HSC Journal- No Idea How This Is Going to Go...

[StudyBuddyKJ]

Hey!!
Okay, so let me just say, you're not the only one in this situation. I assure you, about everyone I know is drowning aswell - myself included. What's worse is, I'm literally the worst procrastinator in the world. Which brings me to think, while I seriously admire your hardwork, is it possible that you're pushing yourself too hard? Sometimes I need that I need to take a day off to rejuvenate, otherwise I find that my brain does not retain any information at all - particularly if I do not want to be doing work at that point in time. This probably sounds bad from your perspective, but I think you just need balance - it will help you so much more than you probably imagine. Believe it or not, I study about 5 hours MAX on a GOOD day, on TOP of working a casual job 20 hours per week and am ranked in the top 3 for all my subjects at the moment, with a mark of 100 for legal. It's not easy, I can tell you that straight off the bat. In fact, I went to parent teacher interviews yesterday and all my teachers said that I'm "looking at a band 6", which made me have a literal mental breakdown because I feel like I'm going to disappoint them in the end. There is so much pressure, whether your marks are good or not. My half yearlies are in less than a week and I'm slacking off so hard too - it's killing me. While I know I've done a lot of preparation in advance, it never feels good enough. I think the thing is, you can't ever be complacent. With ANYTHING. Start your prep early though, that always saves my ass. Make sure you send in multiple drafts to your teacher as well - I do a shit ton of essays on past HSC questions, which brings up my confidence exorbitantly. It's time consuming, but worth it for sure.

Don't doubt yourself like that. You know, in year 11, my marks were absolute shit. They were nowhere near as high or consistent as they are now (my marks ranged from 20-85 across my subjects) and I thought that I was naturally bound to mark fluctuations because I kept bombing exams despite studying so hard - I basically had no life lol. I always knew I was intelligent and smart but somehow my marks were not reflective of this and it made me question whether I actually was or not. It made me so angry and upset and all kinds of disappointed - this fluctuation in marks never seemed to occur to my friends. A year later, my marks are all within the 86-100 range. I was so ecstatic when I got my first assessment marks back for Year 12, because I literally thought this was impossible. But that feeling was honestly incredible. Seek out your errors and work on them. It pays off. Good luck!!

You are honestly so kind. Thank you for those words, you really made me feel a whole lot better about myself and my own self perception. Grades have always been a huge struggle for me to deal with because they impact on my self esteem so much. Your words really gave me hope. I hope I can learn more from you about balance, because you seem to be really good at that (like honestly, you work through HSC. I wish my time management skills were that good). I hope I get to hear more from you and thank you once again for your kindness.

[Lumenoria]

You are honestly so kind. Thank you for those words, you really made me feel a whole lot better about myself and my own self perception. Grades have always been a huge struggle for me to deal with because they impact on my self esteem so much. Your words really gave me hope. I hope I can learn more from you about balance, because you seem to be really good at that (like honestly, you work through HSC. I wish my time management skills were that good). I hope I get to hear more from you and thank you once again for your kindness.

Aw not a problem! Hahaha, my weekends are spent strictly like this: 5 hours in the library, 5 hours at work. I think working forces me to manage my time better, because I literally cannot afford to procrastinate. And I love the people I work with - being surrounded by non-HSC stressing people is its own special thing, idk HAHAHA.

And dude, don't worry. I'm literally the same - I'm so emotionally attached to my marks that I think it's actually unhealthy HAHHAHAHA. My teachers have pointed this out several times too, but I can't help it. I remember one time in year 9 (yes fucking year 9, when no one should have been obsessed with their marks), I got 68 in my maths test and I was balling my eyes out when I walked home that day because my friend beat me by 4 marks. I think it's because my 2 best friends are very academically inclined too, and we never admit it, but we all know deep down that we're quietly competing with eachother. I don't think competition is ideal, but I think this is beneficial in the sense that it pushes us all to study as much as each other. In the end, we all have the same goals academically so it's really nice to have people in real life to express my tribulations to (in regard to study) that no one else could possibly care/understand. So essentially, surround yourself with people who are likeminded if you don't have that already - whether it's a study group or what not. It works wonders. Also, maintain strong relationships with your teachers!! I feel this is often undermined, but it is so, so crucial in my opinion. I've had a fair share of cries to my English teacher (about personal issues beyond academic frustrations), and I've found that having the insight of a trusted adult is so rejuvenating, as opposed to just your peers. Honestly. My legal studies teacher is also my mentor, and I feel comfortable enough to just hit her up with any questions or rants I may have and she is ALWAYS so good with advice. This is imperative imo.

