HSC Stuff > New South Wales Education Discussion
Getting a 99+ ATAR: Tips from a 99.80 Student
lazydreamer:
hey jamon, ever mind-blanked in two exams? |cries| Any ideas on how I could stop that from happening in the future?
This guide is awesome btw, thanks for the great advice :D
jamonwindeyer:
--- Quote from: lazydreamer on March 05, 2016, 04:33:21 pm ---hey jamon, ever mind-blanked in two exams? |cries| Any ideas on how I could stop that from happening in the future?
This guide is awesome btw, thanks for the great advice :D
--- End quote ---
Hey lazydreamer! I can't say I've ever had the experience of a total mind blank, and I am fortunate in that way. What I will say is that my Year 12 Extension Math half yearly made me feel like absolute crap. I just saw questions I didn't know how to do, blanked on how to begin approaching them, got stressed and ended up not attempting quite a few questions in the paper. I never leave questions unattempted, so while my marks and rank ended up being pretty good for the exam anyway, it shook me up a little.
I actually think a little scare is a good thing, especially if it is in half yearly exams (not so fun if it happens in Trials). If you stuff up an exam, you get a weird combination of emotions. Depression (what the hell just happened), anxiety (what is going to happen now), confusion (I thought I was pretty ready), but perhaps most important of all... Determination. When I had this half yearly, that night I remember sitting down at my desk and thinking, "Right, I am never letting that happen again."
I studied like an absolute freak for Extension from that point on, and I ended up with a string of math tasks where I didn't lose a mark. The half yearly gave me a massive kick of momentum, it "woke me up" I suppose you could say.
So, my advice to not let this happen again is, pretty much, to capitalise on the fact that it did happen. Let it drive you forward, and make you say: "No, you know what, I'm not letting that happen again." The key is, don't stop working. Just stay focused, keep up with what is happening in class, and reflect on what went wrong and improve it for next time.
I know this post is very pseudo-inspirational pep-talk styled, rather than technical study advice, but I seriously think that momentum and mindset is so important for coming back from things like this. No amount of technical advice I give on "not stuffing up exams" (which I've written lots about for Math already and will write lots more about in the future) will matter if you aren't in the right frame of mind to use it :D
So, think about what went wrong this time, think about why you came out feeling the way you did, and make a promise to yourself that you will never feel that way again. Use your setback as a deterrent for future setbacks, and as a drive to push you to better performances in the future ;D
PS - If you did want some technical study advice, let me know which subjects you struggled in! I can give you some pointers (if I did the subject) or it may even have a guide on the way ;D
lazydreamer:
--- Quote from: jamonwindeyer on March 06, 2016, 11:41:22 pm ---Hey lazydreamer! I can't say I've ever had the experience of a total mind blank, and I am fortunate in that way. What I will say is that my Year 12 Extension Math half yearly made me feel like absolute crap. I just saw questions I didn't know how to do, blanked on how to begin approaching them, got stressed and ended up not attempting quite a few questions in the paper. I never leave questions unattempted, so while my marks and rank ended up being pretty good for the exam anyway, it shook me up a little.
I actually think a little scare is a good thing, especially if it is in half yearly exams (not so fun if it happens in Trials). If you stuff up an exam, you get a weird combination of emotions. Depression (what the hell just happened), anxiety (what is going to happen now), confusion (I thought I was pretty ready), but perhaps most important of all... Determination. When I had this half yearly, that night I remember sitting down at my desk and thinking, "Right, I am never letting that happen again."
I studied like an absolute freak for Extension from that point on, and I ended up with a string of math tasks where I didn't lose a mark. The half yearly gave me a massive kick of momentum, it "woke me up" I suppose you could say.
So, my advice to not let this happen again is, pretty much, to capitalise on the fact that it did happen. Let it drive you forward, and make you say: "No, you know what, I'm not letting that happen again." The key is, don't stop working. Just stay focused, keep up with what is happening in class, and reflect on what went wrong and improve it for next time.
I know this post is very pseudo-inspirational pep-talk styled, rather than technical study advice, but I seriously think that momentum and mindset is so important for coming back from things like this. No amount of technical advice I give on "not stuffing up exams" (which I've written lots about for Math already and will write lots more about in the future) will matter if you aren't in the right frame of mind to use it :D
So, think about what went wrong this time, think about why you came out feeling the way you did, and make a promise to yourself that you will never feel that way again. Use your setback as a deterrent for future setbacks, and as a drive to push you to better performances in the future ;D
PS - If you did want some technical study advice, let me know which subjects you struggled in! I can give you some pointers (if I did the subject) or it may even have a guide on the way ;D
--- End quote ---
Thank you, that was really inspiring, definitely gotta read that over a few more times though :) It happened in 2 assessments worth 7.5% of my HSC but still felt pretty bad.
So what stuffed me up in particular was the parametrics section in 3U and how you go about proving everything...do you have any advice or a post that could help? Thanks heaps for this :D
jamonwindeyer:
--- Quote from: lazydreamer on March 08, 2016, 05:47:06 pm ---Thank you, that was really inspiring, definitely gotta read that over a few more times though :) It happened in 2 assessments worth 7.5% of my HSC but still felt pretty bad.
So what stuffed me up in particular was the parametrics section in 3U and how you go about proving everything...do you have any advice or a post that could help? Thanks heaps for this :D
--- End quote ---
Don't stress, even if the marks aren't quite what you like, your School Assessment Marks themselves play a smaller role than you think. In the long run, it won't make too much of a difference ;D
I hated that part of the course, seriously annoyed me. I never managed to figure out a set process which worked every time. My advice is simply to do as many practice questions as you can, so that it is more likely you have seen a similar question before. Further, check out this Plane Geometry Guide for 2U and Extension 1 Guide I wrote last year, it is a useful summary with a good example of a typical HSC style question for parametric proofs ;D
lazydreamer:
--- Quote from: jamonwindeyer on March 09, 2016, 10:01:35 am ---Don't stress, even if the marks aren't quite what you like, your School Assessment Marks themselves play a smaller role than you think. In the long run, it won't make too much of a difference ;D
I hated that part of the course, seriously annoyed me. I never managed to figure out a set process which worked every time. My advice is simply to do as many practice questions as you can, so that it is more likely you have seen a similar question before. Further, check out this Plane Geometry Guide for 2U and Extension 1 Guide I wrote last year, it is a useful summary with a good example of a typical HSC style question for parametric proofs ;D
--- End quote ---
thanks for this, i'll get right to it :)
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