Anyone gotten an atar of 99+ without tutoring? (1 Viewer)

[Constantine]

I've heard of quite a few individuals who got ~99 without attending one single coaching/tutoring class.
Speaking from personal experience here, I started going in primary and stopped at the end of year nine because I felt like it wasn't helping me at all (I was already being taught Ext 1 maths at the time). Also, it actually took time away from studying the actual school content for me. So yeah, I did well in the coaching exams and was only average in school which got me really frustrated.

So far for year twelve the results have been the best results of my schooling life (fingers crossed for the HSC!) and I think it has something to do with the fact that I quit coaching so now I actually have time to study the things being taught in school instead of always trying to be in front of the school course schedule. Then again, while it didn't work for me, I do have my friends who go coaching and is doing brilliantly at school and at coaching and think it really helps them, even saying "if I don't go coaching I would've died in this or this exam". It depends on your needs, time management and the quality of the coaching classes you go to.

The advice will be listen to yourself. Chances are you've already made up your mind in regards to whether or not coaching is actually beneficial to you.

 

[milkytea99]

plenty of people would have. my friend got 99.40ish with a state rank in 2u math and didnt get tutoring for any of her subjects

Wow! That's amazing! What's her rank in the state?

 

[romanticismstudent]

I got 99.20 with no tutoring AND I did Hospitality!!!

 

[baci]

99.20. Only tutoring I had was speaking in French to some lady for French Continuers as I didnt go on exchange

 

[BiasedBuffalo]

I gott 99.05 (so just scraped over) and haven't ever been tutored.

Having said that, it wasn't without hard work, and tutoring may have helped.

I went to a school with quite a large tutoring culture. Probably 70-80% were tutored. I often considered that getting tutoring would create a level playing field, but in the end, I don't think I was disadvantaged at all. There were people who got tutored 24/7 and absolutely crashed when it got to October.

I think it depends on what type of learner you are. If you need direction, or are struggling with a subject, then tutoring is definitely the way to go. If you just want to "optimise" your performance, then tutoring would probably still be beneficial, but I wouldn't overdo it.

 

[Case957]

I got 96.8, but I did get tutoring for adv english for a term since I wasn't performing very well. Though I didn't get tutoring for my other subjects MX1, 2U Math, Chem, Phys, and IPT.

 

[keithkung]

I got 99.90 this year and didn't have any tutoring~
and I came 5th in state for Biology

 

[InteGrand]

Every year people get 99+ ATAR's (even 99.95) without going to coaching. I'm guessing though that the majority of people with ~99.95 ATAR had coaching.

 

[sweetalmond]

I got a 99+ ATAR and 2 state rankings without tutoring in those particular subjects. However tutoring, even for a 99+ student can help. Around trials I was finding that for English especially, I could not simply rely on my school teacher for her opinion on a piece e.g. creative and my extension english teacher was hopeless at getting stuff back to me. This is why I got a tutor for English, but not because I was necessarily struggling but because I wanted to gain another opinion on my essays and creatives. What was then great was that I could see the two different opinions and show my class teacher's feedback to my tutor and it was an immense help and really helped me reduce the stress because I had someone I could rely on to help me if I needed essays/ creatives/ reading papers marked.

In my case it was because I needed someone I could rely on, my advanced teacher was great but she went on leave in the last weeks of year 12 so she couldn't help me as much. Also my english extension teacher frankly took ages to get things back which meant I struggled for longer and her feedback was not extensive. I think this did assist in boosting my marks in the subject in the sense that it motivated me to work harder to make absolute use of the tutor and also gave me a bit more confidence as I had the opinion of more then one person on whether I was going on the right track with my essays/ creatives.

So yes, You don't require tutoring to get 99+ atar but you need to work hard. If your teacher is not reliable or you feel you need more attention on your work a tutor can help relieve the stress. And for me I only had a term left of year 12 when I got a tutor which was immensely helpful, especially during the HSC exams and trials.

 

[eyeseeyou]

It's possible however you'll need to study smarter

From what I gathered this is how you do it:

English: English is one of the subjects thats hard to study for IMO. You need to know the rubric and structure of texts and get ready for the nasty surprises that pop out in exams (and also asking "why")

Maths: Practice a million past papers and keep redoing those past papers until you get it right. Do HSC exams a couple of times before the actual exam as this will make you more confident of what's coming in the exam. Know how to approach and tackle the last question in the maths exam (especially if you've never seen this question before). Also ask "why" and practice your exam technique

Sciences: Similar principle to Maths, practice a million past papers and keep redoing those past papers until you get it right. Do HSC exams a couple of times before the actual exam as this will make you more confident of what's coming in the exam. The thing that's different to a maths and a science exam is that a science exam will have a 4-8 marker question (a curveball) where this question will make you use various links in the syllabus. This question is not an easy question because it requires you to understand and apply links in the syllabus. Similarly. you'll need to know how to approach this question especially if it seems foreign to you. Keep on asking "why" and practice your exam technique

What I suggest you do:

Getting ahead of yourself and peers as this will provide a major advantage between other students (if you already go tutor, self learn it before it is covered in tutor). The nature of the high school’s syllabus is that it cannot go into too much detail to explain the theory behind certain concepts, so many students just blindly accept what they are taught. Going beyond the syllabus and asking "why" will help you understand concepts rather than spending hours memorizing concepts and it will help you prepare better for those exam questions the board of studies throws at you. NEVER EVER STOP ASKING WHY just keep on going to the very end of your death and learn exam technique

Remember to know your verbs, learn the equations/diagrams, and after each past paper, PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE MARKING CRITERIA.