I'm so worried about my half-yearlies because I have a feeling I'm going to fail one of them (failing in my books is <80) due to lack of prep. I know for a fact that it will kill me mentally if it comes to fruition, but I'm trying to look past that possibility and focus on what I CAN do in the moment. It's easier said than done though, but you just have to make a start. I literally had a mental breakdown yesterday because I got so overwhelmed looking at the sheer amount of study that I was beset with for economics, and my motivation levels were subdued for the rest of the day. I spent it fully in irrational thought a contemplating dropping out of school, how life would be so much better if that happened etc. I ended up just skimming through news articles online for legal for the rest of the day, nothing else. But today, I spent 5 hours straight in the library writing out essays for potential legal questions USING evidence I'd acquired from those perusals.

I think for legal, it's absolutely imperative that you're on top of your cases and stuff like that. Check the news for contemporary reports everyday, I've liked a paraphernalia of reputable news sources on Facebook, aswell as enabling notifications for them on my phone. My sources mainly emanate from scholars, which I find have the best rounded information, such as The Conversation, UNSW Law Journals etc. For news, I find The Guardian, Reuters, SMH, The Australian and ABC are the way to go. Our teacher never gives us the question for the essay, so I never regurgitate anything EVER. What I do, is know my shit inside out and formulate sophisticated arguments before the exam - for all of the possible and probables. I ensure I know all of the relevant evidence behind everything that can be assessed; all the amendments to contemporary issues, media responses, Law Commission reports, statistics etc. I write several practice responses sporadically when I'm studying and send them to my teacher. I've written 4 in preparation for my upcoming legal exam this Tuesday, which I think is a good amount. I make sure the issues I centralise my paragraph overlap a variety of syllabus dot points - that way I'm maximising my efficiency by cutting down study time, with a little bit of tweaking of course. I never memorise essays however, because it's far too risky when there are so many possibilities. But I find that, because I've written so many practise responses, they come to my mind naturally anyway. Always have fallback cases for when in doubt. I have gotten 25/25 on every single legal essay I've done with this method, except for one which I got 23/25 in. And I prefer to write on issues that I'm passionate about (that is pertinent to the syllabus in some way of course), because it fuels my writing power lol. I'm 99% sure the reason behind my success in legal is because I love the subject. So, IMMERSE YOURSELF IN THE SUBJECT. It is so interesting if you voluntarily expend efforts into it. I literally just waste hours reading law journals because I genuinely am fascinated by them.

Not sure how this turned out to be so long, but I hope it helped in some way!! I really understand how you feel, and it sucks for sure. I have spent days just contemplating the meaning of my existence over bad marks in the past, truly. I hope it gets better for you!! When are your exams?

[StudyBuddyKJ]

Aw not a problem! Hahaha, my weekends are spent strictly like this: 5 hours in the library, 5 hours at work. I think working forces me to manage my time better, because I literally cannot afford to procrastinate. And I love the people I work with - being surrounded by non-HSC stressing people is its own special thing, idk HAHAHA.

And dude, don't worry. I'm literally the same - I'm so emotionally attached to my marks that I think it's actually unhealthy HAHHAHAHA. My teachers have pointed this out several times too, but I can't help it. I remember one time in year 9 (yes fucking year 9, when no one should have been obsessed with their marks), I got 68 in my maths test and I was balling my eyes out when I walked home that day because my friend beat me by 4 marks. I think it's because my 2 best friends are very academically inclined too, and we never admit it, but we all know deep down that we're quietly competing with eachother. I don't think competition is ideal, but I think this is beneficial in the sense that it pushes us all to study as much as each other. In the end, we all have the same goals academically so it's really nice to have people in real life to express my tribulations to (in regard to study) that no one else could possibly care/understand. So essentially, surround yourself with people who are likeminded if you don't have that already - whether it's a study group or what not. It works wonders. Also, maintain strong relationships with your teachers!! I feel this is often undermined, but it is so, so crucial in my opinion. I've had a fair share of cries to my English teacher (about personal issues beyond academic frustrations), and I've found that having the insight of a trusted adult is so rejuvenating, as opposed to just your peers. Honestly. My legal studies teacher is also my mentor, and I feel comfortable enough to just hit her up with any questions or rants I may have and she is ALWAYS so good with advice. This is imperative imo.

