school papers!!
- START MAKING A BANK OF QUESTIONS! this is so important!!! this includes mistakes/errors you make in your exams, common questions you struggle with in hw and also harder questions you struggle with from past papers! i would compile them under their relative topics and revisit them during the holidays or before the hsc. unfortunately i started doing this really late but a lot of the top maths students did this!!

English/Modern history
im going to be honest with you, this would probably differ for every person so dont listen to my advice. personally i started to really struggle with content heavy subjects but somehow i got a band 6 for both so who knows
- before exams WRITE WITH A PEN AND A BATTERY TIED ONTO IT!! i did this and idk if it actually strengthened my arm muscle but it worked psychologically because by the time i was actually sitting the written exam, my arm was like wow this pen is as light as a feather! and i felt like i was flying

English
- RUBRIC = BIBLE, QUESTIONS ARE OFTEN FORMULATED FROM KEYWORDS THERE, I ALWAYS WENT BACK TO IT ! everyone says this, and for good reason.
- i always read the texts for english during the holidays before (so i dont need to read it during the term) i know loads of ppl dont and they still do well but in order for me to understand what was going on in class i needed to romanticise english. for shakespeare, i would read the translated vers and also watch the play to "convince" myself that i loved studying it! (it worked) + during the holidays i also found a lot of honours/scholars articles on the texts to read, not only did it romanticise english for me but reading these critical insights helped inform my own perspective
- consistently took notes and always paid attn in class (my teacher was good so i got lucky) + active participation in class discussion, asking teachers when i got curious etc.
- in my 'free time' (i didnt dedicate set english study sessions but u should), i would look back at my schools past exam questions + hsc questions and i would brainstorm different theses and misc. essay plans (i was lazy with eng but i would always try and have a couple of theses, argument ideas, intro sentences, and a ongoing list of evidence/techniques analysis)
- tried to finish analysing texts a lot earlier than my class did (this means starting during the holidays or emailing teacher for help) so i could start writing full essay plans/essays around 3 weeks before the actual exam (this is only bc my school was rlly slow w english and we finished texts a wk before exams! blerugh) --> i would send them to my teacher and get them to mark it, i would then refine and ask for more help if needed
- unfortunately i rote learned eng and memorised a lot of adaptable arguments/essays and practiced using them under timed conditions answering essay questions (a lot of high achieving students would probably not do this so yeah i wouldnt advise this! but english is not my strong suit and it honestly worked out fine for me bc i learnt to just be really adaptable with what i have and consistently practiced)
- creatives/discursives --> i found them hard but just thinking up different ideas in ur spare time and writing different shorts, i tried to do a lot during the holidays when i was bored and so i slowly built a bank of different ones which i would send to my teacher for marking

Modern
- RELIGIOUSLY CONSOLIDATE notes under each syllabus dot point! i always kept on top of my notes after class and i also tried to keep ahead bc mod got super content heavy!
- my best tip is go through all the topics your school will be covering, copy pasting the syllabus dot points into a doc and start going through old past papers, extracting questions and organising them under each dot point. after finishing my relevant notes i would answer past questions and submit them to my teacher for marking --> this way i CONSISTENTLY built a bank of 'responses' --> relevant especially for core and the other short answers topic
a brief aside: i was prettttyyyy sweaty with core + china which had short answers bc i rlly wanted to secure full marks in these sections and i ended up using quizlet to memorise practically every response that the syllabus could cover before my exams, most ppl didnt do this and they still did rlly well its up to u and what ur good at eg. some ppl are good at understanding info in depth and will 'remember' it easily, some ppl like me need to actually dedicate rote learning time lol
- this also works for the 'essay' topics --> i would create mini essay plans after covering each dot point and submit them for marking, leading up to exams i would write full essays and get them marked again

throughout yr 11 and 12 doe, i was consistently stressed about my marks (often texting my friends for help and just regularly panicking, which was silly considering i really didnt need a high atar for my uni course) and i feel like i definitely reached a certain level of burnout during the hsc (i really gave up and did no past papers for eng, mod and chem, only did max 5 for 3u and 4u maths) i think my marks were mostly saved bc i tried rlly hard in the beginning. so i would def advise u to always maintain good mental health + practice forgiving urself more, and aim to be more consistent. if ur marks are a bit rocky up and down, its okay bc theres always room for improvement!!! the hsc is seriously not a big deal and i wish i knocked that into my head a lot more to save myself from so much stress

good luck!!

 

[Average Boreduser]

Bro really just said 'only 98'- too humble.

 

[Run hard@thehsc]

I basically used a prospective study planner wherein I would lay out the assignment, exams, due dates for goals etc on excel. Based on this I would form my to-do list for each day as I work forward. The timetable I made wasn't one that had those strict deadlines on what I would do every second, hour of my time. Rather it was really flexible as it enabled me to see the overall time I have rather than the time within a day. In terms of my pattern of study, on a regular school day I would chill for like an hour and half after school.... then study until dinner with like a probs 5 min break between hours (where I would catch up on discord and go through questions my friends have had). After dinner, probs study until 10 maximum after which I would chill out until 11 then sleep (you really need a good sleep rhythm so try to sleep at a consistent time). I also listened to music ngl at like a low volume later on in the year as it made studying a bit more enjoyable. One more thing I would defo recommend (if it works) is to form study groups on discord and then use the study lion bot which makes studying more like a videogame. This makes us more inclined to study as well as ask questions on study chats. But ofcourse this does not happen always.

