is "burning out" if you work too hard on the holidays a myth?

[Special At Specialist]

Good points by Camo, Special At Specialist, stop being so ignorant, the truth is, you can do what you want, but there are others here who have had experience with what you're planning to do, and we are honest when we say that what you're planning to do will not work, it's not about practice exams, you can do a million practice exams and still do worse than someone who did 5, believe me, I made that mistake myself, practice exams cover only 95% of the course, it's the remaining 5% that you will miss when doing practice exams and when you are rushing through the course during summer

I've planned to do the following before the end of year exams:
1. Finish specialist textbook (Essentials)
2. Complete at least 50 practice exams for both tech-free and tech-assist.
3. Complete NEAP exam guides and checkpoints book.
4. Do extended response questions at the end of every chapter in textbook.

What else can I possibly do to help me score a 50 in specialist maths?

[paulsterio]

Camo,
Yep even in maths and other such subjects, where it's about skills more so than raw knowledge, I think that practice exams still should be left until September, because time is much better spent learning the course content and in all seriousness, it's much better to know the course than to spam practice exams


Louise,
I disagree, what he's proposed is far from ideal because practice exams is not the be all and end all of doing well, it constitutes a part (a large part) in doing well, but not all of it, course knowledge is just as important and when you're doing practice exams there's parts of the course you'll miss
But you do raise valid points which he should think about before committing to that sort of study plan


Special at Specialist,
You've got to change your strategy to get a 50 in Specialist Maths, you have to
Also, all you're doing is practice, you're not learning any theory, trust me, theory is important, ask anyone who's done well in maths, it's not all about practice

[louise_2012]

Louise,
I disagree, what he's proposed is far from ideal because practice exams is not the be all and end all of doing well, it constitutes a part (a large part) in doing well, but not all of it, course knowledge is just as important and when you're doing practice exams there's parts of the course you'll miss
But you do raise valid points which he should think about before committing to that sort of study plan

Yes, true that. Ideal was not the right word; I was struggling for the right word to use haha. What I meant was that in theory it may sound good, having an entire year to revise for exams (and for some people that may work, I can't really say). But just like you said, in reality that is most likely far from the case and could create a plethora of extra problems. Thanks for pointing that out

[Camo]

Good points by Camo, Special At Specialist, stop being so ignorant, the truth is, you can do what you want, but there are others here who have had experience with what you're planning to do, and we are honest when we say that what you're planning to do will not work, it's not about practice exams, you can do a million practice exams and still do worse than someone who did 5, believe me, I made that mistake myself, practice exams cover only 95% of the course, it's the remaining 5% that you will miss when doing practice exams and when you are rushing through the course during summer

I've planned to do the following before the end of year exams:
1. Finish specialist textbook (Essentials)
2. Complete at least 50 practice exams for both tech-free and tech-assist.
3. Complete NEAP exam guides and checkpoints book.
4. Do extended response questions at the end of every chapter in textbook.

What else can I possibly do to help me score a 50 in specialist maths?

Camo,
Yep even in maths and other such subjects, where it's about skills more so than raw knowledge, I think that practice exams still should be left until September, because time is much better spent learning the course content and in all seriousness, it's much better to know the course than to spam practice exams


Louise,
I disagree, what he's proposed is far from ideal because practice exams is not the be all and end all of doing well, it constitutes a part (a large part) in doing well, but not all of it, course knowledge is just as important and when you're doing practice exams there's parts of the course you'll miss
But you do raise valid points which he should think about before committing to that sort of study plan


Special at Specialist,
You've got to change your strategy to get a 50 in Specialist Maths, you have to
Also, all you're doing is practice, you're not learning any theory, trust me, theory is important, ask anyone who's done well in maths, it's not all about practice

Develop a weekly time table and please set some time aside so you can relax, or your going to get stressed and retain anything. Please take these guys advice, you haven't experienced year 12 yet.

[Special At Specialist]

Special at Specialist,
You've got to change your strategy to get a 50 in Specialist Maths, you have to
Also, all you're doing is practice, you're not learning any theory, trust me, theory is important, ask anyone who's done well in maths, it's not all about practice

I've watched heaps of videos on Khan Academy and I read the textbook before answering questions. There's only so much theory you can learn until you've covered all of VCE specialist maths.

That may be great and would really be 'ideal' but you haven't factored in many things, such as boredom arising from no new content during the year, losing motivation due to this, doing exams so much throughout the year that you don't take the real ones that seriously, physically running out of revision materials in certain subjects; just to mention a few.

I don't care how bored I get. My determination to do well will override that. And the internet has so much free material to offer me that I don't think I have to worry about running out of content.

