Prelim help...

[aadharmg]

Hey guys. So I am doing Bio, Chem and Phys as a part of my Prelim course and I am pretty good at them. That was until the half yearlies. I did not take any notes for the subjects and studied directly out of the textbooks, but bear in mind that there was barely any content at that time. Now as I approach yearlies, I am worried if studying out of the textbook might be useless considering there are 4 modules for each science that I need to memorise and understand. I did really well in my Bio HY (59/65) but that was because there was only one module (Patters in Nature). Now I am wondering, with two weeks left to the yearlies, if making notes is worth it, like cramming and working hard to finish them? Even in general, how useful is it to make notes anyways? Like have the best, high scoring students ever made notes or used other ways (if so please tell me what these are)?

[Natasha.97]

Hey guys. So I am doing Bio, Chem and Phys as a part of my Prelim course and I am pretty good at them. That was until the half yearlies. I did not take any notes for the subjects and studied directly out of the textbooks, but bear in mind that there was barely any content at that time. Now as I approach yearlies, I am worried if studying out of the textbook might be useless considering there are 4 modules for each science that I need to memorise and understand. I did really well in my Bio HY (59/65) but that was because there was only one module (Patters in Nature). Now I am wondering, with two weeks left to the yearlies, if making notes is worth it, like cramming and working hard to finish them? Even in general, how useful is it to make notes anyways? Like have the best, high scoring students ever made notes or used other ways (if so please tell me what these are)?

Hi!

At this point in time, I think that making summaries for each module would be ideal. Don't spend too much time on it though! The key is to get your hands on as many questions as possible!

Last year, I made notes for all my subjects (ironic how it's not the case this year!) and I found it useful as all of the syllabus requirements were condensed into ~50 pages. Advice for year 12: don't spend all your time making notes, but on practice questions.

Hope this helps!

[Opengangs]

Hi, aadharmg!

At this point, scratch making notes. You're not able to make effective notes for all four modules in the span of two weeks. Instead, take the time to go through each concept check. Use the chapter summary as part of your "notes".
With two weeks to go, the only way to study is to be sitting past paper questions on particular topics that you're not strong in and really hone in on the specifics when answering questions. Especially for biology, make sure you're able to draw graphs and lastly, make sure your definitions are succinct. In my trials, many lost the one mark in defining punctuated equilibrium incorrectly.

To summarise:
Use these last two weeks to make sure you're able to draw graphs and hone in on exam techniques by answering textbook questions.