Study year 11 and 12 maths topics together

The syllabi of HSC mathematics is integrally linked with the preliminary (year 11) syllabus. This applies to all levels of HSC maths, from General to Extension 2. There is no sudden identifiable transition between preliminary topics and HSC topics. In contrast to HSC sciences (such as Chemistry and Physics), their syllabi are clearly split into preliminary topics and HSC topics.

In mathematics, topics you learn in your preliminary year, or even going back to year 10 (e.g. the sine and cosine rule are sometimes used in year 12, even in Extension 2) are unavoidable when you need to study for HSC topics. For example, we all need to know how coordinate geometry works, and how to find the equation of normals and tangents, before we can understand the Conics topic in Extension 2, or parametrics in Extension 1. The key point here is that there is no clear distinction between year 11 and year 12, for mathematics.

One approach to maths tutoring or teaching at schools is to teach topics according to their relationship with each other, instead of whether the actual syllabus categorises them as preliminary or HSC topics. For example, we can teach year 11 Extension 1 probability, up to the harder permutations and combinations normally studied in year 12. This approach in studying is also advantageous, as it helps you consolidate and group relevant topics together.

An extreme example that may work for some is the anecdote of a private maths tutor that is reputed to teach year 7 geometry, then for the entire year, progress to harder and harder geometry topics, finishing off with Extension 2 style circle geometry. While we can see this approach may work for some students, the extreme case is not recommended for most students. Instead, we recommend students to study the relatable preliminary and HSC topics together. For example, the reason why the Fitzpatrick series of books (the yellow book for 2 unit, the green book for 3 unit, and the pink book for 4 unit) is split according to 2, 3 and 4 unit reflects this fact about HSC mathematics. The writer did not choose to split his books according to preliminary and HSC as he correctly identifies that it is more convenient and advantageous to student learning by making them learn year 11 and 12 topics together, where they are very related.

Recommended approach for HSC sciences

HSC sciences, unlike mathematics, have topics that are clearly divided as preliminary and HSC topics. For example, in Preliminary Physics, you learn about waves and communications devices in The World Communicates, resistors and using Ohm’s law in Electrical Energy in the Home, vector addition and movement in Moving About, and some basic astrophysics in The Cosmic Engine. Now, if we look closely at the topics taught in the Preliminary year, and compare them to the HSC topics, there is very little direct overlap. The main value in Preliminary Physics is for students to gain a solid grasp on the physical principles that are relevant to the HSC.

For example, in The World Communicates, knowledge of waves and how they propagate is important to many topics in the HSC. However, knowledge of mobile phones, fax machines, GPS and CD/DVD technology is irrelevant to the HSC. So the point here is: understand the physical principles (waves, electrical resistance, Ohm’s law, vector addition, forces, momentum etc) but don’t pay too much attention to the specifics (e.g. you’ll never be asked to calculate the resistance of a circuit in a HSC question, and you don’t need to know about Red Giants / White Dwarves if your school does not do the Astrophysics option module).

Ideal approach to studying HSC Physics and Chemistry

The ideal approach here is to learn the preliminary course as usual, paying close attention to the physical principles that are involved with the content. However, remember that you will not be tested in your HSC year on the specifics of the preliminary course. For example, you will not be required to know how to calculate resistance in series and parallel circuits in the HSC Physics course. In fact, the HSC assessments and exams will only test what is in the year 12 HSC syllabus. Therefore, you will definitely need to know the specifics of each dot-point in the HSC syllabus, but not the specifics of the preliminary syllabus.

A good approach is to start your learning early. Cover the preliminary topics as quickly as you can, (with the help of Chemistry tutoring or Physics tutoring, or from your school teachers) and move onto the HSC topics as quickly as you can. This leaves you with the maximum amount of time to study the content that is directly relevant to your HSC. Remember, only the content of the year 12 syllabi will be examined, so use this fact to your advantage when studying HSC sciences!

• Section I Part A, 15 multiple choice, 1 mark each, approximately 30 minutes;
• Section I Part B, several short / long questions dealing with modules 1-3, approximately 105 minutes;
• Section II, several short / long questions dealing with an option module, 45 minutes.

