University preferences have now opened - and the HSC looms.
For most students, what they end up doing next year, in terms of university, college or otherwise, comes down to the next two months - the month prior to HSC exams, and then of course, the exams themselves.
So, what should students be doing in the next month to prepare for the HSC and maximize their performance and chance of getting into the course and university of their choice?
Based on our research with NSW's top students (top two per cent), we have laid out 6 principles which students need to stick to if they want to excel in their final exams.
What are they?
1. Evaluate Exam Performance.
This of course might be fairly evident, but should certainly not be overlooked. The trials, as the name suggests was a trial - it is designed to help you identify areas of weakness that requires improvement,
so that you can work on it and not make the same mistake for the HSC.
When evaluating your exam performance consider objectively the following:
* Your understanding on the syllabus and content
* Your exam preparation - so how did you study?
* What did you do the night before and morning of the exam?
* What was your exam technique like?
* Did you make silly mistakes? Why?
Write down a list of things you could do to improve each one of these, and use these to inform your study and preparation in the next month.
2. Calculate Marks Required to Achieve ATAR.
The HSC exams are worth 50% of your total HSC Marks. This means is it an excellent opportunity to improve your marks. The first step you should do is work out what course you want to get into.
Look through your UAC Course guide, and then get onto www.uniaustralia.com.au to read university student reviews on all universities and courses. After you have found the course you want to study,
use the ATAR score required, and head to an online ATAR calculator, such as the Bored of Studies SAM (available at: http://www.boredofstudies.org/) and work out the marks required in each subject
to achieve this score.
Using your current marks, work out what marks you will need to achieve in the HSC Exams to achieve this score. For full instructions on how to calculate this see: http://bit.ly/9zfUs5.
This will give you a clear goal to strive for in the next month.
3. Create a Wall Chart.
Why? You only have one month to achieve a number of things - you need to memorize your notes, write practice essays, complete practice papers, and work on weak areas, for a minimum of 10 units!
Without a set plan, actually achieving all of this will be extremely difficult! The purpose of creating a wall chart is to identify exactly (in great detail) what you need to achieve for each subject in the time remaining.
How should you create this wall chart? Get a piece of A3 or A4 paper for each subject, and write the mark that you are aiming for at the top of the sheet (that you worked out from Step 2). Then, write
a to-do list of everything you need to achieve (e.g. specific essay questions, specific past papers, specific topics that require notes etc), and then prioritize this list based on immediate importance. Use each subject's Wall Chart as your guiding light. Whenever you study the subject in question, work on the highest prioritized item that remains incomplete.
Make sure you use your objective analysis of your performance in your trials to inform the tasks you put down on your wall chart.
4. Get Notes up to Date.
Your notes are the foundation of your knowledge. Let's face it. Textbooks and exercise books are not effective to study from. They have large chunks of text which are not conducive for memory retention, are not organized in ways conducive to memory retention, and have lots of unnecessary information.
Use your evaluation of your exam performance to work out whether or not you had gaps in your knowledge. Use this to go back and improve the quality of your notes.
See the following article for more details on how to write notes that boost memory retention: http://bit.ly/cK3qtb
5. Write Practice Essays.
Writing practice essays is a must! Writing is a great way to really ramp up memory retention. Reading notes on texts or topics will give you 10 per cent memory retention after two weeks. Writing - up to
90 per cent!! (due to it being an active form of study)
So, write essays. It will help you learnt the content exceptionally well and prepare you for essay questions in exams. If you run out of time to write full essays - write dot point essays which cover the
structure. This way at least you have spent time thinking about how to respond.
6. Re-Write Notes & Essays.
Yes. That's right. Write it out. Again and again and again. Write out your notes, and essays at least 2-3 times to really solidify your memory.
For essays - re-write them under exam conditions to slightly new questions. This will help you learn the material, and develop a skill of adapting your content to new questions under time pressures.
For more on re-writing, see: http://bit.ly/d9R5Cy
7. Practice Papers.
Finally, complete loads and loads of practice papers.
A note of warning - do not dive straight into these without strong knowledge on the subject.
Why?
The answers you write will not be accurate, but you will input these into your memory (due to repetition and writing). Guess what happens in the exam? You will write the same not entirely accurate
answers, and hey presto - poor marks!
So, when you have developed a strong understanding, begin past papers.
Make a point to do this under exam conditions. Why? Do you make lots of silly mistakes in exams?
Studying under exam conditions will help you deal with the time pressures.
Additionally it improves memory retention due to psychological association. Your brain will associate the exam conditions from study with those in the exam and improve your memory recall!
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