How much study should I (realistically) do while overseas? (1 Viewer)

[SuchSmallHands]

I'm going on an eight week exchange to France over the summer holidays and end of this term (leave next Friday). I'll be at school for all but a week and a half of this time, and have commitments with my host family. I also want to experience the culture and have fun while I'm over there. I was thinking that if I tried to do an hour a night most nights that would be sufficient, I'll have about a week when I get back to catch up before school resumes if I haven't quite done enough. Will this be anywhere near the amount of work that the average person who gets an ATAR above 98 does in the summer holidays? Bearing in mind that I'll be 'studying' for 3U French more or less constantly? Thanks

 

[anomalousdecay]

If you're aiming for a 98, you should take of the Christmas weeks (3 weeks), then do around 20 hours a week after that.

Alternatively, you could just take one week off completely and do around 10 hours a week after that.

The week that you have to catch-up, will most likely have to be a week off for rest, due to travel.

I did the first option and I'm more of a low 90's student.

Hope this helps.

 

[strawberrye]

I guess it really depends on when your next assessments are for your second term(i.e. next year) are your assessments at the start or are they spread throughout the term... although a lot of people could argue that there is a correlation between the efficiency of your study time and your ATAR rather than the amount of study you do, there are a lot of variables that could influence a correct estimation of the study time you need-i.e. whether you plan to revise or study ahead during the six weeks, how far ahead, if you are already ahead, are you for each of your subjects, what is your attention span, what kind of a learner are you?, I think the realistic amount of time to study is best answered by thinking about the various variables and deducing an answer yourself...

Much as it would be a lovely experience on exchange and no doubt sharpen your French skills on a daily basis, but you need to bear in mind that you also need to practice writing component as well, which will take extra study time, and French overall forms only less than 1/3 of your total units counted for the HSC, so I doubt one hour per day is going to cut it, if you don't have time, it would be better to find at least 2-3 days free in each week devoted mainly for studying and you may choose to have fun in the evening-rather than doing 1 hour each night... after all, this is your HSC year and everyone will have the same amount of time-and you need to use yours as efficiently as possible, have some fun, but remember, the notion of 'holidays' does not exactly exist for HSC year-it signifies self-discipline rather than relaxation

Do as much study as you can while meeting all your other commitments and desires-I suggest you make a very detailed timetable and stick to it-it also depends on how determined you are to get that 98 if it could potentially mean you might have to sacrifice some of your 'exploring' time to study-but do what works for you-and I wish you a wonderful trip (and don't forget to study hard) best wishes

 

[nerdasdasd]

You need to get that 99.95 ATAR so study all day everyday (except for the weekends ).

Play later, achieve goals first.

 

[anomalousdecay]

You need to get that 99.95 ATAR so study all day everyday (except for the weekends ).

Play later, achieve goals first.

I substituted the weekdays with weekends, because school was just so tiring.
But then again, I had soccer for half the HSC year on weekends so I had to catch up a lot more during that period.

 

[rumbleroar]

I'm going on an eight week exchange to France over the summer holidays and end of this term (leave next Friday). I'll be at school for all but a week and a half of this time, and have commitments with my host family. I also want to experience the culture and have fun while I'm over there. I was thinking that if I tried to do an hour a night most nights that would be sufficient, I'll have about a week when I get back to catch up before school resumes if I haven't quite done enough. Will this be anywhere near the amount of work that the average person who gets an ATAR above 98 does in the summer holidays? Bearing in mind that I'll be 'studying' for 3U French more or less constantly? Thanks

Have fun on exchange!!! It seems like such a great opportunity France is a lovely country!

An hour a night seems pretty ok - depends on how much work you need to do and how much you can efficiently get through. When its summer break, use that time to catch up on everything else and possibly study ahead. One hour a night seems sufficient.

TBH, the number of hours don't necessarily guarantee you a higher ATAR. It's the quality of those hours that will count. So every hour you study, make that hour extremely productive. I think 1-2 hours for 98 is the minimum, at least. Not sure. I've heard from a few people who've done 6+ hours a day for high 99s, so again, its dependent on how much you get through.

