How to get a 99.95 + State Rankings (2 Viewers)

[HSC2014]

Where would you even get all those past papers O_O

 

[Sy123]

Thats still 550 past papers though - I mean, thats like an average of more than 1 a day. Also, how would you be able to find that many past papers (maths possible, but the sciences and especially english). To be honest, I really dont know if this whole thread is serious.

Count the fact that all the science papers are just repeats, and that 70% of math trials are just utter lazy crap. But if this guy wants to do many papers, then let him do it I guess.
Its possible this is either fake, or this guy doesnt know how much he is going to do

 

[Fawun]

Where would you even get all those past papers O_O

You obviously haven't met Spiral.

 

[hayabusaboston]

Count the fact that all the science papers are just repeats, and that 70% of math trials are just utter lazy crap. But if this guy wants to do many papers, then let him do it I guess.
Its possible this is either fake, or this guy doesnt know how much he is going to do

I think its real, but for the 500 papers per subject part lol.

 

[chevlr]

There's little point intensively going through past papers more than three weeks out from the exams, because the primary reasons to do past papers are to work out what you don't know, and to get into the exam mindset just before exams. And you shouldn't do every single question in cambridge and terry lee, as you end up doing hundreds of questions on content that you can easily learn and understand (e.g. integration), so you end up wasting time. Instead, focus on textbook and past paper questions on topics which you know you will likely lose marks on. For instance, for my trial 3u exam, the only content that I comprehensively studied was combinations/permutations and binomial, because that was the topic which I knew I struggled the most with (I ended up state ranking 3u maths).
I went to baulko, so I would see people doing the same thing you're planning on doing and ended up nowhere, because they did it mindlessly. In fact, maths, chem, phys and english were all topped by people who didn't go to tutoring, and didn't have time to do every single question in the textbook because significant co-curricular commitments as well. Quality, not quantity.
That said, writing phys/chem/bio notes by january is a good idea. After that, focus on English more than phys and chem, because all the content in phys/chem is either dead easy or memorisable.
Good luck! And don't burn out

 

[someth1ng]

You obviously haven't met Spiral.

+1, the cunt burns all the trees.

If he prints, trees get chopped down. If he uses a computer, electricity bills equate to just as many trees chopped down.

 

[iSplicer]

There's little point intensively going through past papers more than three weeks out from the exams, because the primary reasons to do past papers are to work out what you don't know, and to get into the exam mindset just before exams. And you shouldn't do every single question in cambridge and terry lee, as you end up doing hundreds of questions on content that you can easily learn and understand (e.g. integration), so you end up wasting time. Instead, focus on textbook and past paper questions on topics which you know you will likely lose marks on. For instance, for my trial 3u exam, the only content that I comprehensively studied was combinations/permutations and binomial, because that was the topic which I knew I struggled the most with (I ended up state ranking 3u maths).
I went to baulko, so I would see people doing the same thing you're planning on doing and ended up nowhere, because they did it mindlessly. In fact, maths, chem, phys and english were all topped by people who didn't go to tutoring, and didn't have time to do every single question in the textbook because significant co-curricular commitments as well. Quality, not quantity.
That said, writing phys/chem/bio notes by january is a good idea. After that, focus on English more than phys and chem, because all the content in phys/chem is either dead easy or memorisable.
Good luck! And don't burn out

<3

 

[girlworld_club]

you make me feel bad. you've already finished the hsc course, i havent

 

[plasticities]

I don't know what kind of mark you need in advanced english for 99.95 but I got 93 or 94 in english and I think I did like 3 past essay questions for each module, not even bothering with the short response. I'm sure someone's already mentioned it, but if you need to focus on english, I'd suggest you make sure you understand whats expected of you in your essays. If you have like one essay thats really good and you understand the themes well enough, you can pretty much adapt it to any question they give you.

 

[TheProfessional]

There's little point intensively going through past papers more than three weeks out from the exams, because the primary reasons to do past papers are to work out what you don't know, and to get into the exam mindset just before exams. And you shouldn't do every single question in cambridge and terry lee, as you end up doing hundreds of questions on content that you can easily learn and understand (e.g. integration), so you end up wasting time. Instead, focus on textbook and past paper questions on topics which you know you will likely lose marks on. For instance, for my trial 3u exam, the only content that I comprehensively studied was combinations/permutations and binomial, because that was the topic which I knew I struggled the most with (I ended up state ranking 3u maths).
I went to baulko, so I would see people doing the same thing you're planning on doing and ended up nowhere, because they did it mindlessly. In fact, maths, chem, phys and english were all topped by people who didn't go to tutoring, and didn't have time to do every single question in the textbook because significant co-curricular commitments as well. Quality, not quantity.
That said, writing phys/chem/bio notes by january is a good idea. After that, focus on English more than phys and chem, because all the content in phys/chem is either dead easy or memorisable.
Good luck! And don't burn out

Brilliant post. This is EXACTLY the answer I am looking for.

