Should I choose a course similar on what I did in high school?

It always helps to choose a course that’s similar to what you’re already familiar with, but it isn’t necessary. Generally, if you choose a uni course that’s in the same field as many of the subjects you completed in your HSC, you will find first year rather breezy. However, it isn’t necessary at all because the vast majority of uni courses do not assume any knowledge on your part – everything is taught from scratch at the beginning of first year, albeit at a much faster pace than what you’re probably used to.

For example, if you did English Advanced, Maths Extension 1, Maths Extension 2, Physics, Chemistry, it’s perfectly fine for you to choose Combined Law if that’s what you want to do. Many typical HSC subject combinations that result in sufficiently high ATARs that allow you to get into courses like Combined Law have nothing to do with law (sadly Legal Studies doesn’t scale particularly well, so we have a peculiar situation where many first year law students have done well in Maths Extension 2).

Short answer: do what you want to do, there’s no need to limit your options based on what you did for your HSC.

I scored a high ATAR, should I only look at high ATAR courses?

This is related to, but rather the opposite situation of the first point. Many students who get a relatively high ATAR, say 95+, suddenly have an urge to ‘not waste ATAR’ and thereby limit their choices only to the uni courses with similarly high ATAR entry requirements. This is a dangerous thing to do because the choice you make here could define the career of your long term future!

We see a disproportionately large fraction of students with very high ATARs (99+) that end up doing Combined Law or Medicine. I’m sure many of them are genuinely passionate and interested in these courses, and will make great lawyers and medical practitioners, but surely just as many are there because they haven’t got much of a clue as to what they want in life, but were blessed with the ability to achieve such a high ATAR. For some of these students, things will work out – they will adapt and find that they enjoy and/or are good at what they do. But for the others, they may live to regret their choice years later, when they realise they have no aptitude or passion for the path they’re on. This can lead to long term resentment against their career choice, or the student having to cut their losses and transfer to an unrelated uni course a few years later, having wasted time and HECS (uni isn’t free, remember that!).

It’s never a good idea to base your uni course choice solely on what you can ‘buy’ with your ATAR. The ATAR entry requirements for uni courses reflect only the relative supply and demand for each course, but people should realise that most people in a crowd are just following the crowd – they have no idea what they want individually. It’s perfectly fine to choose the highest ATAR requirement course within the field you want to get into – for example, if you’re into Maths / Physics and are keen on doing Engineering, then by all means choose the highest ATAR cut-off Engineering course (usually ‘Aeronautical Space’ at USyd). But don’t choose Combined Law just because you can!

On this point, I should also mention that there’s no correlation between the ATAR cut off of a uni course, and the inherent difficulty of the course. ATAR cut off only reflects how popular a course is. Some courses with humble ATAR cut offs (e.g. Engineering, Science) are notoriously difficult, both in terms of the amount of contact hours required per week (this means how many total hours of lectures and tutorials you need to
attend) as well as the failure rate each semester. Generally speaking, an Engineering or Science student can expect to attend Uni 4-5 days per week, and a Commerce student can get away with 3 days per week (some semesters you can get a timetable that only requires 2 days per week!).

Short answer: if you have the luxury of a high ATAR, choose something you’ll enjoy and be good at. There’s no point doing a course like Medicine if you have no interest or passion for it.

Combined degree vs single degree

Another question I get quite often is whether to do a combined or single degree. In my opinion, both are fine choices – it depends on what sort of career you’re after. The advantage of a single degree is that it’s over faster, and you’re on your way to the next stage of life (working somewhere as a graduate for most) quicker, younger and with less of a HECS debt. The advantage of a double degree is you’re more well-rounded as an individual. It’s preferable to combine degrees that span a wider breadth of fields, rather than combine two very similar degrees. E.g. Engineering / Commerce would be a good choice. The goal here is to open as many doors as possible.

When you’re entering your penultimate and final years of uni, you’ll begin the arduous and often frustrating process of submitting applications for graduate roles at various companies. Doing courses that are practical in a wider range of fields opens more doors up. At the same time, it could be argued that being more specialised helps with being considered more favourably by employers, but from personal experience, employers care more about your work experience, your uni marks and how you conduct yourself in the interview.

Even if you change your mind later, it’s not too much hassle to switch from one to the other. Of course, dropping a course is easier than taking one up (you can always drop from Combined to Single degree). Note that as long as your marks are decent, (Credit Average should be sufficient for most streams, Distinction Average is definitely adequate) you’ll find that a transfer to a different degree structure will be possible.

Short answer: it doesn’t matter, both are fine choices, and switching from one to the other in the middle of uni wastes little or no time, and is pretty easy with decent marks.

What course should I choose?

I’ve left the most important till last. While I’m not going to tell anyone what degree to do, I can give some guidelines that will help you reach the right choice.

