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Doing well in HSC sciences requires a slightly different approach than HSC maths or English subjects. HSC sciences, like Chemistry, Physics and Biology, place a heavy focus on the syllabus. Detailed knowledge and familiarisation of the syllabus is very important.

TIP 1: Know the syllabus Knowing the syllabus very important. Firstly, all HSC science exams can only test you on content within the syllabus. Most of the time, HSC exam questions will simply be a syllabus dot-point that has been reworded.

For example, an actual HSC Chemistry syllabus dot-point is “Describe hydrogen bonding between molecules”. A corresponding exam question can ask something simple like “Describe hydrogen bonding between water molecules”. Alternatively, exam questions can be slightly more complicated, for example: “Identify a compound that exhibits strong hydrogen bonding and descbribe how hydrogen bonding affects its melting and boiling temperatures”. However in both cases, the question can be reduced to simply describing your knowledge of how hydrogen bonding works as between molecules, and how this phenomenon affects some of the chemical’s physical propertie(s).

If you have an excellent understanding of the syllabus and have covered in detail each dot-point, you will know enough to get a Band 6. We emphasise the fact that exams can only test you on what is in the syllabus. If you ever don’t understand a concept because it has been poorly explained to you at school, or the concept is very difficult, ask your teacher whether it is in the syllabus. If it is not, understand that it will not be examined, so don’t worry too much about not fully understanding that concept. However, if a concept is within the syllabus, or required by one of the dot-points as background information, you should know it well.

TIP 2: Know what’s important for practicals / experiments HSC Sciences’ syllabi contains many dot-points requiring students to “conduct a first-hand investigation”, or “gather data from a first-hand investigation”. These dot-points are responsible for the regular experiments you conduct at school. It is very important that you do not neglect the information presented to you during one of those experiment classes at school. Many students think of experiments as fun (and they are), but they ignore the fact that each experiment deals with at least one dot-point in the syllabus, sometimes several at once.

The things you need to know in ALL experiments are:

1. The scientific principle being tested / used (for example, an experiment to demonstrate Newton’s second law requires you to firstly understand the formula F=ma and how to use it in calculations)
2. The correct procedure. A very important example is in titrations, where washing procedures will sometimes be tested in exam questions (E.g. “Explain what is a primary standard”, or “Explain the need to finally rinse a pipette with the solution it is to contain, before using it”)
3. Safety issues / appropriate precautions. For example, when doing a flame test, never burn lead compounds. Or when burning magnesium, use tongs and don’t stare into the flame. (Other examples include: know which metals / chemicals are toxic, when goggles and gloves are required, how to deal with fires / flames etc)
4. Sources of error: this last one is important because many HSC exam questions may ask you to talk about the sources of errors in experiments you should have done at school. For example, “Identify three sources of error in this experiment, and suggest ways to minimise their effect on your results.”

The important thing to remember here is to pay attention in school during experiment classes, and not to ignore these dot-points during your study and revision.

TIP 3: Understand the concepts We do not recommend trying to memorise too many things. HSC sciences cannot be mastered through memorisation, and all of the top students who achieve a HSC mark of >95 genuinely understand the concepts in their subject.

Understanding the concept is very important to succeeding in HSC sciences. Before an exam, there is no way you can predict what specific questions will be asked of you. You will only know that everything tested will be in the syllabus, but the specific wording of your questions can catch you offguard.

If you rely on memorisation of the course content, you are inflexible. A question that is slightly unorthodox in approach or worded in an unfamiliar way will catch you offguard, and you will run the risk of losing easy marks. However, if you genuinely understand the concepts involved, you can always derive the answer in the spot, even if the question is worded in an unfamiliar way, or requires unorthodox thinking. This way, you are a flexible student, and no matter how the exam is set, you will get a high mark reflecting your good ability.

There are certain situations where memorisation is appropriate. Generally, these are:

1. Remembering topics for the long essay-type questions. E.g. in HSC Physics, it is a good idea to come up with a list of points regarding the pros and cons of AC versus DC. A common exam question may be “Discuss” or “Compare and evaluate” or “Assess the impact on society of the development of AC electricity”. To tackle these quesitons, it is a good idea to try to memorise a short list of words or phrases which remind you of a general topic to argue, in favour of either side (AC vs DC).
2. Some facts have no pattern, so it is useful to memorise them. HSC Chemistry is a good example of this. Good students memorise all of the composite ions, their molecular formulae and their valencies through gaining experience in the course. Another example would be memorising certain definitional bodies of knowledge, like Newton’s laws.
3. Memorise the simple equations. This is highly important, and will save you much time and grief during an exam. Although a formula sheet is provided to you for HSC sciences, it is a good idea to memorise the simple equations or formulae, as always flicking towards the back of your exam paper wastes valuable seconds each time. Also by memorising the simple equations, you are less likely to make calculation errors than blindly copying out the formulae from the data sheet everytime.

But always strive to understand the underlying concept, as it will benefit you in the long run.