During the holidays I used to go over the next terms content by aiming for approx 8 to 9 hours of good study time (dw this is easier to do than it sounds). Just chunk your day in three with three-hour blocks and 1.5-hour blocks in between each. For every block I focused on one subject (ideal), which enabled me to cover three subjects in a day, that too in depth.

For maths:
- If you do tuition, do them ahead in the break so you can solidify knowledge ahead.
- if you have gone through the topic really well, selectively do questions from Cambridge, else just jump ahead to past paper qs

For English:
- Read through prescribed texts atleast twice (first for enjoyment/comprehension and the second for highlighting key quotes)
- Make a TEE table on google docs using your personalised analysis (then add on with analysis made by others here on BOS)
- Start a draft essay using your generic/adaptable quotes on Google docs, refine this throughout the term
- My approach relies on you having made your TEE tables and stuff during the holidays
- for tests and stuff, seek feedback from friends and mainly teachers
- Practice adapting your essay to multiple qs.... note that i did not memorise the whole essay rather just key points and analysis as well as sentences that I thought were catchy

For Sciences:
- Make a set of notes for each syllabus dotpoint for every module during term
- try practicing targeted questions for those dotpoints
- just keep asking why and you will uncover more depth which markers will immediately notice in extended responses
- learn to identify questions by syllabus dotpoint
- Do heaps of practice exams closer
- To further solidify knowledge, try to answer every inquiry question using what you know about the listed syll dotpoints below that inq q



Hope this helps

 

[pikachu975]

I just did homework every night cos we got spammed with it and I barely got sleep due to procrastinating while doing the homework, then cram for every exam/trial cos I had no time due to too much homework.

But for HSC I studied a couple of months in advance because our school finished all content in semester 2 and left all of semester 3 to study and do 3 sets of trials. It mainly involved memorising content -> past papers for a couple of months -> memorise content again before the HSC exam. For HSC I actually did have a plan to do 3 papers per day but that didn't work out so it was usually 2 or 3.

 

[fourteenninetwo]

thanks all for the comprehensive responses - this is all really helpful

 

[notme123]

^^^

ik this isnt really study pattern but just a few tips
ensure that all your materials and notes are really top tier stuff. for english id read some high-quality responses and try to emulate that style of writing in being efficient yet detailed. economic and physics, go to high-end school trial papers and rip their solutions to questions because they're very detailed and articulate things in a very concise yet efficient way. maths is a bit more than just grinding papers. id say its more about consistency and pushing yourself. if youre not doing the harder development parts of the textbook i suggest starting now because those are the types of qs asked in exams.

as for study pattern, most of your study will happen in between trials and hsc. it doesnt only need to be past papers. it can also involve memorising or collecting high end resources. anything that adds to your pool of knowledge. during the actual terms, just keep consistent and up to date, then dial the revision to 10 when you get notifications for exams. i felt a bit of burnout during the terms where my brain wasnt operating properly. in that case just slow down but dont stop, just cut the workload a little and live.

 

[qldbulls]

our school finished all content in semester 2 and left all of semester 3 to study and do 3 sets of trials.

Like a whole ten weeks of study and revision on top of the gap between trials and HSC? Jeez how is anyone else supposed to compete with that.

 

[carrotsss]

Like a whole ten weeks of study and revision on top of the gap between trials and HSC? Jeez how is anyone else supposed to compete with that.

You can just do that yourself without your school if you want anyway

 

[Run hard@thehsc]

legit what I did lol

 

[synthesisFR]

OK
what marks would i need for an atar of about 99.5? just curious
Mx2:
Mx1:
Chem:
Eng:
Eco:

 

[synthesisFR]

i chucked it in uac's atar compass and it outputted exactly 99.5

I forgot that existed
Might need to reduce MX2 LMAO im stupid af, and increase english instead.
Also i forgot i finished bio

 

[hscgirl]

OK
what marks would i need for an atar of about 99.5? just curious
Mx2:
Mx1:
Chem:
Eng:
Eco:

oohhh u finally got yourself an atar goal lol u could use an atar calculator

 

[synthesisFR]

This results in 99.55

Its kinda weird how at one point mx2 and mx1 doesn't really boost the atar because of how highly they already scale. increasing my mark in english makes it much higher tho

 

[Average Boreduser]

ppl who get 99 and over are just naturally talented. The minority that do get 99+ using methods of rigorous studying have no life and have lost significant social skills. I can name 100s who did this, and its crazy how lifeless these people have become. ie never start conversation, answer questions very promptly, hugely paranoid of family friends, insanely jealous when one recieves better marks, etc.

^^^

 

[synthesisFR]

View attachment 37797
This results in 99.55

Its kinda weird how at one point mx2 and mx1 doesn't really boost the atar because of how highly they already scale. increasing my mark in english makes it much higher tho

but yeah guys i think this will be my goal (minus one mark from one of these)

 

[synthesisFR]

where did bio come from

i forgot abt the fact that i completed it