HSC Stuff > New South Wales Education Discussion

Susie - Ask a State Ranker (Q+A Closed)

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sudodds:

--- Quote from: heids on July 29, 2017, 05:04:02 pm ---What's it like to literally be in the same room as jamonwindeyer? Also Elyse. Also Jake. Also Rui. Also yourself.

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Ahahaha, well as I said, difficult to put into words ;) But I'll try!

Jamon is an absolute legend (as I'm sure pretty much everyone on AN can attest to) both on and offline, but at the same time is just super down to earth, friendly and helpful (like the amount of times I've messaged him along the lines of "help I don't know how to be an adult!", to get a super detailed, thorough response is amazing). Also his passion for helping out students is so inspiring, beyond just on the forum. Elyse is literally like, my idol, on just so many fronts - academics, fashion, insta, travel, uni - just such an icon, but again, super down to earth and easy to talk to, someone that you don't need to try and make conversation with, it just comes naturally to her :) Also an amazing storyteller (rip sarpay97 :'(). When Jake is not making fun of my height, my age, my full name, my ideological/dialectical opinions, or my taste in literally anything - he can actually be pretty cool :) Also freaking hilarious, and can make pretty much anyone feel welcome and included, which has been greatly appreciated, from the beginning of this year when I joined the lecturing team all the way to today :) Rui is exactly as you'd expect - one of the most awesome people ever, the banter does not stay online when it comes to Rui 8) Actually watching him answer maths questions as well (because the literal legend was answering questions AT the lectures) just provides a whole new perspective on how hard he works to help out all the maths students on AN - you guys are super lucky to have him around.

Literally though, the whole team - Brenden, Nick, Emily, Naomi, Maddie, Andrew, Jamie, Steph and Isaac as well - are so freaking incredible, like the funnest, funniest, nicest, most interesting group of people, that I'm honestly so honoured to call my friends :)

Okay - sappiness over ahahaha (what did we expect from 12:20 am Susie?). Back to Trials! Fun fun fun! (but yeah, ily AN <3 )

sudodds:

--- Quote from: Ishodinkha17 on July 29, 2017, 05:13:55 pm ---Hey Susie, I am really worried about my Modern Trial on Thursday. I always seem to storytell in my essay and I am horrible at writing historical essays. How do you manage to write three essays in three hours! I am really stressed out and I am so worried that my results will be horrible.

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Heya! Don't stress - I know, easier said than done - but you have a whole support team here to help you out :) I know it may seem close, but by Thursday is more than enough time to get prepared (even with other exams). The easiest way to avoid story telling is to continually bring it back to the question, and to focus on the significance of the events, rather than the events themselves. Sentences like this "thus it is evident that (your judgement) is supported", or "this further emphasises the significance of (your judgement)". These sentences show that you are analysing rather than just telling us a story, because they are forcing you to have to make a judgement as to whether this event is significant or not.
 
Another suggestion I often give my students who write too narrative is to use a thematic structure. A thematic structure, by nature will prevent you from writing a narrative, as they do not focus on full events, but more so different aspects of many events, and how they contribute to a theme. The themes are political, social, economic (and sometimes strategic/militaristic, cultural and ideological!). So, lets say you are a Russia student writing a Stalinism essay. Rather than having each paragraph go in chronological order detailing what Stalin did, which is very easy to slip into re-tell, you could instead have a paragraph on Stalin's political impact, social impact, economic impact, etc. etc, where you have to make the call as to which events demonstrate which theme :)

My teachers no. 1 tip to tell if you are writing a narrative was this. If you can put "meanwhile" at the beginning of a sentence, and it make sense - you are probably writing too narrative!

In terms of writing 3 essays in 3 hours - I know that may seem like a lot, cos well, it is - I can tell you right now it is manageable :) You really don't need more than 45 minutes to answer the question - hell, in the HSC I accidentally went way overboard in the personality section, and only had 30 minutes to write my Cold War essay, but I got the same mark for that, as I got for my Russia essay, which I took 45 minutes to write. Just focus on one obstacle at a time, and make sure that you plan your response before hand, rather than just ploughing through :)

I really hope this helps - remember you can always PM me if you're stressed and need help <3 Just keep a level head - I'm sure you'll do amazing in this exam, and even if you don't - meh :) No one cares about your marks beyond HSC, and there are so many pathways to getting into what you want, even if you don't get the exact mark that you need. Getting good marks in the HSC is just one journey, out of many that you could take :)

Susie

sudodds:

--- Quote from: riiisaa87 on July 29, 2017, 05:22:51 pm ---Hey Susie!

Since there's so much content to learn for Modern History, specifically within the national, international peace and conflict and personality studies. How do you best narrow down your notes?

