Hey everyone! To kick off the first guide of the Ancient History series, I thought I'd explore one of the
many key ways to succeed in HSC Ancient History. The majority of what I say in this guide will be specifically tailored to Ancient, but the fundamental skills explored can definitely be used in writing study notes for
all your HSC subjects. Writing study notes and using them to study for your HSC is a notion that is just thrown around a bit, and I feel like there is not enough guidance out there as to how to write study notes that not only look great and contain all the essential information, but are going to make an effective and useful study tool when it comes to studying for the Trial and Final HSC Exams. If any of the points I make in this guide are unclear or you just have some lingering questions, just simply
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Ok, so let’s get started. In order to effectively study for your Ancient History Trial and HSC exams, you’ll need to have a detailed but concise set of study notes for each topic your class covered in the HSC. And these beautiful notes should not be something that is completed just in the four-week lead up to the HSC exams. Instead,
they should be completed consistently throughout the year. Some people like doing them at the end of each topic, although I found completing study notes for the syllabus dot points we had covered in class in the previous week much more efficient and effective as a revision tool.
Writing study for all your HSC subjects should become apart of your normal homework/assignment routine and overtime, they should become a habit. Why should I write study notes?Before I fill you guys in on all the tips and tricks to writing beautiful Ancient History study notes, I need to give you a reason to spend hours and hours writing them! It would be so much easier just to type into Google “Ancient History study notes” and use someone else’s hard work as your own, right? But I cannot stress enough how ineffective this is.
Your study notes are supposed to be tailored to YOU, and assist YOU in maximizing your marks. For example, my study notes for Ancient were extremely visual (I used a lot of images and tables) because I see myself as a very visual learner. I also used other visual cues, like colour coding and symbols to help me remember certain quotes or sources. Because I had wrote (typed) those study notes myself (and had been using them as a study tool for the previous 2 months), I kid you not, in the examination I could see my study notes sitting in my photographic memory! I am not telling you guys not to look for Ancient History study notes on Google at all – they can be used as a great source of guidance or inspiration for your own study notes! You should be looking at other people’s study notes and realizing how much work you need to be putting into your own, in order to succeed in the HSC, not just in Ancient, but in all your subjects.
Gathering the informationOk, so you’ve come to the end of the week (or the end of a topic) and you’re ready to start writing or typing your study notes. Where do you begin? Take the time to go to the school library or your local library and ask the librarian if they can direct you to all the books they have on Pompeii and Herculaneum, or whatever the topic is, pick the best ones, and borrow as many as they will allow you to. If you’re teacher is anything like the passionate Ancient teacher I had, they would have already given you trees worth of booklets on all you need to know for Ancient. It can be a little overwhelming at first to read all this information, but taking the time to read through the books and pick out what information relates best to the syllabus is so worth it. Books are the best sources we have for Ancient when it comes to writing study notes. The good ones often include archaeological sources, and ancient and modern written sources (all the good stuff that the markers are looking for).
Writing your study notesThe first issue I want to address here is the question many people ask: “Should I type or write my notes? Which option will make me remember the content better?” My answer to this question is that it depends on your personal preference and the way you study. Some people find writing their notes actually allows them to remember the content much easier, while others find typing them is a lot quicker, and easier to insert pictures, quotes etc. From personal experience, I can say that a mix of typing and writing works most effectively. For all my HSC subjects, I initially typed my notes, and then when it came to studying difficult dot points I just couldn’t remember, I would write the notes out by hand until I could answer the dot point without having to look at my typed notes for guidance. Therefore, whether you write or type your notes is a matter of personal preference.
The best way to set out your study notes is in accordance with the HSC syllabus. Your study notes should literally be a document of answers to each and every syllabus dot point (a.k.a. all the possible exam questions). To be effective, your ‘answers’ to each dot point should be presented in a way that will allow you to effectively use the notes to study, through the use of bullet points, diagrams, tables, etc. Make sure you have enough information and detail under each dot point to be able to comfortably answer a short or long answer question on it.
In saying that, your notes should not merely be 30 pages of facts. The fundamental reason as to why we study Ancient is because of the primary archaeological and written sources that have been uncovered from thousands of years ago. For each dot point, you need to have at least one source to back up what you are saying. You need to be considering archaeological sources, as well as ancient and modern written sources, and incorporating these throughout your study notes, just as you would include them throughout a 25 mark essay in the exam. When referring to sources, you should be focussing on what the source
reveals about Pompeii and Herculaneum, or Sparta, or whatever the topic is, not just dropping the source and leaving it there. In my own study notes, I colour coded my sources to make it easier for me to remember them. For example I used
green for
archaeological sources,
dark blue for
ancient written sources, and
light blue for
modern written sources.
Finally, the
take home message from this guide:
1.
Start your notes early. Don't leave them to the last minute. If you haven't started your notes, don't worry too much, just try to have them finished by the time you graduate, leaving you plenty of time to use them to study for your exam.
2.
Whether you type or write your notes is up to personal preference. I found a mixture of both worked effectively.
3. Structure your notes in accordance with the HSC Ancient History Syllabus.
Your notes should literally look like answers to each syllabus dot point. 4. Be sure to incorporate
archaeological evidence, as well as
ancient and modern written sources into your notes, and use them in terms of what they
reveal about your chosen topic.
I hope you guys find this guide helpful! Be sure to
leave a message if you have any questions! Stay tuned for an upcoming guide on how to smash your Ancient History Trial Exam and HSC Exam - Let's get some Band 6's!
All the best!