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Not everyone gets all Band 6s in Year 11, but that doesn't mean you need to kiss your 99+ ATAR dreams goodbye. Read on to learn how to turn your slightly underwhelming report card into an underdog story of redemption (and an excellent HSC result).
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Hello there! I’m Ved, a history enthusiast, tech guru and F1 fanatic (go Lewis!), not to mention the proud wielder of a 99.50 ATAR, and my advice to you is this: Year 11 doesn’t matter. Now, before you mention how you need a good Year 11 to get early entry into some uni programs, or to set you up for success in med, engineering, law or economics, just hear me out. These HSC study tips are for the underdogs who want to know how to turn a flunked Year 11 into a flawless Year 12.
At the start of Year 11, I had a list of goals longer than the line at a Bunnings sausage sizzle. But by Term 2, I’d settled on four:
1. Get an ATAR above 99.
2. Become an all rounder.
3. Get into UNSW Engineering.
4. State-rank in Modern History (🥲)
However, so much happened in the last two years of my schooling that I couldn’t have predicted: My mates and I broke a window at school while playing cricket with our water bottles (I know, not exactly “all rounder” decision-making there); I absolutely bombed my Year 11 Phys and Chem depth studies; and my prelims were worse still. As failure after failure dulled my motivation, my old habit of procrastination duly kicked in, and entire days disappeared in mindless YouTube spirals. So, how did a student like me, amidst bouts of silly decisions, an academic slump and a crippling feeling of failure score a 99+ ATAR? Excellent question.
Bonus: If you’re after expert HSC study tips, subject-specific hacks and/or essay writing advice, read on!
Year 11 as a whole was incredibly rough. I went in aiming for perfection, like most of us do in our senior years of high school. I was willing to go all in, work long hours, focus in class and revise course content weekly. But, despite starting my year with the best approximation of “the perfect student” I could muster, reality inevitably stuck its unwelcome nose in my affairs. And the first horseman of my Year 11 apocalypse? Procrastination.
Remember the Phys depth studies I was talking about? Well, I distinctly remember doing a lot of “preliminary research” on Insta and YouTube until I had about three days left. Incidentally, my best mates had also found themselves in the same situation (it’s almost like procrastination is a pretty common problem, ay?).
Upon promptly realising that precarious nature of the corner we had backed ourselves into, we all decided to pull off two all-nighters just before the thing was due. And what was it like? Hilarious. And hopeless. Think midnight discord calls, gut prayers the school will burn down overnight, the sound of a friend randomly hulk-smashing their keyboard at 2am, and of course the panic messages from that one friend who’s still working on their intro four hours in.
If you’ve ever done one of these depth studies, you’ll know that they take an absolute age to complete, especially if you’re a perfectionist. Let’s just say by the time I’d finished, the sun was gradually creeping up. But I’d actually done it! As a student, NOTHING can top the catharsis of hitting save for the last time, not to mention spamming delete on all those tabs. I couldn’t wait to get my results back, and proudly tell my mum that I’d aced it. And come that fateful July day, I did in fact “ace” my depth study – only, it turned out I was playing one of those card games where the ace is actually worth pretty much nothing.
I glanced down at my paper, only to see “68%”, scrawled in big red ink, staring deep into my soul. Turns out, all the coffee in the world can’t cure 4AM fatigue, and by my fourth cup that night, glaring errors had become second nature – errors that were now very easy to see under the clinical white classroom lights (and circled in red by my angry teacher). A 99+ ATAR was starting to seem impossibly out of reach.
Then came Term 2, and the arrival of the second horseman of the apocalypse: fatigue (aka, the second wave of the NSW Covid-19 Lockdowns). Being shut inside all day every day did nothing to cure my ailing motivation, and pretty soon, I found myself backing further and further away (or “social distancing” from the perfect student I’d dreamed up in Term 1 – the all-rounder, state-ranked graduate I’d told myself I’d be. The light at the end of the tunnel was already dim enough, only for it to disappear altogether, along with my Rank 1 positions in Modern History and Extension 1 English.
Sure, it felt nice to have something to pin the blame on. A global pandemic: no one can tell me that isn’t a good excuse. But nonetheless, I couldn’t rid myself of the guilt. The feeling that the weeks I’d spent studying, worrying (and procrastinating) had all been for nada. By constructing an illusory ideal for how my Year 11 should go, one brimming with top ranks, Band 6 praise and more than a few 99/100s, anything less felt, well, worthless.