I'm so worried about my half-yearlies because I have a feeling I'm going to fail one of them (failing in my books is <80) due to lack of prep. I know for a fact that it will kill me mentally if it comes to fruition, but I'm trying to look past that possibility and focus on what I CAN do in the moment. It's easier said than done though, but you just have to make a start. I literally had a mental breakdown yesterday because I got so overwhelmed looking at the sheer amount of study that I was beset with for economics, and my motivation levels were subdued for the rest of the day. I spent it fully in irrational thought a contemplating dropping out of school, how life would be so much better if that happened etc. I ended up just skimming through news articles online for legal for the rest of the day, nothing else. But today, I spent 5 hours straight in the library writing out essays for potential legal questions USING evidence I'd acquired from those perusals.

I think for legal, it's absolutely imperative that you're on top of your cases and stuff like that. Check the news for contemporary reports everyday, I've liked a paraphernalia of reputable news sources on Facebook, aswell as enabling notifications for them on my phone. My sources mainly emanate from scholars, which I find have the best rounded information, such as The Conversation, UNSW Law Journals etc. For news, I find The Guardian, Reuters, SMH, The Australian and ABC are the way to go. Our teacher never gives us the question for the essay, so I never regurgitate anything EVER. What I do, is know my shit inside out and formulate sophisticated arguments before the exam - for all of the possible and probables. I ensure I know all of the relevant evidence behind everything that can be assessed; all the amendments to contemporary issues, media responses, Law Commission reports, statistics etc. I write several practice responses sporadically when I'm studying and send them to my teacher. I've written 4 in preparation for my upcoming legal exam this Tuesday, which I think is a good amount. I make sure the issues I centralise my paragraph overlap a variety of syllabus dot points - that way I'm maximising my efficiency by cutting down study time, with a little bit of tweaking of course. I never memorise essays however, because it's far too risky when there are so many possibilities. But I find that, because I've written so many practise responses, they come to my mind naturally anyway. Always have fallback cases for when in doubt. I have gotten 25/25 on every single legal essay I've done with this method, except for one which I got 23/25 in. And I prefer to write on issues that I'm passionate about (that is pertinent to the syllabus in some way of course), because it fuels my writing power lol. I'm 99% sure the reason behind my success in legal is because I love the subject. So, IMMERSE YOURSELF IN THE SUBJECT. It is so interesting if you voluntarily expend efforts into it. I literally just waste hours reading law journals because I genuinely am fascinated by them.

Not sure how this turned out to be so long, but I hope it helped in some way!! I really understand how you feel, and it sucks for sure. I have spent days just contemplating the meaning of my existence over bad marks in the past, truly. I hope it gets better for you!! When are your exams?

Hey Lumenoria,

Honestly I need so much guidance from you in terms of Legal. It is currently my worst subject and honestly your marks are goals, I wish I got your advice at the start of the year before my legal tasks. Initially, I wanted to do law at university, but seeing as how bad I am compared to the rest of the class (literally the lowest in the class), I feel like I should give up on that, because I don't want to have to slog 6 years of my life in competition with others. I have already been doing that 6 years in my high school lol.

Speaking of marks, I am glad I have someone to relate to. Marks have had such a negative impact on my self worth. I have so many cases of me having a melt down because of my grades in the recent exam. No matter how much or how hard I study, my marks are never as high as the grades of the kids around me. Except for English, I have never gotten a mark that was considered outstanding or particularly exceptional. For example in Year 10 maths, I would get around 80+ marks, whereas everyone around me would get 90+ marks. When I look back, I think "Man, my study methods were really inefficient. I shouldn't have wasted my time in just doing all the textbook questions, I should have practiced past papers instead." And this was a common occurrence. In years 7-8, I was around the top of my cohort. But then in the following years 9, 10 and 11, I found my grades dropping. I was no longer at the top anymore. In fact, my grades were around middle of the cohort and slightly below average (by like one or two percent). No matter how hard I studied, my grades wouldn't go up. In year 10, my ranks were really low, so low that in year 11, I wasn't selected for being a school prefect because my grades were around average. That felt really disheartening because I had worked so hard and put so much pressure in order to achieve.  In year 11, it was the same thing. I tried super hard and put so much pressure on myself to get the best marks, even more pressure than before. I ended up burning out till the end of the year, where I aced some exams and flunked some. My self confidence was at an ultimate low.

