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March 28, 2024, 11:40:32 pm

Poll

How are you feeling about your Trials?

Totally smashed them, bring on the HSC!
A few little issues, but I'm happy overall!
I've got some kinks I need to iron out...
What even is Discovery?
#rekt

Author Topic: CSSA Sound Off Thread  (Read 12835 times)

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sudodds

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Re: CSSA Sound Off Thread
« Reply #15 on: August 19, 2016, 08:39:23 pm »
+1
The weighted pen is a great idea, I've taken to just taping a AA battery to the end of my normal pens and its helped me build up some strength. I've definitely noticed an improvement but other people I've chatted to haven't noticed any difference, so either way its worth a shot.

When your hand starts cramping its 110% worth pausing for just 5 seconds and giving your hand and wrist a shake/massage. I sometimes use those seconds to take a swig of water as well. Figure out the shittiest aspects of your hand writing and make a conscious effort to keep on correcting them as you write, e.g. my s's get straighter and just look like random lines so even in the most intense moments I always have this in the back of my mind. Check out this article for more info: http://atarnotes.com/handwriting-improving-speed-neatness-and-legibility/

Overall it sounds cliche and boring but its true that the more practise you do under timed conditions, the faster you'll get and your hand will hurt less. Good luck!
P.S. those Trial results are BLOODY AWESOME, top job  8)

Awesome tips! I'll definitely make an effort to implement them thank you! I think a big part of my problem is that when I running write, my letters tend to blur together, so that the first letter of the word is clear, but the rest of it just looks like a squiggle. I'm sure your tips will help a bunch  :D
And thank you! I'm feeling a lot better now than last week thats for sure!
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2016 HSC: Modern History (18th in NSW) | History Extension (2nd place in the HTA Extension History Essay Prize) | Ancient History | Drama | English Advanced | Studies of Religion I | Economics

ATAR: 97.80

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Looking for a history tutor? I'm ya girl! Feel free to send me a PM if you're interested!

birdwing341

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Re: CSSA Sound Off Thread
« Reply #16 on: August 20, 2016, 07:25:09 pm »
+2
Awesome tips! I'll definitely make an effort to implement them thank you! I think a big part of my problem is that when I running write, my letters tend to blur together, so that the first letter of the word is clear, but the rest of it just looks like a squiggle. I'm sure your tips will help a bunch  :D
And thank you! I'm feeling a lot better now than last week thats for sure!

I don't want to ruin the weighted pen party, but I've found that in my experience writing with a weighted pen might give your hand strength, but actually makes my handwriting worse in the exam. Idk, but for me when I used a weighted pen, my hand moved in a pattern according to that pen's smoothness (which was pretty hard because of its weight). So when I change pens just before the exam, my hand struggles to compensate for the ease at which I could now write, and so my letters are a lot bigger and more jumbly and much harder to read (and even slower than normal). That's just my experience with the battery/weighted pen idea. But if you think it might work then its up to you :)

BTW great job in your trials!!!

RuiAce

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Re: CSSA Sound Off Thread
« Reply #17 on: August 20, 2016, 07:27:33 pm »
+1
There is some controversy over the battery on the pen.

I remember my friends' biology teacher criticising the usage of the increased weight on normal hand function.

sudodds

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Re: CSSA Sound Off Thread
« Reply #18 on: August 20, 2016, 07:35:07 pm »
0
I don't want to ruin the weighted pen party, but I've found that in my experience writing with a weighted pen might give your hand strength, but actually makes my handwriting worse in the exam. Idk, but for me when I used a weighted pen, my hand moved in a pattern according to that pen's smoothness (which was pretty hard because of its weight). So when I change pens just before the exam, my hand struggles to compensate for the ease at which I could now write, and so my letters are a lot bigger and more jumbly and much harder to read (and even slower than normal). That's just my experience with the battery/weighted pen idea. But if you think it might work then its up to you :)

BTW great job in your trials!!!

Ahh okay, what I think I might do then is use a weighted pen for the next month and a half to build up strength, but switch back to a normal pen early so that I can have time to get used to the lighter weight, and in that time just focus on the actual style and legibility of my handwriting :)

And thank you! I hope all of yours went okay as well :)
FREE HISTORY EXTENSION LECTURE - CLICK HERE FOR INFO!

2016 HSC: Modern History (18th in NSW) | History Extension (2nd place in the HTA Extension History Essay Prize) | Ancient History | Drama | English Advanced | Studies of Religion I | Economics

ATAR: 97.80

Studying a Bachelor of Communications: Media Arts and Production at UTS 😊

Looking for a history tutor? I'm ya girl! Feel free to send me a PM if you're interested!

jamonwindeyer

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Re: CSSA Sound Off Thread
« Reply #19 on: August 21, 2016, 12:14:08 am »
+2
There is some controversy over the battery on the pen.

I remember my friends' biology teacher criticising the usage of the increased weight on normal hand function.

The picture of a high school biology teacher giving medical advice is hilarious in my head (they could very well be qualified to do so mind you, just a funny image ;) )

For what its worth my girlfriend used the battery on the pen idea and really liked it, she swapped back a week or two before the exams :) never did it consistently myself :P

Perhaps we should develop a series of hand yoga techniques? ;)


conic curve

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Re: CSSA Sound Off Thread
« Reply #20 on: August 22, 2016, 08:41:41 am »
0
There is some controversy over the battery on the pen.

I remember my friends' biology teacher criticising the usage of the increased weight on normal hand function.

Oh yeah that

I thought it would increase my handwriting speed, turns out it didn't  ???

