45+ Study Score

[PolySquared]

Hi,

I will be completing Business Management as a Year 11 student in 2018. I really hope to achieve a 50, but 45+ is also good too  . I would appreciate it if any high achievers could answer a couple of questions on how they attained success:

1. What study methods did you use and how frequently did you study?
2. What was your average SAC mark and ranking throughout the year?
3. What study score were you aiming for at the start of the year and what did you end up getting?
4. If you completed Business Management as a year 11, how did you balance your study time between BusMan and your other Unit 1-2 subjects?
Any other tips will be appreciated.

Thank you 

[PolySquared]

Hi PolySquared,

I completed Business Management as a Year 11 myself this year, and attained a raw study score of 49. Below is a variety of tactics I implemented while undergoing the subject, I hope you find them useful.

Firstly, for studying I used a plethora of resources including the Cambridge Business Management Textbook, TeachingBubble, ATARNotes and Edrolo (don’t stress if your school doesn’t have the latter, mine didn’t until later on during the year). I also attended the free lectures run by ATARNotes, end of year TeachingBubble Revision Lecture, and Holiday Lectures run by TSSM which provided further revision and resources.

In regards to studying tactics, there was numerous methods I employed throughout the year. Despite this, I would strongly recommend finding what works for you, not all students are the same, and we all absorb content at different rates and through different methods. Nonetheless, examples of strategies that I used included flashcards, teaching a close friend of mine who was also completing BusMan, creating posters and compiling my own summaries. I also completed an extensive amount of rote learning as BusMan is a highly content driven subject, and I found that this provided a solid foundation for my revision.

Surprisingly, my studying was not as frequent as most might think. On a regular week I would complete the coursework that my teacher assigned, in addition to watching 1-2 videos on TeachingBubble or making some flashcards. Overall, I would say I reached approximately 1-3 hours a week in Business Management orientated work. However, the holiday lectures that I attended did serve as an additional form of revision. They also enabled me to focus on memorising more intricate details of the content in class, and definitely assisted in providing a competitive advantage.

In preparation for a SAC, my studying became much more intensive. I would commence this approximately 2 weeks before the designated SAC date, and study in excess of 10 hours a week, with long 5-6 hour revision blocks on weekends. I would also attempt to have made flashcards prior to this period, allowing for me to easily test my knowledge, and revise efficiently/on-the-go.

Finally, for the exam I spent the majority of the weeks leading up to it memorising case studies, in addition to going over some aspects of my knowledge that were weaker than others. I also completed a variety of practice questions, and would strongly recommend that you do so, so that you are able to perform well under timed situations. I compared the new study design with the previous one to generate potential questions that may be asked, and constantly sought feedback from my teacher. Finally, I completed checklists on each dot point of the study design, to identify clear gaps in my knowledge and address them as quickly as possible.

My SAC marks remained consistently high throughout the year and are as follows:
UNIT 3 (19/20, 38/40, 39/40)
UNIT 4 (50/50, 49/50)
However, after the advice of my teachers I found that what was of utmost importance was my ranking, and I managed to remain rank 1 in my cohort throughout the entire year. One thing I would advise is that it is important to recognise that competition in Business Management is fierce. If I had of lost a couple more marks in my SAC’s this year my ranking may have easily dropped.As a general rule – I would aim for near perfect scores in all of them.

During the year I hoped for a 40+ study score, yet after the final exam I felt my answers had lacked direction, and instead set my sights on high 30’s. As it was my first Year 12 subject I found it better to aim high/for my personal best, but keep my expectations grounded to avoid disappointment. Going into it I had absolutely no idea what to expect, however I ended up with a raw 49, placing me in approximately the top 0.411% of the state.

This year I actually completed two Year 12’s (Business Management and Dance) in addition to four Year 11 subjects. I did so while balancing extensive commitments outside of school, extracurricular activities, and working a part time job to pay for revision lectures/resources as I come from quite a low-income family. It was definitely a tough year, and required a lot of work to balance my time and get through it.

Firstly, I would encourage you to recognise that your Year 12 subjects are ultimately more important. I would utilise class time to the best of my ability for all of my subjects, focusing on getting as much learnt and completed in class as possible. To be completely honest, for my Year 11’s, the only time I allocated outside of class was reserved for homework and outcome revision. Despite this, I was still able to attain 90+% averages in all of my Year 11 subjects as I made the most of the limited time I did spend on them. 