This year at least, my aim was not to put so much pressure on myself, relax and stay balanced. That did help considerably. I wasn't as panicked as before. But now, as you saw in my previous entry, that my marks are yet again below average, despite me trying so hard. My marks have put such a negative impact on me, that I find myself considering dropping out of my school and running away to a distant land. So far, I haven't done that yet. I am trying to reaffirm this notion that marks are not a reflection of my self worth, and that just because my marks were not as good as everyone elses, doesn't make me any less of a person. It is hard thinking this way, because of all the years of brainwashing myself to think I wasn't good enough because of my less than superior grades. Back in earlier years, I thought I was pretty intelligent. Now at a competitive school, I feel less than everyone else, because everyone is super smart, well rounded and accomplished, and I'm not.

I'm trying to overcome this day after day. Maybe one day it will get easier. As for half yearlies, I am freaking out. I am in a mad rush trying to memorise everything, and I honestly feel like I am going to fail ALL of them. And my idea of fail is below 85%. My exams start next week tuesday and finish the week after onWednesday.

Today, I literally just started doing a maths past paper (which I flunked, just over 50%, so need to revise a lot because I had forgotten a lot of the concepts). I was sick for the past two days, so I couldn't do as much revision. In terms of legal and eco, I am honestly so screwed because I am trying to memorise as much as possible, but I feel like nothing is going into my head. I am literally panicking in my head. I just wish I can freeze time for like a year so I can prep for these exams and be confident. I am so scared AHHHHHH. I feel like I am the only person who is legit screwed. Teach me how to be as beast as you in legal Lumenoria! The exam is two essays (one family, one crime) and you have to know the entire damn syllabus. How do I prep for everything and ace it! Its out of 70 (30 multiple choice, 25 family law essay and 15 mark crime essay). I need to get above 90 so I have some chance in getting a band 6 (looking impossible so far). HELP!

[emilyygeorgexx]

Hey Lumenoria,

Honestly I need so much guidance from you in terms of Legal. It is currently my worst subject and honestly your marks are goals, I wish I got your advice at the start of the year before my legal tasks. Initially, I wanted to do law at university, but seeing as how bad I am compared to the rest of the class (literally the lowest in the class), I feel like I should give up on that, because I don't want to have to slog 6 years of my life in competition with others. I have already been doing that 6 years in my high school lol.

Speaking of marks, I am glad I have someone to relate to. Marks have had such a negative impact on my self worth. I have so many cases of me having a melt down because of my grades in the recent exam. No matter how much or how hard I study, my marks are never as high as the grades of the kids around me. Except for English, I have never gotten a mark that was considered outstanding or particularly exceptional. For example in Year 10 maths, I would get around 80+ marks, whereas everyone around me would get 90+ marks. When I look back, I think "Man, my study methods were really inefficient. I shouldn't have wasted my time in just doing all the textbook questions, I should have practiced past papers instead." And this was a common occurrence. In years 7-8, I was around the top of my cohort. But then in the following years 9, 10 and 11, I found my grades dropping. I was no longer at the top anymore. In fact, my grades were around middle of the cohort and slightly below average (by like one or two percent). No matter how hard I studied, my grades wouldn't go up. In year 10, my ranks were really low, so low that in year 11, I wasn't selected for being a school prefect because my grades were around average. That felt really disheartening because I had worked so hard and put so much pressure in order to achieve.  In year 11, it was the same thing. I tried super hard and put so much pressure on myself to get the best marks, even more pressure than before. I ended up burning out till the end of the year, where I aced some exams and flunked some. My self confidence was at an ultimate low.