TIP 4: Make good use of the resources available to you What we mean by this is, for example:

1. Whenever you have a question, ask your teacher!
2. Whenever you don’t understand a concept fully and completely, ask your teacher until you understand!
3. Work with other bright students who are keen on doing well in the HSC. Share notes with them.

Most teachers will answer any question a student asks them, as they will be happy to know that their students are so dedicated to doing well. After all, the satisfaction of seeing their students succeed is one of the main reasons why teachers choose this profession! However not every student has access to teachers that are willing and happy to answer many questions or explain concepts at length. In this case, there may be other resources available to you. For example, find good tutoring and ask the teachers there!

Another thing to keep in mind is making your own syllabus dot-point summaries. Synthesise and gather all your knowledge, summarise it and write it onto paper. It is a good idea to submit your notes for review by your class teacher (or after-school tutor) to make sure your knowledge of the course is comprehensive. Going this far may seen daunting, but remember that high marks can only come with hard work.

Conclusion Our top 3 tips for succeeding in HSC sciences are:

1. Know the syllabus like the back of your hand!
2. Know what to study for when it comes to the experiment dot-points
3. Make sure you understand the concepts involved in your subject. Do not rely on memorisation, unless it’s the only way

Following this general advice will improve most students’ approach to HSC sciences, as these are the main shortcomings of most HSC science students of today.

Crammers guide to survival

First we should say: do NOT cram if you have a choice. We do not recommend cramming as a sole solution to the HSC, as cramming definitely underperforms consistent study in the long run. However in life, unforeseen events happen and you may find yourself in a situation where you have only a few days, or even just 1 day, before a major exam.

Often if something happens and it is of no fault of your own, the school may be lenient and make arrangements to be fairer to you (e.g. they may arrange for you to sit a supplementary exam at a later date). However sometimes it is plainly our fault for being unprepared. For example, sometimes through pure negligence, a student can find out about a major exam only a few days before it is to be done. In these situations, school administration is less sympathetic and you are unlikely to receive any special treatment. Therefore we have put together this short guide to help you if you are ever in this situation.

First step: get an overview Spend your first hour or so getting an overview of the entire content section you need to study for. For example, if you have an upcoming exam dealing with the entire Acidic Environment module for HSC Chemistry, spend your initial hour reading through all your notes (from tutoring, school, your own notes etc) briefly and summarily, to get a big picture of what are the main assessable parts.

Once you have a general idea of the content they can ask you about in the exam, you’ll have a good idea of what is important and deserves more attention. It is important to not skip this step, as it will save you valuable time. If you skip this step and jump right into studying from the very beginning of your content, you risk spending too much time on the sections near the beginning, which may not carry the bulk of the marks in the exam.

The main assessable parts In school exams, usually the exam covers only one or two particular topics (called topic exams) or only a portion of the course (for example, the half yearlies and trials). Hopefully you won’t need to cram for something as major as the trials.

These exams usually award the bulk of the marks to one or two central topics or sections, which you will need to identify in your overview before you start studying. If you are pressed for time, you should aim to study only the main parts in good detail so that you’ll at least get a reasonable mark. Cramming is the skill of first identifying what the major parts of the exam will be (this can come down to your skill in prediction) and preparing for these major parts in sufficient detail such that your mark will at least be moderately pleasing.

The other parts which do not form part of the main section of the exam should be reviewed at a lower priority. The reason is because if you are cramming, this means you don’t have enough time to study the entire content properly. Therefore while you may not be able to score full marks, you can prioritise the major points and study them in greater detail than the side-points.

All nighters All-nighters are not recommended because you will be extremely sleepy the day after. During the day after, while you might not feel too drowsy, your memory retention and recall will be terrible. You might not be able to remember most of the things you studied, even if it was the night before, because sleep allows your brain to organise its thoughts in a coherent way. If you don’t get enough sleep, your mind is in a chaotic and unorganised state and you won’t be able to recall information effectively and reliably.

Notwithstanding the effect on memory recall, pulling all-nighterscombined with high caffeine dosage is extremely unhealthy to your body. While energy drinks like V, Red Bull etc market themselves as energy drinks which keep you awake, doing exams heavily under the influence of caffeine is actually adverse to memory recall and concentration. If you find you have absolutely no time to study the content and you only have 1 night left before the exam, it is better to either:

• Study till around 1-2am, then sleep as many hours as you can and wake up at your usual time

• Sleep at your usual time, set an alarm at 5am and study for a few hours before school

Both options work, because some sleep is significantly better than no sleep.

You will be more awake, aware and be able to concentrate much better as a result of having some sleep

After the exam After the exam, you should still find time to review the content that you needed to cram. This content will become assumed knowledge for subsequent exams, as well as the final external HSC exams. Therefore you should not leave the content behind, because from your cramming, you may have missed many subtle points or some fundamental principles. It is a good idea to review the entire section you crammed, as if you’ve never seen it before, to ensure you have no gaps in your knowledge for future exams. If you have the time to do this, then it is highly recommended.