-
Best of luck to the class of 2024 for their HSC exams. You got this! Let us know your thoughts on the HSC exams here -
YOU can help the next generation of students in the community! Share your trial papers and notes on our Notes & Resources page
People who got >90 in subjects: how did you study? (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter chocomello
- Start date
dora_18
Member
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2006
- Messages
- 746
- Gender
- Female
- HSC
- 2005
Re: ppl who got >90 in subjects how did u study?!?!
well first of all....you shouldn't only use the suggestions here...for example-the listening to yourself over and over and over again on a tape does not work for me, i like to write notes and read them and inevitably memorise them, you have to find a study method that suits you otherwise you might find yourseld using one thats no of any benefit...which inevitably will just frustrate you and you'll get nowhere....for chem...i turned my bedroom into this huge post-it mania, and i had chemical formulae everywhere...so i just remembered various ones....however one of my friends tried that and she said that eventualy she forgot about thembcuz they just blended in with her room!!
anyway..goodluck with it all!!!:wave:
well first of all....you shouldn't only use the suggestions here...for example-the listening to yourself over and over and over again on a tape does not work for me, i like to write notes and read them and inevitably memorise them, you have to find a study method that suits you otherwise you might find yourseld using one thats no of any benefit...which inevitably will just frustrate you and you'll get nowhere....for chem...i turned my bedroom into this huge post-it mania, and i had chemical formulae everywhere...so i just remembered various ones....however one of my friends tried that and she said that eventualy she forgot about thembcuz they just blended in with her room!!
anyway..goodluck with it all!!!:wave:
seremify007
Junior Member
Re: ppl who got >90 in subjects how did u study?!?!
*agrees with Dora* See what works with you. Some people find notes, some people prefer group study, etc... I find that I study best when I'm most emotionally prepped for it- I have to be 'in the mood', and that often requires food, water and music.
*agrees with Dora* See what works with you. Some people find notes, some people prefer group study, etc... I find that I study best when I'm most emotionally prepped for it- I have to be 'in the mood', and that often requires food, water and music.
Re: ppl who got >90 in subjects how did u study?!?!
Yep seconded .. through my HSC study i *always* had either music or the OC playing in the background. Trial and error, go with what works. UAI 94.10, with 2 subs >90. As for methods of study, I had a wall of notes and nightly would attempt to rewrite them all without looking. Seemed to work for me, acronyms saved me in Business though (eg: FS-PVP-DEST .. skills of management)
Yep seconded .. through my HSC study i *always* had either music or the OC playing in the background. Trial and error, go with what works. UAI 94.10, with 2 subs >90. As for methods of study, I had a wall of notes and nightly would attempt to rewrite them all without looking. Seemed to work for me, acronyms saved me in Business though (eg: FS-PVP-DEST .. skills of management)
Rafy
Retired
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2004
- Messages
- 10,719
- Gender
- Female
- HSC
- 2005
- Uni Grad
- 2008
Re: ppl who got >90 in subjects how did u study?!?!
For eco and english:
Economics: Study and complete lots and lots of short answer questions. Get your hands on as many as you possibly can (See the eco forum, there are many there) Answering such question allow you to exercise yourself in expressing the relationships that exist between different areas in the course. Economics can not simply be learnt through a linear syllabus based summary as all aspects are related and intertwined. Also keep up to date with the latest economic conditions and statistics (See: http://community.boredofstudies.org/22/economics/86650/current-economic-data-issues.html) . Such data is vital to meet one of the main aspects of the course that deals with contemporary issues, and resposnes to economic problems. For example, in my Economics final exam i used a quote i heard the night before the exam when watching parliament with peter costello answering a question on full employment. Examiners love (and indeed expect) to see up to date statistics and information
English: My advice would be to do many practice essays. As the saying goes, practise make perfect. But thats ineffective if you do not get your essays checked by your teachers, or even here! The idea of writing practise essays is to get constructive critisism to enhance and improve each time. Hopefully by the end of the process you'd be prepared for whatever they throw at you!
