I received a 99+ ATAR and a perfect GPA - ask me anything.

[Joseph41]

My mainstream teacher says further maths is really hard and not a bludge subject. (Evidence cause she teaches VCE Further Maths)
Is this true??? (I have no intentions doing further xd)

Hey SChMurpel!

I don't think any subject is a "bludge" subject at VCE level, to be honest. There are countless examples of very proficient maths students not doing as well as they had hoped in Further as a result of taking it lightly. At the top end, just a few marks off in the exams can be very costly indeed.

I found the actual maths considerably easier than my experience with, say, Methods (which was only Units 1/2), but I'm not sure that makes it easy as a subject. And it's such a subjective thing, too. Like, if you're fantastic at maths, yeah, it's probably not going to be overly strenuous. But that same student might find, say, HHD very difficult, whilst another student again could see that as a bludge. It's very much a personal thing.

But in terms of the actual maths involved, I didn't find it much different to earlier levels of high school tbh. It's not really relevant, because the three major maths subjects are targeted at different audiences.

Thanks for this thread! That's an incredible Atar! 

It's August now and I have a million SACs before term ends (not a million but you know just really intense emotions coming out!  ), what I can I do to revise Unit 3 for exams?
Also, I feel like I've forgotten heaps and heaps of Unit 3 content for all my subjects! They're just so content heavy!! 
What can I do to catch up with exam revision and content so that I don't feel guilty while at the same time being really confident in my preparation for upcoming SACs?

Basically, what was your study routine in August? 

Thank you! Congratulations!

Hey, no worries.

I think perception is important here. When I ask students at this time of year if they've started revising for exams, I usually get a "lol Joseph pls" sort of reaction. But in reality, you have. So has everybody. With a few exceptions, everything you've been studying this year (for SACs and so on) actually doubles up as exam revision.

But I understand your question. I did a bunch of content-heavy subjects, too, and at times it did feel as though there was just too much content to get through. My advice here would be to take things slowly. Like, revision isn't an all or nothing sort of thing. You can do literally five minutes of Unit 3 revision, and that's better than not doing any minutes at all. If you do five minutes each school day, that's nearly half an hour per week. Over time, small decisions like this really add up - it just requires a bit of discipline to keep doing it.

I'm also a big fan of using the study design really heavily. If you feel a bit overwhelmed and don't even really know where to start for your Unit 3 revision, jump onto the study design and just see what you know for each dot point. Going through things in a methodical way was comforting to me, because I felt confident in the knowledge I wasn't missing anything really important.

My study routine in August - study for SACs as I felt necessary, and then, with other time, study for exams as I felt necessary. Perhaps not a very helpful answer, but I don't think specifying minutes or anything like that will actually be helpful for you.

Thanks for the questions.

[Sine]

Is innate ability more advantageous at a high school (e.g. VCE/HSC) level or during a university degree?

[Joseph41]

Is innate ability more advantageous at a high school (e.g. VCE/HSC) level or during a university degree?

This is an interesting question. I'm not sure if there's a right answer, which is probably why I put this off for a little bit (to give some thinking time haha).

I think at either level, innate ability or disposition will only get you so far. You still have to work hard at what you do in order to get those really high results. Sorry to disappoint, but this one really has stumped me haha - I'm not sure I have much of an answer aside from this!

Thanks for the thought-provoking question.

[studyily]

How hard is it to get 99+ like how much work did u do in the holidays leading up to the hsc? And how do u space out subjects according to exams?

[PhoebeC]

Hey Joseph
Just wondering, how much do trials really matter? I was doing okay up until trials now I'm worried that my ATAR will be very negatively impacted because of it.
Cheers

[Joseph41]

How hard is it to get 99+ like how much work did u do in the holidays leading up to the hsc? And how do u space out subjects according to exams?

Hey studyily!

Really difficult question to answer, because I'm sure some people work SUPER hard all year and don't get a 99+, and others work not as hard but DO get that 99+. There's definitely no magic number where like, you can study six hours a day and be guaranteed a certain score - it just doesn't work like that.

Getting a 99+ ATAR is objectively difficult insofar as it places you in the top ~1%. But when I was in Year 10/11, I saw this as entirely unreachable and unfeasible, whilst now, in hindsight, somebody has to get those scores - so why not you? You don't need to get 100% on all of your assessments. You don't need to know all the answers.