In this short article, we will outline some strategies to do HSC Physics and Chemistry exams.

Before you start

Before you start, you should use your reading time carefully. During the first minute or so, flick through the exam and get a feel of how long the exam is, where the long questions are, where does each section end, etc. This gives you a sense of how fast you’ll need to pace through the exam, at least at a subconscious level, and is a useful first action to take.

For the remainder of your reading time, start on the multiple choice (Section I, Part A). Obviously you will not be allowed to hold a pen / pencil during reading time, but that won’t stop you from reading through each multiple choice question and mentally deciding which choice is the correct one.
After reading time ends, you may already have completed up to the first 5 questions in your head, and all you need to do is grab your pencil and colour in the correct circles on your answer sheet.
You don’t actually need to read the entire exam during reading time. As mentioned, this time is better spent starting on the MCQ section. However you DO need to get a feel of how long the exam is, so you don’t get caught by surprise and find yourself working too slowly halfway through Section I Part B.

The Multiple Choice section (Section I Part A)

The first part of the Chemistry or Physics exam usually features the easiest questions. This section should be done as fast as you can because you can always use your remaining time to come back and revise your answers. In contrast, the later sections (Section I Part B and Section II) with the short / long answers are harder to change once you’ve written your answer (you definitely don’t want to be wasting time liquid papering the entire answer section of a 7 mark question because you decided you want to change your answer).
Ideally you should aim to be able to finish the MCQ section in 10 minutes or less.
An alternative strategy is actually to leave the multiple choice section absolutely last. This is because if you happen to be short on time at the very end of your exam, you could always quickly guess the rest of your unanswered multiple choice questions. There’s no ‘negative marking’ in the HSC (meaning if you give an incorrect MCQ answer, you don’t lose marks) so this strategy works. However we don’t recommend this strategy because leaving the multiple choice section last encourages students to spend too much time on Section I Part B and Section II, potentially forcing them to unnecessarily lose the easy marks that could have been gained in the MCQ (Multiple Choices Question) section.

Section I Part B

This is the core section of the exam, the one where you’ll be spending the most time and effort doing. This section is designed to take you 105 minutes (that’s 1 hour, 45 minutes) to do. You should aim to do this section slightly faster than the allocated time, but not significantly faster (unlike the MCQ section).

This is because HSC Physics and HSC Chemistry exams are not like HSC Mathematics exams where you could always come back and change your answers easily. The short / long answer questions require students to verbally answer the questions with full sentences. Basically, it would be impractical to cross out an ‘incorrect’ answer or liquid-paper the whole answer (this takes MUCH too long, not to mention the fumes).

Instead, students should work slowly and carefully through the short / long sections from Section I Part B to Section II, and aim to get their answers confidently correct the first time through. If you do find your answers need modification, if your answers were written carefully, you won’t need to liquid-paper the whole thing, only certain words.

Section II

This is the last section of the exam which deals with your option module. You will have a writing booklet to do this question. A writing booklet can be advantageous but for some students, this may be the first time they will be using an external writing booklet for a HSC Chemistry or HSC Physics exam (mainly because school trials may include the writing space of the option module within the exam itself).
Therefore, the first step is to check how long the provided writing booklet is. Scope out how much pages of writing space is available to you, so you have a feel of how much space you have left.
A writing booklet effectively gives you much more writing space. So for the ‘assess’ or ‘evaluate’ essay-type questions that require an extended response, the writing booklet can allow you to say more, reducing the risk that you may have missed something that would have been given marks.
General tips for short / long answer sections
Here’s a few more tips to help you with short / long questions applicable to Section I Part B and Section II

1. Write neatly and write small

The HSC exam gives you the writing space along with the question paper (except section II). This means the writing space is limited and ‘non-renewable’ – meaning you can’t simply cross out your old answer and opt to write your new answer somewhere else.
Therefore it is a good idea to write small and neatly, maximising the amount of words you can fit into your allocated writing space. Obviously don’t go overboard (e.g. do NOT write into the margin space – this is not intended by the HSC examiners and will be looked upon unfavourably).

