Class of 2025 (2025 HSC CHAT) (4 Viewers)

[h_s_r11]

is it just my school that doesn't let you drop to 10 units yr 12 if you do both mx1 and ex1? I seriously don't wanna waste my time doing my worst subject bio when I'm confident in my extensions

 

[Scrambled]

is it just my school that doesn't let you drop to 10 units yr 12 if you do both mx1 and ex1? I seriously don't wanna waste my time doing my worst subject bio when I'm confident in my extensions

Sorta similar but our school doesn't let us do ext2 unless we have at least 11 units

 

[C_master]

is it just my school that doesn't let you drop to 10 units yr 12 if you do both mx1 and ex1? I seriously don't wanna waste my time doing my worst subject bio when I'm confident in my extensions

just your school

 

[melanie_o]

I recently got my English prelim back. The main piece of feedback was that I was explaining the impact/effect on the responder rather than actually explaining how the text creates meaning. Sorry if I'm stupid, but could someone please explain the difference between these two things and how I would actually go about talking about meaning.

Also, how tf do I actually write a band 6 level essay like oml I'm screwed for hsc if I don't get a band 6 (since English counts and my dream course requires 99.50 ATAR) so I no joke need to do well. As in I am starting to panick, as I genuinely need to get to this calibre of essay quality.

 

[Cute-Duckie]

I recently got my English prelim back. The main piece of feedback was that I was explaining the impact/effect on the responder rather than actually explaining how the text creates meaning. Sorry if I'm stupid, but could someone please explain the difference between these two things and how I would actually go about talking about meaning.

You can say that a text makes a responder feel happy, sad, etc, and that's all good and well. But I think what you might be missing here is linking it clearly to how a text creates meaning, and why this audience reaction is so important in the first place for said meaning.

A text can create meaning in many ways. The way I think you are trying to explore is reader-response theory - essentially a focus on how the reader responds to the text as opposed to the text itself. While a text can create meaning (somewhat) in this way, being through the response it provokes from the reader, there are a lot of other ways it can create meaning too. Does it create meaning through historical connotations? Maybe it creates meaning through metaphors, or an underlying narrative. There are many ways a text can create meaning, and these are some of the ways you can talk about it. It is possible that reader-response theory simply didn't apply to the question, and it more so wanted you to talk about the text itself rather than the audience. However, if going down this path of reader-response theory is one you are able to follow, I think it would suit the understanding of the text you already have.

However, of course (as with anything in English as I'm sure you know) once you make a claim like "this text makes the audience feel sad" (or whatever it may be), you have to prove it and give the marker a reason to care. As a brief example of trying to do this; "Text XYZ has a rich intertextual historical context of the English Industrial Revolution in the 1820s, alluding to it's author's early 2000s American context. This connection thus creates meaning for its audience through the personal connections and grievous response the audience develops while reading the text, as parallels between the life of the reader and the life of the protagonist are realised through reader-response." While this is a random sentence I've just made up about an imaginary text (so it's not very good, don't judge or use this as an exemplar please lol), it does complete a kind of checklist here. It gives the who (the audience), what (meaning), when (early 2000s / 1820s), where (England / America), and the how (drawing parallels between the contexts).

From what you've said about your response to your question and the feedback received, it seems like you might not be linking this emotions of the impact/effect on the responder to the who/what/when/where/how the text creates meaning. Instead of "this text makes the audience sad", discuss why the text making the audience feel sad is important. Why should we care? What's the point of this? When you know the point of the author provoking an audience response, then you're on your way to discuss how the text creates meaning.

Hopefully this all makes some amount of sense, if it doesn't I'd be happy to give more specific feedback if you have an essay question / response (just pm me or post something here).

 

[melanie_o]

You can say that a text makes a responder feel happy, sad, etc, and that's all good and well. But I think what you might be missing here is linking it clearly to how a text creates meaning, and why this audience reaction is so important in the first place for said meaning.

