Is Homework vital?

[Kaan709]

Hey, I'm wondering if all Homework tasks given are vital for the HSC. I understand that with subjects like Math, you need to do it. But for subjects like English, Biology, Legal, will it be better if I just make notes, study, actually understand the topic, or even finish my assessment tasks?

[RuiAce]

My teachers rarely ever set homework for science. I think they knew that notes are important, and there usually isn't that much homework they can possibly set you.

That being said, when they did set homework it was always with good reason. Occasionally, it was just cause the teacher was too slow, which is also potentially impacted on by an unsettled period 6 class or something. But usually, in the instance that they actually bothered to set homework it was because the concepts taught were more difficult to understand. More skills in the science courses actually had to be used for this question, than just memorisation.

If your teacher is setting you homework on random questions and not checking them, then provided you include (or incorporate) what would've been homework into your notes then that's probably fair enough. But if a teacher either gives you a hand-in question that they'll mark, or they give you questions on largely skill-based concepts, then I'd say do them.

Final decision is your own though. And never forget time management; it's always hard, but you need to juggle between what you have to do. Especially stuff like assessment tasks.

[jamonwindeyer]

Hey, I'm wondering if all Homework tasks given are vital for the HSC. I understand that with subjects like Math, you need to do it. But for subjects like English, Biology, Legal, will it be better if I just make notes, study, actually understand the topic, or even finish my assessment tasks?

Hey Kaan! I definitely see where you are coming from in saying that, and at times I'd absolutely agree! Certain homework tasks can be a little pointless (EG - Sometimes, extended research activities go beyond the syllabus and are thus useless). Often though, homework tasks are a way to consolidate your knowledge and apply it. For Legal, you might get textbook questions that give you a chance to practice a short answer style question for your HSC. Maybe the same for Bio. Research you do for English could give you more arguments for your essay.

I suppose the idea is; homework is often study wearing a disguise. Usually it will seriously benefit you to do it! Could other things benefit you more? Perhaps; only you know yourself how useful a specific task will be to your learning. That said, good teachers will always set homework tasks for your long term benefit not just because they can

[bluecarraway]

Hey, I'm wondering if all Homework tasks given are vital for the HSC. I understand that with subjects like Math, you need to do it. But for subjects like English, Biology, Legal, will it be better if I just make notes, study, actually understand the topic, or even finish my assessment tasks?

As already mentioned, homework may be assigned to complete tasks if you're class is a little bit behind where you should be, or for simply consolidating your knowledge. These are definitely valid reasons why homework should be done.

One of my teachers actually told me not to do homework in the week before the exam.There are definitely going to be teachers still assigning you hw in the last few days coming into the exam that won't even be tested! my teacher strongly suggested to just simply focus on studying - specifically if the hw isnt relevant to the exam- on the basis that us students are getting way too overwhelmed with tasks needing to be done.