For eco and english:
Economics: Study and complete lots and lots of short answer questions. Get your hands on as many as you possibly can (See the eco forum, there are many there) Answering such question allow you to exercise yourself in expressing the relationships that exist between different areas in the course. Economics can not simply be learnt through a linear syllabus based summary as all aspects are related and intertwined. Also keep up to date with the latest economic conditions and statistics (See: http://community.boredofstudies.org/22/economics/86650/current-economic-data-issues.html) . Such data is vital to meet one of the main aspects of the course that deals with contemporary issues, and resposnes to economic problems. For example, in my Economics final exam i used a quote i heard the night before the exam when watching parliament with peter costello answering a question on full employment. Examiners love (and indeed expect) to see up to date statistics and information
English: My advice would be to do many practice essays. As the saying goes, practise make perfect. But thats ineffective if you do not get your essays checked by your teachers, or even here! The idea of writing practise essays is to get constructive critisism to enhance and improve each time. Hopefully by the end of the process you'd be prepared for whatever they throw at you!
Last edited:
Mountain.Dew
Magician, and Lawyer.
Re: ppl who got >90 in subjects how did u study?!?!
For maths ==> lots of past HSC papers and past trials! you must be in tune with the 'structure' of many questions, to be able to use and draw links from within the question. things like 'hence' or 'show' or 'prove' will eventually have to use something that you have solved before hand in an earlier part.
also very important is to TIME yourself. the BOS (that is THE Board of Studies) wont give you forever to do the whole maths paper, so time management is crucial. get that up to scratch, and practice it in ur school-based exams and trials.
For english ==> agreed wholeheartedly with rafy. just keep on practising writing essays. left-handers (like me) will be at a disadvantage, so left-handers will have to take extra measures and time to perfect their writing skills.
and of course, always get constructive critism from peers and teachers alike.
For the sciences ==> this has probably been said a million times, but always follow the syllabus dot points. always review and recheck it so that you get your information down pat. especially for physics, crafting ready-to-write responses is a must for those "explain-how-this-works" questions, and to a certain extent, the 6-8 marker "assess and evaluate" questions. they are especially hellpful, and can also save valuable time to do other more time-consuming questions. it is important to set out a logical progression towards your answer. key terms are also essential.
For maths ==> lots of past HSC papers and past trials! you must be in tune with the 'structure' of many questions, to be able to use and draw links from within the question. things like 'hence' or 'show' or 'prove' will eventually have to use something that you have solved before hand in an earlier part.
also very important is to TIME yourself. the BOS (that is THE Board of Studies) wont give you forever to do the whole maths paper, so time management is crucial. get that up to scratch, and practice it in ur school-based exams and trials.
For english ==> agreed wholeheartedly with rafy. just keep on practising writing essays. left-handers (like me) will be at a disadvantage, so left-handers will have to take extra measures and time to perfect their writing skills.
and of course, always get constructive critism from peers and teachers alike.
For the sciences ==> this has probably been said a million times, but always follow the syllabus dot points. always review and recheck it so that you get your information down pat. especially for physics, crafting ready-to-write responses is a must for those "explain-how-this-works" questions, and to a certain extent, the 6-8 marker "assess and evaluate" questions. they are especially hellpful, and can also save valuable time to do other more time-consuming questions. it is important to set out a logical progression towards your answer. key terms are also essential.
Re: ppl who got >90 in subjects how did u study?!?!
For the english/humanities based subjects, I found it beneficial to just 'think' about the subject. Don't feel guilty if your not actually in front of your books studying your brains out. I found that some of the best ideas and insights into my subjects were gained when i wasnt even near my notes or textbooks.
My advice is, take a walk every now and then, clear your head and just simply 'think' about the content of your subjects. Recall the day's lesson, piece things together and maybe you'll come up with those 'golden' ideas and points that will make your essay stand out in the exam.
For the english/humanities based subjects, I found it beneficial to just 'think' about the subject. Don't feel guilty if your not actually in front of your books studying your brains out. I found that some of the best ideas and insights into my subjects were gained when i wasnt even near my notes or textbooks.