2. Know your keywords

For our students, we would have taught you about what each keyword requires throughout your entire year(s) with us, and you would have had plenty of practice in the homework we give you.
For example, you should know exactly what ‘describe’, ‘explain’, ‘outline’, ‘justify’ etc means and what each requires you to write. You should also be very familiar with the harder, more complex keywords like ‘assess’, ‘discuss’, ‘evaluate’ and know exactly how to answer those, including a concluding assessment where appropriate.

3. Know alternative ways to answer questions

Just because there are writing lines drawn, indicating you should write prose to answer questions, doesn’t mean you can’t use an alternative format to structure your answer, for example by using a simple table.
A table is ideal for questions asking you to ‘compare’, or ‘contrast’ or ‘distinguish’ and there are multiple points / issues that can be compared / contrasted.
For example, if a question asks you to “Account for the differences of diamond and graphite in terms of their chemical structure”, you could draw a vertical line down the first half of your writing space to efficiently write up the actual differences between these two substances, then use the rest of your writing space to traditionally answer the second part of the question (i.e. explain in terms of their chemical structures).

Scaled mean of HSC maths of all levels for the year 2008 were HSC Maths (2 unit) – 30.4, HSC Mathematics Extension 1 – 40.0 and HSC Mathematics Extension 2 – 44.5 respectively.

Scaled mean of HSC maths of all levels for the year 2007 were HSC Maths (2 unit) – 30.5, HSC Mathematics Extension 1 – 39.6 and HSC Mathematics Extension 2 – 43.7 respectively.

The HSC mean mark of HSC maths of all levels were HSC Maths (2 unit) – 38, HSC Mathematics Extension 1 – 40 and HSC Mathematics Extension 2 – 41.8.

From these statistics, we see that all levels of maths have actually increased in scaled mean, with the exception of 2 unit maths. In particular, Maths Extension 2 has increased from a scaled mean of 43.7 to 44.5. This has placed Extension 2 as the second highest scaled subject available to students (first being Classical Greek Extension, at 45.2).

Apart from this, Scaled mean of HSC English Advanced for the year 2008 and 2007 was 31.3 and 31.2 respectively. Moreover, its HSC mean mark was 39.7. Basically, in terms of the benefit to a student’s ATAR, an average raw mark in Maths Extension 2 is equivalent to scoring in the top 2-3% for HSC Physics, Chemistry, or English Advanced. If you score the average raw mark for Maths Extension 2, the number of scaled marks added to your aggregate mark (which is used to calculate your rank position and ultimately ATAR) is the same as if you scored in the 97th-98th percentile in some other relatively high scaling subjects, like HSC Chemistry or Physics. These numbers illustrate the huge scaling effect of Extension 2 maths.

(To find out more about how the HSC scaling process works, read our comprehensive article on the HSC scaling process).

Similarly, Maths Extension 1 also benefits from a large positive scaling effect. In 2008, its scaled mean of 40.0 means that if you scored the average raw mark in Maths Extension 1, the number of marks added to your aggregate mark is the same as if you scored in the top 15% for HSC Chemistry, or Physics, or the top 10% in Biology.

A look into HSC sciences

HSC chemistry and HSC physics are on the rise, with Physics gaining in scaled mean in 2008. The latest scaling statistics published by the UAC shows that both HSC physics and HSC chemistry are on the rise in terms of scaling. As per UAC Report (2008), HSC Chemistry and HSC Physics had a scaled mean of 31.6 and 30.4 respectively. Though Biology’s scaled mean remained unchanged since the previous year. Apart from this, HSC Chemistry and HSC Physics had a HSC mean mark of 37.5 and 36.7 respectively.

We have already mentioned the effects of HSC scaling and how these factors should play into your subject-selection decision. Ultimately we recommend students to choose subjects with at least a decent scaled mean (preferably 30+), that they also genuinely enjoy.

Students should seriously consider selecting HSC sciences for next year (apart from their generally high scaled means), particularly for students with a keen interest in science and a technically oriented mind.

In contrast to mathematics, HSC sciences provide an alternative experience to your HSC. For example, HSC maths is all purely theoretical, dealing with numbers, algebraic expressions, identities and theorems. In essence mathematics is the ‘pure science’. HSC sciences on the other hand offer a more practical perspective applied to real-world situations. This generally has come to mean that students find HSC sciences more of an involving, practical experience, learning about scientific concepts in a context that is applicable to real-world situations.