A text can create meaning in many ways. The way I think you are trying to explore is reader-response theory - essentially a focus on how the reader responds to the text as opposed to the text itself. While a text can create meaning (somewhat) in this way, being through the response it provokes from the reader, there are a lot of other ways it can create meaning too. Does it create meaning through historical connotations? Maybe it creates meaning through metaphors, or an underlying narrative. There are many ways a text can create meaning, and these are some of the ways you can talk about it. It is possible that reader-response theory simply didn't apply to the question, and it more so wanted you to talk about the text itself rather than the audience. However, if going down this path of reader-response theory is one you are able to follow, I think it would suit the understanding of the text you already have.

However, of course (as with anything in English as I'm sure you know) once you make a claim like "this text makes the audience feel sad" (or whatever it may be), you have to prove it and give the marker a reason to care. As a brief example of trying to do this; "Text XYZ has a rich intertextual historical context of the English Industrial Revolution in the 1820s, alluding to it's author's early 2000s American context. This connection thus creates meaning for its audience through the personal connections and grievous response the audience develops while reading the text, as parallels between the life of the reader and the life of the protagonist are realised through reader-response." While this is a random sentence I've just made up about an imaginary text (so it's not very good, don't judge or use this as an exemplar please lol), it does complete a kind of checklist here. It gives the who (the audience), what (meaning), when (early 2000s / 1820s), where (England / America), and the how (drawing parallels between the contexts).

From what you've said about your response to your question and the feedback received, it seems like you might not be linking this emotions of the impact/effect on the responder to the who/what/when/where/how the text creates meaning. Instead of "this text makes the audience sad", discuss why the text making the audience feel sad is important. Why should we care? What's the point of this? When you know the point of the author provoking an audience response, then you're on your way to discuss how the text creates meaning.

Hopefully this all makes some amount of sense, if it doesn't I'd be happy to give more specific feedback if you have an essay question / response (just pm me or post something here).

Thank you, this cleared up a lot of my confusion. I appreciate it. .

 

[melanie_o]

This post regards Modern History.
Does anyone know/have advice in regards to how I can elevate my essay writing to a band 6 level. It would be a shame if I didn't achieve this, since the topics look more interesting compared to prelim!

What are some things I can do between now and the HSC Exam and Internal assessments to really stand out and achieve well?

Additionally, should I research further than what information is supplied in class, or should I trust my teacher to really prepare for all the possible content that could be assessed.

Finally, has anyone who has used Atomi for Modern found it beneficial, or would you say that it does not go into enough depth?

 

[Solarised]

This post regards Modern History.
Does anyone know/have advice in regards to how I can elevate my essay writing to a band 6 level. It would be a shame if I didn't achieve this, since the topics look more interesting compared to prelim!

What are some things I can do between now and the HSC Exam and Internal assessments to really stand out and achieve well?

Additionally, should I research further than what information is supplied in class, or should I trust my teacher to really prepare for all the possible content that could be assessed.

Finally, has anyone who has used Atomi for Modern found it beneficial, or would you say that it does not go into enough depth?

Since I got full marks on my modern history essays for both my prelim and my trials for HSC, I think that the main thing is to always link back to what your talking about. Modern Hisotry does not require much analytical description as people say rather its conveying your viewpoint on a certain topic or subject. For example on how Stalin was more successful than Trotsky when taking over Bolshevik power most would take about the facts and strategies that Stalin used. Rather to stand out and be unique, talk about Stalins' intelligence and deception which is left out a lot. Also bring in Trotsky's ego and gullibility (idk if a word). This helped me achieve a rather outstanding result in Modern History for my prelims and trials. gl on your hsc

Atomi is mediocre for modern

Self study and read textbooks, also actually look into fun facts on your topics which you can integrate into your essay, showcasing background knowledge to get those extra marks.

 

[melanie_o]

Since I got full marks on my modern history essays for both my prelim and my trials for HSC, I think that the main thing is to always link back to what your talking about. Modern Hisotry does not require much analytical description as people say rather its conveying your viewpoint on a certain topic or subject. For example on how Stalin was more successful than Trotsky when taking over Bolshevik power most would take about the facts and strategies that Stalin used. Rather to stand out and be unique, talk about Stalins' intelligence and deception which is left out a lot. Also bring in Trotsky's ego and gullibility (idk if a word). This helped me achieve a rather outstanding result in Modern History for my prelims and trials. gl on your hsc

Atomi is mediocre for modern

Self study and read textbooks, also actually look into fun facts on your topics which you can integrate into your essay, showcasing background knowledge to get those extra marks.