My advice is, take a walk every now and then, clear your head and just simply 'think' about the content of your subjects. Recall the day's lesson, piece things together and maybe you'll come up with those 'golden' ideas and points that will make your essay stand out in the exam.
inquire_within
New Member
Re: ppl who got >90 in subjects how did u study?!?!
Mountain Dew just wondering what makes left handed people have a disadvantage? since i'm left handed i feel i should know this one but i don'tMountain.Dew said:
Mountain.Dew
Magician, and Lawyer.
Re: ppl who got >90 in subjects how did u study?!?!
for right handers, the movement of the pen -by the fingers- from left to right takes significantly less effort than for left-handers. it seems a 'natural' writing movement for them, while the 'natural' writing movement for us lefties is right to left. also, for left handers, for handwriting, since the letters are usually inclined to the right, its causes more strain for left handers.
oh yes, welcome to the BOS forums, inquire_within!
inquire_within, u realise that when u write from left to right, you actually have to FORCE the pen with ur finger muscles across the page. for a short period of time, it seems fine, but when ur writing essays or long extended responses and takes 20+ mins, then ur fingers start to cramp from overuse. known as OOS --> Occupational Overuse Syndrome. And so, ur hand will start to hurt. not good at all. especially in the exam.inquire_within said:
for right handers, the movement of the pen -by the fingers- from left to right takes significantly less effort than for left-handers. it seems a 'natural' writing movement for them, while the 'natural' writing movement for us lefties is right to left. also, for left handers, for handwriting, since the letters are usually inclined to the right, its causes more strain for left handers.
oh yes, welcome to the BOS forums, inquire_within!
XcarvengerX
Chocobo
Re: ppl who got >90 in subjects how did u study?!?!
And also if you have a leaking pen, your paper may be spoilt with inks. What funny is when my friend needed to write on the whiteboard, because he is left-handed, he rubbed off what he just wrote. I am right-handed though.
Re: ppl who got >90 in subjects how did u study?!?!
Maths: I made sure I understood every single thing in the textbook and that could possible be asked. I did heaps of past papers. The best thing I found was doing a variety of questions.
English Extension 1: I enjoyed this subject, which really helped me with my result. I looked at many different sources and bought a tesxtbook that clarified everything. I did many practice essays/stories and prepared what I was going to write for the exams (although I didn't memorise essays).
Maths: I made sure I understood every single thing in the textbook and that could possible be asked. I did heaps of past papers. The best thing I found was doing a variety of questions.
English Extension 1: I enjoyed this subject, which really helped me with my result. I looked at many different sources and bought a tesxtbook that clarified everything. I did many practice essays/stories and prepared what I was going to write for the exams (although I didn't memorise essays).
darkroomgirl
Member
Re: ppl who got >90 in subjects how did u study?!?!
For subjects with a syllabus (i.e. Ancient History, I got 98)... I recommend that you start compiling information for topics BEFORE the trials. I learnt this the hard way... I had to compile 4 syllabus summaries in between graduation and the actual exams, and it took up most of my study time. I think going through the entire syllabus is really helpful, considering how random the Bored of Studies picks the questions (for Ancient His anyway). Make sure that you're writing it by hand as well, because that lets it better sink into your brain (unless you're more of a typing person). In my opinion, writing it does a lot more for you than just reading it because you're actually comprehending and taking in the information.
With Visual Arts (I got 95 and was nominated for ArtExpress)... for your BOW, try and be as innovative and creative as possible. For example, if you've chosen drawing as your medium, don't just draw extra well, find a way to present your drawings so that it somehow complements and enhances your concept. With Photography (my medium), take a large variety of shots. Exclude some photos (even your favorite ones) if they don't fit the overall idea or theme of the collection. Get your photos professionally printed if you don't wanna risk darkroom disasters. And so on and so forth for other mediums (I'm sure you'd have some idea now of what 'creativity' within your particular medium means). With theory, apply certain things that you learn from English, i.e. how you analyse texts and stuff, contextualisation, etc. Context really matters... make sure you know when certain key movements were conceived, the history and ideas surrounding them. This way, you only need to look at the date of an artwork and right off you already have an idea of what it's about, whether or not it's typical or radical for the period in which it was made. That alone gives enough material for a decent-length response.
