How I scored an ATAR of 99.95 – David Zhang

Written by guest author David Zhang. A Matrix graduate who scored the top ATAR of 99.95.

Year 12 is a great time of your schooling life, filled with fantastic opportunities and exciting experiences. However, the HSC can often make year 12 a daunting prospect.
Here are some important things to keep in mind:

1. Persistence & Consistency

Consistency is important for achieving the results you want, and to perform consistently, you need to be persistent. Everyone finds that they enjoy and do better in certain subjects. Subjects you struggle with can be neglected, especially after exam blocks, where you find you didn’t go as well as you wanted to. Giving up on that subject can severely impact on your overall performance-there’s no point in acing 8 units of study if the final 2 let you down.

Likewise, the flipside can also occur, where you begin to devote all your time to your weaker subjects, meaning you don’t keep up your other subjects. A good way to manage your different subjects is to prioritise work during the week, paying attention to upcoming assessments, and catching up on other subjects during the weekend.

2. Teamwork

The breadth of HSC subjects means that it’s often hard to cover every nuance during class. Working together with friends, whether it be sharing ideas or arguing over a point, will help everyone understand better. In English, such teamwork may be breaking down ideas, or letting each other read our essays-too often a thesis will make perfect sense in your head but be incomprehensible to others.

Working together in Maths may involve tackling hard questions, while sharing hard questions and debating “troll dotpoints” (the dotpoints that make you curse the BOS) would help you study for the sciences.

3. Utilising Opportunities

There are many things that can aid your study, if used correctly. For example:

• Technology is sometimes an aid, and sometimes a distraction. Often, students can completely avoid things like Facebook in an attempt to remove the distraction. However, it can also be used in useful ways, such as groups for certain subjects where you can share notes and discuss assessments. It is important to exercise self-control.
• Schools often provide lots of support that can greatly help your study. For example, Physics tutorials at my school, Scots, were a way to expand our understanding beyond the syllabus, while revising HSC content. This provides a great way to explore something interesting that is beneficial to your study.

4. Balance

There are many aspects to Year 12, such as co-curricular activities, leadership roles, sports, as well as other things such as UMAT or overseas university tests depending on your future aspirations. It is important to spend time doing what you enjoy, especially after assessment blocks and during the holidays. It is always important to realise that the HSC is a pathway to university study-there are many other options available, so make sure you have some fun during your final year at school.