Tips and strategies for HSC mathematics.

[Helen Phan]

Hi everyone,

I’ll be taking 3U mathematics in HSC this year.I see most of us are struggling with time management so i want to share with you my plan that I’ve been following for quite long time.
Honesty my coach, helped me make all parts of this plan, about tasks which are:
1. Not important and not urgent
2. Important and not urgent
3. Urgent and not important
4. Urgent and important
I usually spend more than 2 hours per night studying, so here is my pattern plan:
- 4:00pm:
Arrive home from school. Snack and relax for 30 minutes. Change into something casual.
- 4:30pm
Complete any homework assignments that have been given as overnight tasks.
- 5:00pm
Break 30 minutes. Do some light exercise or just go for an outside walk/jog
- 5:30pm
Evening meal.
- 6:30pm
Review notes from the day and organize my study material.
- 7:00pm
Review the main tasks that I have set myself for the week. This may require you to alter some other part of your weekly program. This task should take no more than 15 minutes.
- 7:15-8:00pm
Study or homework as per my goals for the week.
- 8:15-8:45
Study, take break every 30 minutes until 11:30pm

Hope that this timetable is useful here.

[jamonwindeyer]

Thanks for sharing Helen! Welcome to the forums

Love your plan - Maybe others could share theirs below?

[NowYouTseMe]

Just my two cents as another HSC student -
I personally find that any work attempted after 11pm outside of exam/assessment blocks just significantly decreases in quality. Also, having your breaks be mealtimes or commute time means you can maximise productivity.
My schedule roughly is:
4pm-6pm: getting any homework tasks done at my local library OR if there wasn't any for the day, I'd work on stuff that requires less actual thinking and more work, such as essay plans, maths papers, French writing tasks or note-taking from textbooks
6pm-6:30: travel home from the library/ quick break
6:30-7:30pm: dinner/break
7:30-11pm: work according to my allocated study tasks for the day (done on Sundays/throughout the week at school). If I finish all the work I need to, I stop.

That being said, this routine is basically the perfect day and it rarely happens. I am a really bad procrastinator so what I try and do is start exam prep before most of my grade does to make up for lost productivity. I'd be interested to see what tools everyone else uses to beat procrastination though.

[JTrudeau]

I did my HSC last year, but hopefully this is still helpful!
I am most definitely an early bird, so I found my productivity dwindled by the time it hit 9pm (unless I was on a roll, in which case I could work until 11). This is my schedule:
3pm-- Arrive home, catch up with family, take a breather.
3:15--5:30-- Study chunk 1. Completing in order: Homework, assignments/projects, independent study/practice exams. (It's basically Helen's urgent/important classifications)
5:30-6:30-- Dinner and evening walk
6:30-8:30 -- Study chunk 2. This time is mostly for writing study notes and whatever else is important (usually project work or practice exams). If there's nothing on, I'll give myself the break.

I consider myself more self-disciplined, so most days I can stick to this schedule pretty well. The Pomodoro technique (25 mins work, 5 mins break) helps a lot if you tend to lose focus quickly.
It gets easier with practice. Good luck!!

[Helen Phan]

Yeah,

I hope more people can come over and leave their tips for HSC here.
Anw, if there is anyone here wants to study as a group coaching with me, come to Penrith, Or somewhere in the internet, i'm so glad you come.

I really need someone who has the same goal- getting a high score in HSC to  implement each other in a comfort zone.
I'm not stellar, hope that there many plodder students here.

[annelee]

I'm doing my HSC this year
My plan is
4-4:30pm - get home from school + relax
4:30-dinner - do homework, then assignments, then catch up on any notes (in this order)
after dinner - 11pm - continue on homework, assignments or notes
after 11pm, depending on how much work i get done, it's either i go to bed or continue doing my work

also, i do have free periods during school so that's when some of my work gets done
for maths in general, i TRY to get at least one past paper done a week