With English and English Ext 1 (I got 93 and 94, respectively), PRACTICE WRITING ESSAYS. I cannot stress how important that is. My teacher wrote me up some questions (some of which he designed to be challenging for me, grr), and I'm sure that your teachers would do that for you, too. AVOID EXCEL AND OTHER GENERIC NOTES. Thousands of other students will be looking at them, and those things will seriously hinder your creativity and your ability to create better ideas. Keep in mind that markers don't give full (or close to full) marks to essays which basically repeat what other students have written. They give good marks to essays which discuss different (read: ORIGINAL) views and angles of the text. Make sure you back it up though.
I could write some more about Eng Ext 2, but I can't be bothered.
For subjects with a syllabus (i.e. Ancient History, I got 98)... I recommend that you start compiling information for topics BEFORE the trials. I learnt this the hard way... I had to compile 4 syllabus summaries in between graduation and the actual exams, and it took up most of my study time. I think going through the entire syllabus is really helpful, considering how random the Bored of Studies picks the questions (for Ancient His anyway). Make sure that you're writing it by hand as well, because that lets it better sink into your brain (unless you're more of a typing person). In my opinion, writing it does a lot more for you than just reading it because you're actually comprehending and taking in the information.
With Visual Arts (I got 95 and was nominated for ArtExpress)... for your BOW, try and be as innovative and creative as possible. For example, if you've chosen drawing as your medium, don't just draw extra well, find a way to present your drawings so that it somehow complements and enhances your concept. With Photography (my medium), take a large variety of shots. Exclude some photos (even your favorite ones) if they don't fit the overall idea or theme of the collection. Get your photos professionally printed if you don't wanna risk darkroom disasters. And so on and so forth for other mediums (I'm sure you'd have some idea now of what 'creativity' within your particular medium means). With theory, apply certain things that you learn from English, i.e. how you analyse texts and stuff, contextualisation, etc. Context really matters... make sure you know when certain key movements were conceived, the history and ideas surrounding them. This way, you only need to look at the date of an artwork and right off you already have an idea of what it's about, whether or not it's typical or radical for the period in which it was made. That alone gives enough material for a decent-length response.
With English and English Ext 1 (I got 93 and 94, respectively), PRACTICE WRITING ESSAYS. I cannot stress how important that is. My teacher wrote me up some questions (some of which he designed to be challenging for me, grr), and I'm sure that your teachers would do that for you, too. AVOID EXCEL AND OTHER GENERIC NOTES. Thousands of other students will be looking at them, and those things will seriously hinder your creativity and your ability to create better ideas. Keep in mind that markers don't give full (or close to full) marks to essays which basically repeat what other students have written. They give good marks to essays which discuss different (read: ORIGINAL) views and angles of the text. Make sure you back it up though.
I could write some more about Eng Ext 2, but I can't be bothered.
Mountain.Dew
Magician, and Lawyer.
Re: ppl who got >90 in subjects how did u study?!?!
So therefore, inquire_within, you need to take more care when writing, and to always practice, practice, practice. Find a finger grip that seems most comfortable to you, and stick with it. try to find ways making writing less of a pain. perhaps find a better pen with better grip, or rotate your paper clockwise to the right so that u dont have apply so much 'force' on your pen when writing.
Yes, leaking pens are a pain in the neck. As with the whiteboard thing, I have no problems, whatever I wrote doesnt smudge or rub off. I just dont put my whole hand on the board.XcarvengerX said:And also if you have a leaking pen, your paper may be spoilt with inks. What funny is when my friend needed to write on the whiteboard, because he is left-handed, he rubbed off what he just wrote. I am right-handed though.