HSC Chemistry – a brief overview

For example, let’s look at a brief overview of what HSC Chemistry involves. In HSC Chemistry, much of the year 11 course is spent on establishing fundamental concepts such as the mole, the nature of basic materials (states of matter, bonding, inter/intramolecular forces, metals and water – to name a few) as well as ground rules regarding valency, periodic table trends and activity. Chemistry is a course that is heavily based on experience (as there are relatively little general rules or overarching principles to go by, as compared to HSC Physics) so it is important to establish a strong foundation of core principles early on.

In the year 12 course, the more fun aspects of the course begins to show. Many class periods will be spent on conducting experiments. A particular highlight would be titration experiments during the second module: The Acidic Environment, where students get to play with various indicators to observe interesting colour changes in their chemicals.

Other highlights of the course include learning about the industrial processes behind important chemicals in society, such as the production of ethanol, sulfuric acid (general acid), or sodium hydroxide (general base).

Apart from the chemistry behind processes and chemicals, students would also spend much of their time learning about the significance of these chemicals, their impacts on society as well as environmental issues that may arise.

One thing about the current syllabus for all HSC sciences is its emphasis on these ‘significance aspects’ on society and the environment. Some students (especially those who already have a strong grasp of the chemistry and the numbers) somewhat resent this requirement of the syllabus. However, there is value in requiring students to understand the wider implications surrounding the science taught. For example, it is satisfying and useful to know how a lead-acid battery works in terms of chemistry, but also be able to describe its negative environmental issues as compared to modern cells like a Lithium-ion or Vanadium-redox cell. Similarly, much of the surrounding aspects of HSC chemistry will become fully appreciated as students grasp the content beyond the mere core scientific principles.

Maths is so universal that it will be a useful skill if you end up doing Commerce, Business, Medicine, Science, Engineering, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy – just about any commonly chosen university course you can think of.

Maths Extension 1 and 2

We also recommend students who are good at maths to enrol in Mathematics Extension 2, to benefit from the subject’s large positive scaling effect. Students often have a hesitation about signing up for Maths Extension 2 when they need to decide near the end of year 11. The issue is, most students find Maths Extension 2 – and rightly so! It is not a subject that can easily mastered, and requires the most practice to familiarise among the different types of questions that can appear in an exam.

However, the scaling benefit is massive – even if you end up scoring the average raw mark for Extension 2, it is equivalent to the top 10%-15% for relatively high scaling subjects like HSC Physics, Chemistry, English Advanced, or Economics, or the top 10% for Biology. This is not including the added benefit of having Maths Extension 1 count for 2 units, instead of 1, which in itself is a huge benefit to your final aggregate score.

Similarly, Maths Extension 1 has a large positive scaling benefit in its own right. Its scaled mean of 40.0 in 2008 continues the trend of it increasing over the past few years. Currently, this places the scaling of Maths Extension 1 equal to that of scoring in the top 15% for English Advanced.

Other advantages of mathematics

There are other less direct advantages of choosing mathematics for your HSC. Firstly, because it is so common, you will find there is an abundance of good textbooks available for the subject. There is also an abundance of free notes and materials on the internet. Also you will find that if you ever need assistance outside of school, HSC maths is one of the most commonly offered subjects when looking for a maths tutor.

However, maths can be challenging at times. It is a subject which requires plenty of practice to master, as much of what goes into making a top maths student comes down to experience. For example, as mentioned in the previous article, How to do well in HSC maths, it is a subject that requires you to literally sit down and do thousands of questions before you gain enough experience for the top band. The main thing you will gain through practice is the ability to see overarching patterns and connections between seemingly unrelated topics – but also after doing so many questions, you will come to a point where you are familiar with every type of maths exam question that can be asked.

Mathematics tutoring

Somewhere down the line as you go through the Preliminary course and into the HSC, you may consider whether to seek maths tutoring. The advantage of choosing maths is that so many places offer mathematics tutoring, students have a nice selection of maths tutors to choose from.

