How to deal with your HSC exam timetable

So… did you happen to notice that your very own HSC exam timetable was just released? If you were one of the many year 12 students who forgot their Student Online login details, well you can't live in denial forever so check out the general timetable here.

And even though the HSC exams are seriously months away, the exam timetables can make all the study you’re doing now start to feel very, very real.

We’re still not sure if that’s good or not!

Anyway, you can’t do anything to change your timetable and really, it’s not going to make or break your HSC. But there are some red flags to look for and it’s probably a good idea to be mentally prepped for them early on.

So really, the 3 big things to look for on your timetable are: two exams in one day, big gaps between exams and crazy intense blocks where you have a lot of big subjects close together.

Let’s jump in and you can find out how to tackle each one.

Double exam days: prepare for the mental struggle

So, any saying about two things being better than one is basically rubbish when it comes to your HSC timetable. Even 6 months out, staring at two HSC exams on the same day can make you break out in sweats. So bad luck to all the music students out there!

Well, have no fear. This is actually a fairly manageable one to tackle.

The thing is, even though you have two exams - like Geography and CAFS - on one day, you’ve already learned all the content and even practiced applying it in your trial exams. By the time HSC rolls around, you won’t be needing to cram and you’ll already have a decent grasp of both subjects.

The main problem with these double exams is going to be the mental struggle. Finishing an exam can leave you feeling mentally exhausted and most people also have a weirdly particular routine before they go into an exam that’s interrupted if you have two in a row. If you’re looking for an entire post on how to deal with this pain well, here’s one we prepared earlier.

Big gaps: plan out the break realistically

If you’re looking at your timetable and cheering because you have a massive gap in the middle of your timetable, then it’s probably time to calm your farm.

Those gaps, while they look like an oasis in the middle of the desert, aren’t as much of a breeze as you think. Once again, the HSC is a mental game, and you really really don’t want to lose focus before all the exams have finished. If you finish all exams in the second week except for Economics on the last week - make a decent plan for that week and a half so you don't bomb that last exam!

• Don’t assume you will study for 10 hours straight every day for a week and a half for that last subject on your timetable - it won’t happen. Instead, plan to take some chunks of time off to stop yourself from burning out. If you have a whole week and a half gap before your last exam - you probably could afford to take one full day off from studying!
• You also don’t want to get carried away with your ‘break’ and lose motivation. Break down the time you have off and plan your study carefully so you cut yourself a lot of slack at the beginning then work back up to your exam by doing longer and longer blocks per day.

That last exam or last few exams will count for as much as the early ones so don’t burn out or lose motivation!

Crazy intense blocks: keep information in context

So, we all know there are a few subjects that are pretty content heavy like Biology, PDHPE or History.

They may not always need as much high level understanding as say, Extension II Maths, but there is going to be a lot more that you just have to remember: dates, names, processes, steps, cycles, labels and on and on and on.

Ugh.

So there is going to be a bit of a problem when you come to having a few of those content dense exams in a close space of time. If you do English (Day 1 and Day 2), Senior Science (Day 3), PDHPE (Day 4) and Modern History (Day 5), you'll know there just isn’t that much room in your head!

To manage a crazy few days with lots of content heavy subjects, the first step really is to make sure you completely understand all the ideas and processes in your mind. Remember: content is easier to remember in context because it makes more sense! A whole list of latin words may as well be a page from Harry Potter but drawing out a diagram of a Pompeii house and labelling each room will make the bizarre words and their meanings a lot more solid in your mind.

Next step: really embrace those memory tricks like flashcards and mnemonics so even if all that content doesn’t sit at the front of your brain, you can call it forward at any time, especially during the exam.

Yeah, they’re basic steps but they will really get you through those crazy intimidating blocks!

Remember

HSC exams are still a long way away so don’t get too caught up in your timetable just yet. It’s a good time just to go through it quickly and pinpoint any tricky bits like double ups, big gaps, or crazy intense blocks, so you know how to deal with them in advance and don’t get caught by surprise.

Seriously though, you’ve got this.