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March 29, 2024, 04:39:51 am

Author Topic: How to Get a Band 6 in HSC Mathematics  (Read 52794 times)  Share 

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username2000

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Re: How to Get a Band 6 in HSC Mathematics
« Reply #45 on: February 26, 2018, 05:20:48 pm »
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awwesome advice!! thanks a lot ;D

finn.b14

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Re: How to Get a Band 6 in HSC Mathematics
« Reply #46 on: February 26, 2018, 06:19:21 pm »
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So useful, gives me a better idea of what the HSC will actually be like :)

LaraC

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Re: How to Get a Band 6 in HSC Mathematics
« Reply #47 on: March 13, 2018, 10:35:21 pm »
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Yeah thanks heaps!! :D
I've always been stuck with study for maths as the only thing I can think of to help me is just practice #onrepeat! haha

BakerDad12

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Re: How to Get a Band 6 in HSC Mathematics
« Reply #48 on: October 21, 2019, 09:31:33 pm »
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Hi, I have just started year 12 and in regards to completing past papers, does this mean I have to wait until all my content is finished to attempt past papers? Should I just do textbook questions until then?

Thanks for your time!

eifnweoif

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Re: How to Get a Band 6 in HSC Mathematics
« Reply #49 on: May 20, 2022, 12:49:59 pm »
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It’s exam day. Two years of hard work and dedication have lead to this moment. Your study notes are crumbled in your pocket… Wait a minute, you didn’t write any. Okay all good, at least you studied… Right?

This is the reality for, you can realistically guess, not an insignificant number of HSC students every October. And you can’t blame them. Two years of consistent work is really difficult, especially for 17-18 year olds. But there are a lot of things that can make it easier, even in this final stretch.

I’ve had a few people come up to me after hearing about my 99.80 ATAR and a score of 96 in both 2 Unit and Extension 1, and call me superhuman. Unnaturally intelligent. Lots of people assumed I woke up at 5am, studied until 12pm, then slept while listening to Band 6 English Essays. Completely untrue. While I consider myself an intelligent person and a hard worker, I don’t think I did anything that anyone else couldn’t do, given the right drive and motivation.

Mathematics was one of my most loved subjects. It made sense. None of this wondering how my creative writing would be interpreted by a marker rubbish. There is a right answer. If you memorise the methods, you can always get that answer. Here are a few of the pieces of advice I give to friends, students I teach, or even just the curious, on how to memorise the methods to the madness and apply it successfully in the HSC.

1. Study Notes

This is probably more for the Year 11’s. One of the biggest questions I get asked, study notes or no? I have a very strong opinion on this one; I say no and this is why.

For content intensive subjects, study notes are a beautiful thing. They summarise key ideas and help memorise facts and figures. Mathematics is not one of those subjects. It is a skill based subject, and as such, time spent towards it should be spent honing your skills! I personally did not keep Mathematics study notes, instead I created formula sheets. Closer to Trials and HSC I turned them into posters and stuck them anywhere blu tac would stick. Trust me, if you have Simpson’s Rule staring at you in the face while getting dressed in the morning, it will stick. Formula sheets like this will jog your memory of old topics quickly, and of course, it is essential you know your formulae, at one count, there were over 120 of them for Extension 1 students.

2. Studying Throughout The Year

Studying throughout the year is much more effective than any lump sessions at the end. It is more effective at creating neural pathways and muscle memories, and is guaranteed to make your July-October much easier the year of your HSC. Aim to do all the questions set by your teacher every week, plus a few extra if you are having trouble with a subject. Do practice exams in the lead up to class tests. Keep it all fresh by continuing to USE the skill.

3. Trials

My biggest piece of advice, do NOT stress about your mark for HSC Trials if it isn’t what you expect. And this goes for any test, really.

My half yearly exam for Extension 1 in Year 12 was a doozy. I remember coming out and feeling the absolute worst I ever had after an exam. My result reflected this, but rather than angering/stressing me, it woke me up. Sometimes, a bad result is the kick you need to shift into high gear, and ride the momentum through HSC. And yes, I believe momentum is a thing. And this is what the benefit of Trials is. If you do well, awesome, ride the momentum, build on that confidence and you’ll be in an awesome spot for HSC. If not, it doesn’t matter, because you have a whole 2 months to build that momentum back again! Trials are your measuring stick, don’t be stressed by them, learn from them.


4. Studying for HSC

Right, let’s get to the good stuff. How do you study for HSC? There is a single way I recommend. Practice. Practice. Practice.

My personal study plan for Mathematics and Extension 1 was to do as many past papers as possible. I bought myself one of the Success One Exam Booklets (they are absolutely fantastic, but every exam is online as well) and started doing a paper every morning. Under exam conditions, timed, the whole shebang. At first it killed me, but you get into a routine, and by the HSC, I had completed every past HSC paper for both 2 unit and extension.

This is like, over 50 papers, and something tremendously difficult to do, and I was blessed with a timetable which allowed me plenty of time to do this. Not everyone is so lucky, but there is a way to cover all the past papers in a very short amount of time:

5. Two Techniques for Efficient, Awesome Studiousness!

The first technique is designed for speed, to expose yourself to as much practice as possible while preventing wasted time. The method is simple. Set yourself up with a past paper, exam conditions, no timer. You are going to flip through the book, but not do the questions. That’s right. Give yourself 15 seconds maximum to look at each question, don’t spend more than 10 minutes reading the whole thing. As you look at a question, think to yourself, do I know how to do that? Have I seen something similar? Do I know the formulae? Be honest with yourself. If the answer is yes, move on. If not, mark it. Then you complete only the marked questions.

