by 'putting in some work' what do u mean? Can you explain exactly what you did to study step by step? ty
oh sure!! the two main problems with my trial were:
not understanding the content (sequences and series looking at you): this was less of a problem for me so pretty easy to rectify. i did a lot of textbook questions. i pretty much set like, bare minimum an hour a week and ran through questions, then pulled together anything i didn't understand and went through it with my maths teacher, or a friend of mine in the year above. this was less of my problem - if you need more specific guidance, i might not be able to provide it to you. but don't agonise through questions you don't understand, asking for help is good! so the next problem:
silly mistakes/getting overwhelmed: practice papers are a godsend. using the hsc practice papers and marking guidelines are genuinely invaluable. picking up where you have to write formulae, how much working you have to show, how much you have to write for explain questions. all of that can help you gain crucial marks.
take a deep breath between each question if you feel yourself making silly mistakes or getting overwhelmed, especially after hard ones. a limiting sum question is in a completely different ballgame than the difficult optimisation question you dealt with last. don't let yourself lose confidence.
finally, keep remembering the marks you gained! in your last exam, you gained 70 marks (or whatever the equivalent percentage on a lower total value test was). that's really good, and it's something to work on. don't get stuck in the trap of thinking you've lost 30 - those are just marks you didn't get, but you will next time.
i hope this helps, feel free to ask me more specific questions
but it is possible. i am a living example!