For my Year 11’s, I would spend the lunchtimes leading up to an outcome for revision, and made flashcards during any extra time I had for speedy revision. I recognised that it was not the end of the world if I did not excel in them, however I aimed to gain a proper understanding of the content to prepare me for the New Year.

Even so, after homework and alternate commitments I still found that I had extremely limited time for my Year 12’s. I would listen to Teaching Bubble videos during in car rides, and attempt to learn the content prior to class so that I could tune into the finer details of the content when it was being taught. As I approached the final exam, I actually asked my Year 11 teachers to use any spare class time for Business Management, and I imagine that your teachers would be more than happy to allow this providing you stay on top of your workload.

Some other tips that I could give you from my own personal experience include:

Pace yourself throughout the year. While cramming was definitely a tactic that I employed, it can be stress-inducing and is not necessarily the most efficient. Complete coursework when it is given to you and stay on top of your workload, you’ll find it so much easier that way.

Find an outlet and accept when you need a break. For me this year was quite exhausting at times, and burnouts are definitely possible. Sometimes, I needed to accept that I needed to abandon studying for a day, go on a walk, or focus on my personal health. I accepted when my other commitments were getting in the way of things, and became aware of my limits early on in the year. I used a personal passion of mine (dance) as a positive outlet to express myself, keeping my own mental health in check throughout the year as I believe that is just as important.

Look for what the assessor is asking for, familiarise yourself with task words and practice completing questions in a timed format. A couple of the things that I noticed during my very first SAC was that I lost a mark due not exploring both sides of the issue during a ‘discuss’ question, and that I was quite pressed for time. I worked on these things throughout the year, and made sure to always identify what the question was asking before leaping into a response.

Finally, find what works for you. Everyone learns differently, has varying circumstances, processes information at different rates and learns through different methods. While I can suggest a range of alternatives, not all of them are going to work. Find your strengths early on in the year, this will be an important key to success.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask me. Also, if you haven’t already I would highly recommend checking out Jigsaw’s Guide, as it contains a variety of further information and tips that would be useful to future Business Management Students.

Thank you for your thorough and extensive response, I really appreciate it! Great job on your phenomenal study score and I wish you all the best for 2018.

[snowisawesome]

This advice is very helpful, thank you

[Globe]

Hi PolySquared,

I completed Business Management as a Year 11 myself this year, and attained a raw study score of 49. Below is a variety of tactics I implemented while undergoing the subject, I hope you find them useful.

Firstly, for studying I used a plethora of resources including the Cambridge Business Management Textbook, TeachingBubble, ATARNotes and Edrolo (don’t stress if your school doesn’t have the latter, mine didn’t until later on during the year). I also attended the free lectures run by ATARNotes, end of year TeachingBubble Revision Lecture, and Holiday Lectures run by TSSM which provided further revision and resources.

In regards to studying tactics, there was numerous methods I employed throughout the year. Despite this, I would strongly recommend finding what works for you, not all students are the same, and we all absorb content at different rates and through different methods. Nonetheless, examples of strategies that I used included flashcards, teaching a close friend of mine who was also completing BusMan, creating posters and compiling my own summaries. I also completed an extensive amount of rote learning as BusMan is a highly content driven subject, and I found that this provided a solid foundation for my revision.

Surprisingly, my studying was not as frequent as most might think. On a regular week I would complete the coursework that my teacher assigned, in addition to watching 1-2 videos on TeachingBubble or making some flashcards. Overall, I would say I reached approximately 1-3 hours a week in Business Management orientated work. However, the holiday lectures that I attended did serve as an additional form of revision. They also enabled me to focus on memorising more intricate details of the content in class, and definitely assisted in providing a competitive advantage.

In preparation for a SAC, my studying became much more intensive. I would commence this approximately 2 weeks before the designated SAC date, and study in excess of 10 hours a week, with long 5-6 hour revision blocks on weekends. I would also attempt to have made flashcards prior to this period, allowing for me to easily test my knowledge, and revise efficiently/on-the-go.

