How much can you possibly improve from your preliminary exam to your HSC?

[bayl0n]

So I'm currently a Year 11 student in the middle of my prelim exams and this has been on my mind lately. How much improvement can a student make within one year before their HSC? Has anyone heard of stories where a student who had received average or below marks in Year 11 pull their game up just in time to get a respectable ATAR in Year 12?

It would be interesting to hear what's possible. Thanks in advance! 

[Opengangs]

Heaps. If you consistently work throughout Year 12, you can find yourself jumping 20-30 marks by the end of your HSC.

This is coming from a student who went from English Std to English Adv and from rank 51 in Ext Maths to rank ~18.

[seventeenboi]

Hi
it is 120% possible to make drastic improvements in Year 12!!! Year 11 is just a tester year - find out which subjects you'll enjoy taking in Year 12, working out study methods, motivation techniques etc.... Year 11 is and at the same time isn't a considerably accurate representation of how you'll perform in Year 12.. so don't worry too much. I'd say that Year 12 courses are different to Year 11 to some extent, and that the only subject where you would perform around the same in is probably maths. Regardless, to achieve good results in Year 12, it's all about hard work - consistently doing homework, making sure you understand everything, knowing the syllabus inside out, understanding marking criteria, being prepared. In my opinion, even the smartest of students, if they did not study hard and familiarise themselves with required content would not be able to score as well as they could potentially do. In Year 11 I had a raw internal mark of 83 LOL for advanced english and this year pulled it up to 93 to become top 10 in my grade
Anything is possible as long as you work hard - it always pays off

[beatroot]

You can do so much in a year! There are a lot of resources in Year 12 and teachers will prioritise your needs over the other year groups. You'll have a fresh start in Year 12 and will be motivated to do a better job as every assessment and exam that you do counts towards your final mark. Your parents will likely get you tutors to maximise your marks and skills. Anything is possible in Year 12, as long as you work hard! (This is coming from me, who used to get 70% for my English essays in Year 11 to 85%-90% during my HSC year)

[Natasha.97]

So much can be done in one year! I went from nearly failing Prelim English (51% ) to coming 1st this year Definitely take on the above advice

[bayl0n]

So much can be done in one year! I went from nearly failing Prelim English (51% ) to coming 1st this year Definitely take on the above advice

That's amazing! Definitely something you should be proud of! 

Considering as English is one of my weakest subjects right now, what was the most significant aspect that changed in order for you to get such a great improvement?

[Natasha.97]

That's amazing! Definitely something you should be proud of! 

Considering as English is one of my weakest subjects right now, what was the most significant aspect that changed in order for you to get such a great improvement?

Hmm, I'd probably say that writing practice responses in addition to the ones that were set in class helped the most! I rewrote most of them based on the feedback received, and got feedback on those (my weakness was linking the response back to the question). I also found related texts that were quite enjoyable to read outside of class, so it didn't seem that much of a burden when analysing it

[bayl0n]

Hmm, I'd probably say that writing practice responses in addition to the ones that were set in class helped the most! I rewrote most of them based on the feedback received, and got feedback on those (my weakness was linking the response back to the question). I also found related texts that were quite enjoyable to read outside of class, so it didn't seem that much of a burden when analysing it

Oh, great advice I will definitely use this heading into Year 12

[katie,rinos]

Hey,
This is not the thing to be stressing over during your prelim exams (or anytime really). You can definitely improve between now and the HSC by a lot. Tbh, year 11 does not count towards your atar and the majority of your subjects will have completely different content (not really sure what subjects you do but my content was different for everything, however the skills stay the same).

There are a lot of resources available to you that you can use (make use of your teachers-they will definitely priorities you over any of the junior years and I found that in yr 11/12 my classes had a much better relationship with our teachers, libraries are amazing for both studying and books/resources, Atar Notes (ask/answer questions, essay marking, notes, nerdy but this is one of my favourite websites atm), whatever else that you can find helpful). Your answers and marks should definitely improve if you are motivated and put the effort in to study. Even just by doing some practice essays and questions and handing them in to your teachers for feedback.

I don't really have an amazingly inspirational story to share with you. My ranks/marks have stayed pretty similar over the two years-however some have increased and others slightly decreased.
Slightly unrelated & probably not relevant to you-but for maths I initially started doing 2 unit and dropped at the beginning of this year to general. Last year my yearly mark (2 unit) was 54% while my trials this year (General) was 92%. While this may not apply to you and I definitely don't recommend you to drop down in Maths/English (unless you need to, I had to learn the entire year 11 content in the Christmas holidays), being in the right level course and putting effort in should work out for you (in all of your subjects really).

[jamonwindeyer]

I love the positive vibes in this thread 

So I'm currently a Year 11 student in the middle of my prelim exams and this has been on my mind lately. How much improvement can a student make within one year before their HSC? Has anyone heard of stories where a student who had received average or below marks in Year 11 pull their game up just in time to get a respectable ATAR in Year 12?

It would be interesting to hear what's possible. Thanks in advance! 

Drastic improvement is impossible at any point! I know people who jumped 30 points even just from Trials to the HSC, hard work is hard work whenever you do it