I know this is repeated a lot but you have to make sure you
understand the content, not just memorise it
The changes I made were: - doing ALL the textbook questions (was constantly stressed out, because I was behind in the class) -> doing enough SA questions to understand the topic, then focusing mostly on extended response questions (cut study time down by over an hour, and these are the types of questions that you will need to focus on most for exams and SACs, while also practising your basic skills.)
- doing NEAP/company topic tests a week/few days before the SAC -> starting the NEAP topic tests around 2-3 weeks before the SAC, bookmarking the questions I got wrong+reading through their solutions (even if they were silly mistakes) and calculating a total score, then revising textbook questions/chapter reviews, then going back and repeating the topic test a 1/1.5 weeks later and seeing how much my score changed (this totally boosted my mood- because you will definitely do better second time round! I do this in my 3/4s this year as well, and it totally lifted the anxiety/pressure I experience during SACs, making me more calm and cool-headed). I know a lot of people think once you've done a practice test/exam, it's over, but I found it was unlikely I remembered the questions in the topic tests after a week or so, so don't be afraid to repeat the tests. It's also a good way to check that once you come across a problem you can't do, you've learnt how to do it the second time around
- stopped using tutor 'cheat methods' or 'shortcuts', there is nothing wrong with this but I realised half the time I didn't properly understand where they come from and I was just memorising them -> watching YouTube videos whenever I couldn't solve a problem, developing my own understanding of how to do the problem, eventually with practice you'll make your OWN shortcuts and be much more likely to remember them since they're your own. And you'll actually know how you derived them too, so if you get a question that requires you to explain you won't be stuck on what to write. (this is really important, I completely fked my transformations and functions SAC because I memorised all of my friends' tutor notes without understanding how they got them)
- I never ever wrote notes during methods. I don't even do it for specialist. I don't really know how you write notes for maths, I see a lot of people doing it. unless you think it genuinely works for you, then go ahead, but I'd leave notes to subjects like chem or humanities. math is really all about practice for me. another thing: don't get pressured by other people's study habits! I get really stressed when I see people take notes or go to tutors or do 50 tests/exams, it doesn't matter
Do what works for YOU only!
during Exam time:
- I dropped the textbook completely. I know a lot of people in term 4 who already have a good understanding of methods, but they waste time by thinking they HAVE to go back, do all the chapter reviews in the textbook etc. By the time you've finished the course, you should know all the content well enough to immediately start exam questions. If you don't, definitely brush up on the things you think you need to revise so you can start exam papers ASAP
- What helped for me was using the checklist that the school gave us of all their practice exams, and modifying it so I could write my results on each practice exams, and the topics that I lost marks on. After finishing two exams, I'd go back to the topic that I lost the most marks on and revise that. (Beware, doing this checklist method you might get caught up in the idea of having to check off every single exam! Quality > quantity! I did around 18 exams, which is still quite a lot, but ended up performing better than some of my friends who did around 40 practice exams. You HAVE to learn how to learn from mistakes.) It's also really nice to write down scores because you need to remind yourself in exam period that you are progressing to stay in check with your mental health. It's also a good way to track which areas you need to work on
- I set myself a "lights out" time. I didn't study past 8:30. Not only so that I'd sleep on time and have some time for myself, but when you allow yourself to stay up past a certain time, you're essentially enabling yourself to procrastinate because you can justify it with studying later at night when your brain's probably begging you to go to sleep. This is one of my brother's tips that he gave me which massively saved us both, because we were both serial procrastinators