This technique relies on being your own harshest critic, and is suited for people wanting to challenge themselves as much as possible. It’s also awesome practice for reading time.

The second technique is better suited to someone struggling with the content. Set yourself a set of past papers. It could be 10, 20, all of them, pick however many you think you’ll get done. Do them under exam conditions, one by one, on a set schedule. Mark them as you go, and jot down the question numbers you get wrong. After they are all done, look at the questions you mixed up. Is there a theme? Revise the areas of issue and now attempt only the marked questions. Is there an improvement?

This technique is awesome for practicing exam technique, and identifying where you need to do extra revision.

These may seem really simple and obvious to many, but it is surprising how many people simply do not know how to study for skill based subjects effectively! Practice makes perfect.

6. The Morning Of: To Read or Not To Read?

There are a variety of very different opinions on studying directly before an exam. It’s majorly a matter of preference, however, I wanted to share an experience I had at uni. I had my first big math exam, and I decided to read over my formula sheets. I noticed a weird little derivation in the bottom of one section. This same derivation proved a major part of a question which would have easily been worth almost 7-8 of my marks. Had I not peeked, they would have been out the window.

Put bluntly, I say read. Don’t practice questions, you’ll work yourself up and tire yourself out. But reading formula sheets is a great way to occupy your mind, boost your confidence, etc. Maths is one of the few subjects for which this works. Then of course there is the other stock standard advice, which I highly support as well. Eat a good breakfast (I had bacon). For the sake of your ATAR, go to the bathroom, you do not want to waste a second during the exam. Also, figure out the best way to relieve stress! I find it best to move around a lot, so I walked 20 minutes to my exams to burn off the excess adrenalin. Others prefer mediation. Find what works best to have you feeling confident. And finally, my biggest piece of advice, and one which normally raises an eyebrow or two… Strut into the room.

I’m not kidding. Walk in there like you have just gotten back from landing on Mars and finding a cure for cancer. You are the most important person in the world. Channel your inner Kardashian, all that stuff. The truth is, the confidence in your body language will translate to your brain, and produce all sorts of awesome hormones and stuff like that. It loosens you up, sort of like why boxers do their moves before a big fight. To stretch of course, but the showboating serves a mental role you’ll be surprised at. Seriously, try it.

7. Exam Tips

I could give countless tips as to how to succeed in a HSC Mathematics Exam. But here are my favourites:

  • Relax. It’s just an exam like every other one you’ve sat.
  • Get in the habit of reading the questions twice, even three times. 2 Unit Exams especially are actually designed to be done in 2.5 hours (by the Band 6 students), so you have time to carefully consider what you are reading.
  • For graphing questions, make sure the graph is big enough for the examiner to read!
  • Request extra booklets as soon as there is even the slightest possibility of needing them. You do not want to have to be sitting waiting for paper when the solution is on the tip of your pen.
  • Handwriting in exams can be messy, pay special attention to things like z looking 2, i looking like 1, x looking like that multiplication symbol, etc. Don’t hold yourself up on this, but try to make it as easy for the marker as possible
  • Speaking of the marker, it very well could be someone up at 10:30pm with screaming children in the background. They will not do any work for you. Make your work logical, clearly set out. It is almost always infinitely better to attempt all but one question and do it properly, than to rush through the questions to finish.
  • Don’t skip steps. Yes, I know, you are Mr Confident, I am too, but swallow your pride just this once. Please?
  • You are allowed to request an extra exam book to scribble stuff in, if you need it.
  • When looking at questions in groups, remember that the first part is used in the second part 99.9999% of the time.
  • Use your reading time effectively! There is a technique to reading time. Your brain, aware of it or not, thinks about questions you have looked at. Making connections, remembering formulas. Your aim is to see the entire paper, so you can identify hard stuff and let your mind stew on it while you tackle the easy stuff. This leads to my next suggestion:
  • Do the multiple choice first! This goes back to that momentum thing I was talking about. If you attempt the hard stuff first, and get discouraged, you won’t do your best. MC’s are designed to be easy, and I do them first to give me some energy and get “into” the paper. If you are extremely worried about time, sure, leave them till the end. But otherwise, they are an awesome warmup for things to come. They jog your memory and wake you up.
  • Check all your answers with my simple checklist, the SURD Checklist! Of course you should read through your working if you can, but this technique will at least let you make sure your answer has a few of the easy things. It will prevent the sillier mistakes
Simplest Form?
Units?
Rational Denominator?

Does It Make Sense?


And finally, I want to talk about mark maximisation. There is a MASSIVE difference between maximising correct answers, and maximising marks. Case in point, I have sat down with 2014's HSC Paper: If you just wrote the answer for every question, with no working, even with every answer correct, you would fail. Also, if you gave perfect working, but an incorrect answer, YOU WOULD PASS! . There are lots of things to do to maximise your marks. Show working for every question. In my Trials, I got a tricky induction question in my Ext 1 Exam that I just couldn't crack. I got marks for just writing out the steps and doing some rearranging! I did practically nothing of relevance, but still got half the marks! Golden!

The point being, there will almost definitely be questions you can't do as well as you would hope. This is okay. Practice giving the best solution you can, and in the process, you might just get the answer anyway.

Be sure to register for an account and ask any questions you have below. I'd love to share any extra tips or strategies that I can, or answer anything you have to ask. I would also highly recommend checking out the notes and guides available on this site. I used to love the guides posted on the web, as well as notes, and the notes on this site are the best and most comprehensive I have ever seen. HSC is a collaborative thing!

BRO NO ONE ASKED