But, come Term 3, I didn’t give up. That perfect student could still be me. I knew it. So, I pledged that I’d study even harder. I forced myself to stay awake till 2 am every single night. I followed the top HSC study tips and grinded out textbook after textbook in preparation for prelims. I spent nights mindlessly writing pages upon pages of essays. I worked and worked and worked, until I didn’t. Until I was so frustrated with this entire ordeal, I cracked. Enter, the third horseman of the apocalypse: despair.
Come results day and lo and behold: I scored 64% for Physics, 76% for Chem, 80% for Maths and 85% for English. For me, this was rock bottom, the point where I seriously began to doubt whether I’d actually be able to achieve the goals that I’d set for my senior years. And I know, 85% for English might sound good, but for me, it wasn’t good enough. I had worked 26 hours a day in pursuit of Rank 1; I had ingrained “Chemistry in Focus 11” into my brain through weeks of reading and re-reading; I had told myself again and again that I would score a Band 6 in every subject.
But now? Forget getting a 99+ ATAR. Now, I was literally having nightmares. Nightmares where I saw fleeting images of the NESA website, drifting in and out of a harrowing daze. Then, as I clicked on the link which would take me to my ATAR, I saw it. The dreaded number. 82, written in BIG BOLD lettering.
As I lamented over my atrocious results, firstly to my Mum and Dad over dinner one night, then to my incredibly supportive High School Physics teacher, I realised everyone essentially had the same advice: “Your Year 11 results don’t matter”. Of course, this doesn’t mean Year 11 isn’t a time to try your absolute hardest. It is. In fact, Year 11 is all about effort, but it’s also about mistakes. There is a reason your Year 11 results don’t end up contributing to your HSC, or your ATAR. Year 11, for a lot of us, is all about failure. You can never go into it thinking you’re going to be that guy who gets a hundred percent in every test. Because Year 11 is like one big practice test. It’s a time for experimentation; trial and error, so when the real thing comes around, you’re prepared, and most importantly, you know what not to do.
Those failed depth-studies and prelims, well they taught me how I can mould myself into the guy who actually manages to achieve his absurdly ambitious goals by the end of Year 12. As I reflected on my parents’ and teacher’s advice that day, I realised there was another horseman of the apocalypse, a fourth rider I hadn’t noticed, one that was tailing me before my Year 11 even started: Idealism. I began my senior schooling seeking perfection, when I should have been seeking improvement. Instead of seeing my score of 85 in English as a failure, I should have seen it as a learning opportunity.
If you’re in Year 11 and feeling disheartened, if you’re unhappy with your results, fear not. Because, if you inculcate the right study habits and follow some of my HSC study tips, you’ll find that recovering from a failed Year 11, or worse still, a bombed Term 1 of Year 12, is indeed possible.
For me, major changes obviously had to be made in order to bring my goals within reach. Afterall, I didn’t wanna be hauled up in a corner of my room, watching “Rush Hour 3” for the fifth time while everyone else in my grade got their prestigious academic awards (which just so happens to be exactly how I spent my Year 10 High Achiever Awards Ceremony). I knew what I had to do. As Bear Grylls, (one of my favourite childhood heroes) always said, “Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.”
Ah, the humble to-do list. What an obvious choice for my first HSC study tip. But don’t underestimate it. I never planned much in Year 11, making the whole thing a messy blur. But at the start of Year 12, a random stroke of inspiration hit me while reading the Matrix Blog. Before long, I’d returned home from Officeworks with what ended up becoming one of the best weapons in my HSC arsenal: a white-board.
From that day onwards, I forced myself to write down every single thing I needed to do – whether that be Matrix homework, or buying a present for my mate’s 18th birthday. Being able to actually visualise every deadline and obstacle that was coming my way made an insane difference to my panicked mental state. After all, an assessment deadline can’t sneak up on you if you see it scrawled in black ink every afternoon when you walk into your room (yes, no more all-nighters!).
Come Year 12, I knew I would have to be more organised with my afternoons if I was truly going to kick procrastination to the curb. So, On top of my big, whiteboard list of deadlines, I decided to use a daily-planning journal to pick out four or five tasks to complete every afternoon. My selection was primarily based on when these tasks were due, with their importance being the secondary consideration. For example, I’d prioritise tomorrow’s homework over an assignment due in two weeks, but choose the assignment over homework due at the end of the week.
