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- Follow the syllabus- You will always be examined on what’s in the syllabus, so familiarise yourself with this to ensure that you are fully prepared.
- Make the most of your resources- Your teachers are there to help and assist you… make them and your tutors your best friends as these people know all the in and outs of the syllabus and will have a good idea of what to expect in exams. A good strategy is to practice writing essays and answering questions, show them to your teacher/tutor and obtain feedback so you know what areas to improve on. The internet and Library is also great for getting information and researching different topics. Make sure you use these resources on top of reading your text as this will increase your knowledge and understanding of each topic and will allow you to enter your exam in confidence
- Create a study environment- it is impossible to concentrate and study when you have kids yelling, tv/ music blasting, flickering lights and a messy room. SORT YOURSELF OUT! Make sure you create a good environment to study in with limited distractions. Have good lighting- possibly a tube light, fresh air (oxygen for the brain) and have all your notes and texts filed neatly so it’s easily accessible and doesn’t get lost. One more thing… Don’t study lying down or in your bed! Get yourself out and sitting on a chair and using a desk because that soft pillow will only put you to sleep and you’ll find yourself on that same page for the next few hours
- Discover your learning style-Find the best method of learning that suits you- you may be a visual learner, auditory learner or kinaesthetic learner) these may involve writing notes, doing practice questions, reading your textbook, mind maps, recording your notes and listening to it, colour coding etc. Once you know you learning style use it as you’ll be saving yourself lots of time.
- Practice Practice Practice!- Do as many questions as possible- show them to your teacher/tutor and get them to mark it so you know what areas to improve on. This will not only get you familiar with exam papers and content but will also improve your writing skills. Make the mistakes in your practice paper so that you don’t repeat them in your exam! Practice under exam conditions- get the timer on and hide away all your notes and start your practice exam. This will train you to answer questions under a time limit and without any help so that you have a fair idea of how you will fair in your exam.
- Use memory tools for complex lists- Remembering a whole list of words can be hard. A good way of breaking things down is by using tools such as:
•Acrostics (eg - Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit)
• Acronyms (eg - ROYGBIV (colours of rainbow)
• Tree Diagrams
• Visual Associations and Humour
• First Letters of List of Points- This is useful as it jogs the memory and keeps things flowing.
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- You have to have a passion with your subject to excel in that field in the future
HSC Science tips
Knowing the syllabus is critical. Often HSC science exam questions are simply syllabus dot points re-worded! Write your own study notes. Use the syllabus to guide you through what to study and what not to worry about
Practice, practice, practice. But be wary – some textbook questions extend way beyond the syllabus requirements so are useless Be ready to link syllabus points together – HSC science exams are now leaning towards asking questions that link different ideas from different modules. So do not separate modules in your head; understand that everything is part of a bigger picture.
Know your pracs by thoroughly studying the right-hand column of your syllabi! Students often forget to revise their pracs, focusing more on theory and content. But many of the questions in the HSC are actually based on first and second hand investigations
Revise your science basic skills like report writing, drawing and interpreting graphs and general comprehension skills. Almost every single science exam you ever do will assume your knowledge of such skills.
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