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Here are our top tips on how to plan out your study schedule, keep yourself focused, and make the most of your study time.
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For Year 12 students, the July school holidays will be devoted to preparing for the HSC Trial exams. So, we’ve compiled trial exam study tips from our Matrix Maths, English and Science experts to help make your holiday studying more effective.
The best study plan fits in enough time to revise all the topics and skills you need, while being realistic.
You will need to take a break from studying—everyone does. To avoid getting too far off your schedule when you need a break, schedule regular breaks into your study plan.
Scheduling 10 hours of study in one go is not going to do anything but overwhelm you.
Completing a practice paper or reviewing a summary always takes longer than expected. Try adding ‘catch-up sessions’ into your schedule.
These are blank study blocks you can use when you find that you need to spend more time than you expected reviewing a difficult topic. They’ll save you from falling behind and reduce your stress levels.
Matrix Trial Prep Courses offer ready-made schedules and structured lessons, so you can focus on studying, not planning.
Practice exams are your best preparation tool for Trials—hands down. But don’t just jump into one without a plan.
Start by reviewing your notes for the topic. Only then should you attempt a past paper or practice question. Otherwise, you’re not testing your knowledge—you’re guessing.
There are endless past papers online, especially for subjects like English. But time is limited. In the few weeks of holidays you have before your HSC Trials, focus on:
Completing only a few papers under timed conditions
Planning responses for other past papers (not timed)
Choosing questions/past papers you’re least confident about
That way, you’ll get maximum value out of your time.
Display your study plan somewhere your family members can see it. They’ll know when not to disturb you, and you can study without distractions.
Studies show rewriting your notes by hand helps you remember content better than just rereading or highlighting.
Try writing sections from memory, then check what you got right (and what needs more work). You’re practising recall, just like in an exam!
Bonus: Rewriting helps sharpen your written expression, too. Practising clear, concise writing now will pay off in your Trial exam responses.
In order to study efficiently, it is important to keep yourself as focused as possible.
Look after yourself:
Sleep: Aim for 8 hours. We know you plan to survive on know sleep leading up to the Trial exams, but your brain needs rest to retain what you study.
Eat well: Fuel your body with regular, healthy meals.
Move: Fit in some exercise, even just a walk. It clears your head.
This will help make your schedule feel bearable and make you more focused during study time.
Seeing friends—even briefly—can boost your mood and motivation. A quick coffee or study catch-up helps you feel supported and gives your brain a break.
You’ve got access to hundreds of practice essay questions online, but which ones should you do? Rather than trying to write full responses for all of them, pretend you’re in exam reading time.
Spend five minutes planning a scaffolded response for each question.
Don’t peek at your notes—this tests your real recall.
Still not sure how you’d answer it? Try writing just the introduction.
If it’s still unclear, choose one or two questions to complete under timed conditions.
This technique helps you build confidence in tackling unfamiliar prompts, just like in the real exam.
Yes, formulas matter in the Maths HSC and Trial exam. But they’re not everything. If your study plan is focused only on memorising equations, you’re not prepared.
To succeed in Maths, you need to:
Understand the processes and logic behind each formula.
Practise applying those processes to a range of question types.
Reflect on how each question is structured, not just what the final answer is.
This conceptual understanding will help you adapt to higher-order questions in your Trial exams.
Handwritten summaries are one of the best ways to review Science content. Writing by hand slows you down—in a good way. It forces you to:
Think more deeply about what you’re writing.
Be selective—try limiting each topic summary to just one page.
Focus on key definitions, concepts, and examples.
Once you’ve created your summaries:
Review them regularly.
Use them to answer practice questions.
Update them with new insights as you go.
This process helps lock in the most important ideas and makes revision feel far less overwhelming.
Written by Matrix Education
Matrix is Sydney's No.1 High School Tuition provider. Come read our blog regularly for study hacks, subject breakdowns, and all the other academic insights you need.
© Matrix Education and www.matrix.edu.au, 2025. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Matrix Education and www.matrix.edu.au with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