Students will also have to decide about whether to seek out a private tutor for maths, or maths tuition classes. Each means of maths tutoring has its own advantages and disadvantages, and there are situations where one is appropriate and the other is not. To illustrate, generally speaking, class tuition is not suitable for students on either extremity of the ability spectrum – those that are exceptionally advanced and those that cannot follow on in a class environment. Those students may benefit more from a private tutor.

On the other hand, students that fall within the majority of the bell curve can benefit greatly from a class environment due to some or all of the following factors:

· Structured environment: reputable maths tutoring providers will always provide learning materials, homework, feedback and deliver their program in a structured way. This is the main thing private tutoring lacks.

· Healthy competition between peers (students know exactly how well they’re doing relative to a sample of above-average students)

· Quality teachers: with private tuition, there’s no guarantee as to the quality of your tutor, whereas reputable tuition providers will always hire high quality tutors as they are experienced in finding and training talented educators.

That’s not to say the more talented individuals benefit less from a structured environment. Often, students find it is of greater benefit to be able to follow a structured study regime which can guarantee a comprehensive coverage of the entire course, rather than leaving it to private tuition, with a teaching approach that can leave gaps in their understanding.

The choice also comes down to economic factors. Private tutors often cost several times the cost of enrolling into a class-structured course.

Whether you do 2 unit maths, maths extension 1, or maths extension 2, doing well in HSC mathematics requires a similar strategy. In this article, we will briefly look at what makes a successful HSC maths student, as well as some exam preparation techniques which would be relevant to students today, as most have their all-important HSC trials and HSC exams coming up in the next few weeks.

Seeing connections between HSC topics
The most common characteristic shared by successful HSC maths students is their ability to see connections and patterns between the various topics of maths. This is important, as many questions are not worded in an immediately straightforward manner.
For example, a 4 unit (Extension 2) question may initially appear to be an integration question, but in part b or c, knowledge of polynomial roots or complex numbers needs to be used. Similarly, such questions involving a mesh of different topics are also common in 2 unit math and 3 unit (Extension 1).

Practice makes perfect

Training for mathematics is much like training for sports. Your core skills ultimately comes down to how much practice you have had. There is a limited number of ways an exam can ask you questions. If you have gone through two or three complete (reputable) HSC maths textbooks, good chances are that you have seen most of the ways questions can be asked.

Therefore, doing well in HSC maths, regardless of what level of maths you do, comes down to simple practice. This piece of advice is the most simple to describe and understand, but the most difficult to implement and follow through. The key is to set yourself an ongoing goal – decide how much exercises or hours you can do every day or week, then persevere.

Build up a habit for the long run and stick to it. Focus on sustainability, rather than studying for the short term. For example, if you can get into a simple habit of studying just an hour, purely dedicated to mathematics, on each school night, this would be so much more useful than being highly motivated for a period of a few weeks prior to exams, but being unmotivated throughout the year.

Convert real facts into a mathematical problem

Longer, more difficult maths questions tend to be phrased as a problem question. There is no rule of thumb as to which topics can be phrased in a long-worded question – any topic can be presented this way. However, some topics tend to have a greater abundance of such worded problems. For example, in maths Extension 1, there’s Applications of Calculus, which includes things like projectile motion and Newton’s Law of Cooling. In maths Extension 2, there’s even more! (Mechanics, volumes, conics, complex numbers and most of Harder 3 unit – to name a few).

Some students find it difficult to convert a worded scenario or problem into a mathematical / numerical problem. The issue is that students are mostly taught to think in terms of numbers and algebraic expressions, but only occasionally (or for some, rarely) get to practice on real-world worded problem questions. A good maths student would have had plenty of practice at synthesising complex worded facts into a numerical problem, especially by the time they need to prepare for their HSC trials and HSC exams.
In terms of good preparation, it is good to pay close attention to questions which are long, have multiple parts and represent mathematics in some real-world application. Doing these questions (and asking your tutor / teacher questions if necessary) will give you adequate preparation.

Avoid over-relying on your calculator

This point is not talked about much, probably because it is not raised often. But I’d like to shed some light on the issue. Pulling out your calculator for every arithmetic operation (e.g. you need to add single digit coefficients together) wastes your exam time, and increases the risk of pressing something wrong. In the end, for the more simple operations (e.g. adding / multiplying single or even double digits) is simply done faster in your head, than with a calculator.

