Catching Up To The Private/Selective Schools? (1 Viewer)

[TeaTav]

Hi guys! This is a post i've wanted to get out for a while, but getting my account fully set-up took a while since the e-mail verification wasn't sending.
I'm in my third week of year 12, yet already feel behind all the top students in my learning. For context, my school is a Catholic school sitting just below the top 100 schools, where our highest ATAR can be as low as a 95 some years, but usually are around 98. I'm really aiming for an ATAR around 98.5, as it'll help me get scholarships to cover university. My subject list as of now is: English Adv, Math Ext1, SOR1, Physics, Business Studies and Chemistry. I'm looking for three main pieces of advice:
A. Should i drop Chem? I'm really struggling with it, and i dont enjoy the content. my prelim mark was like a 44%, class average was around 35% and no one at my school has achieved a Band 6 for chemistry in YEARS. The workload is also just crazy, I'd like that time for E1 and Adv Math.
B.What would you guys recommend to improve maths study, especially for re-learning prelim content? My prelim marks weren't amazing.
C. How does someone at a school like mine catch up to the pace of the Private/Selective schools for HSC content? are there any specific resources i can access?
Thank you all so so much!!

 

[ilovemitski]

A. absolutely drop chem!! my single best piece of advice is to drop subjects you're objectively bad at, especially if you don't enjoy them (also i'm a chem dropper too so you can join the club ) that time will absolutely save you in E1/other subjects where the scaling is acc good

B. the only way to improve in maths is to keep at it, just practice a little everyday (on top of your hw too). and i'm sure you'll bounce back after prelims, everyone usually does way better than they did in prelims, so believe in yourself you've got this

C. i'm not sure if resources are what you need, just ensure that you're improving with time and hitting your goals i'd say. although there will always be great gems a google search away - for SORI id read exemplar essays and steal their quotes

i'm sure you'll do so well, everyone believes in you

 

[killer queen]

A: if you're not enjoying it, then absolutely, drop it - chemistry honestly really requires effort, and if you don't see yourself being motivated for that, then it's not worth it. I'm sure you can do wonderfully in other subjects!

B: keep asking questions. if there's something you don't understand, ask here, ask your teacher, and keep asking until you get it. I annoyed my teacher so much until I figured stuff out. also, I don't know where you sitting in math, but if say you're at a low b5, then practice high b5 questions. it's much more important to know the basics than to attempt hard questions - for example, in ex1, even if you don't do any of Q14, you could still get 55/70, which is a solid E4. point being, always aim 5% higher than what you're currently getting, and primarily focus on questions barely above your level to build a strong foundation. (don't entirely discount hard ones, but don't get hung up on them.) I feel like there's always a misconception that doing hard qs constantly will get people places, but in my experience, since hard questions are so varied, unless you've seen that identical one before, it's not helping.

C: I don't know what you mean by "pace" - sometimes they learn faster, but it's fine if you guys are progressing slower, as long as you get through all of it by the end of the year. don't focus on competing with them and just keep chugging along by yourself!! THSC is great for math papers, and AceHSC also helps for notes.

hope this helps!

 

[tigerian]

Hi guys! This is a post i've wanted to get out for a while, but getting my account fully set-up took a while since the e-mail verification wasn't sending.
I'm in my third week of year 12, yet already feel behind all the top students in my learning. For context, my school is a Catholic school sitting just below the top 100 schools, where our highest ATAR can be as low as a 95 some years, but usually are around 98. I'm really aiming for an ATAR around 98.5, as it'll help me get scholarships to cover university. My subject list as of now is: English Adv, Math Ext1, SOR1, Physics, Business Studies and Chemistry. I'm looking for three main pieces of advice:
A. Should i drop Chem? I'm really struggling with it, and i dont enjoy the content. my prelim mark was like a 44%, class average was around 35% and no one at my school has achieved a Band 6 for chemistry in YEARS. The workload is also just crazy, I'd like that time for E1 and Adv Math.
B.What would you guys recommend to improve maths study, especially for re-learning prelim content? My prelim marks weren't amazing.
C. How does someone at a school like mine catch up to the pace of the Private/Selective schools for HSC content? are there any specific resources i can access?
Thank you all so so much!!

im an English / modern history teacher . I’m happy to try and d9 sonething to help for free if it helps . See your pm for suggestions

 

[tigerian]

A: if you're not enjoying it, then absolutely, drop it - chemistry honestly really requires effort, and if you don't see yourself being motivated for that, then it's not worth it. I'm sure you can do wonderfully in other subjects!

B: keep asking questions. if there's something you don't understand, ask here, ask your teacher, and keep asking until you get it. I annoyed my teacher so much until I figured stuff out. also, I don't know where you sitting in math, but if say you're at a low b5, then practice high b5 questions. it's much more important to know the basics than to attempt hard questions - for example, in ex1, even if you don't do any of Q14, you could still get 55/70, which is a solid E4. point being, always aim 5% higher than what you're currently getting, and primarily focus on questions barely above your level to build a strong foundation. (don't entirely discount hard ones, but don't get hung up on them.) I feel like there's always a misconception that doing hard qs constantly will get people places, but in my experience, since hard questions are so varied, unless you've seen that identical one before, it's not helping.

C: I don't know what you mean by "pace" - sometimes they learn faster, but it's fine if you guys are progressing slower, as long as you get through all of it by the end of the year. don't focus on competing with them and just keep chugging along by yourself!! THSC is great for math papers, and AceHSC also helps for notes.

hope this helps!

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[tigerian]

Hi guys! This is a post i've wanted to get out for a while, but getting my account fully set-up took a while since the e-mail verification wasn't sending.
I'm in my third week of year 12, yet already feel behind all the top students in my learning. For context, my school is a Catholic school sitting just below the top 100 schools, where our highest ATAR can be as low as a 95 some years, but usually are around 98. I'm really aiming for an ATAR around 98.5, as it'll help me get scholarships to cover university. My subject list as of now is: English Adv, Math Ext1, SOR1, Physics, Business Studies and Chemistry. I'm looking for three main pieces of advice:
A. Should i drop Chem? I'm really struggling with it, and i dont enjoy the content. my prelim mark was like a 44%, class average was around 35% and no one at my school has achieved a Band 6 for chemistry in YEARS. The workload is also just crazy, I'd like that time for E1 and Adv Math.
B.What would you guys recommend to improve maths study, especially for re-learning prelim content? My prelim marks weren't amazing.
C. How does someone at a school like mine catch up to the pace of the Private/Selective schools for HSC content? are there any specific resources i can access?
Thank you all so so much!!

Hav3 sent another message