I'm going into preliminary year and HSC (12) for some subjects and terrified. HELP (1 Viewer)

[9995jhp]

2022, I'm going into prelim with subjects
-biology
-chemistry
-english advanced
-english ext 1
-music 1
These subjects are accelerated and taking the HSC (2022) for
-Maths advanced
-Maths ext1
-SOR (Studies of Religion1)

I haven't really consulted an expert for my subject choices just fully on my self-interest, but after hearing some people say a smart plan matters, I'm concerned that some are badly scaled (Bio, music 1, SOR etc). RIght now I'm aiming high for a 99.90+ ATAR but feel completely lost as to what my next steps should be.

If any of you guys have any study, subject-specific or general-productive-hsc-year tips, I'd more than appreciate it.
1. What apps, websites, extensions do you use for all yearly content summary (like in Bored of Studies resources, ppl seem to have a special forum that enables tables, icons, diagrams, themes, etc and it just doesn't look like a word doc converted to PDF)
2. I've previously used hand-written notes for most of my studies... THOUGHTS? (is it better to use laptops for class notes? I've got just a regular hp windows laptop btw not a mac)
3. I don't have a tutor right now, and I'm hoping to continue this but since I need such a high ATAR I'm concerned when I hear all the comeptitive Syd selective school kids start getting private lessons for all the subjects (and apparently according to some academies I need one regardless at this stage?)
4. Is getting all the contents done by yourself before going back to school (e.g. in the holidays) necessary? I am doing that for maths but not at all for my other subjects.

I'm hoping to get into medicine btw so if there are extra life-saving tips from experienced acheivers out there (like how you studied or how you got into medicine where), yes please.

 

[FesuY]

ever since the syllabus change in 2019 for the sciences, bio now scales really well. Not as well as chem and physics but its still good scaling

 

[9995jhp]

ever since the syllabus change in 2019 for the sciences, bio now scales really well. Not as well as chem and physics but its still good scaling

Oh really? I didn't know that! How is it compared to advanced English? (Also is there a specific site that displays how well all the subjects scale in comparison, bcs everyone seems to know about new scales so well).

 

[FesuY]

Oh really? I didn't know that! How is it compared to advanced English? (Also is there a specific site that displays how well all the subjects scale in comparison, bcs everyone seems to know about new scales so well).

yeah this webiste does https://www.talent-100.com.au/atar-calculator/#welcome

 

[username_2]

2022, I'm going into prelim with subjects
-biology
-chemistry
-english advanced
-english ext 1
-music 1
These subjects are accelerated and taking the HSC (2022) for
-Maths advanced
-Maths ext1
-SOR (Studies of Religion1)

I haven't really consulted an expert for my subject choices just fully on my self-interest, but after hearing some people say a smart plan matters, I'm concerned that some are badly scaled (Bio, music 1, SOR etc). RIght now I'm aiming high for a 99.90+ ATAR but feel completely lost as to what my next steps should be.

If any of you guys have any study, subject-specific or general-productive-hsc-year tips, I'd more than appreciate it.
1. What apps, websites, extensions do you use for all yearly content summary (like in Bored of Studies resources, ppl seem to have a special forum that enables tables, icons, diagrams, themes, etc and it just doesn't look like a word doc converted to PDF)
2. I've previously used hand-written notes for most of my studies... THOUGHTS? (is it better to use laptops for class notes? I've got just a regular hp windows laptop btw not a mac)
3. I don't have a tutor right now, and I'm hoping to continue this but since I need such a high ATAR I'm concerned when I hear all the comeptitive Syd selective school kids start getting private lessons for all the subjects (and apparently according to some academies I need one regardless at this stage?)
4. Is getting all the contents done by yourself before going back to school (e.g. in the holidays) necessary? I am doing that for maths but not at all for my other subjects.

I'm hoping to get into medicine btw so if there are extra life-saving tips from experienced acheivers out there (like how you studied or how you got into medicine where), yes please.

Hey, so I understand that you need a 99.90 and I didn't come close to it so i dont know if my perspective will help but I wanna give some thoughts. Some important things to remember is that it is not necessary to have as many units under your belt as possible - the goal is to do as well as you can in the limited units that you have. It is also worth remembering that only five (or six kinda forgot) subjects worth would actually count to the HSC. From what I can see, if you donot enjoy english or dont care much about it, I definitely suggest you drop extension. Having too much on your plate is a very big liability and I think this is true in this situation (for most people but you are the only one to decide in this situation). Doing 2 science subjects may be ok, but you have to keep in mind the workload would still be immense, especially when the depth studies start coming in. You already have 12+ units so I think this is a very important thing to keep in mind.

Now in terms of medicine, I haven't attempted for it but I have done some ucat sample tests and I feel like having a tutoring for that might be worth it (this you would have to get it from others). But really though it is upto you again.