I remember, not long ago while supervising an exam at university, I saw a first-year student take out his calculator and press 2 + 2 =. Maybe I have a strange sense of humour but I found the incident funny and memorable. However this does highlight a current issue for some HSC students. For some students, it has come down to total reliance on their calculator for all arithmetic calculations, even simple ones that ought to have been done mentally without a doubt.

I always tell my students, you can do an entire Extension 2 exam without touching your calculator. Most of the more advanced students know this. To minimise the incidence of human error, again, this comes down to practice. In everyday life, whenever you come across a situation where you need to add / multiply / subtract or even divide, (e.g. when shopping, or on the train, or at school etc) you should do the math in your head. Break the instinct of moving to grab your calculator. Think of the brain as like a muscle – the more mental exercises you give it, the better it will become.

With most students having their HSC trials coming within a week or two, and with the actual HSC exams coming within a few weeks, good exam preparation skills are important if you want to ace your exams! Following are some general & important tips on what you can do to help yourself through this stressful period.

Big tip 1: Don’t let the stress get to you

As students approach the end of year 12, their stress levels approach seemingly unbearable levels (like a limits question in maths!). But as a student in year 12, it’s important not to lose perspective. If you are currently in year 12, we would like to remind you of some bare facts about your current situation:

1. You will survive this, as did all previous year 12 students.

You will get through your exams, regardless of whether you did wonderfully or badly, and your life will continue. Whether you move onto university (which most of you will) or other paths, there’s a whole lifetime of activities, challenges and experiences waiting for you. This leads onto the next point:

2. No matter what you may think, you are overestimating the significance of the HSC.

Think about it this way: after the first 2 weeks of university, no-one would be talking about what UAI or ATAR score you achieved. This probably would end after the first few days! Your ATAR would be so insignificant and inconsequential to your university life and career into the future that when you look back, you would laugh at how stressed and how seriously you took your HSC. Even highly successful students who manage to achieve a 99+ UAI or ATAR would find that their amazing achievement becomes inconsequential when we look at the bigger picture of their entire lives ahead. This leads onto the next fact:

3. Don’t stress if you can’t get the ATAR you need.

Say you need an ATAR of 95+ for your dream course, but from the way things are heading, your chances aren’t too promising. This is no reason to stop trying altogether, or to lose hope either. You should still try your absolute best to maximise your ATAR, but also you should be aware that transferring into your dream course (or your dream university) once you finish your HSC is generally much less competitive than gaining a place outright through getting a high ATAR score.

With all that said, it is important to put in your best efforts in preparing for your exams, because your ATAR will count towards determining whether you get a university transfer.

Big tip 2: Don’t procrastinate This sounds pretty obvious, but procrastination is probably the single biggest problem facing the majority of students. Most students are definitely smart enough to get the high ATAR score they want or need. But the biggest obstacle to most is procrastination. Students need to understand that they need to take things seriously (but not to the point of stressing out: see tip 1) and do the things they need to do. Generally, this means a few things:

1. Start now!

If you know you need to study for a certain exam that is x days away, start now! It is in our human nature to make up excuses like “I will start tomorrow” or “I will start after this weekend” or “Today will definitely be my last day not studying”. Ask yourself this: do you accept the fact that eventually you will need to start? Well if yes, why not now?

2. Plan ahead.

Budgeting for time can be tricky when we have mere weeks or days before a major exam like the trials or the actual HSC. We suggest it is highly important to budget for the time you have left. You should ask yourself: how many days do I have in total? How many days do I NEED for exam A? What about exam B?

Budget your time according to what you think your strengths and weaknesses are. If you are weak in English, spend more time on that, rather than your other subjects. However, never totally neglect any subject. Good time budgeting leads on from the first point of starting now, because once you map out how you can spend the days you have left before your big exam(s), you may realise you need to start right now!

Big tip 3: Study smart! Effective study comes differently for different students: it mainly comes down to personal preference. Some study techniques which work for one student may not work as well for another, but the tip here is to find out what techniques and resources work best for you, and incorporate them in your study.