This year at least, my aim was not to put so much pressure on myself, relax and stay balanced. That did help considerably. I wasn't as panicked as before. But now, as you saw in my previous entry, that my marks are yet again below average, despite me trying so hard. My marks have put such a negative impact on me, that I find myself considering dropping out of my school and running away to a distant land. So far, I haven't done that yet. I am trying to reaffirm this notion that marks are not a reflection of my self worth, and that just because my marks were not as good as everyone elses, doesn't make me any less of a person. It is hard thinking this way, because of all the years of brainwashing myself to think I wasn't good enough because of my less than superior grades. Back in earlier years, I thought I was pretty intelligent. Now at a competitive school, I feel less than everyone else, because everyone is super smart, well rounded and accomplished, and I'm not.

I'm trying to overcome this day after day. Maybe one day it will get easier. As for half yearlies, I am freaking out. I am in a mad rush trying to memorise everything, and I honestly feel like I am going to fail ALL of them. And my idea of fail is below 85%. My exams start next week tuesday and finish the week after onWednesday.

Today, I literally just started doing a maths past paper (which I flunked, just over 50%, so need to revise a lot because I had forgotten a lot of the concepts). I was sick for the past two days, so I couldn't do as much revision. In terms of legal and eco, I am honestly so screwed because I am trying to memorise as much as possible, but I feel like nothing is going into my head. I am literally panicking in my head. I just wish I can freeze time for like a year so I can prep for these exams and be confident. I am so scared AHHHHHH. I feel like I am the only person who is legit screwed. Teach me how to be as beast as you in legal Lumenoria! The exam is two essays (one family, one crime) and you have to know the entire damn syllabus. How do I prep for everything and ace it! Its out of 70 (30 multiple choice, 25 family law essay and 15 mark crime essay). I need to get above 90 so I have some chance in getting a band 6 (looking impossible so far). HELP!

Hey!

I'm no Lumenoria but in regards to her preparation for legal, I 100% agree with her. You need to constantly prepare different essays for any possibility that you can think of. I had my legal half yearly on Tuesday and I did multiple essay plans for my crime and world order essays, thinking of how they could ask any question relating to any dot point in the syllabus. As soon as the reading time start I turned straight to the essay questions and it was utter relief. The 2 essay questions were both ones I had done an essay plan for, and yes even though it's tedious it can ultimately pay off in the end. In legal because you always need to refer to CONTEMPORARY CASES, it is literally so important that you are using laws, cases and media that are recent. For example, one of my options is world order so right now I am constantly keeping up with the issues in Syria and North Korea so I can use all this info in my essays, which will make you stand out from everyone else. Even just using more recent laws, cases, media can jump you a few ranks!

Have also seen your posts about eco and I literally feel you. I had my eco half yearly yesterday and even though the essay questions were what I predicted them to be, the multiple choice and some short answer was hard. I literally feel my eco exams are always the hardest. I studied for eco 16 hours straight the previous day (not healthy, don't do it because right now I am so tired) and I literally don't even know if it will pay off at this point.

Anyways the weeks leading up to my half yearlies I definitely hit rock bottom but I know I just had to push through and get stuff done.

But I believe in you. I know you can do it, and I am sure you'll do amazing in your upcoming half yearlies!

All the best of luck!

[StudyBuddyKJ]

Been studying so hard for half yearlies in the past few days, that I am starting to wear myself down. I think I am studying too hard and putting too much pressure on myself. The trouble is, I don't know how to relax and stop forcing information down my throat. I'm so tired already 

[StudyBuddyKJ]

Did so much productive work today!

In the morning, I practiced for Unseen texts, Discovery, and wrote a brief essay plan. Then afterwards, I did a whole practice paper in time limit conditions (2 unit) in 2 hours, marked it and went through it. Then I did legal, where I wrote a complete essay on International Crime and made myself learn the majority of the necessary content. Go me! So proud of myself rn. I feel like I am finally on track today!

[jamonwindeyer]

Seems like you turned a bit of lethargy this morning into a killer productive Easter Sunday! Nicely done, and so nice to see such positivity!

[StudyBuddyKJ]

Seems like you turned a bit of lethargy this morning into a killer productive Easter Sunday! Nicely done, and so nice to see such positivity!

