Posts tagged ‘HSC physics’

August 13th, 2009

Things That Can Go Wrong During Exam Day

Are you scared that on the morning of your HSC trials or actual HSC exam, something might happen that would affect your ability to do the exam? It is not too bad if something’s serious enough to warrant an illness / misadventure claim. For example, if your train breaks down and it’s verifiable over the news, or you’re unable to attend due to some illness that can be documented by a medical certificate.
Wrong During Exam

But what about the little things that won’t quite warrant a misadventure claim?

For example, are you one of many students who are scared of getting a stomach ache at the start of your morning exam? How bad would that be, having a stomach ache in the first 5 minutes of your exam? Or getting some sort of cramp, chest pain, headache etc. These ’small’ mishaps would be difficult to

Let’s face it, during the HSC year, some students are so dedicated to exam preparation that they don’t get much exercise for the whole year, and by the end of the year, they are not exactly in their healthiest shape. Also, the amount of nervousness experienced by HSC students doing an exam that is worth up to 50% of their total HSC assessment can play all sorts of tricks onto our bodies.

There’s a few things you can do to minimise the chance of experiencing some sort of mishap:

Tip ONE: sleep early

Sleeping early reduces the chance of getting a headache in the morning. You won’t feel drowsy on your way to your exam, and you won’t need to drink coffee / Red Bull etc to wake up a second time before you start your early morning exams.

Don’t study the night before your exam. Prepare for an early night’s rest. Watch some TV, do some recreational reading, drink some milk and go to bed early. If you know you can’t fall asleep early, you’ll need to prepare starting from a few days beforehand, where you sleep progressively earlier each night.

Tip TWO: don’t eat the wrong breakfast

Some foods will make you get stomach aches. For example, for people who are lactose-intolerant, drinking milk in the morning (e.g. with cereal) may cause stomach aches and the need to go to the toilet in the middle of your exam. That’s definitely something to be avoided.

It’s a good idea to find out early whether you have any issues with certain foods eaten in the morning, and whether they cause you any discomfort shortly afterward. Be sure to avoid those foods on critical days like exam days where you can’t afford to have any distractions.

Tip THREE: warm your hands before you start writing

This is a nice little trick. Have you noticed it is hard to write fast when your hands are cold? That is because like all muscles in the body, hand muscles contract slower when cold. The ideal temperature is body temperature, that’s when your hands are at the same temperature as your body (37°C) and you can write the fastest.

With Australia’s winters getting colder every year, this is becoming more of a problem, especially if you have an early morning exam that starts at 8:45am. So it is a good idea to warm your hands (e.g. rubbing them together, wear gloves, put your hands in your pockets, sit on them if you need to) before you start writing.

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August 3rd, 2009

Mastering HSC Chemistry and Physics Exams

HSC Chemistry and Physics exams are structured as 3 hour exams, with 5 minutes reading time. As you may already know, they are structured as such:

  • 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 sexamstart, 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).

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July 30th, 2009

Scaling of HSC Maths

In terms of scaling, choosing HSC maths is generally a positive step towards maximising your UAI / ATAR. Historically, mathematics of all levels have scaled very high relative to other HSC subjects, and this trend has continued into current years. For example, if we look at the latest scaling statistics submitted by the UAC, then we could see some remarkable changes like-

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.

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July 23rd, 2009

HSC Subject Selection

It’s almost that time of year again! Current year 10 students need to start thinking about what subjects to choose for next year. The choices they make now will affect their entire HSC, as the subjects they do in their Preliminary year will become their HSC subjects.

booktower

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.

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July 16th, 2009

Why Choose HSC Mathematics

Mathematics is one of the most commonly chosen subjects. If you are the type of student who has a technical mind and enjoy, or are good at thinking in a logical way, you should definitely choose some level of HSC maths. Not only will you find maths interesting, you will also come to realise that it will help you well into your university career and life beyond.

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.

applebook

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.

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June 20th, 2009

HSC Trials and the HSC Exams – Exam Preparation

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.

HSC Exams

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!

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May 28th, 2009

Your HSC and the Career Ahead

Looking at the present scenario, factors like job security and economic security are no longer what they were used to be. In fact it has become important to be capable enough to distinguish yourself from others and turn yourself as a well versed professional to beat the competition in every possible manner. However, it is not possible for you to be an expert at everything. The best thing that you can do is to select the proper course to develop a right and successful career. Selecting a proper course can add value to you in terms of career prospects.