The obvious way to study is to sit down and read the textbook (for sciences), do many practice exercises and past papers (for maths) and write many practice essays (for English). This works very well on its own, if you can stick to a plan and self-study. However, not all can self-study as effectively as they need to. Below are some suggestions on ways you can improve your self-study:

1. Use your friends to your advantage.

Pick a few friends who are motivated to do well in their exams. Keep in touch with them throughout your study period. Discuss topics in subjects you both do, asking each other questions and making sure your knowledge of each subject is sound and complete.

2. Use the syllabus to your advantage.

Some subjects (like Chemistry, Physics and Biology, as well as some social sciences like Economics) are heavily syllabus-based. A good study technique is to write brief summary notes for each dot-point, going through the entire HSC syllabus yourself before your exams. This is the most complete method of revising those subjects, as exam questions can only be set according to what is contained within the syllabus. 3. Use teachers to your advantage.

Teachers play a bigger role in some subjects more than others. For example, in English, we recommend writing practice essays to cover the broad topics like the main themes in your Area of Study, or module text. Write as many as you can, and have them marked! Ask for feedback from your teachers. Good teachers would be happy to help their students, especially nearing big exams.

Good luck to all students! ]]> http://blog.duxcollege.com.au/hsctrials-hscexamspreparation/feed/ 0 http://blog.duxcollege.com.au/hsc-english-is-overemphasised/ http://blog.duxcollege.com.au/hsc-english-is-overemphasised/#comments Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:33:13 +0000 tisindia http://blog.duxcollege.com.au/?p=227 Continue reading →]]> The most important ingredient to a high UAI is to ace all your subjects. While we place a huge emphasis on English these days (being the only compulsory subject in the NSW HSC), the hype over English is slightly overrated by now. Put in a simple way, if you ace your HSC English but ace nothing else, your UAI will be mediocre at best. Instead, do not over-focus on any particular subject. Every student’s goal is to maximise their UAI, so their best ten units count towards their all-important UAI. The obvious thing here is that each unit is equally weighted, and there is no inherent reason why a student should treat HSC English any different to any other HSC subject they are doing as part of their 10 or more units.

In fact, the rational way to allocate study time is to allocate more time to the higher-scaled subjects, as they will be more beneficial to your UAI than lower-scaled subjects. Historically English Advanced has a scaled mean of around 30, which is practically equal to the scaling of HSC Chemistry and Economics in the past several years. These trends are not expected to change significantly year to year, so we can expect the same for at least the near future. If you’re a student who does English Advanced and Maths Extension 2, you should definitely focus more of your time on your mathematics subjects, given that both Maths Extension 1 and Extension 2 counts for 2 units each. Keeping in mind that the scaled mean for Extension 1 is around 39-40 in recent years, and that of Extension 2 is around 43-44, this makes these subjects unparalleled in terms of scaling power, and definitely deserves more attention than English.

That is not to say you should neglect English either. Treat it as you would any other subject. There is nothing special about English, except for the fact that it is the only compulsory subject in the NSW HSC, because of the way scaling works and UAI is calculated, which requires a common denominator for comparison. However this mere fact does not affect the individual student. There are rumours and misinformation floating around over student forums and by word of mouth, but the simple fact of the matter is that English is just like any other subject and is given no preferential treatment when it comes to UAI calculation. Therefore if this is the case, English should not be given any special treatment by students either. What this means is you should split your time equally as you would any other subject that scales similarly (e.g. Chemistry, Economics).

Choosing a particular course to study at University stead for your future life and can seem a bit daunting process. Today there are number of colleges and universities that offer a wide number of course programs. Thus, it becomes important to choose not only something that you believe will help you on your future career path, but also to choose a subject that you enjoy. This is because, you may earn a very good salary but the fact remains that you will do well only if you choose a subject you are good at. For example- there is no point in choosing Commerce/Law or other highly demanded courses, just because your UAI was 99+. Generally those who do this tend to regret their choices after a year or two. On other hand those who choose a course program and degree based on their interests are generally more fulfilled and do better in their career.

A career and course choice which you have found interesting actually makes your life more enjoyable and content. Here are few courses that have pulled several students’ attention according to their interest.