Every afternoon after school, I’d delegate the first 10 minutes of study (4:00PM – 4:10PM) to simply writing out my timetable for that afternoon. I’d simply look at my whiteboard to make sure I was taking into account my upcoming assessment deadlines, and then plan everything out.
Don’t be the person who writes down a hundred tasks for each day, only to end up disheartened when they end up crossing out only four or five by the end. Remember the fourth horseman, and be realistic. Acknowledge what you can feasibly achieve in the limited time you have after school each day, and plan accordingly, always completing higher priority tasks first. As far as breaks are concerned, try to give yourself five or ten minutes between smaller tasks, and longer breaks (this can include a meal, or going for a walk) between bigger tasks.
Time-boxing was another one of those life-altering HSC study tips that really killed my procrastination. Essentially, time-boxing is a technique where you set a timer for each task and then complete it under exam conditions. It sounds cringe, but seeing those seconds ticking down really creates the psychological illusion that you are in the middle of a test – which is guaranteed to slash procrastination. The maximum time I’d recommend setting is about an hour, following which you should be taking a five minute breather (unless of course you’re doing a timed three hour past paper, in which case, good on ya!).
Oh, and if you’re wondering what timer you should use, please, please, please try out the Duck Timer (you’re welcome btw). If you’re thinking about using a Pomodoro Timer, they’re good too.
Raise your hand if you feel like holidays are for “resting” and the school term is for “learning”. Everyone relishes their customary holiday Netflix or XBox spree, and I’m not going to take that ritual away from you. However, consider this: in Year 12, while the school term DOES involve learning, it is also a time of ASSESSMENT, and these marks count! When you get your first assessment task in Term 1, the expectation is that you’re already on top of all the content, and you’ll have to hit the ground running. Hence, at the end of Year 11, I decided to re-characterise my holidays as a time of REST and LEARNING, so that my Term 1 could be a time of REVISION (under much less stressful conditions).
And no, I’m not being sponsored to say this, but consider doing Matrix holiday courses, and later their trial-prep courses. I honestly think these saved my HSC. When I finally decided to relegate my most content heavy subjects (Phys and Chem) to Matrix’s Holiday regime during the Term 1 holidays, I quickly realised two things:
1. I’d freed up an incredible amount of time for myself in the following term, time I could devote to revision and practice papers.
2. School has essentially just become revision; while my peers struggled to get their heads around tough concepts, I already knew them back to front.
Long story short, In Term 2, I got a 38/40 in Physics, 27/30 in Chem and 18/20 in English, which definitely shows how important these holiday courses were. And, if you wanna make things a whole lot more enjoyable, convince your friends to join too. The rather questionable mnemonics (google it!) my mates and I came up with made organic chemistry an absolute breeze (and a bit of a laugh).
If my Covid iso slump didn’t already clue you in, going it alone can be suffocating. Do yourself a favour and organise some group study sessions with friends. Everyone’s in the same boat, so make sure you help and learn from each other! My mates and I literally had a discord group where we chucked in any tough questions we found and discussed assessments in detail (it doesn’t hurt to make a few subject-specific group chats). A few weeks before the HSC, I started doing past papers with my mates. By reading and marking each other’s attempts, we were able to examine different ways to approach the same questions and ultimately cover our own weak spots.
On top of maintaining a social life while studying, it’s also important to socialise away from academia altogether. The HSC is a stressful time, and you will only compound this stress if you’re lost in the books 24/7. Be sure to make time to relax with family and friends. This can be a great reward at the end of a good study session!
1. Always ask why.
When it comes to English, try to appreciate the art behind the language; reflect upon the reason behind a composer’s message, and its wider ramifications. I always struggled with coming up with my own analysis, especially for archaic texts such as Shakespeare. Instead, I pretty much banked on Litcharts and Sparknotes to bail me out of every test and assignment. But following the advice of one of my friends, an HSC ace and Law student at USYD, I started asking why more. Why did Shakespeare portray Richard as a duplicitous Machiavellian? Why did Al Pacino specifically choose to reshape the play “Richard III”? Lo and behold, after that, critical analysis just came to me naturally.