How much did I study? In the holidays, I reckon probs a few hours per day on the days that I did study, but I certainly didn't study every single day of the holidays. I didn't really have a huge strategy when it came to spacing out subjects. I guess I studies marginally more for the subjects that I'd be examined on first, but in general, I just tried to keep everything really balanced.

Hey Joseph
Just wondering, how much do trials really matter? I was doing okay up until trials now I'm worried that my ATAR will be very negatively impacted because of it.
Cheers

Hey Phoebe! Welcome to ATAR Notes.

If at all possible, I'd really encourage you to not concern yourself too much with your Trial marks This article is really the best thing you could read at the moment. Trials don't mean nothing, but they also don't mean everything. They are, after all, a trial - and you should use what you've learnt (so - why don't you think you did so well?) in preparation for your HSC.

[Hannahco]

Hey Joseph!

How did you keep motivated? After trials I can't manage to actually start studying again and no matter how hard I try I just feel so lost and overwhelmed!

[manthila2000]

When you came out of the exam rooms, were you confident that you did well?

[Joseph41]

Hey Joseph!

How did you keep motivated? After trials I can't manage to actually start studying again and no matter how hard I try I just feel so lost and overwhelmed!

Hey Hannah.

I reckon a lot of people would facing similar things at this time of year, so you're certainly not alone on that front!

Trials - brutal. I really think you need to take some time to yourself after trials, because a) it's a big thing emotionally, and b) you don't want to burn out before the HSC. So try not to feel bad actually looking after yourself and taking time off - in many cases, it's necessary, and good strategy in the long run.

Re: motivation, what are you actually working toward? A particular course or score? Do you just want to do as well as you can? If you can firm up the point of it all in your mind, it will, hopefully, be a bit easier to keep pushing through. Because if you're working for no particular reason or purpose, it's so, so easy to lose motivation altogether.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, it's probably good to break things down, too. Instead of thinking like, "I have to do Biology study", think about what you can do to break your work down further. Getting through very small tasks consistently is, I think, a lot easier than getting through one huge one.

When you came out of the exam rooms, were you confident that you did well?

Hey! Good question. It varied a bit. I reckon, from memory:

Exam 1: 6/10
Exam 2: 8/10
Exam 3: 8/10
Exam 4: 9/10
Exam 5: 9/10
Exam 6: 10/10
Exam 7: 4/10
Exam 8: 6/10

Pretty good overall, I guess, but I was definitely disappointed after some. What I will say here, though, is that there's not always a correlation between how you think you've performed, and how you've actually performed. It's honestly really difficult to say, because it doesn't just depend on your own performance, but also the performances of other people sitting that subject.

[dcesaona]

Hi, I was wondering, do you think it's more advantageous to go into an exam feeling confident or stressed? For my trials I went into those feeling anxious but ended up with amazing results, so maybe it doesn't affect your exam performance.

Also, what did you do on the nights before exams?

[Joseph41]

Hi, I was wondering, do you think it's more advantageous to go into an exam feeling confident or stressed? For my trials I went into those feeling anxious but ended up with amazing results, so maybe it doesn't affect your exam performance.

Also, what did you do on the nights before exams?

Honestly, I'd say a combination of the two. Not over-confident, but not over-stressed haha. Pretty basic answer but one I think is pretty on the money. For me, that meant knowing I'd prepared well in combination with natural pre-exam nerves.

Nights before exams, I honestly just chilled. Every time. Watched sport, did other stuff - never studied.

[Lokleo417]

Hi I知 also currently a yr 11 business management  but I致e lost motivation for the subject. One of the reasons for this is constantly being around friends that really know what their doing in the subject :/
How did u get motivated in yr 11 to do business management?
How often did u study for the exam and how early did u start?
Any tips to ace business management? (I値l try anything at this point)
How do u memorise so much content?
Overall, how did u manage stress? (because I知 constantly stressed and never do well in exams)
Cheers in advance mate 

[Shivu123]

Hi im currently in year 12 doing SACE, i was wondering what atar i would get if i had the following grade for each subject:
Maths Specialist - B
Chemistry - C+
Maths Method  - C+
Physics - A-
English - B-
RP - B

[Joseph41]

Hi I知 also currently a yr 11 business management  but I致e lost motivation for the subject. One of the reasons for this is constantly being around friends that really know what their doing in the subject :/
How did u get motivated in yr 11 to do business management?
How often did u study for the exam and how early did u start?
Any tips to ace business management? (I値l try anything at this point)
How do u memorise so much content?
Overall, how did u manage stress? (because I知 constantly stressed and never do well in exams)
Cheers in advance mate 

Hey! How are you finding Business overall, putting aside the lack of motivation for a minute? Content interesting?

