19 Days to Go: 5 Things You NEED to be Doing

Your HSC exams are only 19 days away. Whilst that might seem scary, in reality it’s pretty damn exciting; in 19 days, you’ll be writing your last English Paper 1; in 19 days you’ll be able to discover how well your notes burn; in a little over 19 days, you will never have to sit an HSC exam ever again! But, all of this makes the next 19 days absolutely crucial in achieving the marks that you want. Here is how I think you should be dealing with the next few weeks in terms of study, motivation, ensuring you survive the marathon that is the HSC, and having some fun at the same time.

1. 19 Days of Smart Study

By this point, you should really have your study techniques down. You should have sets of notes at your finger tips, summaries whenever you need them, someone to Skype when you’re feeling panicked. That being said, if for whatever reason you DON’T have any of these things sorted, now is not the time to be putting together study notes. Rather, see if you can find some for FREE on our website, get some of a mate, do whatever you need to do to save yourself from wasting days and days putting together your own notes.

Ideally, you want to just be doing past papers from here on in. Past papers are the best way to identify where your weaknesses lie, and where you’re especially strong. Whenever you’re doing past papers, make sure to consider the following factors;

Timed Conditions

There is no point, at this stage, in doing past papers unless you’re under timed conditions. You need to know how much of a paper you can get through, how much time you have to check your answers, and how you work under pressure. You can pause your time and go and do other things, but make sure you’re always keeping track. This will help you develop your past paper technique.

Using your notes in progression

If you’ve read any of my past articles, you’ll know I’m a big advocate for having your full set of study notes, but then summarizing them into just the information you absolutely don’t know and plan to memorize to form ‘super notes’. When doing past papers, you should try not to use your notes. If you really don’t know an answer, try using your ‘super-notes’. Only use your extensive notes as a last resort.

Answer every question

No matter how dull, or how many times you’ve answered the same question, you need to repeat yourself. It will become second nature, which is important, because then the actual HSC exam will seem like just another practice paper.

Mark your work

This is obvious, but too many students don’t do it anyway. Mark any past paper you sit, and don’t do past papers you don’t have the answers to. Add up your marks and see how well you do, comparing your mark to other papers you’ve sat to check improvement. Write out mistakes you’ve made, and why you’ve made them. Then, move to the final step.

2. 19 days of improvement, not repetition

Whenever you’re doing past papers, make sure to keep a list of all the questions you don’t get. Just the question, and where the question’s answer can be found. Then, the next day, redo the question. If you get it right, cross it off your list. If you don’t, do it again the next day. Keep going so that you ACTUALLY LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES! This is potentially the most important aspect of doing past papers; identifying issues with your knowledge, and dealing with them appropriately.

This is seriously important; potentially, the most important part of doing past papers. If you’re super keen, get a bunch of friends to do this (ie. write a list of the questions that they struggle with). Then, send each other the questions and your answers, so you can compare work and ways of thinking.

If you’re not learning from the mistakes you make, then you’re basically missing the entire point of doing past papers. So, be diligent! Record questions you don’t understand, and repeat repeat repeat!

3. 19 days of talking to yourself

I always found that talking to myself was a seriously useful method of study. I would print out the dotpoints for a subjects, and basically just read the dotpoint and see how long I could talk about it. Talk to yourself on the way to school, in your room, in front of the mirror, to your family, to your friends, before you go to bed. I think it just helps solidify your understanding; try to be succinct but also include all relevant information wherever possible. Check what you’ve said against your notes to ensure accuracy.

A lot of my friends actually recorded themselves, and listened to the recording on the bus, when they went to sleep etc. etc. etc. If you think that may work for you, then I would seriously recommend it! You’re not crazy if you do this, I promise 🙂

4. 19 days of think about why you’re doing this

The HSC is a seriously tough year, and if you’ve made it this far then I suspect you’ve got some sort of motivation. That could be your chosen university degree, the tertiary education you want to receive, travel plans with friends, or even just being done with the whole HSC year. Whatever it is, now is the time to think about it more than ever. If you’re excited to go traveling, spend some time each day looking up photos of your desired destinations; if you’re excited to join the workforce, think about what you’ll spend all that money on! Whatever it is, motivation is key.

You’ve heard before that the HSC is a marathon, not a sprint; this is equally true for the HSC exams themselves. Because they’re so spread out, and you have so much time to yourself, in your room, its seriously important that you take breaks. Obviously, you should go outside, do exercise, do whatever else you need to do, but factor some time in for doing what you enjoy, or researching what you are looking forward to the most.

5. 19 days of complaining to your friends

Don’t forget that, when it comes to HSC stress, you’re all in this together. Each one of you is as worried about English as each other, you’re all hoping for that one essay question, and you’re all just waiting for it all to be over. This next 19 days isn’t a time to ignore your friends, and refuse to go outside to see them; now is the time to go to parties, have study sessions with your mates, and more than anything message each other with words of support and love. The experience becomes so much easier when you know you have people around you to support you, and sending a single text can be so so helpful to a person’s well being.

So, ask your friends to meet you for coffee, ask that person you’ve always been meaning to ask out for a post-English date, whatever you need to do to get you through the day. Just don’t pretend you’re in it alone; your friends are here for you, and we’re here for you.

Speaking of us being here for you, did you know that we’re running FREE HSC revision lectures this weekend? If you want to get an edge, learn some stuff, gain some study techniques and get out of the house, join us for a quick revision of your HSC curriculum! Additionally, if you ever need support in terms of content, or even want your essays marked, why don’t you have a look at our free online tutoring service?