• Always do something you are personally passionate about and have an interest in. You won’t be good at something unless you enjoy it.
• Don’t worry about the money. In ANY field, if you’re good at it, money takes care of itself. One thing about the world is it’s full of average people. In whatever field, whatever career path, most people you encounter are average, and those that rise to the very top are invariably people with a genuine passion for their field. If you don’t do something you enjoy, you won’t be good at it, and in a free market society like ours, your earnings will always reflect the value you contribute to others. If you’re average like everyone else, you will make average earnings and be stuck in a career you resent. Do what you’d be good at, and money will take care of itself. “Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”
• Don’t assume this will be your career path set in stone. Life is serendipitous and full of unexpected twists and turns. Many highly successful gained their success from following their true passion rather than strictly applying their tertiary education (and I’m not talking about the Bill Gates and the Steve Jobs in the world, these are normal people like you!).
• Find out as much as possible about the degrees you’re considering, what sort of career possibilities they open up, and whether you’d enjoy the sort of work that entails. Research is key! Don’t just assume lawyers do the things you see on TV, or bankers all wear suits looking at the markets all day.

Short answer: do what you will enjoy. If you don’t enjoy your field, you won’t be good at it, and you’ll lead a very average and unexciting career path.

Since 2009 the Board of Studies has been in consultation with teachers around NSW to set changes to the way HSC mathematics courses are assessed and examined. The proposed changes have been announced and are ready for full implementation from 2012 onwards. This means class of 2012 (new year 12 students of this year’s term 4) will be the first year to be affected by these new exam structures.

The main changes are set out as below:

Mathematics (2 unit)

1. There will be 10 “objective response” questions worth one mark each. Sample question:

   

   Source: Board of Studies

Objective response questions are questions with a correct answer – usually in the form of multiple choice, but also can involve asking you to write a specific number in boxes.

2. There will now be six questions, each worth 15 marks. The paper will now be out of a total of 100 marks, to be done over 3 hours.
3. Each question will also contain short-answer parts.

Mathematics Extension 1

1. There will be 10 “objective response” questions each worth 1 mark, just like Mathematics 2 unit.
2. There will now only be four questions, each worth 15 marks. The paper is now a total of 70 marks.
3. Each question will also contain short-answer parts.

Mathematics Extension 2

1. There will be 10 “objective response” questions each worth 1 mark, just like Mathematics 2 unit.
2. There will now only be six questions, each worth 15 marks. The paper is now a total of 100 marks.
3. Each question will also contain short-answer parts

What could this mean for students?

The following is inferences I’ve made as to the practical implications of these changes, they are my opinions and not based on studies or facts. I invite you to consider my arguments and form your own opinions.

Intuition will be rewarded

The introduction of 10 marks worth of objective-response (mostly multiple choice) questions can be of benefit to some students. Many maths questions give a clue as to the correct form of the answer – students with a good intuition can often ‘sense’ what the correct answer looks like, and introducing multiple choice questions will benefit such students.

Silly mistakes are less severely punished

Students who are less careful with their work and often make ‘silly mistakes’ will also benefit from multiple choice questions. Errors that are carried forward are less likely to lose you marks if you’re dealing with multiple choice. However these benefits are limited to the first 10 marks of section 1.

More time for less marks

According to background information published by the Board of Studies, they seem to be aiming to do away with the current ‘speed test’ style of the calculus-based exams, hence why they are reducing the total number of marks while allowing the same amount of time for all three exams (Mathematics 2 unit from 120 marks to 100 marks, Extension 1 from 84 marks to 70 marks, and Extension 2 from 120 marks to 100 marks).

This is unfortunate because relaxing the time limit on these exams will make it harder to differentiate the top students from the rest. A student who is familiar with all the topics and has studied hard before their exam will have no problem with the old time requirements, so relaxing the time limit makes the exams unnecessarily easier.

Reasons behind the change

There are a couple of reasons behind these changes, namely:

1. A varied format makes things fairer: the Board has been trying to change the format of maths exams to appeal more fairly to a wider variety of students. By having a more varied format, it can be argued that the exam is now fairer to a wider variety of students.
2. Cost reduction: before 2012, the marking centre needed 8 teams of markers to mark a maths exam, now they only need 6 teams (1 for each question) and multiple choice can be marked by computers.
3. Exams marked out of 100: the Board argues that since other subjects (Biology, Chemistry, Physics) can be marked out of 100, there should be no reason why maths exams cannot. Making the exams marked out of 100 adds minor conveniences to the marking process.

About the author

Matthew Lim is a mathematics tutor at Dux College. Apart from taking several classes at our Parramatta location, he is also involved in course materials design.

Here are some tips for how to make the most of the last couple of days studying before your big exams.

In what order do I study for my subjects?