HSC CareerThere 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.

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May 12th, 2009

HSC tutoring: don’t leave it till late!

Many students wait until Term 3 or 4 of year 12 before deciding to find a tutor. While seeking tuition support late in year 12 is better than doing nothing, this is far from ideal. Generally, higher ability students tend to find a good tutor early in their Preliminary course, or even in year 10, and sticking with them until the end of the HSC. There are several advantages to finding a good tutor early in your High School career.

Find a good HSC tutor and stick with them! HSC Tutoring Quality tuition providers often have set structures for their courses. For example, at Dux College, we offer a structured schedule, so we make sure all our students cover all topics well ahead of time. This leaves for revision and discussion on optimal exam technique, reinforcement of skills and perfecting overall knowledge. However we find that students who join mid-way through our schedule may have covered some topics we are yet to cover, but have skipped over topics we have already covered. This mismatch in the new student’s knowledge poses a difficulty for them in that they must spend extra effort in catching up with the class.

Our highest achievers are students who have been with us since year 10 or 11, and have gained the fundamental knowledge throughout those early years. Students from this group are generally more adaptive to new concepts as they are introduced, because they have a strong foundation in conceptual understanding, instilled through following our course structure over a longer period of time. It is less common to see spectacular improvements in school rank from year 12 students who join us in the middle of term 3 or 4, because they have not had the same opportunity as most of our other students who have been with us in the long run. However we do see spectacular improvements on school rank from our students who have joined us in year 10 or 11, as the extra tutoring makes a large difference to the bottom line: exam results.

Seek help early! We get the most phone calls from interested students and parents during the weeks after major assessment marks are released back to students. The biggest example is probably at around late April, when year 12 students start to get their half-yearly results back. Some receive a nasty shock at disappointing marks, and feel the sudden compulsion to seek tutoring. Although we are happy to help these students, and we try our very best to bring in and improve students in these situations, we feel that these students would have gained so much more if they found us EARLIER.

Also for the reasons mentioned above, the earlier students find a good tutoring service, the better. HSC tutoring is definitely not something to be left to the final few weeks of major exams and assessments. The benefits are best realised over a longer timeframe, and solid knowledge is built over several terms of tutoring, not merely several weeks. Rome was not built in a day!

Having said that, we do not mean that all students who join us in the middle of their year 12 are not gaining short-term improvements. Our students in this category are very happy with their improvement in marks and general course understanding, within weeks of tutoring. However, we feel that their potential is so much higher. What separates a UAI 99+ student from a UAI 90-95 student is consistency in everything they do. The first step, getting into a routine habit of tutoring and doing higher volumes of more challenging curricular work has a large benefit in itself. Another factor may be the fact that many students simply do not have access to quality teachers in their school environment, which is supplemented by finding a reliable tutoring service. However, in order to wholly move into a higher level of achievement (say, aiming to Dux your grade, or attain a 99+)

Short-term tutoring Some students feel the need to seek tutoring services for certain topics out of a subject, then leave after those topics are covered. In these situations, we recommend finding a private tutor. Sometimes students and parents do not appreciate the degree of interconnectedness between topics within any one HSC subject. For example, HSC science subjects like Physics or Chemistry are very conceptual in nature.

If a student is having trouble understanding the concepts in a later topic, chances are they have gaps in their fundamental conceptual understanding. For courses like HSC mathematics, particularly the more difficult Extension 1 and Extension 2 courses, an imperfect understanding of one topic is indicative of faults in conceptual understanding in other areas of the course. For example, in Extension 2, almost all of the topics are linked to each other, and to topics in Extension 1 and even 2 unit.

Students who feel they need tutoring specific to certain topics run the risk of being overconfident in their abilities as a whole. We recommend taking a deeper approach in remedying ‘holes’ in understanding, by investigating all related and associated topics and concepts. This can not happen in the short while available in covering just one topic, but rather over a longer period where the class can cover several topics. This allows enough time to fully explore how individual topics are interconnected. A common prerequisite of a band 6 responses (when HSC markers gather to determine the band cutoff criteria) often draws upon the degree to which students display an understanding of how different topics relate to and interact with each other. For these reasons, we do not recommend students seek out tutoring help intermittently.

Ideally, students should identify early on which subjects they feel they need long-term support (outside of the normal school support, which in many cases is quite minimal) and seek a quality tuition service early on in their course, preferably before year 12 begins. Remember, consistency is the key!

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