STRESSED OUT AND FEEL HELPLESS

[Elaineng]

This is not a specific questions in any subjects but my worst subject is maths so I am posting this here. (Or maybe I should post on every board lol) Below is my background, you can skip to the questions directly if you want.

I am a year-12 students and I am stressed out about HSC. My identity is a bit weird because though i am Australian citizen, I came here from Hong Kong about 1 year ago. That means actually my English is poor and I don’t know much about the HSC system.)

I came to Australia in Jan 30, 2016, which means the first term had started in every school so I didn't have the right to choose schools. I went to a low ranking school. The principal and the career office didn’t told me anything about the school system. I didn’t even have the calendar of school days and holidays. And Principal put me into the English Standard Class even if he knew I just came to Australia for a week and I was so confused in the lessons.Then my classmates told me that I should be studying in English ESL instead.

Until one month ago, I was told by my classmates about Trial and ATAR. Then I realised that my subjects are bad in scaling. And my result were so-so last year. So I am very very worried about if I can study in good University because this is my parents’ hope. However I don’t understand the format to answer questions in every subjects. Also, I need to get extremely high marks as my subjects’ scores will be scaled down. I want to get a lot of improvement but I don’t know where to get start.

Here are my chosen subjects:
English ESL
Mathematics 2units
Chinese Background Speaker
Music1
Senior Science
VET Hospitality

[RuiAce]

Things to ignore:
Low ranking school - Jamon's school was ranked in the low 300s and he got 99.8 ATAR anyway?
Bad scaling - There was a guy at my school that only had 2 good scaling subjects but dux'd in his year. Rather than worry about not getting those high marks, go work TO GET them. Being negative about it won't get you anywhere.

Now, for your questions.
I will do a lot of past papers this year,but I don't know where to get the Band-6 model answer to refer to. Where can I get the answers?
There are heaps of past papers on pages such as THSC which come with FULL WORKED SOLUTIONS. Just do past papers off there.
(I also like resources such as Excel Study One for the past HSC papers. Just get a copy off your local library, or buy at a bookstore.)

I am not sure if I can really improve my results in these eight months. Can anyone share their study methods??
Feeling like you won't improve is okay, but if you believe it then you won't improve for real. If you keep working and forget about this negative thought, you WILL improve.

Since we're talking about maths here, ultimately over 90% of your study will be past papers. Maths is a skills-based subject, and conceptual understanding in itself is going to be inferior. Notes are not common in maths; most people vouch for a formula sheet or something and that's about it. Do as many past papers as you can.
"As you can" is important though. Amidst all study, NEVER drain yourself out.

There's also other study tips for general purposes, such as making a timetable and allocating times for breaks.

My teacher told me that I have to study visual art so that I can choose Design in university but I didn't chose visual art. What can I do?
Worry about this after the HSC ends.

I personally don't know how art history helps design at university. So if design is what you're after, when the HSC is OVER, learn the techniques that they teach in visual arts.

Besides, ESL, 2U maths, Chinese background speaker and Music 1 aren't "BAD" scaling.


Extra: Idk how much help it would be, but I can understand Chinese so if something troubles you just switch language any time you wish.

[elysepopplewell]

This is not a specific questions in any subjects but my worst subject is maths so I am posting this here. (Or maybe I should post on every board lol) Below is my background, you can skip to the questions directly if you want.

Elaineng - you've come to the right place! As RuiAce suggested, you should ignore the low ranking school and the understanding of scaling. All that you can control right now is your mindset and performance, not the rest.

Have you moved from Standard English into English as a Second Language?
I can imagine that this would be very stressful for you. We always want to help, so message on ATAR Notes any time and we will do our best to help.

[sudodds]

Hey! On the subject of not doing Visual Arts but wanting to get into design, as far as I am aware in NSW no (or at least most) universities do not have prerequisites, meaning that you don't need to study a specific subject in HSC to get into your course One of my friends didn't study Visual Arts and is going to be studying design at UTS this year.

[Elaineng]

Thx RuiAce, I will find the Excel Study One and THSC for revision. Also I will try to be positive about HSC.

Elysepopplewell I went to English ESL after my classmates told me to.I will ask questions if I need help again.

Sudodds thx for the informations, I will talk about that with my teacher in this week.

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