Look at your exam timetable and work out which exams come first and so on. The 2011 HSC timetable is available here. Generally, it’s advised that you study for your last exam first, and your first exam last, that way you are studying for your first exam till the very last day before the first exam.

For example, for most people, English paper 1 and paper 2 will be their first exams. This means you should leave studying English till last, so that the content will be freshest in your mind just before 18th October when you sit paper 1, and the following day when you sit paper 2. For most people, there will be several days in between your next exam after English, so you can use these days to revisit the subject to be examined next. Don’t rest too much after each exam! The clock is ticking fast to your next one.

English – a tip for everyone

In paper 1, you have three sections. The first is short answers, the second is a creative writing task, and the third is almost always an essay (sometimes a speech, but usually an essay). You should do the essay first, then the short answers, and finally the creative writing task.

The reason is simple: in case you find yourself running out of time by the time you completed 2 sections, the creative writing tasks is the most forgiving section in that scenario than any other section. You can potentially grab most of the available marks in creative writing as long as your story contains all the necessary elements of a well-written story, and captures belonging in a meaningful way. But the same can’t be said for the essay – if you spend only 30 minutes on it, you would probably only be able to put in 75% of the points required.

Mathematics

The best advice for all levels of maths is to do as many past papers as possible. If you’re aiming for a band 6, focus on the question 7 and 8 (if you’re doing Maths Extension 1 or Maths Extension 2) or question 10 (for 2 unit students). These are the questions with the most creativity, and are the most difficult – getting good at doing these questions will differentiate you from the rest.

For the many maths (2 unit) students, remember not to neglect some commonly forgotten bits of info that will cost you easy marks:

• Simpson’s rule
• Trapezoidal rule
• Trigonometry exact values
• Sine and cosine rule (you learnt this in year 10 but it will be needed sometimes!)

For higher levels of Maths (Ext. 1 and 2), know your integration substitutions. It’s easy to forget which situations demand which technique.

All questions are of the same value, but are in increasing difficulty. Try to go through the exam as quickly as possible the first time around, and skip the questions where you can’t immediately see the path to the answer. Then use the time left over to focus on the skipped questions and also check your work. Don’t get too comfortable with a slow pace at the early questions!

For extension 2, some less obvious things that will help you are: know your speed of curves (helps with graphing undefined / undefined situations), know how to apply LIATE (google it if you’ve never heard of it!) for integration by parts – to work out which bit to set as u and which to set as v.

Don’t lose focus

Think about this: each HSC exam you do now is worth the total of everything you’ve done for that subject at school for the entire year 12. All the preparation you put in for your half yearlies, trials and assessment tasks throughout year 12 – each exam now is worth the total of all of that for one subject. That’s why, now is the worst time to lose focus. You’re at the home stretch now, but your focus and dedication is needed most here.

On the other hand, it’s important also to not get too stressed out. Stress is good – it leads to productivity, and this short term stress before these big exams is normal, but don’t let it negatively affect you. Do your best, and you will be fine.

The life ahead

Don’t lose perspective – there’s a bright future waiting for you regardless of how things go now. Do try your best, but don’t think it’s the end of the world if you don’t get the ATAR you need. There are alternative ways of getting into the Uni course you desire.

Which subjects should I choose?

If your goal for the next two years is to maximise your ATAR, our advice to you is: choose the subjects you think you'll be good at among the subjects that offer decent scaling. Now as with most things in life, there are exceptions to this statement which we'll cover later. But before we continue, let's have a quick look at how HSC scaling works.

A crash course on HSC scaling

The way scaling works is raw exam marks at the end of year 12 are converted into scaled marks. This is to allow a direct comparison between graduates doing different subjects – sort of like swapping all of the world's currencies to a single currency so values can be compared.

Scaled marks are different to your HSC marks (actually they have nothing to do with each other, other than both being derived from your raw marks). In a nutshell, scaled marks are what determines your ATAR, so if your sole goal is to maximise your ATAR and get into the university course you want, maximising your scaled marks should be your goal for the HSC. At the end of year 12, a graduate does not see what scaled marks he or she scored, only HSC marks are shown. However their ATAR is calculated based on their scaled marks, that's why scaled marks are what's important.

How well a subject scales determines whether your raw exam marks will be pushed up or down, and by how much, when being converted into scaled marks. Doing subjects with low scaling will mean you'll need to score higher marks and higher percentiles to obtain the same scaled marks as doing subjects with higher scaling. To find out how well different subjects scale, we need to look at Table A3.

Table A3

The latest Table A3 (as at time of writing this article) is here

Table A3, entitled "Descriptive statistics and selected percentiles for HSC marks and scaled marks by course" is a set of statistics published by the UAC each year, after their Report on Scaling is published. The latest Table A3 (as at time of writing this article) is here – just Google ‘table A3' for the latest one.

