After a successful Year 10 you are about to embark on the adventure of Years 11 and 12. I know that many of you are concerned about your ability to ‘understand’ the work when in reality the skills you need in order to be successful are far different. Let me give you some (friendly) advice.
• You will need to be organised. Every night you need some space for revision and study. This scheduling needs to be adhered to every day. You will need to schedule your activities around your studies, not the other way around.
• You will need to be consistent. If you skip study sessions soon you will find yourself with a large backlog of work that will be difficult to shed. Especially in Maths, where following behind is generally not an idea conducive to a great HSC.
• You will need to concentrate. If you answer your messages, get a snack, check your mail or carry out any other non-study activity you are breaking up your concentration and dedicating less and less time to your main task (study).
• You will need to ‘study’. Reading the same work several times only means you are reading something you already know. You need to train your brain to remember by doing written exercises, mind maps, graphs, answering questions, writing essays etc.
• You will need to start now. Not next week or after the next game or after the holidays. Now is the time to get your work schedule in place, starting today.
• You will need to persevere. Many times you will find the going hard and frustrating. Those times are what makes or breaks your HSC. Not giving up and doggedly sticking to your tasks always gets results. The alternative gets you poor self-esteem and a low success rate.
• You will need high and realistic expectations of yourself. Be confident and expect you can do the very best you can. I expect that of you, why wouldn’t you? Conversely, if you are a perfectionist, are you asking too much of yourself?
• You will need a sense of humour. This helps greatly when things are not going well and keeps you grounded when you are feeling on top of the world and bullet proof.
• You will need friends. Be friendly and supportive of everyone in your class group. Working with others with different attributes and strengths is a great way to improve oneself.
• You will need humility. If you need help, ask for it.
I can assure you that the points above will help you go through your HSC successfully and with minimal stress. Above everything appreciate the opportunity you have been given and embrace it as a fantastic chance. So many people would give their right arm to be presented with the break you have in front of you. I am really looking forward to working with all of you from week 6 and having a fantastic 2017 together.
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