Taking a science or even a variety of sciences for HSC has proven great difficulty in not only recalling such complex concepts, but also applying your own understanding to do well in any of these courses. I did Chemistry and Investigating science during my HSC year and there was a perceptible difference between those who just reached the minimum understanding of science and those who understood and applied their knowledge of the course to do extremely well. Here’s a guide to how to smash any science during your HSC year, with the most efficient study!

Structuring your notes

For HSC, sciences are notorious for the content heavy components where it’s almost seemed scatterbrained, and to an extent, some pieces can be arbitrary. However, the way you set your notes can be the difference between you doing decent and doing well. Here are some steps to achieve more visually organised notes, to better recall info that I used in both my prelim and HSC year!

The following pictures are my own HSC Chemistry Notes:

Ways to study for HSC Science

1. Write notes in dot points. Writing in dot point form is much easier for you to read and revise; it breaks up blocks of texts and separates them into chunks that is clearer to understand and recall content to solidify your own understanding of the topic. It also helps you condense your notes to make it much more concise and coherent.

2. Include visuals aids such as diagrams, acronyms and tables. Including these visual aids will make you much more inclined to study them as they aren’t formatted in blocks of texts. They also assist in visually remembering how the notes were set up and what was included. At the end of the day, as a HSC student, your main goal is to remember as much content you can, and adding such will help the brain process information faster and hence, help you to save time while understanding a concept.

But how much should I write for each syllabus dot point?

1) Look at the Verb

I wrote this advice for someone else in the VCE Forum, but I would set my notes and how much I wrote my notes would be based on the verbs given on each dot points. For example, the HSC Biology dot points for module 6 would be “Evaluate the effects of mutation, gene flow and genetic drift on the gene pool of populations”. In this dot point, the verb is evaluate, which means “Make a judgement based on criteria; determine the value of”. In other words, evaluate is to explain both the positive and the negative aspects of the subject, and give an overall judgement. Because ‘evaluate’ is a high order term (high order terms can include assess, synthesise, examine etc), this means you would need more extensive notes because questions revolving around this dot point, could have a higher mark allocation (5-9 markers). You may also need to dedicate half a page to a page for this information in order to grasp an extensive understanding of the dot point.

In contrast, low order terms such as outline, identify and describe would not require as much notes written since a basic understanding is required and questions revolving around these low order terms could be 2-4 markers, so these could be 3-5 dot points as it does to need much concentration on details.

2) “Conduct an Investigation…”

So for all the HSC Science Syllabi, they will manifest the dot point “Conduct an Investigation”. Now a lot of students just write substantial, detailed notes about the dot point, however, this is a skills-based dot point. This means that you knowing the content inside out is simply not enough; you need to also be able to make a practical write up. So when you see this dot point, you need to write a procedure that is relevant to the dot point to showcase your understanding of a practical application, as there is a good chance it could appear in trial exams or even your own HSC Exam.

The following are some examples of my own procedures within these dot points:

Best ways to study for HSC Science

3) Write out calculations steps

For the sciences such as physics and chemistry, it is inevitable there are going to be calculations. However, for the most part, some are repetitive, so writing the steps for your studies is extremely beneficial. What I did was I would use a bunch of flash cards, on one side, I would write down the relevant calculations and the typical information supplied in the problems such as “Calculate the concentration of a solution, when given the mass of the solution and volume”, and then on the other side, I would write the following steps, which would look like this:

1. Calculate the moles of the solution using the n=m/mm
2. Convert the given measurement of volume into litres if given in mL (do this by dividing that volume by 1000)
3. Calculate concentration of solution by c=n/v, where n refers to the moles found from step 1 and v refers to volume found from step 2
4. Round answer 3 significant figures, unless specified in the question

Doing this assists in familiarising you with the steps, especially with harder calculations. Because you are working in a methodical process, it begins to become second nature and eventually, you won’t even need to look at them!

Know, Understand and Apply

This is a 3 step process that you must be familiar with leading up to HSC. Science is not just about rote learning the relevant content, but rather, showing your own ability to apply this knowledge in a practical means such as past papers. This is why past papers are of indispensable value; they give you an opportunity to show how flexible your knowledge is through answering questions in a legible, yet concise response. As you practice this more, you become much more aware on what not include, how to execute your response in a logical form and maximising your marks through moulding an ideal answer that effectively addresses the question. By doing this consistently throughout your HSC year, you will become an expert on how to answer a question, without overwriting or writing too little.

Past Papers

When you do past papers, keep challenging yourself. Yes, HSC papers provide a fundamental basis on what questions to expect, however if you really want to prepare yourself for any difficulty that could be provided, do trial papers. Even though it is a new syllabus, old syllabus trial papers are still relevant! You would just have select the questions appropriate for your syllabus. This a great way to challenge yourself, as you become much more exposed to the possible difficulty of questions that could be set.

During my own studies, I did trial papers with the old syllabus when my HSC Chemistry exams was coming up, to see if my understanding and ability to answer questions was enough to answer harder questions. Fortunately, this acted in my favour, as I knew how do some of the harder multiple choice questions and short answers!

Following these tips will help you smash any HSC Science course you undertake, whilst also consistently solidifying your own understanding and application of the subject. In turn, you will gain a better appreciation for the workings of any science itself. All the best for your HSC Science studies!