If you need any extra support moving forward, with study techniques or with specific questions, you might want to check out my free online HSC tutoring service!

Flash back: it’s the start of the holidays, and you have a whole list of tasks to look forward to (or not). Summarise those dotpoints for Legal studies, write three essays for English. Maybe even do a couple past papers, if you were feeling optimistic!

Flash forward: it’s the start of a new term, and you may have ‘forgotten’ to do the work you planned to do. Sure, you looked over your notes from the first half of the year, and yeah you wrote an introduction for Module A, but when you go to tick things off your list, you find yourself wondering what the hell you were thinking. It’s an easy thing to justify; for Autumn, the weather has been goddamned gorgeous, so any day not spent at the beach was a waste of a day. Plus, it was your holidays! You deserved a break after the amount of effort you put into the first two terms of Year 12. Maybe, though, you should have taken a bit less of a break…

But none of that matters now: you are where you are, and there’s no changing that. If you’ve smashed out a huge amount of work over the break, and feel absolutely confident moving forward, then congratulations to you! That is an amazing feat, and you should be really proud. For everyone else, it is time to evaluate where you are, decide where you want to be, and start your journey.

Dealing with half-yearly results: a good start

How you went in your most recent exams is a good indicator of where you are at in your HSC. Now I don’t mean to say that the actual mark you got is going to impact on your ATAR; to blatantly steal from an article Jamon wrote earlier which you can find here:

“Think of it this way. Say you were aiming for 80% in your exam, and you got 55% instead. So you lost 25% of the mark for your half yearly, compared to where you wanted to be.

The average half yearly is worth about 30% of your internal school assessment mark. So you lose about 7 marks from your total.

7 marks, from your school assessment mark. That mark only counts for roughly half of your final mark, so let’s approximate it to 3.

3 marks, ignoring all the scaling and the moderation and stuff, is worth 3 out of 500 marks for your aggregate, which turns into an ATAR. So 3 out of 500, 0.6%, so maybe a 0.1 of an ATAR point? At the most?” ~ Jamon Windeyer, Mathematical Realist.

So the mark itself doesn’t matter too much, however it a good starting point in figuring out where you’re at. If you were really happy with your marks, then that’s a good sign that what you have been doing so far is working really well. Keep employing those study techniques, keep writing notes in whatever way you have been, and keep on keeping on.

However, if you were less happy with your results (to reiterate, this does not matter in the scheme of things), maybe it is time to re-evaluate how you are approaching the HSC in general. This could mean realising that you are setting too high an expectation on yourself (if you’re aiming for 100%, you’re going to be disappointed). It could also mean that your study techniques, note writing etc. is not working as well as it should be. Everyone has a different way of studying, and each mind is unique in the way it takes in information.

Overall, I would strongly recommend going over all of your half-yearly results, and figuring out where to go from here with regards to each subject. Maybe you’re completely fine with your current technique for Maths, but clearly need to mix up your study pattern for English. That is totally, totally fine; you’re still finding your feet in the HSC, and by the time end of year exams role around you’re going to be golden. Right now is the time to identify these issues, and try to move forward.

So much to do, so little time…

Like I said, you are where you are, and so looking forward you shouldn’t stress too much about the past. Whilst the holidays would have been a great time to get your notes together, let’s face it; most students just don’t do it. The sun was out, the skies were blue, and your textbooks were closed.

Looking forward, especially considering that you probably have plenty of upcoming assessments and assignments due, you need to manage your time well. Unlike the holidays, you won’t have days at a time to study with nothing else to worry about. You have homework and specific things coming up. Managing your time is vital.

Let’s look at some ways that you can study smart, not hard.

     1.     Each subject is Unique; Treat Them Differently!

It’s pretty easy to tell that the way you are going to study for Extension 2 Maths is quite different to the way you are going to study for Extension 2 English. The learning goals of Biology will be not be like the learning goals of Drama (I assume, having not done either). You are now in a position to use your half-yearly results to figure out exactly how to study for each subject.