Thank you! I am going to use your advice.

 

[Sylfiphy]

is brave new world a good related text for 1984???

 

[Average Boreduser]

 

[Average Boreduser]

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

youtube.com

 

[spiderfan44]

I recently got my English prelim back. The main piece of feedback was that I was explaining the impact/effect on the responder rather than actually explaining how the text creates meaning. Sorry if I'm stupid, but could someone please explain the difference between these two things and how I would actually go about talking about meaning.

Also, how tf do I actually write a band 6 level essay like oml I'm screwed for hsc if I don't get a band 6 (since English counts and my dream course requires 99.50 ATAR) so I no joke need to do well. As in I am starting to panick, as I genuinely need to get to this calibre of essay quality.

tutoring if you have money, asking teachers for as much feedback as you can if youre broke. tip from me; when you have to do the multimodal component, use as many images as you can, preferably of those 'deep' boomer memes. i think i did an image every 15 seconds. also annotate ur quote and throw it up for a bit, my teachers liked that.

 

[spiderfan44]

wait u do advanced oops lol

 

[melanie_o]

Does anyone know approximately what percent of the Maths Extension 1 exam covers preliminary content? Would it mostly be year 12 content, or could it even be possible for a large portion of the exam to be preliminary content? I am just concerned because I suck at perms + combs and I'm praying that there is not more than 6 marks on it next year.

 

[Average Boreduser]

Does anyone know approximately what percent of the Maths Extension 1 exam covers preliminary content? Would it mostly be year 12 content, or could it even be possible for a large portion of the exam to be preliminary content? I am just concerned because I suck at perms + combs and I'm praying that there is not more than 6 marks on it next year.

not usually that many, but if ur counting on the fact that u get everything else right, I can guarantee u that's not gonna end well for u.

 

[Cute-Duckie]

This post regards Modern History.
Does anyone know/have advice in regards to how I can elevate my essay writing to a band 6 level. It would be a shame if I didn't achieve this, since the topics look more interesting compared to prelim!

What are some things I can do between now and the HSC Exam and Internal assessments to really stand out and achieve well?

Additionally, should I research further than what information is supplied in class, or should I trust my teacher to really prepare for all the possible content that could be assessed.

Finally, has anyone who has used Atomi for Modern found it beneficial, or would you say that it does not go into enough depth?

Hey! I don't do Modern History, but I do Ancient as an accelerated course (fellow '25er here) and am sitting in a Band 6 range, so I thought I might weigh in as I've heard Modern and Ancient marked fairly similarly (at least in regards to the basics).

NB: This ended up being pretty long, so don't get overwhelmed by the amount of information! These are all things I have learnt throughout the past year and just dumped here, so it's okay if it doesn't all stick or make sense. Coming from getting 79% on my Year 11 prelims, to 96% on my HSC trials, I'll be the first to say that you learn a lot in a year, and so much growth in Modern is still super possible.

NB part 2: I ended up writing way too much, so this information is going to come in two parts due to the 10000 character limit haha.

--

PART 1: General exam / note taking tips

Generally I've found researching outside of what my teacher gives me in class to be really good to do. My best tip for making notes (without them being too time consuming) is to literally copy other's past HSC notes. I've actually found a lot of stuff on this site that's been really good. My process was essentially to search up "my topic HSC notes", download whatever free ones I could find, make a 'links list' (just on Google Docs) of all of those notes, and then go through them and copy whatever information is good onto my document. This really helped me to get good sources, and make sure I wasn't missing any crucial pieces of information or key events (in case my teacher was).

In regards for making said notes, history is one of the subjects I personally find it easiest to make notes for. Search up the syllabus, literally copy the syllabus dot points, and sort/create your notes under those. Depending on the topic you may only get short answer questions on a dot point, or you may be required to write a whole essay for a dot point, so spend your time and information wisely. (You can discover which topics have what styles of questions by looking through past HSC papers - you should get a feel for it pretty quickly).

