How Chloe Bounced Back From 58% to 86% for HSC Modern History In Only 12 Weeks

📈 From 58% to 86% in HSC Modern History

Chloe’s work with tutor Jess over just 12 weeks transformed how she prepared for exams and turned her marks around by a massive 28%!

🎯 Built Marks Up Quickly by Pinpointing Weak Areas

By using the syllabus dot points and feedback from her past assessments, Chloe identified her weaknesses and focused on how to improve.

🗣️ Improved Quality of Essay Arguments

Chloe added depth to her essay responses by practising with a wider range of key dates, people, and events.

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The Challenge

When Chloe received 58% for her Modern History Trials with only 12 weeks left until the HSC, she started to panic. Modern History was her favourite subject and she had gotten average marks throughout the year. This was the first time that Chloe had barely passed. She was shocked, but Chloe knew that her motivation had dropped and that she hadn’t put in enough effort.

 

To prepare for her upcoming HSC exams, Chloe decided that she needed help from a tutor who could boost her marks in just a few weeks.

I hadn’t prepared enough for one of the essays. I think it was the Russia essay. I did not know what I was talking about.

Key Problems

🫣 Chloe wasn’t practising consistent study habits because she thought she would be able to score a decent mark without extra efforts

💻 Chloe’s Modern History essays didn’t have enough depth because she wasn’t making note of enough key events, evidence, and examples

⏳ Chloe was under a time crunch with only 12 weeks to improve before her final HSC exams 

Our Approach

Chloe linked up with Art of Smart tutor Jess to come up with a plan. Their first step was to go through her Trial exam to pinpoint where and why Chloe had lost marks. By looking at the syllabus and feedback from her school teacher, they came up with a list of Chloe’s weak areas to focus on. To improve the depth of her essay arguments, Chloe started to collect key statistics, people, and dates to practise with on palm cards. Jess helped Chloe master how to write quick essay plans so that she could prepare with as many past paper questions as possible.

Chloe wrote at least one open-book and timed practise essay each week that she would send to Jess for feedback. By the time her exams rolled around, Chloe had improved her confidence by making sure she had covered every syllabus dot point.

Focus

  • Accountability to study
  • Identifying and improving weak areas
  • Adding depth to essay arguments
  • Writing direct and relevant responses to essay questions 



Strategies

  • Weekly sessions with tutor 
  • Revising syllabus points and feedback with tutor
  • Palm cards for key statistics, people, and dates
  • 5-minute essay planning with past paper questions 



Weekly Sessions with Tutor 

Revising Syllabus Points and Feedback with Tutor 

Palm Cards for Key Statistics, People, and Dates

5-minute Essay Planning with Past Paper Questions

The Result

Although Trials had taken Chloe by surprise, only 12 weeks of work with tutor Jess managed to turn her marks around by 28%! Chloe achieved an incredible result of 86%, an impressive improvement from a Band 2 to Band 5 result.

28%

Increase in Modern History marks

86%

Final HSC Modern History result

9/10

Student rating of their teacher as approachable and friendly

9/10

Student rating on tutors’ knowledge and subject expertise

With Art of Smart, Chloe saw a 28% improvement in HSC Modern History

I didn’t have enough depth in my essays, and that’s one thing that really shocked me. But after going through the feedback with Jess, we ran through each of the components and took out key points on what I needed to add.

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