A Technique for Studying with HSC Past Papers
If you’re in year 12, you’re likely finishing up the last of your content in class and looking back at the whole syllabus not knowing where to start. Let us guide you though one way of using HSC past papers to help you revise.
A couple of weeks ago our team got together for our Winter Tutor Development Day. Amidst the sharing of lessons learned throughout Term 2, we turned our minds towards the HSC trying to prepare ourselves, and our students, for the crucial months ahead. We’d like to share with you one strategy that was discussed, which we’ve seen work very well for our students in the past.
Our Mistakes-First Approach
Most study strategies involve attempting as many practice problems as you can, and this one is no different. Begin by getting your hands on as many papers as possible (perhaps through THSC Online) and churning through question after question.
During this process, if there are any questions that you have no idea how to complete, go back to that topic in your textbook and ask your tutor for help relearning the concepts and building up your problem-solving intuition.
Then we get to the star of this strategy - the questions that you get wrong for small reasons. Maybe you forgot a trigonometric identity technique, the composition of a carbonate ion, or to include the normal force in your box diagram. These are the sorts of mistakes that you fully understand after thinking about it — with the answers and a textbook in hand — but that you still struggled to complete under the pressure of not using your notes and timed conditions. Once you’ve seen and understood your mistake hang on to these questions. Over time you’ll compile a collection of the hardest questions for you - not for anyone else.
Finally, the satisfying part: when your exams are closer, two weeks away perhaps, come back to the questions you’ve set aside. Reattempt all of these questions under exam conditions. This will make sure that every lesson learned in study has stuck — plus, there’s nothing more satisfying than seeing all these problems which once caused you trouble be now within your reach.
At the end of this process you will be feeling confident that you’ve prepared the best you can and are ready to face whatever the HSC has to offer.
Need more help? Studying is a skill and it’s hard to do on your own. It’s not too late to get a tutor’s help for just one session or regular lessons until your exam. Get in touch today!