I think I know the feeling you're referring to. I've been in classes before where it's just like, "What's the point? Everybody else knows what's going on - I don't." But having also been on the other side of that, I'm pretty confident in suggesting those people you think know what they're doing, probably don't to the extent you think they do. And you're probably more capable yourself than you think you are.

To answer your questions:

How did u get motivated in yr 11 to do business management?
In hindsight, I honestly didn't find the subject overly interesting or enjoyable as far as content went. But I kept motivated in knowing that, for the first time ever, my assessments, exams etc. could actually count toward my ATAR. For years, I don't think I extended myself as much as I could have, because at the end of the day, I knew that my performance wouldn't directly impact my final results either way.

So, I guess just this knowledge alone gave me a sort of motivation I'd never had before. "Do well on this SAC/exam, and you will be rewarded" sort of thing.

Don't get me wrong: I struggled for motivation throughout the year. This is natural. But every time I hit a lull in motivation/performance, I'd eventually get back on track due to the knowledge above.

How often did u study for the exam and how early did u start?
I studied for the exam every single time I studied Business Management in general. I think this is something a lot of people miss. They see "exam study" as an isolated this but, if you think about it, you've been preparing for your end-of-year exam ever since you started the subject.

I think you're asking about exam-specific study, though. I probably started in like July? I had an extra free period for the back half of the year as I dropped Art Units 1/2 (good decision), so I usually used that time to study for Business where I could.

Initially, it wasn't very regular. So if you're thinking, "shit - July?!", don't stress. It was sometimes literally five minutes here, ten minutes there. As the exam came closer, I studied for it more. The Term 3/Term 4 holidays (so, now) were big for me, I think. This is probably when I really tried to smash through some practice exams.

Any tips to ace business management? (I値l try anything at this point)
How do u memorise so much content?
I'll answer these two questions together, because I think they're linked.

When learning content, try to link everything as much as possible to real-life experience. If you have a job, try to link everything you can to that job in order to make the content less conceptual and more practical. If you don't have a job, no stress - imagine working at, say, KFC, and think about the likely scenarios you'd find there.

You might be using mnemonics at the moment, which are great for learning big chunks of content. I definitely recommend these.

People say not to rote learn definitions, but honestly, I did, and it worked for me. I'd rote learn them, then try to explain them to my parents/brother/friends etc. to ensure I actually did understand the content (which is probably the main danger with rote learning stuff).

When answering questions, I honestly think BusMan is pretty formulaic. That is, you can usually tell the structure of a response just by reading the question (this will come with time, and you should work closely with your teacher if possible). If names are included in a case study, use those names in your response. Try to avoid vagueness, and really double down on the content included in the specific question.

Overall, how did u manage stress? (because I知 constantly stressed and never do well in exams)
With varying success (as was the case through uni). I think doing stuff you enjoy is really important. I tried to have a "deadline" of sorts where I wouldn't study for a subject past a certain date. So for Business, for example, I felt fully prepared like two days prior to the exam, meaning I didn't have to cram.

To expand on that, I never studied at night, because I personally found that stressful - so instead, I studied in the morning. It's a very personal thing.

In terms of exam-specific stress, IMO good preparation is the key here. Luckily, you have time on your side, and can really make it easier on future you over the next few weeks.

Cheers in advance mate 
No stress! Sorry for the late response. Good luck for the rest of the year - let me know if you have any other questions!

[Joseph41]

Hi im currently in year 12 doing SACE, i was wondering what atar i would get if i had the following grade for each subject:
Maths Specialist - B
Chemistry - C+
Maths Method  - C+
Physics - A-
English - B-
RP - B

Hey Shivu!

Great to have you here on ATAR Notes. How are you finding SACE so far? Any thoughts on what you want to do next year?

It's actually extremely difficult to estimate ATAR based on raw marks alone, as a lot more comes into play when it comes to the ATAR. This probably isn't the sort of response you're looking for, but honestly, I think your best bet for hitting the ATAR you want is to try to worry as little as possible about the numbers themselves, and more on improving your study techniques and exam prep.