HSC Class of 2017 Discussion Thread

[KarenCho]

Hey guys!

Do we have any Class of 2017 NSW students who are just starting their Preliminary course?
I started this thread so that we can all find each other and hopefully be able to help each other develop good study habits in our trial year, discuss subject choices for HSC because choosing what to drop/pick up later on can be super hard for some and, for the most part, have a conversation we can understand without the Class of 2016 people discussing topics we've yet to cover.

There isn't that big a community yet for non-final year students, but hopefully there are some of you guys, like me, who have decided to start early and make the most of this amazing community!

- Karen

[Alyssapensini]

Hey Karen!

I'm in class of 2017! So glad there's someone else on here

Alyssa

[jakesilove]

Glad to see there is Class of 2017 involvement! Definitely check out the various forums (there are quite a few Preliminary questions), as well as the resources we release (most of the study techniques will absolutely apply to Year 11!).

If you have any questions, jump onto the forum. We're trying to build a HUGE community, so getting your friends onto Atar Notes is the best way to make sure that we keep releasing consistently high quality content, for free, for you. Looking forward to lots of interaction with your year group

Jake

[KarenCho]

Hey Karen!

I'm in class of 2017! So glad there's someone else on here

Alyssa

Hey Alyssa
So nice to meet you - there aren't that many of us on here yet, but hopefully they will come once they realise how awesome the resources and stuff are here! What subjects are you doing for your prelims?

Glad to see there is Class of 2017 involvement! Definitely check out the various forums (there are quite a few Preliminary questions), as well as the resources we release (most of the study techniques will absolutely apply to Year 11!).

If you have any questions, jump onto the forum. We're trying to build a HUGE community, so getting your friends onto Atar Notes is the best way to make sure that we keep releasing consistently high quality content, for free, for you. Looking forward to lots of interaction with your year group

Jake

Thanks Jake! What you, Elyse and Jamon have been doing has been amazing for the HSC community and I'm sure heaps more people will come to appreciate your hard work as the word spreads.

[Alyssapensini]

I'm doing
2U mathematics
Legal studies
Advanced English
1U religion
CAFS
PDHPE
Drama

[cindybuynh]

Hello guys,
My name is Cindy and I am also going to be a part of 2017!
I am extremely excited and anxious to start the hsc in term 4 

[qazser]

Could a kind soul explain how HSC works? Especially with the 5-6 different types of English and Maths.

[caitlynmoore]

Glad someone made a post for this!

I'm currently undergoing a compressed curriculum. Instead of having 6 subjects, "Year 11" for Preliminary and "Year 12" for HSC, I have 3 subjects each year, double periods each day and sit my HSC exams twice technically. I have a term and a half of Prelim (which starts 5 weeks into the end of term 4) and 2 terms of HSC. Interesting as I have less subjects to study yet double the pace of the topics to catch up to.

But saying that, I finish school in 2017! I'm currently taking English Advanced and Extension 1, Chemistry and Music 1 and I'm looking to do Modern History, Advanced and Extension Mathematics and Biology next year. Glad there are some 2017 graduates here, here's to the two years to come!

[KarenCho]

I'm doing
2U mathematics
Legal studies
Advanced English
1U religion
CAFS
PDHPE
Drama

Hello guys,
My name is Cindy and I am also going to be a part of 2017!
I am extremely excited and anxious to start the hsc in term 4 

Nice to meet you guys!!

Could a kind soul explain how HSC works? Especially with the 5-6 different types of English and Maths.

Sure! So in the your Preliminary year (usually year 11) you take a minimum of 12 units, and in your HSC year (usually year 12) you must take a minimum of 10 units. More info in the spoiler tab

Spoiler

Most subjects are worth 2 units each, however Maths and English have additional units (3 and 4 unit options). There are also some other subjects that are 1 unit subjects, such as Sports, Lifestyle & Recreation (SLR), Photography etc. For 2 unit courses, you get a mark out of 100, whereas for 1 unit courses you get a mark out of 50.

Maths
- General Maths (2 units)
- Advanced Maths (2 units)
- Extension 1 Maths (1 unit)
- Extension 2 Maths (1 unit)
So for maths, you can either choose to do only General Maths, only Advanced Maths, or Advanced Maths with just Ext 1, or Advanced Maths with Ext 1 and Ext 2. So, you can do either 2, 3 or 4 units of maths, each option being harder than the one previous. You can only take up Extension 2 Maths in Year 12 after having done well in Extension 1 Maths in Year 11 though.