Table A3 shows the HSC and scaled marks for each subject at various percentile levels, as well as the means (averages). The figure to pay attention to is the scaled mean for each subject. The scaled mean is the average scaled marks achieved per unit among the candidature of that subject for that year. For example, HSC Biology had a scaled mean of 26.9 in 2010, this means the average Biology student graduated with 26.9/50 scaled marks per unit, or 53.8/100 for the subject. The scaled mean is also an indicator of how high the subject scales, and whether it ‘scales up’ or ‘scales down’ in common schoolyard parlance.

The average scaled mean is 25 (due to the standardisation method used to convert raw marks into scaled marks). Therefore, it can be said that subjects with a scaled mean of > 25 have ‘above-average scaling’. So back to our example, Biology with a scaled mean of 26.9 scales slightly better than the average subject. Generally anything with a scaled mean beyond 30 is a good and safe choice. Some of the more common subjects that meet this criterion are:

• English Advanced (32.5)
• English Extension 1 (36.4)
• English Extension 2 (36.3)
• Mathematics (30.7)
• Mathematics Extension 1 (39.8)
• Mathematics Extension 2 (43.8)
• Physics (30.5)
• Chemistry (31.7)
• Economics (31.0)

Now having said all that, remember we said you should choose the subjects you would be good at amongst the subjects the subjects that scale well. You'll be worse off if you chose a subject purely for its scaling, although you're terrible at it

Relative difficulty in achieving the same scaled marks

Table A3 also tells us something interesting. If you look at the scaled marks achieved for each percentile, and compare these across 2 or more subjects, you can get a picture of the relative difficulty in achieving the same result.

For example, say you're considering 2 subjects, and must choose one or the other but not both. Say the subjects are Chemistry and Senior Science.

If you achieved the 90^th percentile in Senior Science (meaning out of 100 randomly selected students, you beat 90), you would obtain 32.8/50 scaled marks. You would have obtained more scaled marks if you achieved the 25^th percentile in Chemistry instead (34/50). So ask yourself, is it easier to beat 90 out of 100 students in Senior Science, or 25 out of 100 students in Chemistry? Of course, the difference in scaling between these two subjects highlights that Chemistry has a higher quality candidature than Senior Science, but the difference between 90^th and 25^th percentile is big enough to more than compensate for the fact that you're up against a higher quality candidature in Chemistry than in Senior Science.

Lets look at another example. Say you're considering between Agriculture and Mathematics (2 unit) Here are the Table A3 stats for both:

From the table, if you achieved the 90^th percentile for Agriculture, this wouldn't even give you as much scaled marks as if you achieved the 75^th percentile in Mathematics. Now the difference here isn't as remarkable as the previous example, but it still highlights the point – do you feel 90^th percentile in Agriculture is easier or 75^th percentile in Mathematics is easier?

Not to mention Agriculture's scaling stats are probably skewed positively by selective schools like James Ruse, Hurlstone etc that like to accelerate their year 11s to finish their HSC Agriculture each year – if you take the achievements of these schools away, the true scaled mean is probably much lower.

Let's look at one more example, this time say you're wondering whether you should choose Maths Extension 1 (with intention to do Extension 2 in year 12) or stick with Mathematics (2 unit).

The first thing that might jump at you is the super-high scaled mean for Maths Extension 2 – indeed Maths Extension 2 is the highest scaled HSC subject (out of all the commonly available ones, excluding certain language subjects). If you did Maths Extension 2, even achieving in the 25^th percentile would mean you score more scaled marks than someone achieving the 90th percentile for Mathematics (2 unit). Think about that for a second! It's more beneficial to your ATAR to achieve only the 25th percentile in Extension 2 than it is to achieve the 90^th percentile in Mathematics (2 unit)!

One more thing – if you do Extension 2, your Maths Extension 1 counts for 2 units instead of 1 – so the marginal positive effect of taking Extension 2 to your ATAR is even greater because Extension 1's scaling is so high as well (excluding certain language subjects, Extension 1 is the second highest scaling subject). That's why most 99+ ATAR scorers have done Maths Extension 2 – it's simply the ‘easiest’ way to score a 99+ ATAR. This, combined with Extension 2's extremely high scaled mean, is why we advise all our students to take it up if they are capable at maths.

Common misconception: lots of students seem to think if they do a hard subject like Maths Extension 2, if they do poorly they may actually be ‘scaled down’; instead of up.

This is incorrect as you can see from the table above. Scaling only occurs in one direction regardless of what percentile you achieve. For Maths Extension 2, you'll get pushed up even if you only achieve the 25^th percentile, which results in a 42.3/50. A 42.3 is easily a mid-high band 6 in most other subjects, but maybe a band E2 for Maths Extension 2. My point is even if you do relatively poorly in a hard subject, you still get the benefit of its high scaling.

When should I ignore scaling in choosing a subject?