I can't speak to using Atomi, but using random internet resources others have already spend hours and hours on (research papers, HSC notes, etc) has been an easy, cost-free way of making comprehensive notes for Ancient that has got me good results. Gathering so many notes fairly fast has meant that I can spend loads of time memorising and doing practise responses, which is a REALLY important step to achieving good marks (give any practise responses to your teacher to mark!! personalised feedback on your work makes it so much easier to improve).

I personally find it easiest to memorise using flashcards, but you should memorise however best works for you. With that being said, if you do want to use flashcards to memorise, I can highly recommend Outlearn as the best free resource I have come across (unlimited cards, unlimited folders, long term and short term memorisation modes all on their free version). You can access it in the app or on the web. However you memorise best, just make sure you dedicate some time to it - the exam is all about proving your knowledge, and to do that you need lots and lots of evidence.

Relating to when you should make notes, it's never too early to start. You can start making course notes now, before the academic year starts - in fact, I'd encourage it. Both Modern and Ancient are extremely content heavy courses (I noticed a huge shift between years 11 and 12 in terms of content covered), and you'll find yourself flying through material (for example, in Year 12 my class generally covered one syllabus dot point per lesson - which is slightly scary when there's one potential essay per syllabus dot point in the final exam). Having these notes already somewhat done, or at least already being familiar with the content, will mean that you absorb lots of extra information in class, and you have less last minute note taking right before the exam (I've been there, and trust me - when you can do practise responses instead of note taking with that time, you get a much better result).

Moving on from notes, while I haven't sit the actual HSC exam yet, here are a few random exam tips I have from trials and other internals. In terms of completing the history paper specifically, it can feel really daunting (three hours, four sections, obscene amounts of writing with no multiple choice, etc). Something that made this a bit easier for me was going in with a plan. You don't have to do the sections in order - instead, my teacher advised us to (this worked well for me) start with the sections we felt strongest in, and complete our exam in order of strongest to weakest sections. This means you can maximise marks in the sections you're confident in, and might even have a bit of extra time to mull over those tricky questions in the sections you're less prepared for. I ended up starting with personality study (section 3), then going to time period (the essay) (section 4), then to the core study (section 1), and finally onto the society study (section 2). If there's two sections you're tossing up between, you can also use your reading time to figure out which section has harder questions, and then do the section with harder questions last.

Also, in preparation for the exam, I would recommend not only writing regularly, but taping batteries onto your pen and then writing with those attached. If you haven't heard of this before it probably sounds a bit stupid, but essentially with 3-4 batteries taped around the end of your pen as you write, your pen is a lot heavier, making your hand much stronger (like lifting weird weights for your fingers or whatever). This is really good for preparing for the exam, as realistically you're not going to be able to write for three hours straight regularly to ensure your hand is strong enough for the exam. This also makes your hand feel like the flash when you finally take the batteries off, making you write way faster too.

Another random thing; make sure you eat well before the exam, and bring a clear water bottle in with you. Sitting in the one spot for three hours is (almost strangely) exhausting, and the last thing you want is to be hungry/thirsty as well as braindead in the last hour or so (that time often seems to drag). Bringing in a tissue is also often a good idea (make sure you lay it out on your desk in clear view before the exam starts), and bringing several pens not only saves you if one runs out, but also allows you to switch them out if your hands get clammy/sweaty while writing.

My last general exam tip is not essential, but can help maximise your marks (and puts the HSC markers in a good mood, which is always positive). This tip seems kind of random, but it's to UNDERLINE YOUR EVIDENCE! Whenever you put evidence in a short response, essay, whatever, just underline it. Doing this allows the HSC markers to really easily see just how much you've jammed into your answer, making it both easier for them to mark (hence putting them in a good mood), and making sure they don't miss any evidence while they quickly read through your answer. It highlights how much you know, essentially putting all your good work into a spotlight to go "look at me!! I'm a band 6 student!!" This can also be useful if your writing is slightly illegible at points, if you're unsure how much more you need to write for a response, the list goes on.

See next post for part 2.

 

[Cute-Duckie]

See next post for part 2.

--

PART 2: Writing essay responses

Now in regards to writing essay responses. That stupid 25 marker. Or in the case of the Modern History, those two stupid 25 markers (makes me quite grateful that I only have one of them in the Ancient paper).