1) thsc, textbooks, Past HSC papers on the NSW site - the three best resources (some secondary ones like atar notes question books might be wort but not immediately). It depends on how far you get into the year and how confident you are with the concepts
2) Written notes are fine - just make sure writing speed and legibility are consistent and good. Takes some time and some other way might work but hand written notes are always great for me atleast.
3) For the HSC subjects, no need to have tutors i think but UCAT maybe worth it
4) For maths, this is very useful but is slightly difficult and maybe redundant - especially for english and music. But it is definitely worth looking at the course guides for bio, chem and sor to get an idea of the syllabus, familiarising yourself with some topics etc.

Wishing you the best and hope this has helped.

 

[Greninja340]

2022, I'm going into prelim with subjects
-biology
-chemistry
-english advanced
-english ext 1
-music 1
These subjects are accelerated and taking the HSC (2022) for
-Maths advanced
-Maths ext1
-SOR (Studies of Religion1)

I haven't really consulted an expert for my subject choices just fully on my self-interest, but after hearing some people say a smart plan matters, I'm concerned that some are badly scaled (Bio, music 1, SOR etc). RIght now I'm aiming high for a 99.90+ ATAR but feel completely lost as to what my next steps should be.

If any of you guys have any study, subject-specific or general-productive-hsc-year tips, I'd more than appreciate it.
1. What apps, websites, extensions do you use for all yearly content summary (like in Bored of Studies resources, ppl seem to have a special forum that enables tables, icons, diagrams, themes, etc and it just doesn't look like a word doc converted to PDF)
2. I've previously used hand-written notes for most of my studies... THOUGHTS? (is it better to use laptops for class notes? I've got just a regular hp windows laptop btw not a mac)
3. I don't have a tutor right now, and I'm hoping to continue this but since I need such a high ATAR I'm concerned when I hear all the comeptitive Syd selective school kids start getting private lessons for all the subjects (and apparently according to some academies I need one regardless at this stage?)
4. Is getting all the contents done by yourself before going back to school (e.g. in the holidays) necessary? I am doing that for maths but not at all for my other subjects.

I'm hoping to get into medicine btw so if there are extra life-saving tips from experienced acheivers out there (like how you studied or how you got into medicine where), yes please.

for medicine UCAT is also pretty important so i would also keep that in mind when studying for more info on medicine go to med students online

 

[9995jhp]

Hey, so I understand that you need a 99.90 and I didn't come close to it so i dont know if my perspective will help but I wanna give some thoughts. Some important things to remember is that it is not necessary to have as many units under your belt as possible - the goal is to do as well as you can in the limited units that you have. It is also worth remembering that only five (or six kinda forgot) subjects worth would actually count to the HSC. From what I can see, if you donot enjoy english or dont care much about it, I definitely suggest you drop extension. Having too much on your plate is a very big liability and I think this is true in this situation (for most people but you are the only one to decide in this situation). Doing 2 science subjects may be ok, but you have to keep in mind the workload would still be immense, especially when the depth studies start coming in. You already have 12+ units so I think this is a very important thing to keep in mind.

Now in terms of medicine, I haven't attempted for it but I have done some ucat sample tests and I feel like having a tutoring for that might be worth it (this you would have to get it from others). But really though it is upto you again.

1) thsc, textbooks, Past HSC papers on the NSW site - the three best resources (some secondary ones like atar notes question books might be wort but not immediately). It depends on how far you get into the year and how confident you are with the concepts
2) Written notes are fine - just make sure writing speed and legibility are consistent and good. Takes some time and some other way might work but hand written notes are always great for me atleast.
3) For the HSC subjects, no need to have tutors i think but UCAT maybe worth it
4) For maths, this is very useful but is slightly difficult and maybe redundant - especially for english and music. But it is definitely worth looking at the course guides for bio, chem and sor to get an idea of the syllabus, familiarising yourself with some topics etc.

Wishing you the best and hope this has helped.

Thank you so much for the detailed and thoughtful response! It cleared things for me.
For now I think my school is making students do 6-7 subjects so they have the opportunity to adjust and drop etc in year 12. I totally agree with your point with some hefty workload ahead with my chosen subjects, and for english Ext, I am kinda trying it out in year 11 hoping it could be more practice/experience even if I just end up doing advanced.
Dropping subjects don't affect the final ATAR right..?

 

[9995jhp]

for medicine UCAT is also pretty important so i would also keep that in mind when studying for more info on medicine go to med students online

I've recently enrolled into Medify because it seems like the most classic/popular option for most medicine-preparing students(?). But yeah, thank you sm for the forum recommendation as well it looks like a life saver!

 

[Jojofelyx]

ever since the syllabus change in 2019 for the sciences, bio now scales really well. Not as well as chem and physics but its still good scaling

chem scaling 2021 cracked