Now that we’ve accepted that the method of study is different, my recommendation is to write out a detailed list for each subjects, containing both study options and study tips.

When I say study options, I mean exactly how you could study for that subject (and how you should study for that subject). If you are writing out a list for Mathematics, for instance, it could include a) Going over your Teacher’s notes, b) Looking through and summarising the theory outlined in your Textbook, c) Answering Textbook questions, in conjunction with your notes, d) Answering Textbook questions without your notes, e) Doing HSC past papers using your notes, f) Doing HSC past papers without your notes etc.

Notice that my list is very, very specific. This is because, when you’re not sure how to start your study for that day, you should be able to look at your list and make a start straight away. Thinking about the best ways to study for each subject will make the experience so, so much easier for you. If you haven’t done this already, I would recommend getting on it as early as possible. You’ll see what a difference it makes!

     2.     Remember That There are More Resources Out There Than You Think

Don’t restrict yourself to just your textbook, or notes you’ve taken in class. Sometimes the most effective study is spending half an hour watching YouTube videos explaining a concept. Websites like Kahn Academy do a great job of explaining Science and Maths concepts.

Being able to visually see something in action is generally the best way to remember it. Don’t think you’re wasting time by watching documentaries or animations to do with a topic you are studying: See if you can test yourself before, and after, watching some videos. You’ll see that your data retention ability has skyrocketed!

One resource that students’ often forget about are their teachers. If you are really struggling, or even just want to be extended, make a meeting over lunch with your teacher. Get them to talk you through some concepts, ask them about what kind of questions you could get, or where they think you need to specifically improve. Teachers, in generally, know their stuff. They’re there to help you; use them!

    3.     Two Heads are Better Than One (and Three are Better than Two…)

I couldn’t recommend working in groups more. The only reason I understood most of the Physics and Chemistry concepts was due to group conversations. I’m not going to go more in-depth regarding the ridiculousness of the notion that “working in groups will make my ATAR worse”; all I’ll say is that this idea is just untrue. Working in groups, if anything, is going to boost your ATAR. If you can understand a concept well enough to be able to explain it, or if you’re struggling and need an explanation other than your teacher’s, your peers are your best resource.

If you can, put together a group of people that you can study with and meet up once every two weeks. Go over difficult content, look through some past papers, but mainly just talk to each other about the curriculum. Bouncing ideas back and forward is such a good way to retain information, develop thesis’, understand complex ideas, pinpoint which areas you aren’t so strong with, and solidify concepts you do understand.

Offer to help the students’ around you, because explaining concepts is the best way to know that you understand them. Helping your cohort can be purely selfish: by helping them, you’re really just helping yourself. Also, it sort of feels good to help out your friends.

4.      Manage Your Time; Mo’ Hours = Mo’ Problems

By utilising the tips outlined above, you’ll be minimising the number of hours you have to look forward to studying for sure! However, even just knowing where to start with study on a given day is tricky. For a great guide outlining the best ways to balance study between all of your subjects, click here!

I recommend writing a detailed list of the tasks you need to complete in a day. The amount of pleasure I get from ticking off a whole bunch of things is probably a bit excessive, but making it seem like you’re really achieving something is a great way to stay motivated. Don’t just endlessly study for a subject; you won’t know when to stop, or how to balance your time. Set yourself specific goals, and once you have achieved them, move on to something else!

This is a great practice to get into, because not only will it help you study more productively, but honestly it will just make your life so much more organised. By implementing a list-making mentality, things won’t fall through the cracks!

Remember that there is still so much time to get everything together. Everything will be okay, and moving forward in the year it is a good idea to have some sort of strategy. Whether that is the one you have been using in the past, or a new one you create now, having a method to this madness is key.

If you need any extra support moving forward, with study techniques or with specific questions, you might want to check out my free online HSC tutoring service!