what to do before starting year 12? (1 Viewer)

[weekend]

hey guys

So the thing is I didn't do so well in prelims for maths ext 1+adv and chem, and I'm wondering if I should just study ahead for the year 12 course content or take time to thoroughly revise my year 11 stuff? I haven't got much time until year 12 and I'm stressing out not knowing what I should do. Would it be a waste of time to go over the year 11 course? Should I just rather just get a head start in the year 12 course?

Also just wondering if anyone has any tips for studying adv eng, chem, bio, pd and maths? Like how to learn each topic and what I should do to really understand and prepare for exams throughout the term? Oh and any tips on balancing everything throughout the year is appreciated

+ any tips or insights into UCAT prep would also be appreciated!! especially balancing HSC work with UCAT prep :/

 

[addictedtobubbletea]

oh my god you dont realise how important year 11 content is until you have to cram it all for trials lol. especially for maths, where prelim content is actually assessable, while chem prelim content is more like assumed knowledge (but also important foundation for y12). unless you're not confident that you'll be able to keep up with year 12 content, i would say revise year 11 over getting a head start in year 12, you dont want to be revisiting yr11 work a year later after its properly gone from your brain, and trying to figure it out then. and take a fat break before year 12 grind starts!

 

[jimmysmith560]

For English Advanced, I believe what you could do is a combination of revision of year 11 content as well as some sort of preparation for year 12 (which you can also call a headstart if you wish). A good way to start preparing would be to access the HSC English Advanced syllabus document and familiarise yourself with the main themes, ideas and/or issues raised within each module. Once you feel you have become confident in that regard, you can try to familiarise yourself with your prescribed texts if you happen to know what they are, resulting in easier and less demanding analysis of those texts as you would've gained an idea of what each of your prescribed texts covers (in terms of themes/ideas/issues raised by the respective module) in advance. Consequently, you will be able to manipulate them more effectively, particularly when writing your essays.

In terms of revising year 11 content, the main way you can do so is by going through a list of techniques that you have covered throughout year 11 and all the way until where you currently are. This would be a good way of revising those techniques (which you will likely need to utilise frequently going forward, whether in analysis or essay writing), including elements such as what the technique is, how it can be used in a sentence and/or within a text as well as the general effect if presents when used in a particular quote/text.

For Mathematics Advanced and Mathematics Extension 1, and as mentioned above, it would be a good idea to go through the content you have covered throughout year 11 and ensuring that your confidence in those topics is high. This can be done by regularly completing questions as well as textbook questions (if applicable) as this is a good way of improving your understanding of the content, which you can then consolidate by ensuring you are able to apply this knowledge to practice questions, including those from past exam papers. That way, you will be ready to start the Mathematics Advanced and Mathematics Extension 1 HSC courses.

I hope this helps!

 

[weekend]

thank you both so much for the advice!!
about revising prelim content.. do u think cramming all the year 11 content for maths in like 30 days is a dumb idea? also for chem would it be okay to just focus on the parts of prelim that are more relevant to modules 5 to 8 ??

also good luck for your exams addictedtobubbletea

 

[jimmysmith560]

thank you both so much for the advice!!
about revising prelim content.. do u think cramming all the year 11 content for maths in like 30 days is a dumb idea? also for chem would it be okay to just focus on the parts of prelim that are more relevant to modules 5 to 8 ??

also good luck for your exams addictedtobubbletea

No worries! I don't think this would be a "dumb" idea, but you must prioritise your understanding of the content because there is no point in trying to learn a significant amount of content in a short period of time just to be able to complete it, particularly if you find that at some point, you haven't improved as much as you were hoping you would've. With that being said, I believe 30 days should be enough time, particularly because this won't be the first time that you're actually studying Preliminary Mathematics Advanced and Mathematics Extension 1 content. It will be more of a revision, with improvement as your main goal. This should be achievable as long as you are able to be organised and manage your time effectively to accomodate for each individual topic

 

[ExtremelyBoredUser]

thank you both so much for the advice!!
about revising prelim content.. do u think cramming all the year 11 content for maths in like 30 days is a dumb idea? also for chem would it be okay to just focus on the parts of prelim that are more relevant to modules 5 to 8 ??

also good luck for your exams addictedtobubbletea

If I was in your position, I would try doing both simultaneously, if you get stuck with a Yr 12 topic then it would give you a good indicator on what content you would need to revise for. I would focus on getting comfortable/good with combinatorics a lot since that comes back in HSC and trials.

 

[weekend]

If I was in your position, I would try doing both simultaneously, if you get stuck with a Yr 12 topic then it would give you a good indicator on what content you would need to revise for. I would focus on getting comfortable/good with combinatorics a lot since that comes back in HSC and trials.

omg bro thanks so much I didn't realise how important combinatorics would be for trials and HSC!!

 

[ExtremelyBoredUser]

ya it sucks that combinatorics is in hsc because thats a gamble but it is what it is, you just have to cover every question possible to hope for the ebst.

 

[weekend]

You wouldn’t be cramming, it as you’ve already done a whole course on it. It would more revision and much easier to do than learning it completely new

tbh i actually think i missed out on quite a lot of important topics but i guess it's still not completely new!!