The only time you should not pay attention to the scaling statistics of your subjects is if you know you can do so well in a subject that, despite its low scaling, the scaled marks you achieve will be greater than what you could have achieved in an alternative subject. Or in summary, only ignore scaling if you're extremely good at a particular subject. It's difficult to tell whether you'll be really good at something before actually starting year 11, so our advice is to ask teachers and past students to get an idea of what sort of skills are needed to succeed in a particular subject.

For example, suppose you're considering between Food Tech and Physics:

Physics is the safe choice, but suppose you're really passionate about Food Tech. You need to be confident that you can achieve, say, the 90^th percentile in Food Tech as opposed to around 65^th percentile in Physics (to achieve the same scaled marks). There's quite a gap in percentile for the same amount of scaled marks, but if you're confident you'll be really good at Food Tech, then go for it.

The answer depends on whether you understand how scaling works. Most students will decide to split their time roughly evenly across their subjects, and for the most part, this works well. The problem, is, this is not the absolute best solution if your goal is to maximise your ATAR.

Remember that your ATAR is a rank which is determined solely by the scaled marks you score at the end of your HSC. The amount of scaled marks you score depends on two things:

• Your percentile rank within each subject
• The subject’s scaling

Well you can’t control the second point (since you’ve already chosen your subjects by now) but you can affect the first point. If you look at the statistics published in Table A3 by the UAC scaling report each year, you’ll get to see what scaled marks are scored for each percentile rank. One thing you’ll notice is that the scaled marks increase at a heavily diminishing rate as percentile rank increases. In other words, all HSC subjects experience diminishing returns on your effort. Put even more simpler, the harder you try at a subject you’re already very good at, the less additional rewards you will get.

For example, you may get 49/50 for scoring in the 99th percentile in Maths Extension 2, and 48/50 for scoring in the 75th percentile. This means if you beat 99% of your peers in this subject, you get 49/50 scaled marks per unit (or 98/100 for 2 units), and you’ll get 48/50 scaled marks per unit for beating 75% of your peers. But improving yourself from the 75th percentile to the 99th percentile is a very hard thing to do!

But on the other end of the scale, you will notice that improving your rank from the 25th percentile to the 50th percentile will result in a huge jump in scaled mark. For example, in 2009, the 25th percentile for Physics was 21/50 scaled marks per unit, but the 50th percentile will give you 28/50 marks per unit – a huge jump! Certainly, the jump from the 25th to the 50th percentile is much easier than jumping from the 75th to the 99th percentile!

Now, if you understand all of the above, consider once again the question of how to split your study time. Of course, if you’re already very good at some subjects, spend less time on those subjects, and more time on the subjects you’re struggling with. This rings especially true for subjects that already give very high scaling – e.g. the Extension subjects. You’ll find that these subjects give higher rate of diminishing returns on your study effort than lower-scaling subjects. So basically, if you’re already very good at a subject, spend less time on it, and more time on your weaker subjects.

This all may sound like common sense, but it is actually backed by solid statistics – if you know how HSC subject scaling affects you, you can work it to your advantage! The way the ATAR system has always worked is that it gives the highest ATARs to all-rounders. So make sure you don’t neglect any of your subjects!

Dux College is a Sydney-based HSC coaching centre specialising in HSC Maths, Extension 1, Extension 2, Physics and Chemistry tutoring. Our Maths, Physics and Chemistry tuition programs are intensive and results driven, aimed at giving our students the skills to achieve Band 6, and their highest potential UAI.

Choosing a good tutor for your child is very important. Not only are you investing your money, you are also entrusting your child”s time to your chosen service provider. Your child’s time is, in our opinion, substantially more important than money. From the moment a student knows what subjects he/she will be studying to the time of the final external exams, a student has about 8 terms to prepare. Each term being unproductive is a term wasted. The HSC, being as competitive as it already is, will not stop to wait for anyone to catch up. That’s why it is so important to find a quality tuition service that can bring out your child’s potential.

We understand how important time is to a HSC student and we never take this for granted. We know that parents are not just paying us, they are trusting us with their child’s time. We know this is a critical time in a student’s life, and we do everything in our power to help our students achieve their HSC goals. You already know what we offer in terms of courses and teaching style (we focus on exam relevance and proper exam technique -read about our courses). But it’s slightly more than that. Tutoring at Dux College, HSC tutoring centre is about getting your child into the correct mindset and work habits, as much as it is about learning the content and exam technique. Our teachers are motivators as well as instructors. We know that students must genuinely enjoy their subject in order to do well in it, and that”s what we are about.

We can say so much about what we do, but words can only say so much. Therefore, if our approach to tutoring sounds good to you, we invite you to arrange a free trial lesson with us. If you like us, stay, be motivated and excel.

