HSC: Tips, Tricks & Advice

I’m currently occupying a seat at my local library, and within a five-metre radius there have been at least a dozen people who have uttered the word “syllabus” in the last ten minutes.

It’s that time of the year where most people start slowing down, and possibly even start planning where they’ll be for Christmas. Unfortunately, if you’re between the ages of 17-18, and recently graduated high school, then you’ve got a couple more things on your mind.

Why?

Well, because it’s HSC season: the annual function that results in over-caffeinated teenagers, fluorescent study notes and dank “HSC Discussion Group” memes. 

Exhibit A: "Meme"

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This period isn’t easy for anyone.  Students, and even parents, are currently preparing themselves for the upcoming weeks, as last minute notes are being finalised and memorised. You can hear the forceful taps of space bars, the hopeful turning of pages in textbooks and even empathise with the semi-regular sighs of defeat. It’s interesting to be a year removed from that context, and yet still completely understand the anxiety most students are feeling. After contemplation, I’ve started to see these exams as being more of a mental challenge than an academic one. I mean, by the time you graduate, you would’ve completed every assessment task thrown your way and should intrinsically know how comfortable you are with the content. With that in mind, you have some idea of how you might perform academically, but the real challenge is keeping it together for long enough and not breaking before it's over. 

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In attempt to help those who are currently in need of some thoughtful advice, and even to promote well-deserved study breaks, I went around and asked some people “What would be your advice to YR12 students who are about to sit their HSC?”  & “What is something you wish you knew then?”

Their responses covered a wide range of topics, but fundamentally showcased a sense of hope, in that it does get better and that the HSC is not the end of days. 

This is "HSC: Tips, Tricks & Advice" 

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Mr. Jeffrey Lumb (Best Ancient History Teacher) 
Revise, revise, revise!
“Revise, revise, revise... looking at as many past papers as you can."
"Do them properly; modelling you responses."
"Forget getting any new information. You should be working from your summaries now."
"Write them out... but in even briefer form. Active learning; not just reading through stuff. Aim at reducing topics to a few key words that serve as reminders to triggers to a whole lot of detail."
"Know when you are genuinely tired and rest... get early nights too"
"Finally, remember, the HSC is not everything! You can still reach your goal, the pathway might just be a little different."

Kyra M.

Be efficient. 

“Focus on the syllabus points definitely, and also UNDERSTAND what you’re learning… I found this made studying easier because I wasn’t just memorising.”

“Aim high; if you want to study something at university, but the number is scaring you, still put it down as a preference because universities can be lenient and there are so many pathways once you get INTO uni.”

Tor L.

You know more than you realise.

“Don’t overthink/pressure yourself when you sit the exams. I feel like that cracked me when I sat for the final exams.”

Nenshi A.

The exam focuses on the application of what you have learnt; not the regurgitation of information.

“Try to learn things, not just memorise.”

Tarasa B.

Where there's a will, there's a way. 

“There’s so many other paths to what you want to do, so try not to stress so much.”

Madi S.

Focus on what you want to achieve, and work towards it.

 “Ignore the distractions.”

 “It gets so much better once you’re through it”

Nicole Y.

Stay calm, and be mentally prepared.

“Just give it your best shot. Be confident because the more nervous you are, the worse you’ll do… if you’re mentally prepared you’ll be able to tackle every exam.”
"When you leave the exam hall, you can't do anything [to change what you wrote], so find a way to accept that and focus on your next exam."

Mona A.

Everything works best if  kept simple rather than made complicated. 

“The syllabus dictates everything!”

“Simplify your studying by remember specific info [eg. acronyms]”

Sara C.

Your value as a person isn't influenced by your rank or ATAR mark.

“It’s impossible to be perfect.”

"Other's successes aren't my failures."

“This isn’t the deciding factor for your entire future, it’s only one of the daunting, yet small, hurdles you face in life… that doesn’t mean give up and not try, but no matter what your result is, the HSC most likely won’t matter to you (or anyone else) in 6 months time.”

Lian R.

Listen to your body; it knows more than you do. 

“Sleep is essential … you go from Trump to Einstein with even a few more hours of sleep”

Sarine M.

You have what it takes, you just need to believe. 

“You would be surprised at how much you learnt/are able to remember when put under the right amount of pressure ... so don’t underestimate yourself at any point; whether it’s before or after the exam”

 Dean S.

Stay calm, and allocate planning time.

“Take the first 5mins of writing time to go through the paper, and quickly annotate what your response to each question will be. Write a quick 2-5 word summary of what the answer is, so then when you eventually get to answer it properly, you aren’t scattering through your mind trying to remember what the acronym is, or what part of the syllabus the question is referring to. This way, you can have a clear mind for each question, and you weed out the irrelevant information you don’t need to remember.”

Paris J.

Prioritise your mental health. 

“Do what you can and as much as you can handle but once you feel like you can’t take it anymore or it’s too much, just take a step back. It’s good to do well, but not worth ruining your life over.”

Alex N.

You can't win the war unless you come well-equipt.

“Use a pen that writes easy ... "

Gayatri S.

You live and you learn. 

“Diet and sleep make a HUGE difference. I scoffed at that advice in high school but its very accurate”

Laura P.

Stephen Colbert, and other late-night talk shows can wait. 

“Don’t waste time.”

“Sleep is important and the best thing you can do for yourself, so you can wake up better and more ready for the day ahead”

Kate B.

Just keeping it real, and straight forward.

“Study harder - especially in areas you think you need to improve in (past papers, past papers, papers from the past!!)”

Danielle F.

Watch your watch.

“So at this point, you should’ve completed at least 1 practise paper for each subject. So use that experience to get a feel for how much time you should dedicate to each section in the actual exam. Make sure you bring a watch with you to the exam to keep track.”

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Personally, I think my piece of advice would be to focus on something (eg. your breathing) the moment you sit in your designated seat. Take a minute to make yourself present, and stop worrying about whether you’ve studied enough or not, because at that point it is irrelevant. What you need to now focus on is what you do know and how you’ll be able to manipulate that knowledge in order to answer the questions. By focusing on your breathing (either with your eyes open or closed), you’re removing yourself from the tense environment, and concentrating on something else before the exam begins. Breathe in a sense of readiness, and breathe out the feeling of doubt … then show them what you’re made of!

Good Luck Class of 2017!

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