I completely blanked out on AN while studying for and sitting my half yearlies so much went on. I studied the whole week leading up to my half yearlies and just completely crammed my way through them. So much to the point where I was forgetting to eat dinner some nights and staying up late nervous I won't get things finished before my exams begun. This behaviour led to me getting quite sick through the whole two weeks of my exams. Yep. I was that person. The one that constantly sniffles then tries to blow their nose through the whole exam on the sly... Sorry for putting you through that torture.
Anywho, I'm going to give a brief summary of how I felt I went in my exams because I actually hand wrote it in a little book I keep to document my HSC and such.
3rd AprilExam 1: English Standard
The exam consisted of AOS Discovery short answer and creative writing piece and an essay on Module A: Run Lola Run
I spent the majority of my study time working on my creative writing piece and memorising it, I felt like it was the piece that I could get the most marks in, I didn't do any study on my short answer responses because I'm fairly confident in that section. I practically ignored the Module A essay section until 1 am the day of the exam... stupid I know. I had no related text for my essay and I had no structure set for the exam. I did a quick google "easy to learn related text for Run Lola Run" – with a little bit of digging I came across the poem Invictus, quickly broke it down and memorised three quotes and went into the exam hoping for the best. I wrote in my little book that I completed the exam in the order of Module A essay, Creative writing, Short answer. I skipped a 2 marker in the short answer so I was able to go back to my Module A essay and complete it which I left a body paragraph and a conclusion out.
Exam 2: Biology
The exam consisted of 9.4 Search for better health and 9.2 Maintaining a balance
I completed this exam pretty confidently, I had my study notes completed midday Sunday which left me the rest of the day to cram for English, not much revising was done but I did go through some past papers and look at exam questions to see what I was coming up against in the exam. I also worked off the AN Biology topic tests in my break between the two exams... absolute lifesaver it is, 100% go and get the AN notes and tests for all subjects so worth it. I completed the exam in a weird way, starting with the back of the exam, the 7 and 8 markers then going back to the beginning and working through normally. Overall I was happy with my Biology Exam
5th April:Exam 3: Mathematics General
Exam Consisted of FSHe1,2,3- Mathematics and health, DS4- Interpreting sets of data, DS5- The normal distribution, DS6 – Sampling and Population, MM5- Applications of trigonometry.
I sat about 4 exams under exam conditions in preparation for this task and I used the AtarNotes General Mathematics Topic Tests as well. This General Math exam was one of the hardest ones I've completed... well, it wasn't hard, I could do everything fine I just don't usually take as much time as I did, I worked nearly all the way up to the end of the exam. There was one question where my calculation was constantly -0.10 off the required answer and I couldn't figure out why so I can't wait to get the exam back to figure out wtf happened -.- But overall I was pretty confident in this exam.
10th AprilExam 4: Studies of Religion I
The exam consisted of Christianity depth study - Baptism extended response and Religion in Australia Post 1945
Census Data. Census Data. CENSUS DATA. I spent a lot of time memorising my Census Data and it came in handy, a significant amount of the short answer responses required information from census data to complete so thank you Elyse for drilling that into my head lol. I completed this exam in the order of the paper, multiple choice, short answer and extended response. I'm quite confident in my multiple choice, my short answer responses are debatable and I felt as though my extended response lacked structure and clarity. The results will tell I guess. I don't feel very confident in this exam. My lack of effective study is to blame here.
Exam 5: PDHPE
The exam consisted of Option - Sports Medicine and Health Priorities in Australia
I completed my study notes for PDHPE before the exam block started so I only had to revise the content in the lead up to the exam. I feel as though I did fairly well, there was a couple of multiple choice questions I guessed and a few short answers I had a little trouble with but other than that I think I did really well.
11th April:Exam 6: Business Studies
The exam consisted of Operations and Finance
Business was the exam I felt most underprepared for. I was stressing a lot and I found the night before that I hadn't even written notes for the whole of Operations strategies. It was too late to learn it so I just memorised the headings in the syllabus and hoped it wasnt tested. Which it wasn't for the most part. Phew. I was able to work my way around the questions I wasn't really clear and at least got something relavent down on paper so hopefully I'll get pity marks - if they're a thing. For the business report I ended up writing 6 pages worth, I'm hoping I didn't bore my teacher and that most the stuff in there was relevant. For the amount of pressure I placed on myself for this exam I think I did relativley okay.
In its entirety I think I learnt what does and doesnt work in my exam routine and what I need to do in the lead up to exams in the future. I think that I need to work a lot harder on my notes during the term rather than in the week leading up to the exam and I'll be a lot less stressed. Oh! and throughout all of this I didn't even cry! *highfives self* I'm proud of me
Anywho, School starts up again... *Checks time* *12.33am* Today. So I better get resting before I fall asleep in class tomorrow
Breakdown Count: Still 20HSCya Later,
Britt