If you find it hard to finish your exams, it might be a time management issue. In this article, we’ll give you some tips on how to manage your

School and HSC exams are 2 – 3 hours each

Whether it’s English, Maths, or one of the sciences, school and HSC exams are structured similarly. Throughout the year, you’re going to have several 2 hour exams for each subject (at least your half-yearlies) and you might get a 3 hour exam in your trials.

Our first tip is: don’t be scared of 3 hour exams. If you’re already used to 2 hour exams, 3 hours is not a whole lot longer. After your first one or two, you’ll be used to them as well. The important thing is to find a consistent pace at which to do the exam, and you’ll notice that time will fly as you’re focused throughout the exam.

Use your reading time In assessable and HSC exams, the first 5 minutes is reading time. The first thing you should do is have a quick look at the entire exam. Flip through the exam pages and get a feel for how fast you’ll need to work. This step is critical.

Sometimes, especially in school exams written by your school teachers, you will get an exam that will be very tight on time. Other times, you will get an exam that is very easy on time.

If you feel the exam is very loose on time, you can work more slowly and carefully – if it’s an English or science exam, you can expand your answers a bit more, elaborate on things to show your extensive knowledge.

On the other hand, if you feel that the exam will be tight on time, you’ll need to work quickly and not expect to have much checking time at the end. This is difficult if you’re not adequately prepared (i.e. you didn’t study enough!), but working fast isn’t hard if you’re prepared.

Know your stuff

Needless to say, to do well in any exam, the number one factor is to know your stuff (know what you need to learn, and learn it well). But this is especially important if you want to score a great mark in an exam that is tight on time. If you need to work at a fast pace, and you don’t know your stuff entirely, expect to be disappointed.

Know the exam format

Another important point is to know how the exam is going to be structured. For example, if you have a multiple choice section in your upcoming exam, pay attention to the differences between issues / facts / arguments / persons / things of significance etc.

The reason why is this: multiple choice questions are great at testing differences between things in your subject. The knowledge stuff will be tested in short / long answer responses and in essay questions. You can usually easily eliminate 2 choices out of 4, but the remaining 2 choices can sometimes be hard to differentiate – so to effectively study multiple choice, pay attention to the small differences!

If your exam is predominately long answer / essay response, focus on deeper discussion of your subject area. For example, if you have a Chemistry exam about Chemical Monitoring and Management, and you know there’s a big essay response question at the end, focus on areas of the topic that feature deeper discussion. For example, learn the reasons for compromise in the Haber process and understand the deeper discussions that link with other parts of the Chemistry course (chemical equilibria) as well as commercial considerations of Haber plants.

Do multiple choice questions last

This is optional and may not be recommended in all situations (because sometimes multiple choice questions give clues to the answers of subsequent sections).

But in most cases, it is OK to do the multiple choice section last. The reason is: in case you run out of time, you can quickly circle the answers randomly at the end in a matter of seconds, and you should still get 25% of the marks (assuming there are 4 choices per question).

This is just a small risk-management technique. As an excellent student, you should be expecting to finish your exam anyway.

Running out of time in Science / English exams

Don’t be averse to using dot-points to quickly convey your answer in case you run out of time. For example, when the examiner states there’s 5 minutes left, and you still have a huge essay section that you haven’t started, then it’s time to do this.

Obviously you won’t get full marks for an essay question if your answer is in dot-points, but you will get SOME marks, and when you’re running out of time, this is better than nothing.

For example, in a long English essay, write out the main points quickly in short dot-points. In long science essay questions, do the same, and scribble a diagram if you can. As long as you get something down that shows you know the theory involved, your marker should give you at least half the marks.

Find more information on helpful HSC exams tips, HSC examination syllabus & HSC course materials at Dux College. Our Physics, Chemistry and Maths tuition programs are intensive and results driven, aimed at giving our students the skills to achieve Band 6, and their highest potential UAI.

Of course, the advantage with working harder in the holidays, is that it lightens the load later on in the HSC year. Given that you have 6 weeks of holidays in the summer, it is probably wise to spend 3 or so weeks preparing for your HSC. Every bit of extra preparation translates to results in the HSC, since you only have a year. Once school starts, you may find the pace very fast, and everything examinable is taught once only before the teacher moves on.

So how can you prepare for the year ahead? Study ahead, of course.

This is one of the examples of how successful students study differently from average students. By learning ahead, you gain familiarity of the topics and content that would be taught to your peers for the very first time later in the HSC year. Shortly after this event, the exam comes. So who would do better? The student who has seen the same material before, has experienced and overcome the common pitfalls and challenges, and has had plenty of opportunity to ask their teacher relevant questions before the exam? Or the student who let it all go during the holidays, and had a great time, then learnt the content for the first time at a rush-pace prior to the exams?

Of course, it is perfectly OK to relax during the Holidays – after all, it’s holidays! But now is early January, you’ve already had a couple of weeks to enjoy the Christmas and New Year festivities. You’re now well-rested, relaxed and refreshed. It’s time to get seriously serious!