And I will be revising for SAC's, not just exams.

[Camo]

Special at Specialist,
You've got to change your strategy to get a 50 in Specialist Maths, you have to
Also, all you're doing is practice, you're not learning any theory, trust me, theory is important, ask anyone who's done well in maths, it's not all about practice

I've watched heaps of videos on Khan Academy and I read the textbook before answering questions. There's only so much theory you can learn until you've covered all of VCE specialist maths.

That may be great and would really be 'ideal' but you haven't factored in many things, such as boredom arising from no new content during the year, losing motivation due to this, doing exams so much throughout the year that you don't take the real ones that seriously, physically running out of revision materials in certain subjects; just to mention a few.

I don't care how bored I get. My determination to do well will override that. And the internet has so much free material to offer me that I don't think I have to worry about running out of content.

And I will be revising for SAC's, not just exams.

Just plan well, otherwise your going to fall short of a 50.

[Special At Specialist]

Develop a weekly time table and please set some time aside so you can relax, or your going to get stressed and retain anything. Please take these guys advice, you haven't experienced year 12 yet.

Thanks for your advice.
I'll use some of my procrastination time to do that.
But to be honest, I think my main problem isn't not taking enough breaks, but rather taking too many breaks. I procrastinate quite a lot and during my procrastination hours I achieve almost nothing. It's just wasted time that I could be spent studying.
As long as I can cut down the procrastination and work solidly at home, then I think I should be fine. Any other motivational tips will be appreciated.

EDIT: I take back what I said about me being a robot. I TRY to be a robot, but I waste too much time and don't study efficiently. I think if I can actually do work more and think about doing work less, then I should be fine.

[Planck's constant]

physically running out of revision materials in certain subjects;

Why is that a problem ?
You can always devote more time to English. You never run out of things to do in English


.

[tony3272]

Develop a weekly time table and please set some time aside so you can relax, or your going to get stressed and retain anything. Please take these guys advice, you haven't experienced year 12 yet.

Thanks for your advice.
I'll use some of my procrastination time to do that.
But to be honest, I think my main problem isn't not taking enough breaks, but rather taking too many breaks. I procrastinate quite a lot and during my procrastination hours I achieve almost nothing. It's just wasted time that I could be spent studying.
As long as I can cut down the procrastination and work solidly at home, then I think I should be fine. Any other motivational tips will be appreciated.

EDIT: I take back what I said about me being a robot. I TRY to be a robot, but I waste too much time and don't study efficiently. I think if I can actually do work more and think about doing work less, then I should be fine.

Procrastination is there to keep you sane throughout year 12.

[taiga]

I am determined to prove a 50 in specialist maths.

[louise_2012]

Why is that a problem ?
You can always devote more time to English. You never run of things to do in English

Ah sorry, I should have expanded on that one too haha (v. sleep deprived at the moment, apologies). I was more talking about the possible effect of a study plan like that on specific subjects. Pretend you did a subject like say, Psychology (I don't do this subject so it may turn out to be an incredibly bad example :S) where the study design is very new. To my knowledge, there are very limited amounts of exam papers out there and if you were to learn all the psychology course in the holidays and spend the rest of the year revising, you may reach a point where you have done all available practice papers, all extra revision material created by companies and a lot of your own. Then you reach a point where closer to the exam, you don't have adequet (sp?) revision material left to revise. You can devote more time to English, indeed, but your efforts in regards to Psychology may be rendered a bit futile. 
I'm not sure of Special At Specialist's other subjects, so I just put that in as a possible consideration, were he to be doing a subject which may have limited resources.

[Special At Specialist]

I'm not sure of Special At Specialist's other subjects, so I just put that in as a possible consideration.

My other subjects are:
Maths Methods
Literature
German
Philosophy

I am determined to prove a 50 in specialist maths.

... I don't get it.

Procrastination is there to keep you sane throughout year 12.

Sadly this is probably true

[Greatness]

A little off topic but yes i totally agree with Paul here know the theory - like literally back to front so that you know the definition of something or what the concept is as soon as you read a question. You may be underestimating how important it is, you will realise this when you start diong exams if yuo misinterpret an aspect of a question wave good bye to your 50.

[nacho]

you certinly can. I too thought it was a myth but it happened on the 8th day of me trying to finish unit 3 accounting course in 11 days.
STudy as hard as you want, a burnout is better experienced before exams. Mine lasted about a day. I ate ice cream and watched movies lol

[thushan]

I ate ice cream and watched movies lol

Sounds like me pretty much every day during swotvac.
Except I don't eat icecream...