Are you going to be going to a French school as well? Because you can probably slot that into 'French' study. But remember to enjoy yourself!!!

edit note: just realise that you might not get that much done, because you will be quite tired from experiencing the culture and stuff! I know jet lag destroyed my body when I was overseas (weakling lol) but if you can get over that 'hump' you can probably incorporate the required study

 

[SuchSmallHands]

Thanks everyone for your help. While I agree it would be beneficial to be doing 20 hours a week of study while I'm there, I will be going to school there, I have a host family that will want to do things with me and I do actually want to primarily learn French so taking huge sections of my exchange to write notes in English seems like it would interfere with that. As I will be at school, I'll be practicing all elements of French, not just speaking/listening and I won't have the opportunity to do when I get back. I'm not sure if some of the above commenters thought that I intended to do 1-2 hours a day throughout the year, it is just the summer holidays (I know, not really a 'holiday' if you want 98+). Would 2 hours cut it? How much do people who score in the 98s and 99s usually do over that six weeks (I actually have no idea whatsoever)?

 

[tutorhunt]

Depends, if you use this time to really rejuvanate and you totally go hard out throughout the next 3 terms, you should be able to pick up 98.

 

[rumbleroar]

Thanks everyone for your help. While I agree it would be beneficial to be doing 20 hours a week of study while I'm there, I will be going to school there, I have a host family that will want to do things with me and I do actually want to primarily learn French so taking huge sections of my exchange to write notes in English seems like it would interfere with that. As I will be at school, I'll be practicing all elements of French, not just speaking/listening and I won't have the opportunity to do when I get back. I'm not sure if some of the above commenters thought that I intended to do 1-2 hours a day throughout the year, it is just the summer holidays (I know, not really a 'holiday' if you want 98+). Would 2 hours cut it? How much do people who score in the 98s and 99s usually do over that six weeks (I actually have no idea whatsoever)?

IDK I've heard different things. I've heard people doing 13h/day in summer holidays, ending up with 99.90 and people doing 6h/day ending up with 99.90...soooooo...its all arbitary

 

[laura-jayne14]

1-2 per day. Most importantly, enjoy your holiday!

 

[BLIT2014]

1-2 hours should be fine

 

[LoveHateSchool]

You need to get that 99.95 ATAR so study all day everyday (except for the weekends ).

Play later, achieve goals first.

Not necessarily.

I know a lot of bright kids through NYSF, who got 99.5+ ATARs whilst going overseas. In fact, a few years back one of the guys went overseas to Germany around July-Aug time to RSI which was a six week trip and came back and got a 99.95. And his case wasn't isolated as well.

See this exchange is a once in a lifetime opportunity, it'll stay with your way past your HSC results ever will imho. It's actually also helping you with 3 of your units for HSC It's a pretty intense study for 3 of your units so it's like you're even doing a totally unrelated trip!

It depends how hard you are willing to work when you get back, but honestly, doing light/minimal work whilst overseas is fine provided you are working hard before and after. A 98+ ATAR is achievable as long as your study is quality (it's not about the sheer hours of quantity). And the subject I'd probs do a bit off overseas is just writing a bit of your EE2. People normally have some down time in the summer holidays (normally people declare a week or two of rest around Chrissie or NYE) , because you save your best energies for trial/HSC time.

 

[anomalousdecay]

1-2 hours should be fine. I was just a slow at making notes, taking forever to make them.

You must take a break and give yourself a rest though. After all, preliminary was an intense year as well.

 

[raggiedoll]

You need to take into account the sheer fatigue that comes with language immersion. Don't feel too bad if you don't consistently reach 1-2 hours of study a day. From my exchange experience, French school is EXHAUSTING - went from bloody 8:10am to 5:20pm all day erry day except for those glorious Wednesday afternoons off and weekends of course. Expect to get more done on Wednesday afternoons (or whenever your school schedule has free time), weekends and during the Christmas holiday break. Summer holiday in Australia vs summer holiday in language immersion = completely incomparable experiences. But French exchange is an educational experience you're very lucky to get - don't worry if you don't end up studying as much as the 99+ aimers because you have a lot of potential to meet your goal anyway.