What can I do in my holidays, on my own?

During the holidays, you’re all on your own. Most likely, your friends are still partying, and probably your teachers too. Tutoring colleges are closed, (except those few running holiday courses), and everyone’s still on holidays. So whatever self-study you do, it would have to be something you can do by yourself.

Luckily, for most students, teachers and tutoring helps most AFTER you’ve done some self-reading. With some self-discipline and solid effort, core content can be learned on your own.

For science subjects

Read a GOOD textbook.

For Chemistry, pick up a copy of Conquering Chemistry, or Chemistry in Contexts, and read as much as you can. For Physics, you can’t go wrong with Jacaranda, or Macquarie. As a guideline, completely revise the first module (you would have done this at school in term 4, 2009) and read the entire second module. If you have our notes from term 4, re-read all of them too! Avoid the Excel ones as they are a bit superficial in depth.

Don’t worry about practice questions yet, but make sure you UNDERSTAND concepts

At this early stage, don’t get too caught up with practice questions. Do one or two per section to test your knowledge, then move on. Remember, you have other subjects to study for! The most important thing is to UNDERSTAND the concepts. For example, make sure you KNOW how Lenz’s law works, how those right-hand push/palm/grip rules work, etc.

Read the syllabus and reconcile it with what you’ve read in textbooks

After you’ve read the textbooks, read through the syllabus for the modules you studied, and make sure every dot-point in those modules have been covered by what you’ve read. It’s a good idea to do this after you read the textbooks, as textbooks often give you richer background information necessary to understand the full picture of certain concepts. However you can choose to read the syllabus before you start reading textbooks.

For mathematics

Do exercises off a good textbook

Mathematics is really a practice game. The more practice you get, the more experienced you become. There are only so many ways a maths question can be designed for any topic area, and the more experience you have, the less likely you will be caught unaware in the exam. Simple, really, but success in maths requires dedication, which is easier said than done.

Good textbooks are Fitzpatrick (for 2U and 3U), Cambridge, and don’t forget the forgotten classics like Coroneos (excellent for 4 unit harder questions).

For English

Read your texts in advance

Find how what novels you need to read, and read through them these holidays. This subject is probably the easiest to study ahead for, as it involves a leisure activity (for some) – reading!

Just be aware of the thematic considerations that are relevant to your module as you read through your texts.

In HSC exams (as well as assessable school exams, since they are all similar to HSC exams), students mainly make their silly mistakes in a few ways:

• Long, complex algebraic proofs (e.g. long proofs in Maths Extension 2, causing you to copy the previous line’s expressions incorrectly)
• Long calculation-based questions requiring long working-out and calculator work (e.g. molar calculations in Chemistry)
• Multiple choice section in science exams

It is quite impossible to make a ‘silly mistake’ in humanities-type subjects like English, or in the long-answer sections of science exams in the same ways as those described above.

Check your work after you finish

Since there’s only a few situations where silly mistakes can be made, students should be mindful of which areas of their exams they need to check over when they have spare time near the end of their exams.

In most cases, you would only have a little bit of time left after you finish your exam. Therefore, it is wise to know how to best prioritise your time in checking for mistakes before the exam time is up. This is assuming you’ve already done all the questions – if you’ve left some questions blank, obviously finish them before you begin checking your work.

Physics and Chemistry exams

For science exams like Physics and Chemistry, after you finish your exam, you should first check your entire multiple choice section (the first 15 questions). A good way to do this is to hide your answer sheet, so you do not see your original answers, reducing their influence. Seeing your original answers is not a good idea, as they may influence you into making the same mistake as you first did. Hiding your original answer forces you to mentally do the question again from scratch, and increases your chances of picking up an error that you’ve missed in your first attempt at the questions.

As you do the multiple choice section for the first time, it is a good idea to circle the questions that you are unsure of (on the question sheet), so that when you finish your exam, you should look at the circled questions first.

After you completely check over your multiple choice section, look over your calculation questions. In Physics, these could be questions involving projectile motion, Special Relativity (time dilation, length contraction etc), motor torque, forces on charged plates / conductors / charged particles etc. For Chemistry, these questions could be molar calculations, pH calculations, volume calculations, galvanic cell potentials etc.

Some topics in Physics could be assisted with methods covered in Mathematics subjects. For example, in the Space module, we learn how to do projectile motion calculations – these questions are much easier when analysed within the Extension 1 framework of projectile motion. Of course, it would be faster if you use the formulae in the formula sheet, but for checking purposes, you can use the Extension 1 method to verify your answers.

Science calculation questions often require the use of calculators, so not only do you have to check your algebra and working-out, you also need to check your final answer, making sure you didn’t key in something wrong on your calculator. A good tip here is to become very familiar with your calculator – learn how to use its memory slots so you can do an entire question very fast without needing to waste time writing things down (for checking purposes).