I talked to HSC students who achieved 99.95 ATAR and state rankings in the past and most of them said we finished the HSC course by the end of year 11 and we did past papers throughout year 12 so I thought that is what I should be doing. That is exactly why I made this thread, to find out whether I am doing the right thing or not.

However, everyone opposed the idea of doing that insane amount of past papers so I was thinking "if I don't do past papers then what am I going to do throughout year 12?". Then I read your post and I realise how oblivious I was not seeing the importance of concentrating on harder topics where people tend to lose marks.

From what you said I can conclude that the best way to achieve top marks is by concentrating on the harder topics, the topics that separate top students from average students which are Harder MX1 for MX2 and Binomial and Perm & Comb for MX1 and English in general.

I'll complete all my notes for chemistry, physics and biology between now and January and spend the rest of the year doing a reasonable amount of past papers with an emphasis on the topics listed above, English and harder questions in general like 6-8 mark questions in chemistry and physics and harder MX1 and MX2 questions like the current questions 6, 7 and 8.

Past papers will certainly help me improve speed and accuracy for the easier questions in maths i.e. 1-5 where most of the silly mistakes are made. However, I still believe that past papers are a very effective way to improve on the harder end of MX1 and MX2 since it is always helpful to be exposed to as many harder maths questions in maths in particular.

Thank you for your advice chevlr, thank you a lot!

 

[chevlr]

I'll complete all my notes for chemistry, physics and biology between now and January and spend the rest of the year doing a reasonable amount of past papers with an emphasis on the topics listed above, English and harder questions in general like 6-8 mark questions in chemistry and physics and harder MX1 and MX2 questions like the current questions 6, 7 and 8.

Past papers will certainly help me improve speed and accuracy for the easier questions in maths i.e. 1-5 where most of the silly mistakes are made. However, I still believe that past papers are a very effective way to improve on the harder end of MX1 and MX2 since it is always helpful to be exposed to as many harder maths questions in maths in particular.

Thank you for your advice chevlr, thank you a lot!

Wow that was pretty much my approach to the HSC, damn I thought I was original Though I only finished my notes and essays in July, cos I'm a lazy ass.

From what you said I can conclude that the best way to achieve top marks is by concentrating on the harder topics, the topics that separate top students from average students which are Harder MX1 for MX2 and Binomial and Perm & Comb for MX1 and English in general.

You shouldn't focus on those topics just because I said that I found them hard; I was pretty shit at English, so I spent more than half my time studying that. Focus on what you find hard => if you're gun at perm & comb but find mechanics hard, then keep doing mechanics questions until you understand it.

<3

Right back at ya <3

 

[TheProfessional]

Wow that was pretty much my approach to the HSC, damn I thought I was original Though I only finished my notes and essays in July, cos I'm a lazy ass.
You shouldn't focus on those topics just because I said that I found them hard; I was pretty shit at English, so I spent more than half my time studying that. Focus on what you find hard => if you're gun at perm & comb but find mechanics hard, then keep doing mechanics questions until you understand it.

I think any topic in MX2 can be difficult even integration and complex numbers (maybe not Curve Sketching) if it is being asked in the last questions of the paper. However, harder mx1, perm&comb, binomial tend to be the hardest.
So I think concentrating on the harder MX1 and MX2 questions in general is better then concentrating on individual topics.
I have a rough idea of my weaknesses at the moment, but throughout the year I'll have a better understanding of what I should concentrate on more and how I should manage my time to ensure the most effective and efficient study routine.
For now, I think my main weaknesses are English in general (which seems to be everyone's weakness) and harder maths questions. The way to improve on these weaknesses is maybe a good English tutor and regarding maths, just exposure to as many questions as possible from textbooks and past papers + a solid understanding of the topics. Regarding the sciences, I think doing the notes and some past papers is more than enough to get a high band 6.
Actually, your approach is original, I wouldn't be able to come up with what I said without reading you post

Good luck in the HSC everyone, I'll be really busy from now on studying for the HSC and doing my science notes so I won't be able to use this website. Maybe I'll use it in the future for tutoring/sales etc...

 

[2ndt0m3h]

500+ papers?? HAHHAHAHAHHA

If you want a state ranking like i got than minimum of 3000 papers per course.

I will send you a link to more than 25000 papers so you can complete them.