Lol thanks Jamon. Tbh I dont know how I got so much done. I feel like it was just adrenaline from half yearly stress

[StudyBuddyKJ]

Well this is officially the last day of prep that I have before my half yearly exams start. Having studied so late last night, I woke up pretty late (like 9) but still refreshed somewhat so that is a good thing (I hope). My head slightly hurts, and my stomach is getting queasy...I think its just exam nerves. I have been procrastinating on getting my work started because of how stressed and alarmed I feel. I know that I shouldn't be stressing about exams because they are just another part of life..yada yada yada, but that has been a problem for me for ages. Exams freak me out. Without exams, I can easily and confidently express how much I know, but then you put the pressure of time limit as well as the pressure of ranks, and I freak. Even though I have been studying hard for the past week, I feel this gutwrenching sensation that the information has not sunk in and that I don't know anything. I feel a bit paralysed and unwilling to do any work right (hence why I am procrastinating on ATARnotes writing this post instead of actually getting started). I know that still I have to work really really hard today because this is the last day I have got before my exams start! AHHHH exams, HSC plz help! These exams are major!

I don't know how the 99+ achievers and the duxes do it honestly. I feel like they are heaps smarter than I am, or just better test takers. I really need some advice on how to stay calm for these exams, because right now I can't seem to get rid of my nerves. I am sitting on my laptop with bags under my eyes, my hair is a mess, I haven't showered, and just the thought of picking up my pencil and books is freaking me out. I know that I need to work, but I just can't seem to get started. I'm panicking ahhh! I can't seem to study in this mental state.

At this post, everything seems like a dead end. I need to pick myself up over this slump and just pray to God that nothing goes wrong. I want these exams to go really well, but I also have this sickening sense of dread that something is going to screw me over, and I don't know how to prevent it. I feel like I am doomed already.

DEEP BREATH, DEEP BREATH... okay, this is what I will do. I will go take a shower, wash my hair, go for a quick walk and listen to music, then come back, and churn out heaps of productive work. I also need to make sure I am on top of my game, by getting a good nights sleep. The goal here is not to freak out and to do as much as humanly possible. it shouldn;t be too hard, seeing as how much work I have been doing in the past four days. Someone please wave their magic wand so that my nerves go away. I know this is not the end of the world, but I feel like it is! I feel like everyone is wayyy more prepared for half yearlies than I am! Am I the only one who feels so underprepared?

I should stop rambling and figure out a way to be super productive today and ace all my exams, without letting my nerves, fear and self doubt consume me. This is my last shot. I shouldn't be wasting time. I should be working. Trouble is, I am panicked! Just the thought of exams is scaring me. How do I begin to study when I am so panicked! AHHHHHH 

[StudyBuddyKJ]

Lol, it's been a day after my initial day of panic yesterday. Felt a bit better but was still nervous. Started the day off pretty well, I woke up early, had breakfast, tried to chill, read through my notes and made sure I knew my stuff. Came early to the exam venue, gossiped with friends, sat the English exam and yeah...

The exam wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I rocked the essay component because I analysed the scene first hand before whilst studying. However, I did find that I spent 10 minutes extra in writing my essay and finishing it, because I spent the first 5 minutes in planning out my essay. It did help me a lot because I was writing out my essay on the spot. It wasn't actually hard writing it because I knew my content so well and I could easily answer the question. However, I do wish I memorised a pre-planned essay because it would have given me extra security. I'll do that the next time round.

As for the unseen texts component, it was really tricky and the some of the texts were really obscure in terms of discovery, but I'm just glad I finished it. Now the worst part by far, was the creative writing component. Now I am the worst at creative writing. I did have a prepared creative ready, but because I was doing that last, I found that I forgot half my creative already and the stimulus was so obscure. I am horrible at writing on the spot. My plotline and stories sound like a Year 3 person is writing it. So I definitely did not do well in that section    I guess I am just going to have to work harder at creative writing because that is not my strength.

Well, I'm just glad that at least one exam is over and done with. I feel pretty confident with math, but I am expecting the worst and hoping for the best. I feel slightly prepared as I have done like 6 past papers (should have done more, but I got sick on some of the days, so oh well, can't really do anything about that). I have to make sure I kill it in the maths test! Hopefully I do well!

[fantasticbeasts3]

Glad to hear you came out of that exam alright! Don’t worry too much about your marks now – what’s done is done, and all you can do now is focus your efforts on your next exam.