Sanaz

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Re: CSSA Sound Off Thread
« Reply #21 on: August 24, 2016, 10:23:48 pm »
0
I know this might sound silly to you all but after the trials I am not really looking forward to the HSC, in fact, i am scared sh*tless! I just hope I can achieve an ATAR of 97. I'm not sure if that goal is attainable since i screwed up maths and chemistry.
My marks are as follows;
English Adv: 97
Chemistry: 82.5
Physics: 95
Biology: 94.5
Maths 2U: 80
Maths extension 47.5 (out of a hundred) yesss i failed :(

I'm just worried that my teachers mark easy and that I am not going to get a mark anywhere near 97 in my final HSC.
Do I still have hope?  :-\ I'm sure I have made many grammatical errors in this post, a 97 is surely not reflective of my abilities. 
« Last Edit: August 24, 2016, 10:27:18 pm by Sanaz »

RuiAce

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Re: CSSA Sound Off Thread
« Reply #22 on: August 24, 2016, 10:25:57 pm »
0
I know this might sound silly to you all but after the trials I am not really looking forward to the HSC, in fact, i am scared sh*tless! I just hope I can achieve an ATAR of 97. I'm not sure if that goal is attainable since i screwed up maths and chemistry.
my marks are:
English Adv: 97
Chemistry: 82.5
Physics: 95
Biology: 94.5
Maths 2U: 80
Maths extension 47.5 (out of a hundred) yesss i failed :(

I'm just worried that my teachers mark easy and that I am not going to get a mark anywhere near 97 in my final HSC.
Do I still have hope?  :-\
Before you start panicking, have you read this?

Sanaz

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Re: CSSA Sound Off Thread
« Reply #23 on: August 24, 2016, 10:29:33 pm »
0
Before you start panicking, have you read this?

Sorry I've started applying for university and the ATAR cutoffs are making me panic! haha gotta love physio... Yes actually I did read that post before I came on here. I don't feel as if the marks I received are a reflection of my ability.
« Last Edit: August 24, 2016, 10:31:28 pm by Sanaz »

RuiAce

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Re: CSSA Sound Off Thread
« Reply #24 on: August 24, 2016, 10:38:29 pm »
+1
Sorry I've started applying for university and the ATAR cutoffs are making me panic! haha gotta love physio... Yes actually I did read that post before I came on here. I don't feel as if the marks I received are a reflection of my ability.
If you don't feel they are a reflection of your ability then you have a good idea of where your ability is at. So your first course of action would now be to prepare such that on the day you will, at the very least, perform at your true ability right now. Then we can talk about improvements and properly pushing towards the goals.

The ATAR cutoffs are not the end of it because there's usually more than one means of getting in. And I also know that the two guys that got 99.8 didn't expect their ATAR to be all the way at the upper end either, nor me with mine as well actually. It just happens when you try hard enough - you exceed your expectations.

studybuddy7777

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Re: CSSA Sound Off Thread
« Reply #25 on: August 27, 2016, 07:16:24 am »
0
Are your ranks or your marks more important?

I am in the Top 10 for the subjects I have got back but have performed relatively miserably..

6th in Senior- yet only a mark of 72%
7th in Bio- yet only a mark of 67%
9th in Gen Maths- yet only a mark of 67%
10th for Eng Adv Paper 2- yet only a mark of 70%.

Do the ranks or the marks matter? Thanks all for advice

RuiAce

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Re: CSSA Sound Off Thread
« Reply #26 on: August 27, 2016, 08:18:36 am »
0
Are your ranks or your marks more important?

I am in the Top 10 for the subjects I have got back but have performed relatively miserably..

6th in Senior- yet only a mark of 72%
7th in Bio- yet only a mark of 67%
9th in Gen Maths- yet only a mark of 67%
10th for Eng Adv Paper 2- yet only a mark of 70%.

Do the ranks or the marks matter? Thanks all for advice
Always your ranks.

Your marks themselves don't matter at all. It's your relative mark differences that matter. Your mark (that gets submitted) should not be too far away from 1st place

Ranks decide where abouts your final internal mark will lie. Relative mark differences decide how close/far you'll be from the top of the cohort

birdwing341

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Re: CSSA Sound Off Thread
« Reply #27 on: August 27, 2016, 05:36:30 pm »
0
Are your ranks or your marks more important?

I am in the Top 10 for the subjects I have got back but have performed relatively miserably..

6th in Senior- yet only a mark of 72%
7th in Bio- yet only a mark of 67%
9th in Gen Maths- yet only a mark of 67%
10th for Eng Adv Paper 2- yet only a mark of 70%.

Do the ranks or the marks matter? Thanks all for advice

Because these seem to be your trial marks, I just wanted to clarify something. Your marks matter until all of your assessments are completed and your total internal mark and rank are calculated. Afterwards only your rank matters.

Just wanted to say that because if you get rank 10 in trials, but you were rank 25 before, your overall rank is not just an average of these two :)

RuiAce

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Re: CSSA Sound Off Thread
« Reply #28 on: August 27, 2016, 05:38:52 pm »
0
Because these seem to be your trial marks, I just wanted to clarify something. Your marks matter until all of your assessments are completed and your total internal mark and rank are calculated. Afterwards only your rank matters.

Just wanted to say that because if you get rank 10 in trials, but you were rank 25 before, your overall rank is not just an average of these two :)
Very much true. But I'd hope that every student would understand what "weighting on assessments" mean by the time they're in Yr 12.

birdwing341

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Re: CSSA Sound Off Thread
« Reply #29 on: August 28, 2016, 12:56:44 pm »
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Very much true. But I'd hope that every student would understand what "weighting on assessments" mean by the time they're in Yr 12.

You can't always assume these things :)