1) is there a very big change for year 10 to year 11 like teachers say?
To an extent, yes, but you'll probably find that it isn't nearly as big as a lot of people have internalised it to be.
2) how should I plan my study schedule?
I'd strongly recommend getting familiar with your assessment schedule, which should be given to you fairly early in your year. It out lines every formal assessment you'll receive. A strategy I've found to be effective is that when you have an assessment coming in the next few weeks, do your homework ahead of time to free up your time, which can be properly allocated to assessment preparation. Doing so will will yield you a sense of control and management over your schedule, which not only paves the way for effective preparation, but also reduces stress during assessment weeks.
Regarding half-yearly and yearly exams, you should at least allow yourself a few weeks of preparation. I've found timetables to be very effective; e.g. for each day before the exam week, I'd outline two subjects I am to revise and practice past papers on. My schedule for the month before the HSC looked like this:
(It's meant to be colour-coded, but you know, image compression happened.)
It's up to you how you want to structure your schedule. Some people start months before the exam. Others start the week before and rely on their uncanny ability to cram everything. I think I started preparation two weeks before a set of Preliminary exams, and I did alright. I'd recommend three weeks at least, of about 2.5 - 3 hours per day on school days, and probably double that on days where you don't go to school (really up to you).
3) how can I start studying ie like do past papers?
Past papers is the key to successful preparation. A lot of people try to memorise every single sentence in their notes by reading them over and over again. In my opinion that's quite inefficient, as you would have no idea which specific areas you need to improve on (e.g. some points are more likely to be tested than others). Doing past papers allow you insight into how exams are structured as well as the quality of your own responses and knowledge. Typically schools tend to upload past papers onto their intranet.
I recommend doing past papers timed. Afterwards, it's in your interest to mark and review your response. Make notes of things that you could have done better, or things you could have expanded on or included in your response. There is also benefit in re-doing past papers, especially since Preliminary past papers are typically hard to come by.
My suggestion for exam preparation is to read your notes once, then start gunning down past papers. During this process, you will probably find that you have to make amendments to your notes, but that's how you know you've improved; you will benefit more from doing past papers than repeatedly reading your notes. The night before an exam should be the only other time you read through your entire subject notes.
4) any tips to a student starting in year 11?
Year 11 isn't that hard. Apart from Legal and Business, I did all of your other subjects. I personally didn't find Year 11 to be significantly more difficult from Year 10, but rather that the pace is slightly faster, meaning you'll be going through more content per lesson compared to your previous years. This means you need to consistently manage your time wisely in order to foster the opportunity to thrive in your senior years.
Another important aspect in which the Preliminary and HSC years test you on is your ability to confront failure and overcome disappointment. Didn't get that mark you wanted in your last Biology exam?
Move on. Your rank isn't what you wanted it to be?
Don't dwell on it and focus on improving. No matter what, if by the end of your HSC, you've continually marched onwards despite being confronted with personal disappointment, I call that
success. Because it sets you up with a strong, unyielding mindset for university.
(I got 50% in an assessment in my preliminaries and 70% in an exam in my HSC, and I still got 99+ ATAR. So seriously, don't let any disappointment get to you.)
5) how did you study for year 11?
For the most part, with the exception of assessment periods, homework was my main priority during the senior years; getting it done so you're up-to-date with the class. A lot of 99+ ATAR graduates contend that it's vital to stay well ahead of what you're doing in class, and while I understand the benefit, I think it's probably unnecessary. If you have a workable set of notes and you are doing well with the classwork, only then would I recommend to continue with the content at home.
I handwrote all of my notes. Personally I didn't feel like my memory was all that great, so I much preferred handwriting notes as opposed to typing them up. A further benefit of doing such is that it incentivises you to summarise your points, as opposed to typing. I also recommend to develop your own set of notes for your subjects, as the process of making notes serves as good revision in itself.
Don't just work from a single set of notes. Find multiple sets of notes, as you'll find that in every set exists certain areas of the syllabus which may be neglected.
6) how can I achieve my atar of 95+?
I aimed for 85%+ for my assessments, and it has proven a good basis to work with in regards to achieving 99+ ATAR.
For a minimum of 95 ATAR, you should probably aim for around 80%, but allow for a sizable range.
Make sure you work consistently throughout your HSC year.
And finally,
relax. Always find time to do so. In every single day, you should find a decent amount of time to unwind and simply do whatever it is that you want to do. This is the third time I've mentioned this story on BoS, but our dux played Runescape the night before a major Economics exam and still got 95% on it. He also state ranked Economics.
For your HSC year, the Board of Studies website is extremely resourceful; it has not only has the HSC exams for almost every subject for the last 15 years, but also has feedback from examiners which highlight common mistakes studies tend to make for the recent years. Furthermore, there is a multiple choice question generator somewhere on the website, which was particularly useful for me because I had an Economics multiple choice exam during my HSC year.
THSC online. Hands down the best collection of Trial HSC exams on the internet. Has Preliminary and some Year 10 papers too. The website also contains further links to more Trial HSC exams and HSC notes. I strongly recommend grabbing a local copy of everything, as during my HSC preparation, the website went offline for a while.
NSW HSC online. Has decent HSC notes.
The Bored of Studies website also contains past papers and notes which may be of benefit.
Also, the forums often contain excellent materials. Last year, many 2015 Mathematics Extension 1 and 2 trial papers were uploaded in their respective forums.
Good luck!
Start studying for exams early so that you are well prepared, then you'll be able to make the best use of revision lessons. Also, definitely make sure to stay on top of your maths homework, because it's really hard to catch up once you start to fall behind.