So therefore, inquire_within, you need to take more care when writing, and to always practice, practice, practice. Find a finger grip that seems most comfortable to you, and stick with it. try to find ways making writing less of a pain. perhaps find a better pen with better grip, or rotate your paper clockwise to the right so that u dont have apply so much 'force' on your pen when writing.
suchet_i
derka derka
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2005
- Messages
- 127
- Gender
- Male
- HSC
- 2006
Re: ppl who got >90 in subjects how did u study?!?!
quote=darkroomgirl]For subjects with a syllabus (i.e. Ancient History, I got 98)
With Visual Arts (I got 95 and was nominated for ArtExpress)
With English and English Ext 1 (I got 93 and 94, respectively), [/quote]
97.5 is a dam good uai but then again looking at all ur marks -98-95-93-94- should u be getting a much better uai .. like in the higt 98's or low 99's?
quote=darkroomgirl]For subjects with a syllabus (i.e. Ancient History, I got 98)
With Visual Arts (I got 95 and was nominated for ArtExpress)
With English and English Ext 1 (I got 93 and 94, respectively), [/quote]
97.5 is a dam good uai but then again looking at all ur marks -98-95-93-94- should u be getting a much better uai .. like in the higt 98's or low 99's?
fleepbasding
HSC TUTOR
Re: ppl who got >90 in subjects how did u study?!?!
that is only 7 units of her study though. I expect that her other units weren't 90+.darkroomgirl said:
Re: ppl who got >90 in subjects how did u study?!?!
I'm not finished HSC yet but my teachers expect me to make the premier's all rounder's list (90+ in 10+ units).
The biggest thing that helps me is called rescue remedy. Its a stress supplement. Yes I know you need to study, but theres no point studying when you're so stressed you can't concentrate (trust me, I've tried, you just get really upset and frustrated). At the moment, all I see is people falling apart (Im friends with a lot of very smart kids) and their marks are suffering because of it. If you stay calm, keep your nerve and give it everything you've got I think that at the end of the day you'll achieve your best possible result. (So I take this anti stress thing).
My best subject is legal studies, but I'm a humanities student all round, what I find most helpful is to think a lot aobut things and to read widely and often. For example in Legal it is impressive if you can use a recent case which has been in the news (Such as Bilal Scaf's retrial which was on last night).
Also, when I study, its very intense, but I don't do nearly as much as a lot of toher people. Quality over quantity. Its reached the point where I can go over my notes in my head while I'm at work or on the bus because when I study, I remember things. I use little analogies to help me remember things, short stories etc or maybe a song that I like.
Also in the exam, think laterally, sometimes if you think outside the square for a moment, the answer will just hit you.
I don't know, it works for me! Good luck everyone!
I'm not finished HSC yet but my teachers expect me to make the premier's all rounder's list (90+ in 10+ units).
The biggest thing that helps me is called rescue remedy. Its a stress supplement. Yes I know you need to study, but theres no point studying when you're so stressed you can't concentrate (trust me, I've tried, you just get really upset and frustrated). At the moment, all I see is people falling apart (Im friends with a lot of very smart kids) and their marks are suffering because of it. If you stay calm, keep your nerve and give it everything you've got I think that at the end of the day you'll achieve your best possible result. (So I take this anti stress thing).
My best subject is legal studies, but I'm a humanities student all round, what I find most helpful is to think a lot aobut things and to read widely and often. For example in Legal it is impressive if you can use a recent case which has been in the news (Such as Bilal Scaf's retrial which was on last night).
Also, when I study, its very intense, but I don't do nearly as much as a lot of toher people. Quality over quantity. Its reached the point where I can go over my notes in my head while I'm at work or on the bus because when I study, I remember things. I use little analogies to help me remember things, short stories etc or maybe a song that I like.
Also in the exam, think laterally, sometimes if you think outside the square for a moment, the answer will just hit you.
I don't know, it works for me! Good luck everyone!
blackfriday
Pezzonovante
Re: ppl who got >90 in subjects how did u study?!?!
kids, this time around now was the best time of my high school. make sure its yours.
kids, this time around now was the best time of my high school. make sure its yours.