How to get organised for the HSC period

Imagine this: You’ve told yourself for weeks now to get started on study but every time you sit down you get completely overwhelmed by the masses of knowledge from each subject that you’re expected to learn! So you tell yourself its too big of a task to do now and flick on Netflix in bed? Or alternatively you try to start on one thing, but start panicking about another and THEN realize it’s too big of a task so now you’re in bed and watching Netflix?

Sound Familiar?

The first step for any successful HSC® Exam student is the most important; getting organized. Sounds easy, but as we explored above, the majority of us (with few brilliant exceptions) are actually not very good at it. It’s really not that hard however, it just takes TIME and it might feel like you aren’t actually doing anything relevant because you’re not “studying” per say. However, once you’ve got yourself organized, time will be yours and you will be amazed at the amount of time and effort you will save by having taken the effort to get your act together. Use these tools mentioned below to organize your way through the HSC® Exam and come out on top.


Schedules are important

Making sure that you keep track of what you have to have done and plan out how you will achieve the task by the due date. For example, if you have an advanced English assessment due in 2 weeks, you should schedule to have the first draft completed in the first week so that you can use the second week to have it looked over, make edits and practice enough times that you can reproduce it in the examination. Set deadlines and try and stick to them as strictly as possible and Prioritize things that you find difficult, or assessments that are worth more (have a greater percentage of the course attached to them). You can keep track of your schedule easy by using a diary or calendar app on your phone.

Be folder friendly

It’s always a good idea to have a folder for every subject so that when you complete something, you can store it away in an orderly fashion for later in the year when you might have to review your work for the HSC® Exam examinations. Using tabs to separate assessments, class work, summaries and additional work can be a useful way of organizing your folders for different classes. Most importantly though, organize your notes in a way that makes sense to you.


Make a list for all the tasks you wish to achieve and regularly review it

If you are behind on summaries or have a heavy week of assessments coming up, make a list of everything that you need to complete throughout the day. Once you have done this, re-write your list, placing each item in order of importance, the most important/urgent will be number 1 and least important will be last. Start at the top and work your way down, but don’t get caught up if you can’t get through something today or if you’ve just had enough of doing something. Move onto the next thing in your list and come back to the other thing tomorrow. By this time though, you may already have another 3 things to add to the list. This is why it is important to review your list so you don’t miss out on anything.

 

Make sure you are setting yourself achievable tasks

Time and resource budgeting are crucial throughout the HSC® Exam. You have to have a clear idea throughout of what you are able to do, and what is well beyond your reach. By all means, reach for the stars! But make sure the stars are a comfortable walking distance away if you understand what I mean. Don’t put any extra pressure on top of what you already have because this could lead to your undoing.

 

The Syllabus is your best friend

Probably the best advice to any HSC® Exam student in terms of organization is to use the HSC® Exam syllabus outlined by the Board of Studies 100% of the way. Consider it your bible to success; if you can answer every dot point in each unit of the syllabus, you literally cannot go wrong. The board of studies has a habit of taking questions almost straight out of the syllabus and changing the words a little for the HSC® Exam examinations. You will also find that your teachers will often follow the syllabus in their teaching, so it makes sense that you would study the same. As you make your summary notes, be guided by the syllabus dot points and make sure you don’t get muddled up between dot points. The more you understand the syllabus, the more you will understand what you are being asked in your exams.