Best of luck with maths!

[StudyBuddyKJ]

Okay, so today was the maths 2 unit half yearly and....

TBH again it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I focused on my weak points whilst studying, to find out that it wasn't even in the exam! Overall, I found the exam do-able.

One positive thing I got from the test though- I didn't run out of time as I managed it pretty well. This was a big improvement from my previous maths 2 unit test in which I didn't do as well (didn't fail entirely, but definitely not up to standard). In  the previous 2 unit exam I sat, I ran out of time and made silly mistakes, and I skipped questions that I could have easily solved had I managed my time properly. Plus there was the fact that in the previous test, the paper was ridiculuously long. i was struggling to finish it. Luckily in this exam, that wasn't the case. In this exam, I finished with 20 minutes to spare, so I can go back and fix the difficult questions. I didn't have time to check the whole paper though, but I think I did okay.

One negative thing- there were some questions I found tricky, and some I just had to leave out because I had no idea how to solve and get the answer. I did attempt the question, but I just couldnt get the solution...it was so frustrating. After doing the exam, I felt like I did okay, but then I spoke to my friends about the questions I found difficult, and found to my shock that they got a completely different answer to what I got. Now I am a little bit scared and doubting myself a lot, but anyway can't do anything about it.

Hope I did well though. Anyway, I have two days to study and revise Legal and Eco, which are the worst so far because both of them are super content heavy, and require essays (which I suck at writing), so I feel definitely screwed for both Legal and Eco. And worse, they are on the same day which means either I will forget some of my information or my hand is going to die mid way whilst writing. I'll have to cram as hard as possible. If I can get through the two exams all in one shot without screwing up anything then it would be a miracle.

Anyway, praying for my ATAR now! I better go and start building up motivation and cram for both Eco and Legal (ugh).

[StudyBuddyKJ]

Well, I have just completed my legal studies half yearly and my eco half yearly, and both of them did not go too well...

In my legal exam, there was just one essay question that I did not prepare, and lo behold it was in the exam. I was utterly screwed. I crammed so much info yet in the test I experienced a mind blank. I barely knew the multiple choice.

Same in my eco exam, I blanked out in the test and forgot a major component of what I studied. I definitely know I flunked both of them. I felt so terrible that I literally just cried after the end of the two exams. I was so stressed, so tired and so vulnerable after attempting to cram in so much content and still experiencing a mind blank where I couldn't recall a majority of the information.

Anyway, the only thing is, the tests are over. The bad thing is, I know I didn't do well. 

Hit a low point. Hope I can stop beating myself up about it and move on.

[Lumenoria]

Well, I have just completed my legal studies half yearly and my eco half yearly, and both of them did not go too well...

In my legal exam, there was just one essay question that I did not prepare, and lo behold it was in the exam. I was utterly screwed. I crammed so much info yet in the test I experienced a mind blank. I barely knew the multiple choice.

Same in my eco exam, I blanked out in the test and forgot a major component of what I studied. I definitely know I flunked both of them. I felt so terrible that I literally just cried after the end of the two exams. I was so stressed, so tired and so vulnerable after attempting to cram in so much content and still experiencing a mind blank where I couldn't recall a majority of the information.

Anyway, the only thing is, the tests are over. The bad thing is, I know I didn't do well. 

Hit a low point. Hope I can stop beating myself up about it and move on.

Jesus, you had economics and legal on the same day? That's just cruel, they're both so content heavy wtf haha - I struggled with having them both one day apart! That aside, fair enough, I completely understand why you must be feeling this way. I had my economics exam today, and for one of the EASIEST multiple choice questions, I got it right initially but CHANGED it in the last 5 minutes to something that I KNEW was wrong but did it anyway just in case of a "what if" scenario. This was literally just a result of the exam pressure, where it is notoriously easy to drown in an irrational mindset - where you can't think or seem to function properly. For the rest of the day, that error just ate away at my sanity and I couldn't get it off my mind but honestly the only way to curb this irrationality is to know your shit SO well that it overrides any possibility of this happening.

