May as well ask how you work hard.
Anyone? ...honestly.
Work hard means to routinely practice something.
In the context of the HSC, working hard is nothing without working
smart (ie to achieve the most amount of work in as little time as possible).
I'm a crammer so what I did was (of course,
you shouldn't follow this to the T, but
adapt it to suit you, seeing as I was pretty inconsistent):
CRAMMING for every subject except English and Maths
1) Download notes
2) Summarise them
3) Summarise again
4) Memorise the second summary using acronyms, repetition, "trigger words", rhymes, highlighters, making stories, LCWC (look, cover, write, check)
5) Repeat 4 once every 30 mins for 2 hours, then every 40 mins for 2h, then once every hour 3 times etc.
This should be done for 2 days straight at least
6) Practice papers/questions. This is the most important part. Skip all the easy ones that you can definitely do. Begin answering the questions in the middle of paper.
Use the dot point book for quick revision questions. Use textbooks to brush up on calculations (for chemistry/physics/engineering).
For humanities, find practice essay questions and as soon as you learn the topic, plan an answer to the question using the info you just learned.
ALTERNATELY
Get the syllabus and make notes on 5-10 dot points per day, depending on the difficulty of the dot points.
Using your notes, answer some textbook questions/dot point questions.
ENGLISH CRAMMING
Essays
Memorise at least 15 quotes and how they can be used. Think of every English assessment as a war; quotes/themes/arguments are your weapons, sophisticated language and adapting skills are your soldiers and you are the General dictating the plan of attack.
Memorise an introduction.
ANSWER THE QUESTION. CONSTANTLY REFER TO IT.
If you must memorise an essay do so, don't force yourself to write one on the spot if you don't have the ability to do so. Know your limits, and work with them. Don't try to recall the essay verbatim. It's ok if you miss some important wording. Just know the general flow of CONTENT. Know your essay so well that you can cut parts, add in some others and make it look like you wrote it on the spot.
Have a set structure for your essay. And a plan for every case possible. (ie how you would turn your essay into a feature article/speech/personal response)
Creative Writing
I had a range of scenes and characters planned out but no story, I just used them these scenes/characters to make a non linear narrative about an aspect of belonging.
Make something interesting up on the spot. Don't be boring. Draw upon your own experiences of belonging/isolation and take to a different level; a heightened reality per se. Don't make the protagonist yourself.
OR
If you must memorise, write 3 creatives (like Aerath on this site) and pick one to write when necessary.
MATHS
Practice. 15h a week is minimum. Memorise formulas.
You can't cram for maths.
Complete at least 3 practice papers before any exam. Work on your weak areas in preparation for any test.
When just doing routine practice, keep redoing questions you don't understand. The most important thing, is to
use this site. The maths gods here are often better and more available than your teachers. (eg Drongoski, Trebla, untouchablecuz, jetblack2007, gurmies, lolokay, Aerath etc)
See:
http://community.boredofstudies.org...ral-most-efficient-way-learn.html#post4556479