Meet Alissa: Maths

We are going to dive back into meeting our content team this week with a deep dive into how our Maths genius got the marks she did.

So, meet Alissa:

Current Role: Senior content creator
Subjects: Maths

Stats

ATAR

99.40

Current studies

Bachelor of Science at USYD (double major in Mathematics and Psychology)

Achievements

• Accepted into the Talented Student Program at USYD
• 99 in HSC Maths
• 98 in HSC Ancient History (and state ranked yay!)
• Is up to a ridiculously high level on Candy Crush (weird flex but okay)

Bio

Although Alissa is a self-proclaimed “Maths nerd”, that’s definitely not her defining characteristic. What is you may ask? Well, probably her love for trashy reality TV. That’s right, Alissa spends far too many hours than she’d like to admit catching up on MAFS, The Bachelor and Bachelor in Paradise. Although you’d think that this would completely kill off any brain cells that Alissa has, one of her other passions is reading up on animal rights and the ethics behind them. Alissa’s friends know her for always having their backs in any situation and as someone who is always down for a good old yarn. She loves to travel and spend time outdoors, whether that’s at the beach, hiking or playing sport. She’s also a boss at Candy Crush.

Q&A

What’s one thing people don’t realise about Maths?‍

How applicable it is to the real world—Maths is all around us (you can’t escape it ;)!

What’s your best memory from year 12?‍

Food Fest Wednesday! Every Wednesday after sport, my friends and I would have a treat-yo-self day and buy sooooo much food. We were literally rolling home with full bellies afterwards.

What was your low point during year 11 & 12?‍

When my best friend finished her exams way before I finished. It was so hard to watch her relax and celebrate while I still had to study for another TWO WEEKS!!

Three top tips for nailing Year 12

1. Holidays—make the most of them. Get outdoors and soak up some sunlight (or rain)!
2. Spend time with friends—all of a sudden, school will finish and you won’t be seeing them every day which means you need to put in the effort to stay in touch.
3. Celebrate (responsibly!)—you’ve almost finished high school! That most definitely deserves a huge congratulations!

Top 3 tips for Maths and smashing your ATAR

1. Be comfortable with your formulas! Make sure to check out your formula sheet BEFORE the exam so you know exactly which formulas you should be committing to memory. Also, be prepared to see and use a range of different variables—you’re not always going to be working with x, y and z!
2. Don’t stress if you don’t understand something straight away. Let’s be real, Maths can get pretty complicated at times. There’s a load of whack formulas with weird symbols in them, and at first glance some concepts can seem downright impossible to understand. If you’re getting stressed ‘cause you’re just not getting something, that’s okay! Take a break and come back to it with a clear head. You might be surprised at what you can achieve!
3. Practise, practise and more practise! It’s great if you have all of the theory behind Maths down pat, but if you don’t know how to apply it then all of that knowledge is going to waste! Past papers are for sure the way to go here (try replicating exam conditions by not looking at your notes and setting yourself a time limit).

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