This brings me to my next point ,how are you "cramming" this info? There is a substantial difference between just taking notes with the assumption it'll go into your brain versus actually reinforcing this knowledge by testing yourself, through multiple choice, short answers etc. I find note taking basically useless, the ONLY way for information to stick in my brain is to do a shit tonne of past papers. That way, I truly know what I don't know and hence fill in the gaps in my knowledge by revising that content again after, then doing ANOTHER past paper until I'm confident in all my answers. This is particularly important for short answers and essays imo.

Personally, I am never REALLY studying on the days directly before the exam. I usually have my knowledge consolidated well before that so that in the lead up to the exams (3 days - a week before), all I'm really doing is refining my exam technique (HSC past papers). It sounds like a fat trek yes, but it is MUCH better than having a mind blank in the exam when you're confronted with the realisation that you don't actually know the information. For my economics exam today, I was cramming these papers for 10 hours straight last night because I didn't have time to do as many as usual due to how close my exams were together. I did all the half-yearly papers I could find online, as well as multiple trial papers from other schools - probably 7-8 in total? I was able to comprehensively answer most of these, which reduced my stress a lot. I think the reason you had a mind blank may possibly be because you're forcing too much into your brain in a short span of time? It is much, much easier to let the content sink into your brain over the term as opposed to just 2 days, and is WAY more effective too.

Remember, this exam is infinitesimal in the grand scheme of things. I know it is easy to dictate your self worth based on your performance in these exams - trust me, I'm notorious for doing this - but the reality is, all you can do is expend this energy into maximising your performance for your upcoming exams! Good luck, please take it easy on yourself You have 2 more chances to redeem yourself from this, this doesn't make or break you!!

[StudyBuddyKJ]

Jesus, you had economics and legal on the same day? That's just cruel, they're both so content heavy wtf haha - I struggled with having them both one day apart! That aside, fair enough, I completely understand why you must be feeling this way. I had my economics exam today, and for one of the EASIEST multiple choice questions, I got it right initially but CHANGED it in the last 5 minutes to something that I KNEW was wrong but did it anyway just in case of a "what if" scenario. This was literally just a result of the exam pressure, where it is notoriously easy to drown in an irrational mindset - where you can't think or seem to function properly. For the rest of the day, that error just ate away at my sanity and I couldn't get it off my mind but honestly the only way to curb this irrationality is to know your shit SO well that it overrides any possibility of this happening.

This brings me to my next point ,how are you "cramming" this info? There is a substantial difference between just taking notes with the assumption it'll go into your brain versus actually reinforcing this knowledge by testing yourself, through multiple choice, short answers etc. I find note taking basically useless, the ONLY way for information to stick in my brain is to do a shit tonne of past papers. That way, I truly know what I don't know and hence fill in the gaps in my knowledge by revising that content again after, then doing ANOTHER past paper until I'm confident in all my answers. This is particularly important for short answers and essays imo.

Personally, I am never REALLY studying on the days directly before the exam. I usually have my knowledge consolidated well before that so that in the lead up to the exams (3 days - a week before), all I'm really doing is refining my exam technique (HSC past papers). It sounds like a fat trek yes, but it is MUCH better than having a mind blank in the exam when you're confronted with the realisation that you don't actually know the information. For my economics exam today, I was cramming these papers for 10 hours straight last night because I didn't have time to do as many as usual due to how close my exams were together. I did all the half-yearly papers I could find online, as well as multiple trial papers from other schools - probably 7-8 in total? I was able to comprehensively answer most of these, which reduced my stress a lot. I think the reason you had a mind blank may possibly be because you're forcing too much into your brain in a short span of time? It is much, much easier to let the content sink into your brain over the term as opposed to just 2 days, and is WAY more effective too.

Remember, this exam is infinitesimal in the grand scheme of things. I know it is easy to dictate your self worth based on your performance in these exams - trust me, I'm notorious for doing this - but the reality is, all you can do is expend this energy into maximising your performance for your upcoming exams! Good luck, please take it easy on yourself You have 2 more chances to redeem yourself from this, this doesn't make or break you!!

Hey,

Well I would imagine that my study strategy did not work. I spent too much time working on essays and trying to memorise them, and that stressed me out so much. Although I wanted to do past paper questions and practice them under time conditions, I simply did not have time as I barely knew the content well. It was just a horrible situation where my brain decided to give up on me. Hence, why in order to make the load easier on myself, I am going to drop one humanity based subject- either eco or legal.