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HSC study notes (1 Viewer)

Shoesta

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Hi all, I am currently in the process of writing my notes for my subjects, under each syllabus dot point as recommended. However, I really struggle as to how much information I should add to each dot point? This leads to me becoming stressed as to whether or not I have sufficient information to get full marks. Can anyone help me out here? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks, Shoesta [emoji106]


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envlam

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Without a teacher to show you the scope of the content, it will be quite difficult to judge how much you need. You can cultivate this judgement yourself by doing lots of exam style questions and meticulously checking your answers against the marking criteria which will often outline the necessary information to attain full marks. Doing questions is also very beneficial because research has shown that you learn a lot more than by simply typing up the notes. Another option is to refer to other people's notes, and then decide what to include in your own. However I'd recommend just simply take a set of adequate notes as a base and modify them as you learn the content because that will save you a lot of time, which could be used on more beneficial activities such as practicing questions. Also a caveat of writing notes from scratch is that you will suffer from decision fatigue where your extensive use of attention on deciding whether something should or shouldn't be in your notes will deplete your will power. Research has suggested that willpower is fixed throughout the day (however it can be replenished), so ideally you would want to preserve your will power as much as possible to use it on more important tasks.
 

Shoesta

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Without a teacher to show you the scope of the content, it will be quite difficult to judge how much you need. You can cultivate this judgement yourself by doing lots of exam style questions and meticulously checking your answers against the marking criteria which will often outline the necessary information to attain full marks. Doing questions is also very beneficial because research has shown that you learn a lot more than by simply typing up the notes. Another option is to refer to other people's notes, and then decide what to include in your own. However I'd recommend just simply take a set of adequate notes as a base and modify them as you learn the content because that will save you a lot of time, which could be used on more beneficial activities such as practicing questions. Also a caveat of writing notes from scratch is that you will suffer from decision fatigue where your extensive use of attention on deciding whether something should or shouldn't be in your notes will deplete your will power. Research has suggested that willpower is fixed throughout the day (however it can be replenished), so ideally you would want to preserve your will power as much as possible to use it on more important tasks.
Thank you for replying. I like the idea of just making adequate notes and then modifying them as new content is learnt. Much appreciated! [emoji4]


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SuperAltastic

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I strongly recommend looking at marking criteria as you write or enhance notes only for dot points which you struggle with or its hard to decide how much content to put in your notes. This allows you to understand what constitutes as the "right and enough" information to include in your notes. Also it allows you to slowly develop the practice of forming your own marking criteria in your head which can be used in exam to ensure you get full marks in as many questions as you can.I used the same methods and it worked for me, however it is essential that you not only look at hsc marking criteria but other exams as well like your schools and other companies which prepare trial papers. Also as you do notes and past papers show them to your teacher to skim over and make sure the notes are of good quality as quantity often doesn't matter, if you can answer the question you get the marks. In addition doing past papers is also a good way of refining your notes and deciding which content is needed and which is not, however you must also get these papers marked and improve from them as then only will they improve your understanding and your notes overall.
 

Zamura1

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Study notes are used for personal use and are based on what you think is necessary. Its completely up to you in regards to how much content you want to read etc.

Some people i know use it just as a recap of knowledge learnt, and therefore make it only a few dot points, while others i know use it as basically a textbook summary.
 

STUDENT K

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I personally like to do a more detailed version + a simpler version of the notes that I make. Because when I read through longer notes I get completely bored and usually end u falling asleep or procrastinating so I will read the simple one which I then try to extend upon from my own knowledge, possibly looking at the long one every so often to jog my memory. That way you get the best of both worlds and it acts as a good form of study as well.... if that made any sense whatsoever hahahah :haha:
 

dan964

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even if you don't end up using their notes for study, I found that previous student's notes were usually helpful in giving some indication.
(I was big on doing my own work mostly)

A key to understanding how much, has to do with the keyword used.
'Identify' usually requires just simply a definition.
'Assess', 'Explain' and 'Describe' generally tend to be longer sections, but it will depend on the subject.
 

emma_01

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Hi guys..so I'm like in the middle of wondering how to write my notes out...like I know how to write notes and everything but I just cant seem to find a way of writing them so I will actually study them and remember them.

I have tried just reading class notes and from the text book but that doesn't work and I have tried to write the class notes out in a few different ways and try and remember them but all that happens is I remember some of it but I don't really understand how or why its like that or I don't remember it at all...

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do? :)
 

dan964

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Hi guys..so I'm like in the middle of wondering how to write my notes out...like I know how to write notes and everything but I just cant seem to find a way of writing them so I will actually study them and remember them.

I have tried just reading class notes and from the text book but that doesn't work and I have tried to write the class notes out in a few different ways and try and remember them but all that happens is I remember some of it but I don't really understand how or why its like that or I don't remember it at all...

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do? :)
Umm, probably try putting them in dotpoints. You could try putting them on index cards.
 

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