One last scenario that is unique to science HSC exams is that in some extended questions worth 5-8 marks (e.g. discuss, analyse, evaluate, assess), you may be required to identify a list of factors / issues. You should briefly re-read your long answer responses, making sure you’ve covered all the factors / issues that are required, and also check that you’ve concluded the question with an assessment or evaluation, if required. The final conclusion in assess / evaluate questions are worth a mark, and while this appears obvious to some students, many still make the mistake of leaving their questions unconcluded.

Maths exams

There are two approaches to doing maths exams, and which approach you choose depends on your style. Some students prefer to move through their exam as quickly as possible, leaving much time at the end to go over the entire exam again (where possible). Other students prefer to go through their exam as carefully as possible, leaving much less time at the end, for selective checking. There’s no right or wrong approach, and we have 99+ students who adopt either approach.

As a general recommendation, higher achievers should aim to do their exams as quickly as possible, with the aim of having enough time at the end to comprehensively go through their entire exam a second time. However, not all students are able to do this. The important thing is to be comfortable with your chosen approach.

As always, it is a good idea to circle the questions (on your question sheet) that you have difficulty with on your first attempt of the exam. This way, you can selectively check over those questions first as you begin checking your exam.

One important thing to note is that in maths, there are many little mathematical tricks that allow you to check your answer very quickly. For example, in Maths Extension 2, it is advised for students to memorise the general equations for tangents for ellipses and hyperbolae, as this gives them much convenience when verifying answers in algebraic form. If you’re familiar with the many properties of the parabola, this would help in guiding you through the difficult proofs involving parametric equations. In Probability questions involving Permutations and Combinations, sometimes it is easier to arrange a set of possible actions, rather than the objects themselves. These little tips and tricks cannot be explained properly in words, as they need proper examples to demonstrate, but students should pick these up throughout their study.

In Maths Extension 2, students who are serious about achieving a high mark (e.g. a raw mark above 100/120) should realise that they should not allocate their time linearly to the questions from 1 to 8. Basically, questions 1-4 should take 10 minutes each, tops, and questions 5, 6 should take 20 minutes each, leaving plenty of time for questions 7 and 8. It is your performance in these last questions that set you apart from other high achievers, since most Extension 2 students are perfectly capable of doing questions 1-6 relatively well.

Practice makes perfect

As with every skill in life, reducing the occurrence of silly mistakes can be improved through practice. Do more questions, and mark them! Follow up and investigate on the ones you did incorrectly, and redo them. Always challenge yourself with difficult questions. Never become ‘complacent’ just because you’re doing well compared to your peers at school. Always remember, you are up against the entire state.

Practicing for Physics and Chemistry

For science subjects, you’ll need to split your time doing essay-type questions (discuss, assess, evaluate), short answer questions (describe, explain, justify, outline) and the calculation type questions.

For calculation questions, make sure you understand the physical principles behind why the answer is correct. Become familiar with your calculator’s functionality, especially in using its memory slots, as this is extremely helpful when doing those annoyingly long molar calculations. Lastly, make sure you are exposed to all types of calculation questions for your subject. Doing questions from good books (like Jacaranda Physics, Macquarie Physics, Chemistry Contexts, Conquering Chemistry etc) are a great start, but they are not enough. Do as many past papers / practice questions you can get from your school teachers / HSC tuition services, and have them marked.

Practicing for Maths

For all levels of maths, the approach is the same – do as many questions as you can. Some books are better than others – it is important to do the exercises in good textbooks, like Fitzpatrick (2 unit and 3 unit) and Cambridge (2 unit, 3 unit, 4 unit). However, you should note that some of the hardest and most unique questions can only be found inside HSC exams. That is because HSC exams are often written by University professors, and the questions found in them can sometimes be something unfamiliar to you if you only study using textbooks. For example, Maths Extension 2 question 8s have always involved University-level maths and often require very unique and colourful approaches to solve – such uniqueness is often lacking or in short supply in even the best of textbooks. Our tip is to learn ahead of your school, and begin practicing by doing past HSC exams / past trial papers from reputable schools as early in your HSC as possible. The key here is to see as many types of questions as possible, broadening your experience as much as possible before each assessable exam.

One of our tutors who came 2nd in the state for Extension 2 claimed to have completed over 100 Extension 2 papers as practice, back when he did his HSC (he started before his half-yearlies). Another of our tutors who came 3rd in the state for Extension 2 (in a different year) claimed to have completed over 60 Extension 2 papers as practice. Obviously such dedication is not required for most students, even for a 99+, but for an ATAR close to 99.95 or a state-rank, dedication to gaining nothing short of a comprehensive and complete understanding of your subjects is necessary.