First term of year 12 FAQs

Well this is going to be a pretty massive year 😅 . You’ve basically spent your schooling life looking at the year 12s struggling through their HSC and you probably have a few questions about what you're actually in for. In fact, we know you do because we reached out to a few of you to find out some of your burning questions about year 12. Hopefully we have the answers that will make you feel a bit better about the upcoming year…

FAQS

Some of your questions are pretty much going to need a whole post to really tackle them so keep an eye out for info coming up about subject changes, thinking about life after year 12 and how to actually study effectively. But for the rest of your questions? Here we go!

1. Should I be reading all prescribed and related texts throughout year 12 or is it a waste of time?

Well this is a specific one… To be 100% honest, a lot of students manage to get top marks without properly reading their prescribed and related texts. In saying that, those guys were pretty smart anyway and none of your texts are going to be so long that it’s an actual waste of time to read them. The more you understand your text as a whole, the easier it will be to talk about in your essay and to draw some cool ideas. If you just use quotes off the internet, you risk limiting yourself to what you can memorise instead of having a broad, flexible understanding. Hot tip here: try to pick related texts like poems and short stories that don’t mean you need to read and analyse a full novel.

ALSO, let's be real, you have your whole summer holidays to get through your texts so it’s usually a case of laziness (no judgement haha) rather than time pressure if people don’t read them.

2. Should I be making my study notes as I go?

Yeah absolutely 👍 . And for two big reasons so let’s go through them:

• Making notes as you go means you deal with the content twice straight away: you learn it in class and then you write your own notes. This is so good for making sure you actually understand the content and it buries those ideas into your long term memory.
• Making notes is only one part of studying and if you leave it for the week before an exam, you won’t have any time to practice applying the content. It will basically stop you from studying effectively if you only have time to write notes… sorry.

3. What are some study strategies that can be implemented in the lead up to an exam?

Once again, we’ll take you through all the different ways to study effectively very soon so keep your eyes peeled for that post 👀 . But for now, let’s just take a quick look at how your study should change when you are actually coming up to an exam.

So firstly, the biggest change is usually that people who don’t study at all might actually start studying in the lead up to an exam. They will be doing things like going over class notes, making up their own complete set of notes or reading through notes they found elsewhere so they can actually make sure they know/remember the content.

If you are already all over this (recommended but you know… sh** happens), then the main change you need is to focus on application. Basically, that means you look at how you are actually going to answer questions in exams and it’s going to involve things like doing past papers/questions and getting feedback, working on exam skills and going through the syllabus to look for potential question ideas.

4. Should I be submitting short answer responses as well as extended responses to teachers for feedback?

The purpose of short answer responses and extended responses is actually pretty different and that does change how you might practise each one. For short responses, the marker is usually just looking to see whether you have the right points, the right facts and/or the right example. When you practise these bad boys, it’s actually pretty easy to self-mark because each HSC past paper comes with marking guidelines that explain what information you need for the marks.

When it comes to long responses, they’re a little harder to manage on your own and your marker is also going to be looking at the way you answer the question, not just the exact information you’re saying. They want to see whether you are making an argument, whether you can express yourself clearly and the kinds of connections you can make. That’s why you need a teacher for feedback on those longer ones.

Soooo to finally answer your actual question, it’s easy enough to self-mark your short answer questions. If you are still a little bit unsure on whether you would or wouldn’t have earned the marks, that’s the time to talk to your teacher and get their expert feedback.

5. Is it too much to do more than one subject that requires a major work?

Look, any major work is definitely going to add a bit of stress and a decent workload to your HSC and you will come up against a lot of people who say not to do more than one major work. To be pretty generic here, it’s a matter of being totally informed about what is involved in those subjects and deciding what’s right for you.

Major works are like little (massive) passion projects and for some of us, they feel like a lifesaving break from the usual HSC work and you have a lot more choice about what you will be spending your time on. The real problem happens if you aren’t organised and then one or two major works will become a nightmare at the very end and it might affect your other subjects for a few weeks. You know yourself so only pick up more than one major work if you know that you can stay on top of them really well throughout the whole year.

6. Do I share my notes with my friends?

This question will legit keep cropping up all the way to HSC. We’ve actually thrown up a whole post about it (here’s one we prepared earlier 💁) but the short answer is that there’s no real problem with sharing notes with your friends (although it’s not going to make much sense to borrow notes from someone who isn’t getting better marks than you). The only two things to consider are 1) if you use someone else’s notes, you are going to miss out on pretty important method of studying and 2) collaboration is great but there are more effective ways to work with your friends than note sharing.

Your call.

7. What should I be doing on afternoons when the workload is very little?

Don’t feel like you need to be studying or working 100% of the time! One of the big challenges of year 12 is not burning out too early and making sure that you can sustain your best work all the way up until the HSC exams. That means, especially this early on, don’t feel guilty for just doing your homework and then calling it quits. You can always update your notes, do some further research, start drafting practice answers and all that if you really want to but seriously, just chill.

8. If I am struggling with a subject is it best to get a tutor?

Having a one-on-one, personalised teaching/learning situation going on is pretty great which means that tutors are... pretty great. In saying that, just because tutors can be useful doesn’t mean you need one to do well. And to be honest, they are pretty expensive so it's worth starting with other options. If you’re struggling with a subject, start by asking your teacher for their advice (considering that they already know you and your abilities) and form an action plan from there.

Don't get along with your teacher? Well, you can always work with the other guys in your class, check out some videos that explain the ideas in a different way or track down someone at your school that can sit down with you.

9. How frequently should I be completing past papers?

Once again, let’s think about managing your study sensibly this upcoming year. There’s no point trying to tackle full past papers this term and getting overwhelmed by how much you don’t know. If you’re super keen to start practicing asap, the best approach is to wait until you finish a topic and then pick some past questions on that topic. The past papers will become a lot more relevant the further you move into the year.

10. How do you balance your social life and still get good marks?

Well firstly, this is totally possible. When you’re coming up to an exam, create yourself a study timetable following these steps and you’ll see that you actually start the timetable by locking in any important social events and build all your study around them. You’ve just got to actually stick to that timetable...

When it comes to this balance in non-exam periods then we have a full post of information here but basically if you can study efficiently, understand your priorites and set study goals before you hit up that event, you’re making a great start on having it all.

Remember

Year 12 will be a whole lot less scary once you get stuck into it and you realise that it kind of just feels like another school year. There will be a bit more pressure and lots of encouragement for you to be trying your absolute best but you can definitely manage that. You've got this 👊 .