Commerce

Commerce is one of the most common courses students choose. It is a good choice, and possibly has the greatest number of career options. The most common commerce majors at the reputable universities are: accounting, finance, actuary studies (UNSW) and marketing. Commerce is the degree to choose if you want to be an accountant, or get into finance (work in a bank) or marketing (work in advertising). The pay for these types of jobs is great and there is an endless variety of jobs to suit all tastes and interests.

Actuarial studies

Actuarial Studies is ideal for those who are good at mathematics. Actuaries are people who work at big insurance companies, who use complex mathematical methods to calculate insurance premiums. However, there is a very misconception people have about this course is that they will become actuaries at the end of their degree. This is totally false statement, as actuarial jobs are in low supply, and most graduates work in finance, in the field of financial engineering designing new financial products etc. This can be very lucrative field, especially if part of a quantitative team in an investment bank.

Law

Law is yet another course that can lead to a very lucrative career. Law graduates tend to make the most money out of all degrees in the long run. Students who want to make lots of money in their future careers are advised to aim for Law, even if they won’t want to eventually be a lawyer. The reason is because employers of large commercial companies tend to seek out the Law graduates to fill their higher paying graduate positions. Law graduates tend to be high quality, intelligent, social, well-spoken and dynamic people, and employers know this.

On the face of it, you all must understand that proper education along with good accredited course selection allows you to meet the standard for much-desired promotions.

Besides this, every degree you gain after completing the course program duration generally involves a large commitment in terms of time, money and energy. So, you need to be more proactive and must take your course selection plan very sincerely.

There are many people who choose the career without giving a serious second thought. After spending five to ten years, later they realise this is not what he or she expected to be. Moreover there are many who spend months or even years not happy with their careers. It is important to understand that a careful career selection is prime element that helps in fulfilling one’s job search and career satisfaction. Education and career earnings go hand in hand and a right education can let you know your skills and area of improvement. A proper course can successfully train you and improve your morale.

Today there are number of colleges and universities that offer a wide, dizzying number of course programs. It can be quite a testing task to pick or choose course program and further pursue your career. So, the best thing that you can do is to know your interest and passion and follow it by opting right course. As an example-

Engineering If you are a technical person and love to get involve in technical aspects of different sector then engineering is meant for you. There are many fields of engineering (mining, materials, petroleum etc) and in Australia, mining tends to produce the highest paying and most abundant jobs. You can select this course if you are interested in Physics, Chemistry and / or Mathematics. The UAI required for this course has a very large range. Some of the higher UAI courses are: Aeronautical Engineering at USYD, which is about 92, and Aerospace at USYD, at 99+.

Mathematics If you have a deep keen interest in mathematics, choose this course program at university. For mathematics graduates there are jobs in finance that pay them very well. They can even become actuaries or financial engineers. Many mathematics graduates also pursue their career in computer science, banking, insurance and other quantitative-analyst type positions. Only a small portion of maths graduates end up being in academia (the field of scholarly pursuits) as lecturers and researchers, as most people tend to think.

Medicine

If you have a keen interest in biology, chemistry, and helping others, medicine is a course you can consider. However, it is more advisable to not choose this course program just for the sake of money. So for those who are looking for this course program need to go through the UMAT exam and interviews as additional selection criteria. Officially, the minimum UAI for medicine at reputable universities is 95, however the median entry for medicine at reputable universities has traditionally been in the low 99s. This is in additional to the UMAT and interview criteria, so medicine can be said to be the most competitive course to get into.

Other health courses

For those who are looking for alternative of medicine can go for other health course program. At reputable universities, Optometry and Vet Science needs about a UAI of 98, Pharmacy needs about 95, Medical science needs about 93, and physiotherapy is much lower and very accessible. If you want to get into medicine but didn’t get the required UAI or UMAT scores, you can get into one of these health courses and transfer via undergraduate or graduate streams, depending on individual universities’ rules.

Certainly selecting a right course and having a college degree is definitely a plus point in career planning. A well-educated and trained professional is surely a priceless asset to any organization. Proper education and industry-recognized credentials allow you to command top salaries, choose from a larger selection of plum positions, and meet the criteria for much-desired promotions. Thus, you must take your course selection plan seriously. You should never opt for a course just because you need it at that moment.