UNDERSTAND concepts. Don't memorise

 

[InteGrand]

It's possible however you'll need to study smarter

From what I gathered this is how you do it:

English: English is one of the subjects thats hard to study for IMO. You need to know the rubric and structure of texts and get ready for the nasty surprises that pop out in exams (and also asking "why")

Maths: Practice a million past papers and keep redoing those past papers until you get it right. Do HSC exams a couple of times before the actual exam as this will make you more confident of what's coming in the exam. Know how to approach and tackle the last question in the maths exam (especially if you've never seen this question before). Also ask "why" and practice your exam technique

Sciences: Similar principle to Maths, practice a million past papers and keep redoing those past papers until you get it right. Do HSC exams a couple of times before the actual exam as this will make you more confident of what's coming in the exam. The thing that's different to a maths and a science exam is that a science exam will have a 4-8 marker question (a curveball) where this question will make you use various links in the syllabus. This question is not an easy question because it requires you to understand and apply links in the syllabus. Similarly. you'll need to know how to approach this question especially if it seems foreign to you. Keep on asking "why" and practice your exam technique

What I suggest you do:

Getting ahead of yourself and peers as this will provide a major advantage between other students (if you already go tutor, self learn it before it is covered in tutor). The nature of the high school’s syllabus is that it cannot go into too much detail to explain the theory behind certain concepts, so many students just blindly accept what they are taught. Going beyond the syllabus and asking "why" will help you understand concepts rather than spending hours memorizing concepts and it will help you prepare better for those exam questions the board of studies throws at you. NEVER EVER STOP ASKING WHY just keep on going to the very end of your death and learn exam technique

Remember to know your verbs, learn the equations/diagrams, and after each past paper, PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE MARKING CRITERIA.

UNDERSTAND concepts. Don't memorise

How can you avoid memorisation? A lot of the stuff in the HSC Science subjects require or are amenable to rote learning. I know a lot of state-rankers etc. who memorised and did well.

 

[omegadot]

How can you avoid memorisation? A lot of the stuff in the HSC Science subjects require or are amenable to rote learning. I know a lot of state-rankers etc. who memorised and did well.

Unfortunately for the Sciences it's sad but true.

 

[GoldyOrNugget]

99.9 here without tutoring, friend got 99.95 also without tutoring.

Work on understanding rather than memorising, but memorise when necessary/faster. This is what is meant by study smart not hard. Do questions that are at a much harder level than the HSC, because that way HSC questions seem easier. E.g. participate in the maths marathon threads on BOS or write essays for really complex questions. Practice past papers and get lots of feedback from teachers. Work together with your classmates and help each other.

 

[eyeseeyou]

99.9 here without tutoring, friend got 99.95 also without tutoring.

Work on understanding rather than memorising, but memorise when necessary/faster. This is what is meant by study smart not hard. Do questions that are at a much harder level than the HSC, because that way HSC questions seem easier. E.g. participate in the maths marathon threads on BOS or write essays for really complex questions. Practice past papers and get lots of feedback from teachers. Work together with your classmates and help each other.

This is much more helpful that what I said.

 

[eyeseeyou]

Anyone state rank Maths or sciences (physics+chemistry) without any tutoring?

 

[Green Yoda]

Anyone state rank Maths or sciences (physics+chemistry) without any tutoring?

Person who came 2nd in physics and 5th in chem 2015 didn't go tuition

 

[eyeseeyou]

Person who came 2nd in physics and 5th on chem 2015 didn't go tuition

How did he/she state rank physics+chemistry without tutoring?

 

[Green Yoda]

How did he/she state rank physics+chemistry without tutoring?

http://community.boredofstudies.org...7130/am-almost-2015-graduate.html#post7096406

 

[InteGrand]

How did he/she state rank physics+chemistry without tutoring?

Pretty sure every year people get state ranks / 99.95's etc. without coaching. Different things work for different people though. And I'm not sure whether or not the majority of HSC Science / maths state rankers had coaching, but I think it is quite likely to be the case.

 

[Nailgun]

lol I've always felt the benefits of tutoring are more in the sense of motivation than the actual teaching.
i.e. paying money, so you feel obliged to do the homework and go to the classes, which means you spend more time with the material, means you do better
imo the same kids who go to tutoring and do very well would still do very well if they worked the same amount at home lol