 

[weekend]

ya it sucks that combinatorics is in hsc because thats a gamble but it is what it is, you just have to cover every question possible to hope for the ebst.

yea just have to grind a heck ton of questions and hope for the best i guess

 

[weekend]

No worries! I don't think this would be a "dumb" idea, but you must prioritise your understanding of the content because there is no point in trying to learn a significant amount of content in a short period of time just to be able to complete it, particularly if you find that at some point, you haven't improved as much as you were hoping you would've. With that being said, I believe 30 days should be enough time, particularly because this won't be the first time that you're actually studying Preliminary Mathematics Advanced and Mathematics Extension 1 content. It will be more of a revision, with improvement as your main goal. This should be achievable as long as you are able to be organised and manage your time effectively to accomodate for each individual topic

thanks!! i guess i'll try to cover all the content and do some past papers after to review it all

 

[jimmysmith560]

thanks!! i guess i'll try to cover all the content and do some past papers after to review it all

Sounds great, best of luck!

 

[weekend]

Sounds great, best of luck!

thank you!!! really appreciate all the advice!!

 

[addictedtobubbletea]

thank you both so much for the advice!!
about revising prelim content.. do u think cramming all the year 11 content for maths in like 30 days is a dumb idea? also for chem would it be okay to just focus on the parts of prelim that are more relevant to modules 5 to 8 ??

also good luck for your exams addictedtobubbletea

thank you!

for chem i'm personally focusing on the parts of the prelim that are relevant to yr12, and identifying whats relevant with past papers. different people will have different takes on this though. but some concepts, say unstable isotopes for instance, are pretty much never going to appear in the hsc.

cramming year 11 content for maths in 30 days is pre normal imo, since its all revision. what i wouldnt advise doing though is waiting til then to properly understand some topics (since you said you didnt do so well in prelim maths), since you want to be revising and not learning if that makes sense

 

[weekend]

thank you!

for chem i'm personally focusing on the parts of the prelim that are relevant to yr12, and identifying whats relevant with past papers. different people will have different takes on this though. but some concepts, say unstable isotopes for instance, are pretty much never going to appear in the hsc.

cramming year 11 content for maths in 30 days is pre normal imo, since its all revision. what i wouldnt advise doing though is waiting til then to properly understand some topics (since you said you didnt do so well in prelim maths), since you want to be revising and not learning if that makes sense

omg thanks I was literally just writing down notes on isotopes and was wondering whether I also should revise unstable isotopes HAHA
also I’m really sorry, but could u please clarify what u mean by “waiting til then to properly understand some topics”??

 

[addictedtobubbletea]

omg thanks I was literally just writing down notes on isotopes and was wondering whether I also should revise unstable isotopes HAHA
also I’m really sorry, but could u please clarify what u mean by “waiting til then to properly understand some topics”??

hmm so it would be fine to revise year 11 content right before the trial, since you've already learnt and understood all the topics and it's just a matter of jogging your memory. but like i wouldn't put off the actual learning and understanding - so if you feel like you still cant grasp binomial for example, I would say study binomial in the hols and try to understand it in the hols, so you dont have to deal with it later

 

[weekend]

hmm so it would be fine to revise year 11 content right before the trial, since you've already learnt and understood all the topics and it's just a matter of jogging your memory. but like i wouldn't put off the actual learning and understanding - so if you feel like you still cant grasp binomial for example, I would say study binomial in the hols and try to understand it in the hols, so you dont have to deal with it later

oh yea I get what you mean... but uhhhm oh no cause I’m like actually starting to properly understand some of the topics as I go rn ive never been on top of my maths which I am really regretting rn and tbh really scared it’ll affect my hsc next year but i guess that’s all on my incompetence 🥲

also for trials do u mean my prelim exams ??

 

[addictedtobubbletea]

oh yea I get what you mean... but uhhhm oh no cause I’m like actually starting to properly understand some of the topics as I go rn ive never been on top of my maths which I am really regretting rn and tbh really scared it’ll affect my hsc next year but i guess that’s all on my incompetence 🥲

also for trials do u mean my prelim exams ??

honestly thats such a mood HAHAH thats literally me rn which is why im hoping people dont make the same mistakes i did but like fr its totally normal ! idk about you but the kids at my school could never finish the maths homework haha so dont worry too much about staying perfectly on top of things, as long as you dont let it build up into a huge backlog thats super hard to bounce back from

i meant trial (ie when year 11 content starts to count for year 12) but either way its probably not a great idea to cram right before any exam lolol

 

[addictedtobubbletea]

-and if you really really find it hard to keep up then maybe getting a head start might be beneficial

 

[weekend]

honestly thats such a mood HAHAH thats literally me rn which is why im hoping people dont make the same mistakes i did but like fr its totally normal ! idk about you but the kids at my school could never finish the maths homework haha so dont worry too much about staying perfectly on top of things, as long as you dont let it build up into a huge backlog thats super hard to bounce back from

i meant trial (ie when year 11 content starts to count for year 12) but either way its probably not a great idea to cram right before any exam lolol

okay i think it’s cause i’m just really dumb sorry.. but by trials u mean like the year 12 trials right ?? as in the test before the actual HSC exam ?? so u were saying it’s not ideal to be learning new prelim content the holidays before the actual HSC in yr 12?? or do u mean like it’s not ideal to be learning yr 11 content at the end of yr 11 before starting yr 12 ?? HAHHAHA omg sorry i am so confused rn

also obv idk u personally but hope u don’t stress too much and I hope u do well in the HSC this year !! best of luck