How To Prepare For The Year 12 HSC Trial Examinations

How can I prepare for the Trial HSC Exams? This is one of the most common questions we receive at Talent this time of year.

Here are a few tips from our high-achieving Mentors and past students about what helped them prepare for the Trial HSC Examinations:

Plan your study schedule ahead of time

Before cramming in the months leading up the Trials, it’s important to be realistic about your study routine, and how you will use the time afforded in the July School Holidays and beyond. Creating a study plan and setting particular goals for each subject will not only make you feel better about adding some structure to your study, but it will help you realistically allocate time for each subject.

Refer to the syllabus

The syllabus for each subject should act as your guideline; make sure to cross-reference the syllabus when studying for every part of your study schedule during the

One of the biggest tips our highest achieving students can give you is to work with the syllabus for each subject. This will provide you with all the dot points and areas of investigation you need to be aware of before sitting the HSC Trials and then the HSC exams in a few months.

 

Start with the hardest subjects (Use practice papers – free resources tab on website)

The best strategy we can recommend when studying so close to Trials and the HSC is to prioritise your study from the subjects you need help with the most, to those which you have mastered. It’s good to revise on topics you know extremely well, but don’t waste time on subjects that you know inside out.

Create realistic goals for your subjects

By using your past assessments as a guide, it’s important to set goals for each of your subjects (and if possible, how you can improve on each of these areas in the lead up to the Trials and HSC Examinations) This might feel a little confronting, but it’s a great way to set out your subjects so you can allocate the right time to those which you’re experiencing some difficulties in.

Break it down into three separate parts: Your current mark, your Trial HSC mark, and possible HSC result. You can also use our free ATAR Calculator to best help to predict your ATAR by choosing your current assessment marks and subjects, to give you a better idea of where you’re standing when it comes to the HSC.

RELATED: July 2020 HSC Trial Preparation Courses

Use practice papers – free resources tab on website 

One of the most frequent tips we constantly see from students is to allocate a huge chunk of your time to completing practice papers. Looking over your own notes is great, but putting everything you learn into action is an even better way to test your skills.

Plus, you will get used to answering questions in exam formats and sculpting your answers to the HSC-style which will be a great pay-off when it comes to Trials. If you can’t gain access to any past papers from your school, we have collected a bunch of free resources which is very helpful for all HSC students. Click here to browse our free resources tab and start downloading your practice papers today.

Join Facebook communities for the HSC

There are so many different Facebook communities available for Year 12 students to ask questions, be more interactive, find fellow students who are sitting the same subject, and ask Q&A’s for any tricky parts of the syllabus that they come across.

At Talent 100, we invite you to join our Facebook groups where you can also access free mock exams (with answers) to kick-off your study for HSC Trials:

HSC 3/4 Unit Mathematics Group, HSC Chemistry Group, HSC Physics Group, UCAT Australia Group (If you’re studying for the UCAT examination this year (for entry into tertiary Dentistry or Medicine)

Take a course in the holidays before school starts

If you feel like you need to revise ahead of your final term of school, we highly recommend our HSC Trial Preparation courses running the in the July School Holidays.

They are an excellent way to revise all of the important content before school starts up again, and you will also be practising for the Trial exams and going over tricky questions and topics. Our courses are offered as online courses (live and interaction using Zoom) and in-centre at our Chatswood Learning Centre (easily accessible by train and metro services). Subjects include: Advanced English, Advanced Mathematics, Mathematics Extension 1 (3 Unit), Mathematics Extension 2 (4 Unit), Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Economics for Year 12, 2020.

Click here to find out more about our courses, and make your talent count this year.