Finally, for the exam I spent the majority of the weeks leading up to it memorising case studies, in addition to going over some aspects of my knowledge that were weaker than others. I also completed a variety of practice questions, and would strongly recommend that you do so, so that you are able to perform well under timed situations. I compared the new study design with the previous one to generate potential questions that may be asked, and constantly sought feedback from my teacher. Finally, I completed checklists on each dot point of the study design, to identify clear gaps in my knowledge and address them as quickly as possible.

My SAC marks remained consistently high throughout the year and are as follows:
UNIT 3 (19/20, 38/40, 39/40)
UNIT 4 (50/50, 49/50)
However, after the advice of my teachers I found that what was of utmost importance was my ranking, and I managed to remain rank 1 in my cohort throughout the entire year. One thing I would advise is that it is important to recognise that competition in Business Management is fierce. If I had of lost a couple more marks in my SAC’s this year my ranking may have easily dropped.As a general rule – I would aim for near perfect scores in all of them.

During the year I hoped for a 40+ study score, yet after the final exam I felt my answers had lacked direction, and instead set my sights on high 30’s. As it was my first Year 12 subject I found it better to aim high/for my personal best, but keep my expectations grounded to avoid disappointment. Going into it I had absolutely no idea what to expect, however I ended up with a raw 49, placing me in approximately the top 0.411% of the state.

This year I actually completed two Year 12’s (Business Management and Dance) in addition to four Year 11 subjects. I did so while balancing extensive commitments outside of school, extracurricular activities, and working a part time job to pay for revision lectures/resources as I come from quite a low-income family. It was definitely a tough year, and required a lot of work to balance my time and get through it.

Firstly, I would encourage you to recognise that your Year 12 subjects are ultimately more important. I would utilise class time to the best of my ability for all of my subjects, focusing on getting as much learnt and completed in class as possible. To be completely honest, for my Year 11’s, the only time I allocated outside of class was reserved for homework and outcome revision. Despite this, I was still able to attain 90+% averages in all of my Year 11 subjects as I made the most of the limited time I did spend on them. 

For my Year 11’s, I would spend the lunchtimes leading up to an outcome for revision, and made flashcards during any extra time I had for speedy revision. I recognised that it was not the end of the world if I did not excel in them, however I aimed to gain a proper understanding of the content to prepare me for the New Year.

Even so, after homework and alternate commitments I still found that I had extremely limited time for my Year 12’s. I would listen to Teaching Bubble videos during in car rides, and attempt to learn the content prior to class so that I could tune into the finer details of the content when it was being taught. As I approached the final exam, I actually asked my Year 11 teachers to use any spare class time for Business Management, and I imagine that your teachers would be more than happy to allow this providing you stay on top of your workload.

Some other tips that I could give you from my own personal experience include:

Pace yourself throughout the year. While cramming was definitely a tactic that I employed, it can be stress-inducing and is not necessarily the most efficient. Complete coursework when it is given to you and stay on top of your workload, you’ll find it so much easier that way.

Find an outlet and accept when you need a break. For me this year was quite exhausting at times, and burnouts are definitely possible. Sometimes, I needed to accept that I needed to abandon studying for a day, go on a walk, or focus on my personal health. I accepted when my other commitments were getting in the way of things, and became aware of my limits early on in the year. I used a personal passion of mine (dance) as a positive outlet to express myself, keeping my own mental health in check throughout the year as I believe that is just as important.

Look for what the assessor is asking for, familiarise yourself with task words and practice completing questions in a timed format. A couple of the things that I noticed during my very first SAC was that I lost a mark due not exploring both sides of the issue during a ‘discuss’ question, and that I was quite pressed for time. I worked on these things throughout the year, and made sure to always identify what the question was asking before leaping into a response.

Finally, find what works for you. Everyone learns differently, has varying circumstances, processes information at different rates and learns through different methods. While I can suggest a range of alternatives, not all of them are going to work. Find your strengths early on in the year, this will be an important key to success.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask me. Also, if you haven’t already I would highly recommend checking out Jigsaw’s Guide, as it contains a variety of further information and tips that would be useful to future Business Management Students.

Hey this was really good advice, thanks! Just a quick question, would you recommend using TeachingBubble for Bus Man? I've got the Edrolo for it, but TeachingBubble looks like a pretty good resource.