How James went from Just Passing to a Band 5 in Maths Advanced!

📈 Mark Improvement of 33% in HSC Maths Advanced

James mastered his maths foundations and targeted problem areas with personalised study techniques.

💪 Upgraded Study Techniques

James integrated practice under exam conditions on a weekly basis to improve his accuracy and build confidence. 

🚑 Received Entry to Medicine

James successfully received an offer into a competitive medical course at the University of Adelaide.

Orange curve
Yellow curve

The Challenge

When James received 56% for his first Year 12 Maths Advanced assessment, he thought he’d ruined his chances of receiving an offer for medicine. While he was getting decent marks in Year 11, he did little study over the summer break and had simply lost the motivation to improve. This low mark discouraged him greatly as he was struggling to understand his mistakes. It was at this point, he decided that he needed help from a tutor who could improve his understanding of the course and lift his marks!

I don’t think I had the drive that I needed, so I wasn’t doing much study or much work at all. I had a wakeup call at the end of Term 1.

Key Problems

😣James didn’t do much study over the summer break and felt unmotivated entering the first term of Year 12.

🤷James was struggling to identify his problem areas because he hadn’t learned solid mathematical foundations.

❌James found himself spending too much time on low mark questions which meant he ran out of time to work through longer problems. 

Our Approach

Before tackling complex questions, it was clear that James would benefit from a revision of his mathematical foundations. Alongside his tutor, Clement, they first focused on mastering the easier questions and making sure James understood essential syllabus content. To help James start performing well in exams, Clement got him to answer 60-70 problems at a time with only one minute allowed for each. This technique intentionally made study harder so that James could improve his speed and accuracy as well as build his confidence when it came to the real thing.

Clement also challenged James by picking out tricky past paper questions that they would then work through step by step. From there, Clement would trace any mistakes James made so that he could logically work through any problem come exam time. 

Focus

  • Improving speed and accuracy
  • Strengthening foundations
  • Correcting mistakes
  • Building exam confidence

Strategies

  • Practising under exam conditions
  • Mastering easy questions
  • Revising side-by-side with tutor
  • Past papers

Practising under Exam Conditions

Mastering Easy Questions First

Revising with Tutor 

Completing Past Papers 

The Result

After starting tutoring with Clement, James was able to develop study techniques tailored to him. By making his study practice harder, James’ exams not only resulted in him performing better but feeling better as well!

As a result, James walked into his HSC exam confident and ended up with an incredible result of 92%. This improvement went on to raise James’ ATAR and ultimately helped him receive an offer into his dream course of medicine at the University of Adelaide!

33%

Increase in Maths Advanced results

Band 5

Overall Result in Maths Advanced

94%

Of customers increased their confidence

97%

Of customers believe our tutors build great rapport

With Art of Smart, James saw a 33% improvement in HSC Maths Advanced.

Clement was great because I could bounce off him and really solidify my knowledge, and I think for most people that’s all it takes. You don’t necessarily need to relearn everything, you just need to be able to refine it.

Helping high school students thrive since 2009

We know school isn’t just about getting the grades, it’s about staying happy, healthy and answering the difficult question, “What am I going to do with my life when I finish school, and how do I get there?”

AOS Asset - Westpac
AOS Asset - Google
AOS Asset - Local Business
AOS Website Asset 2

Looking for Academic Support?

Discover your personal tutoring program today

AOS Website Asset 1