The samples NESA gives are generally not that great (quoting several of my teachers here), so while they can be good to look at for an idea of structure, you shouldn't really use them as exemplars. I still think it's good to look at essays other people have done (NESA provided or not), however the best exemplar you can get is writing one of your own. I know this sounds a bit silly to say (like just write your own exemplar?? it's not that easy...), but by consistently submitting practise responses to your teacher for marking, you'll not only eventually get to a band 6 standard (assuming you take on board feedback received of course), but you'll also feel so much more confident in your ability to write a good essay, making you feel more relaxed in the exam, and ultimately write better.

A big thing about essays in history is that you will always have to make a judgement about something, and then prove it. The question will most commonly ask you to "assess", or say "how significant, or "how successful", or "why", or "which was", or "to what extent". The thing that connects all of those, is that YOU have to decide what viewpoint you want to take, and then prove it. Making this judgement is crucial to a good essay - otherwise, you're not answering the question. The trick with history essays in this regard, is that once you make this judgement, you need to call back to it constantly. Every piece of evidence, every argument, every topic sentence, EVERYTHING needs to back up your initial thesis. If your evidence doesn't link to your argument, then there's no point putting it in your essay - info-dumping will get you absolutely nowhere. So make sure your thesis answers the question, and that your entire essay proves the thesis. This succinctness and precision with which you are answering the question at every turn is key to achieve a band 6 essay.

In regards to your evidence - your essay needs to be littered with it. Go back to the basic PEEL structure you probably learnt in Year 4 or so - Point, Explain, Example, Link. Everything in your essay should fit into one of these four subdivisions. Every point you make needs to be backed up by evidence, and every piece of evidence you put out needs to be linked to your argument and ultimately your overall essay judgement/thesis. History essays should be dense - you don't have a lot of time to write them, so make every word count.

To achieve a band 6 essay, especially a high band 6 essay, you also need to use different types of evidence in your response. I'm not as sure of what some of these entail for modern history (I'm sure there are some crossovers and some differences), but for Ancient, these include things like inscriptions, ancient historians opinions/perspectives, monuments/architecture, tablets, writings, modern historical research, and scholarly opinions. These last two - the commentary and perspectives of expert scholars in the field, is an important type of evidence for a Band 6 essay that is often overlooked. Including it in your essay screams "I know what I'm talking about, I have done amazing research, I am a band 6 student". HSC markers LOVE when you include modern scholars opinions - usually done in the form of a name (of the scholar) and a quote (generally taken from a paper they have written). Get familiar with some of the prominent modern scholars in your areas of study, and learn some versatile quotes from them that you can incorporate into your essay. While these quotes shouldn't make up the entirety of your argument (you don't just want to copy someone's paper entirely), said quotes are super good for supporting and validating your arguments. To summarise: use modern scholars to give you an extra edge!!!

Now in regard to practising essays. I personally find essays a lot harder to practise than short responses, simply because of the time required to practise them (45 minutes can quickly turn into one hour, then two, and suddenly my entire day is gone because the idea of writing a whole essay is annoyingly overwhelming). Plus, due to all the dot points you have to cover which could be potential essay questions, it's basically impossible to write out a full essay on each of these anyway (or if you do, you'll fail all your other subjects because you'll have no extra time). Instead, I'd recommend doing a lot of essay plans. Set a 5 minute timer, choose a random question from a past paper, and write out a rough essay plan. I like to do these in the forms of mind maps or a list, where I make a quick overall judgement, write the headings of my arguments, and list my supporting evidence in dot points. This is also a great revision tool to see what dot points you need to memorise more content for, or spend more time on. Doing these plans helps you be more prepared for more topics, while not taking up all your time so you can balance out Modern History with your other subjects.

--

Well I didn't think I'd write quite that much, but here we are! I hope this was helpful, and if you have any questions just reply to this or shoot me a dm. Good luck with everything!

 

[melanie_o]

--

PART 2: Writing essay responses

Now in regards to writing essay responses. That stupid 25 marker. Or in the case of the Modern History, those two stupid 25 markers (makes me quite grateful that I only have one of them in the Ancient paper).

