Exactly how to get HSC ready these "holidays"

I'd say 'Happy Holidays!' but that would be a bit of a sick joke right now... We all know these “holidays” are really just three or four weeks of intensive study that you’re meant to manage yourself. You might feel like you’re on your own now that class has ended but we’re going to take you through exactly how to use these few weeks to get as HSC ready as possible 💅 . And if you ever get stuck on a topic or dot point, you know we have videos for days you can tap into 24/7.

1. It’s finally time to go all out

Normally we bang on about the importance of taking serious time out during holidays but things are a little different this time round. We’re definitely not pushing for anyone to study 18 hours every day but look at the big picture here.

See, these few weeks are finally your chance to go all out. Because the exams are so close (which means the end is so close), you can really ramp up your study efforts to 100% without the risk of totally burning out 💀 . Keep some perspective about how this is a nice opportunity to really smash out a personal best, do some justice to all your 13 years of schooling and remind yourself that this is the sprint at the end of the marathon. Fire up 🔥.

2. Balance your subjects

It sounds obvious but this one is easy to forget. You’re going to want to make some smart decisions about how you divide your time over the next few weeks. Here’s what you need to consider:

• Your exam timetable

Time to look at your exam timetable again and pinpoint anything that will affect your study like two exams on one day, a long break or a really intense period. Think about what that means for your study (or we’ll just tell you here).

• Your more vulnerable subjects

If you have below average or average marks in subjects that don’t usually scale well or that your school doesn’t normally perform well in, you can be at risk of having your marks scaled down. It’s not something you can predict exactly or always control but these subjects definitely need a little more TLC.

• Your weaker subjects

Consistency is really going to help your ATAR so it’s worth bringing up the marks in your lower subjects before you perfect your best.

• Varying your study

It’s not that helpful to just study each subject in a block and just work your way through them one by one. It’s a lot better for your memory, for your level of understanding and for your sanity (🙃) if you vary your study between different subjects. You want to build them all up over the next few weeks tackling dot points from a few subjects each day.

We’ve got a whole bunch of study timetables that you can mix and match together for your own subject range or you can just make your own.

3. Focus on application and interpreting questions

So of course content (as in the actual things you’ve been taught) is super important but now is the time to focus on how you are going to use that content. Why so important? Well firstly, practice using the content really makes sure you actually "get" the ideas and facts and secondly, you can’t just write down everything you know in an exam.

You actually have to answer the question on the page and no matter how well you know your stuff, it’s all a waste if you can't show your marker in the answering of a specific question. Past papers are your best friend here as long as you do them properly 👍 .

4. Troubleshoot your problems so far

So it’s pretty obvious that if you kind of struggled with a certain assessment or two (or more…), you need to go back over those topics and work on how well you know that content. But that’s some basic stuff so let’s tackle some of the less obvious ways for you to improve. There are two big areas to focus on here: your skills in answering questions and your exam technique.

When it comes to skills, do you know exactly how to answer a long response compared to a short answer? Do you know how to specifically address the keyword in the question or the source material for a great response? Can you add evidence into your answers?

When it comes to exam techniques, can you manage your time? Can you make the most of reading time? Do you know how to manage your nerves?

This isn’t like studying the syllabus dot points but skills and exam techniques are so important in actually converting your knowledge into your best marks ever.

5. Prepare for surprises

Let’s be real here. No matter how much study you do, there’s always a chance that NESA is going to throw you a question that is nothing like you’ve ever seen in class or past papers 🤷‍ . Yeah it sucks and feels unfair but you’re still going to have to answer the questions that are on that exam so it’s worth being as prepared as possible for any surprises.

So firstly, actually understanding the content (not just memorising it) is like life-or-death here. If you just memorise the content, you don’t have the flexibility to adapt the ideas you’ve spent all year learning to a slightly different question or context. Secondly, remember that NESA is always going to want you to use the content from the syllabus to answer your questions. That means, think about how you can use what you already know to answer the specific question. If you need some help on how to make that happen, check this out.

Remember

Look, this break isn’t really a holiday but you have some of the best holidays of your life coming up in November. Fire up for some 100% intensity study over these next few weeks, be smart about balancing your subjects, prioritise your exam technique and just try to be as prepared as possible so you can smash out a personal best no matter what NESA throws at you. Game time 💪 .