As you mentioned, there are, without a doubt, alternative pathways that will allow you to gain entry to university and study your dream course. However, just because there are alternative pathways doesn't necessarily mean you should disregard your ATAR. Your ATAR is very important, and an ATAR that matches the academic requirement for your chosen degree is a very efficient and effective way of entry. While alternative pathways may indeed eventually allow you to study your dream course, they may require more time, when you can instead be studying throughout year 12 to ensure you achieve great final marks, allowing you to receive a high enough ATAR that will guarantee you entry into university directly.
In terms of your Preliminary exams, keep in mind that even if your performance doesn't end up being as good as you wanted it to be, none of your year 11 marks will count towards your ATAR. What matters going forward, i.e. as you begin year 12, is to make sure you are regularly studying and staying up to date with content across your subjects, so that you can effectively prepare yourself and perform well in assessment tasks/exams. In terms of your subjects:
English Advanced and English Extension 1:
I believe a good start for HSC English Advanced and HSC English Extension 1 would be to go through their respective syllabus documents and familiarising yourself with the main themes/ideas/issues raised within each module (where applicable). Once you've done this, it would also be a good idea to familiarise yourself with your prescribed texts (if you know what they are) as this can make analysing them quite a less demanding experience because you would've gained an idea of what each of your prescribed texts covers (in terms of themes/ideas/issues raised by the respective module) in advance. Another thing you can do is go through a list of techniques that you have covered all the way until your current point. This would be a good way of revising those techniques (which you will likely need to utilise frequently going forward, whether in analysis or essay writing), including what the technique is, how it can be used in a sentence/text as well as the effect it generally has when used in a particular quote/text.
Mathematics Standard:
Essentially, you need to ensure that you are understanding the concepts taught. If you feel you are struggling to understand a particular concept, you should ask your teacher for assistance as soon as possible. Regularly completing questions as well as textbook questions (if applicable) is also a good way of developing and maintaining your understanding of the content, and prevents you from falling behind. In preparations for exams, completing past exam papers are a good way of preparing, as they allow you to apply what you have learned to different sets of questions as well as determining areas of improvement which you can then focus on. If you are able to apply this consistently, then completing more past papers will give you more exposure to different types of questions, ultimately preparing you better for your exams.
Business Studies:
Thorough knowledge and understanding of the syllabus is very important in HSC Business Studies, because the responses you will be required to develop will be mainly based on specific syllabus dot points depending on the question. Ensure you are regularly studying and staying up to date with content while simultaneously familiarising yourself with the HSC Business Studies syllabus.
Knowledge of relevant case studies for each HSC topic is also very important as you will be required to incorporate case studies within your Section IV responses. I will include links to case studies for each topic which I believe may be helpful:
Useful information to use for when you wish to strengthen your extended responses and/or when you're completing Finance assignments. Do not hesitate to contact me for help with Business Studies. All the best with your studies! 😄
boredofstudies.org
Useful information to use for when you wish to strengthen your extended responses and/or when you're completing Finance assignments. Do not hesitate to contact me for help with Business Studies. All the best with your studies! 😄
boredofstudies.org
Useful information to use for when you wish to strengthen your extended responses and/or when you're completing Human Resources assignments. Do not hesitate to contact me for help with Business Studies. All the best with your studies! 😄
boredofstudies.org
Useful information to use for when you wish to strengthen your extended responses and/or when you're completing Marketing assignments. Do not hesitate to contact me for help with Business Studies. All the best with your studies! 😄
boredofstudies.org
Of course, remember to ask your teacher for explanation/clarification with respect to any concepts that you are unsure of and/or are struggling to understand.
I hope this helps!