The samples NESA gives are generally not that great (quoting several of my teachers here), so while they can be good to look at for an idea of structure, you shouldn't really use them as exemplars. I still think it's good to look at essays other people have done (NESA provided or not), however the best exemplar you can get is writing one of your own. I know this sounds a bit silly to say (like just write your own exemplar?? it's not that easy...), but by consistently submitting practise responses to your teacher for marking, you'll not only eventually get to a band 6 standard (assuming you take on board feedback received of course), but you'll also feel so much more confident in your ability to write a good essay, making you feel more relaxed in the exam, and ultimately write better.

A big thing about essays in history is that you will always have to make a judgement about something, and then prove it. The question will most commonly ask you to "assess", or say "how significant, or "how successful", or "why", or "which was", or "to what extent". The thing that connects all of those, is that YOU have to decide what viewpoint you want to take, and then prove it. Making this judgement is crucial to a good essay - otherwise, you're not answering the question. The trick with history essays in this regard, is that once you make this judgement, you need to call back to it constantly. Every piece of evidence, every argument, every topic sentence, EVERYTHING needs to back up your initial thesis. If your evidence doesn't link to your argument, then there's no point putting it in your essay - info-dumping will get you absolutely nowhere. So make sure your thesis answers the question, and that your entire essay proves the thesis. This succinctness and precision with which you are answering the question at every turn is key to achieve a band 6 essay.

In regards to your evidence - your essay needs to be littered with it. Go back to the basic PEEL structure you probably learnt in Year 4 or so - Point, Explain, Example, Link. Everything in your essay should fit into one of these four subdivisions. Every point you make needs to be backed up by evidence, and every piece of evidence you put out needs to be linked to your argument and ultimately your overall essay judgement/thesis. History essays should be dense - you don't have a lot of time to write them, so make every word count.

To achieve a band 6 essay, especially a high band 6 essay, you also need to use different types of evidence in your response. I'm not as sure of what some of these entail for modern history (I'm sure there are some crossovers and some differences), but for Ancient, these include things like inscriptions, ancient historians opinions/perspectives, monuments/architecture, tablets, writings, modern historical research, and scholarly opinions. These last two - the commentary and perspectives of expert scholars in the field, is an important type of evidence for a Band 6 essay that is often overlooked. Including it in your essay screams "I know what I'm talking about, I have done amazing research, I am a band 6 student". HSC markers LOVE when you include modern scholars opinions - usually done in the form of a name (of the scholar) and a quote (generally taken from a paper they have written). Get familiar with some of the prominent modern scholars in your areas of study, and learn some versatile quotes from them that you can incorporate into your essay. While these quotes shouldn't make up the entirety of your argument (you don't just want to copy someone's paper entirely), said quotes are super good for supporting and validating your arguments. To summarise: use modern scholars to give you an extra edge!!!

Now in regard to practising essays. I personally find essays a lot harder to practise than short responses, simply because of the time required to practise them (45 minutes can quickly turn into one hour, then two, and suddenly my entire day is gone because the idea of writing a whole essay is annoyingly overwhelming). Plus, due to all the dot points you have to cover which could be potential essay questions, it's basically impossible to write out a full essay on each of these anyway (or if you do, you'll fail all your other subjects because you'll have no extra time). Instead, I'd recommend doing a lot of essay plans. Set a 5 minute timer, choose a random question from a past paper, and write out a rough essay plan. I like to do these in the forms of mind maps or a list, where I make a quick overall judgement, write the headings of my arguments, and list my supporting evidence in dot points. This is also a great revision tool to see what dot points you need to memorise more content for, or spend more time on. Doing these plans helps you be more prepared for more topics, while not taking up all your time so you can balance out Modern History with your other subjects.

--

Well I didn't think I'd write quite that much, but here we are! I hope this was helpful, and if you have any questions just reply to this or shoot me a dm. Good luck with everything!

Thank you for all of this. The attention to detail is much appreciated! Good luck on your Ancient exam. Sending positive aura to you .

 

[Cute-Duckie]

Thank you for all of this. The attention to detail is much appreciated! Good luck on your Ancient exam. Sending positive aura to you .

Thank you!! I'm glad it was helpful