Thank you so much!

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Hey riiisaa87!

So, fun fact - I didn't write notes for Modern! Or for any of my subjects! For me, writing notes just isn't an effective study method, as I am someone that needs to actively be "doing" something in order to retain information. The way that I studied was just doing a shit tonne of practice papers - most of which I completed open book! That way I could work out what arguments and content were most applicable to different types of questions, and I could really see where the gaps in my knowledge lay (unlike in Ancient, I found that for different sections of the syllabus, my modern essays tended to be structured quite similarly - not to the extent whereby I would feel comfortable memorising them - DO NOT do that - but where I could definitely see patterns in my arguments).

sudodds:

--- Quote from: assassinsfreed on July 29, 2017, 05:35:02 pm ---Hi Susie! I went to your trial lecture (you were FANTASTIC) and do all three histories, and I was wondering how you managed to memorise all the dates and historian names across the subjects? also for the HTA history extension prize submission, did you have to convert your footnotes to endnotes (as they suggest)?

--- End quote ---
Thank you so much! So glad you enjoyed - I had so much fun delivering it :) And yayayaya another member of the 5 unit fam! When it comes to memorising detail/sources/quotes/etc. - I personally used a detail table! Basically it had all the syllabus dot points down one side, and then a column for miscellaneous detail (eg. stats, terminology, names, etc.) and then a column for quotes (you can actually find mine in the notes section). I also recommend taking a look at this thread! made by jakesilove! Worksheets are a really effective form or study, because they are "active", meaning that your brain has to be switched on, rather than just reading and writing out different stats. When done often, its kinda like muscle memory - you will just know these stats/quotes, without even having to think!

For the HTA essay prize - yes, you need to convert all footnotes to endnotes :) Easy to do on word!

sudodds:

--- Quote from: katie,rinos on July 29, 2017, 05:51:27 pm ---What are your tips for procrastination? (I find that I could procrastinate on anything at the moment :) )

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- Study in a study environment - ie. school library. I'd go into school even during exam blocks and study in the library, because I found I could just focus better (plus I liked the convenience of having the staff study just upstairs, if I needed help with anything).
- Give your phone to your parents when you want to study, so that you can't get distracted by it - tell them not to give it back until you have finished x essay etc. etc.
- Download selfcontrol or cold turkey onto your laptop!

But also - know that sometimes procrastination is your brains way of saying - I NEED A BREAK! If you have been working consistently, and then sudden, one day you're finding it really hard to focus? Give into the procrastination and take a well deserved break :) You can't be studying 24/7, that's just not healthy - and in the long run, not effective :) Give yourself time to relax, have fun, etc. etc.


--- Quote from: katie,rinos on July 29, 2017, 05:51:27 pm ---Also, for English did you use both your related texts in your trials and HSC?

--- End quote ---
Yep! I didn't change them :) If you mean did I use both in terms of the fact that I had two related texts for each Module - no. I only used one for the actual exams, I just had the other prepared just in case!


--- Quote from: katie,rinos on July 29, 2017, 05:51:27 pm ---For section 2 in extension, how many areas of the debate did you study and use in your exams? Is it better to do one in depth, or to do two?

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I studied three - you'd definitely want to do more than one, as the question often asks specifically for the amount of debates they want you to discuss! (I don't think it has ever been more than 2).


--- Quote from: katie,rinos on July 29, 2017, 05:51:27 pm ---Also, may seem like a dumb question, but you seem to really like Trotsky-Who was he? (showing my lack of modern history knowledge here :) )
Thanks so much (again)!! :D

--- End quote ---
Ahahaha, I definitely think he is an interesting figure that has garnered an unfair reputation throughout history - potentially because of the hella smear campaign that Stalin (and also many capitalist historians/figures) launched against him. Basically, Trotsky was a key communist leader in Russia, during the 1917 Revolution, and was really responsible for much of their success, however when he lost the power struggle to Stalin and was exiled from Russia, much of his significance to history was erased and demonized (literally Stalin photoshopped him out of pictures its mental) - like even amongst other communists, "Trotskyites" (which essentially just means anyone who supports his theory of Permanent Revolution) are vilified (though it is a classic joke that who do communists hate more than fascists? Other communists). Though I don't know whether I would necessarily call him a "good guy" (*cough cough* ruthless suppression of the Kronstadt Rebellion *cough cough*), I definitely don't think he was as evil as he has often been painted to be (and I think it is important to understand the context and ideology behind his decisions), and he undeniably played a critical role in shaping Russian history. :) But yeah, hella interesting, complex character - sad that he (and the personality study altogether!) have been taken off the new syllabus.

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