 

[Hazballs]

500+ papers?? HAHHAHAHAHHA

If you want a state ranking like i got than minimum of 3000 papers per course.

I will send you a link to more than 25000 papers so you can complete them.

lol

 

[someth1ng]

Oh, and go in there with an essay memorised and just adapt it to the question. NEVER write an essay off the cuff. But I ranked in Hist Ext as well and I learnt the course 6 weeks before the exam so I don't know why you guys think you can have all your notes done by January.. . aren't you going to learn the material that year?

I managed to get a 14/15 essay doing that - HSC marker from another school said it would've been 15/15...but then again, I did that for all my modules and got 12, 16 and 17 respectively.

I'd say for past papers:
MX2: 20
MX1: 20 (10 if you do 4U)
Physics: 15
Chemistry: 15
English: look at around 5-10 questions and see if you can do the molding process successfully.

 

[LoveHateSchool]

Dude, holy fucking mother of christ lol. R u gonna do past papers through entire yr 12? LOL! entirely no point. Im in the exact same psychological position as you (wanting 99.95 doing shitloads of work for it forgetting about english haha) but im not going to go thru 1000 fucking papers hahaha. Absolutely no point. Well, I take that back. This amount of work is ONLY necessary if you have an average IQ (85-115), because your brain will need a LOT more practice with things to get good. However, based on the things ive read here im going to assume you have a higher IQ than that (I would guess 130+), so you do NOT need to work as much as a lower IQ person would. You can RELAX a bit, because you will learn things faster and retain information for longer than others. Do not stress urself out m8. Seriously. Though I like ur drive, its a great quality which not many people have

The reason it doesnt make sense to JUST do past papers is because, past papers dont cover EVERYTHING in the course. You need to alternate every few weeks with past papers and rewriting syllabus notes to make sure you are regularly reminding yourself of the WHOLE course, not just the random tidbits in past papers.

Once again, not everything is linked to IQ. HSC is not an IQ measure.

That said, OP is intelligent but still needs to work hard(not kill themselves overworking though) as the HSC is a game of sorts. OP is lucky to be in a top ranking school with the experience and know how of getting students high ATARs.

 

[iBibah]

Once again, not everything is linked to IQ. HSC is not an IQ measure.

That said, OP is intelligent but still needs to work hard(not kill themselves overworking though) as the HSC is a game of sorts. OP is lucky to be in a top ranking school with the experience and know how of getting students high ATARs.

But he is right to an extent when he says that OP's natural intelligence means he doesn't need to do as many papers.

 

[ncoul]

But he is right to an extent when he says that OP's natural intelligence means he doesn't need to do as many papers.

There are always limitations on ability and one can't quantify a good performance by the amount of papers you do. I don't do maths, but make sure you're achieving a thorough understanding of concepts before mindlessly churning through past papers - Which, with the amount you're proposing, will inevitably lead to burning out; regardless of how driven you are. It's impractical. In saying this, yes, go through the syllabus early and get a headstart.

Wow i'm glad i'm a humanities person.

 

[khfreakau]

Yep get a tutor for English! But get a private English tutor and work out whether you're weak at mod a b or c or the area of study. Module B is the hardest module for advanced so I recommend a private tutor cus they'll correct you and stuff. For essays, don't have to buy other people's essays it's a waste of money really. Just practice coming up with strong thesis's and know your language techniques really well

That's a matter of opinion. I personally found Module C significantly more difficult than Module B, which I thought was one of the easiest parts of Adv English.

That said, to OP: As someone who just missed the mark with the .95, my advice to you is to focus on English. English cost me the ever dear .95, and extra work in it goes a long way. That said, in order to excel in the other subjects, it is NOT necessary to do as much work as you intend to. I had NO tutors for maths or economics, and I graciously accepted help from iSplicer on various occasions with English. He also tutored me in Physics, which was important not in acceleration, but rather the development of exam technique. So basically, knowing the content early doesn't really put you at an advantage, in my opinion - it's what you do with the knowledge that counts. Revise your exam technique to perfection for each subject, and you really don't need to do as many past papers as you're aiming to do.

 

[BrokenGlass]

Good to see you're motivated! As the others have said, take it easy, so you don't burn out.
Keep working hard, and be CONSISTENT (that was my biggest problem) in your work and how much you do, and you should be fine.
And NO, you definitely do NOT have to finish everything in year 11 for a 99.95 or state ranks, you just need to understand ALL the concepts as well as you can, and be able to answer HSC-type questions perfectly(this can take some time to master, especially for sciences). Focus on your weaker areas - like english, now, so you can smash those internal ranks, or you may regret it later. For maths and sciences, just practise, practise, practise!

Best of luck and hope you achieve your goal!