2. Don’t obsess over failures; learn from them.
Don’t obsess over failures: learn from them. I managed a Band 6 in English, despite stuffing it up hard at the beginning of Year 12 with yet another all-nighter finish for my multimodal task (which, for reference, had a larger weighting than trials 🤯). Since this was a live presentation, we only received a mark with no feedback. So, I did the only logical thing: I emailed my script to my English teacher and asked for additional feedback. While it might seem obvious, many students neglect the fact that their teachers are a resource even outside the classroom, and most are very happy to help you if you are truly eager to learn. Instead of obsessing over that 16/20, I used it as a growth opportunity. The result? I ranked first in all my subsequent English assessments.
3. Write, write, write.
Inspired by other Matrix blog articles, I forced myself to write out an introduction for one question everyday (you can add this task to your daily planning journal, reserving it for when you’ve finished your other tasks). Eventually, as my literacy improved, I upped this to an essay each day. While this sounds drastic, in my opinion, the introduction is the hardest part of an essay, because you need to not only answer the question, but offer conceptually sophisticated ideas in support of your interpretation.
4. Now, for some rapid-fire HSC English essay writing tips:
a) Use an analysis table for each text/module to format quotes and analysis throughout the term. Don’t wait until the last minute to find and analyse quotes!
b) By the end of Term 3, create a generic essay for each of your prescribed texts. Each one should ideally cover at least four major themes from the text. This will allow you to memorise quotes and analysis more effectively and then simply adapt your already refined arguments to any question you encounter.
c) Remember to always link back to the question and include its key words (or their synonyms), throughout the essay – be it the introduction, analysis, or the conclusion.
d) Your conclusion should always include a summary of your argument, as well as a final sentence that reflects on the “wider implications” of your argument.
e) Ensure your thesis statement addresses every part of the question, and provides a strong response to it depending on the directive word (Examine, Justify, Describe, etc). This can be done in one sentence, or with two sentences.
f) Avoid writing long, winding sentences. They are extremely hard for markers to digest.
g) Make sure all your practice essays are completed under timed exam conditions.
h) Never use pretentious or overly verbose language in (STOP IT IMMEDIATELY). Having a good vocab is important, but don’t overdo it just for the sake of it.
i) Get as much feedback as possible. Hand in practice responses for marking, and ask lots of questions. Believe me, an answer to even the stupidest question can leave you with an entirely new perspective.
1. Try doing as many questions as possible.
Maths is a subject which requires constant practice, repetition and revision. Doing lots of questions is the best way to master a topic.
2. Utilise Matrix resources!
The Matrix theory and homework books are an absolute treasure trove, given how they feature a perfect mix of both easy, intermediate and harder questions.
3. Ask for help whenever possible.
I was fortunate enough to have an amazing teacher at school and two legendary Matrix teachers: Daniel and Kimberly (shoutout to them). Instead of shying away from difficult questions, I would attempt them myself, and more importantly, I would never hesitate to ask for help when I got stuck.
1. Understand, don’t memorise.
The sciences are incredibly content heavy, which means rote learning isn’t the answer. I recommend doing a tiny bit of your own research to holistically understand complex topics. For example, for Markovnikov’s rule, I watched a video about the interactions between carbocations. Don’t get carried away though! This can easily lead to procrastination. And of course, ask as many questions as you can. Anytime I was stuck or needed feedback, my Matrix teacher Louise (the best Chemistry teacher ever) would no doubt have her inbox flooded with my questions.
2. Make summary notes.
Matrix theory books are a great starting point, but once I was comfortable with the entire syllabus (a few weeks prior to trials) I started writing out formulae and key pieces of information into a separate book. This allowed me to quickly revise summaries of the core course content weekly, without having to slog through my more expansive notes. Oh! And post-it notes are a great option too! Literally anytime I wanted to remember a concept, I’d write it down on a post-it and stick it somewhere memorable.
2. Grind past papers.
Yep, this one is self-explanatory.
To conclude, I’m going to leave you with the wise words my Matrix teacher, Mr Daniel Tran, once offered me: “Year 12 is about the journey. Anyone who consistently puts in the effort can get a 99+ ATAR.” Despite how bad you stuff up in Year 11, no matter how apocalyptic your results may seem, you can still ace your HSC. Instead of expecting perfection, accept failure. And then learn from it. And, even when you do fail, believe in yourself. Believe in your capacity to learn from your mistakes. Believe in your capacity to improve. After all, look these HSC study tips got me:
1. I did end up getting that 99+ ATAR
2. I smashed that all rounder goal
3. I got into UNSW Engineering.
4. As for the Modern History thing, eh, let’s gloss over that one, shall we?
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.
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