English
- English as a Second Language (2 units)
- Standard English (2 units)
- Advanced English (2 units)
- Extension 1 English (1 unit)
- Extension 2 English (1 unit)
Works pretty much the same as the maths courses, except that while with maths, all content carries on, each unit of english is separate. For example, you would study a different text in your Advanced English class as compared to your Extension 1 English class. So you can take any one of the 2 unit options, or take Advanced English and then add on units from the 1 unit options.

There are some other 1 unit subjects, such as History Extension, which can only be picked up in Year 12 after having completed a History course in Year 11, but don't worry too much about something like that.

Does that make sense? Feel free to continue asking and/or PM me if you didn't get that and I'll try to explain it better I totally understand how it would be super hard to understand - I was super confused at first too! 

Glad someone made a post for this!

I'm currently undergoing a compressed curriculum. Instead of having 6 subjects, "Year 11" for Preliminary and "Year 12" for HSC, I have 3 subjects each year, double periods each day and sit my HSC exams twice technically. I have a term and a half of Prelim (which starts 5 weeks into the end of term 4) and 2 terms of HSC. Interesting as I have less subjects to study yet double the pace of the topics to catch up to.

But saying that, I finish school in 2017! I'm currently taking English Advanced and Extension 1, Chemistry and Music 1 and I'm looking to do Modern History, Advanced and Extension Mathematics and Biology next year. Glad there are some 2017 graduates here, here's to the two years to come!

Ooh, that's really interesting! What type of course would you be taking/what kind of program would allow for you to do this? That seems pretty cool because then you can sort of focus more on fewer subjects within that one year, as opposed to remembering stuff for a greater number of subjects throughout the two years.

- Karen

[Redsavage]

Hi guys, my name is Caroline. Forget about my stupid username..I looked through all the 3U math in yr 11 and find it's kind of easy. Should I keep practice or start to look at 4U? I think I'm kind of worried about 4U math cause all my friends are keep telling me that 4U math are bloody hard works. If I'm going to start looking 4U math what topic should I start with? Or should I just go with the syllabus dot points?

[Belkelly]

Hi Everyone!

I'm from Wagga Class of 2017. I'm sitting my HSC Bio and Modern History exam at the end of this year tho and i'm finding this site really helpful. If you have any tips at all regarding Bio and Modern History (WW1, Conflict in Europe, Albert Speer, and Germany 1918-1939) I would be very grateful!!!
Thanks

[KarenCho]

Hi guys, my name is Caroline. Forget about my stupid username..I looked through all the 3U math in yr 11 and find it's kind of easy. Should I keep practice or start to look at 4U? I think I'm kind of worried about 4U math cause all my friends are keep telling me that 4U math are bloody hard works. If I'm going to start looking 4U math what topic should I start with? Or should I just go with the syllabus dot points?

Hey! I personally don't take maths, but hopefully someone here does! Perhaps take a look at a 4U textbook/resources if you can get your hands on that kind of thing - you might find some at your school library? It will definitely be harder, but if you find 3U to be easy and you're up for a challenge, I'm sure you could do well!
For finding out more about where to start, I would recommend speaking to Jake at this forum, as he's super helpful with that kind of thing

Hi Everyone!

I'm from Wagga Class of 2017. I'm sitting my HSC Bio and Modern History exam at the end of this year tho and i'm finding this site really helpful. If you have any tips at all regarding Bio and Modern History (WW1, Conflict in Europe, Albert Speer, and Germany 1918-1939) I would be very grateful!!!
Thanks

Hey!! It's great to meet you! I also do modern history, but not at the HSC level yet. However, I would recommend checking out the following forums -

modern history
- notes
- essay marking
- advice
- memorising stats

biology
- notes
- advice

Hope that helps!

- Karen

[Belkelly]

Wow! Thanks Karen, these links are really helpful! Lovin this site, so handy.
ttyl

Belkelly 

[KarenCho]

Wow! Thanks Karen, these links are really helpful! Lovin this site, so handy.
ttyl

Belkelly 

No worries! I'm glad you found them to be useful. Best of luck with your exams!! 

[Alana99]

Hi guys!
My name is Alana and I'm also in the 'Class Of 2017.' So glad there's a group like this!