How Sophie Improved Her HSC English Marks by 37%

📈 Mark improvement of 37% in HSC English

Sophie was reading, writing and receiving feedback consistently to develop her understanding.

🎉 Band 6 mark in HSC English Exam

Sophie developed her English skills which resulted in her receiving a 92% externally!

😌 Gained confidence

Sophie felt way more confident as her tutor would help reassure her of small wins along the way.

Orange curve
Yellow curve

The Challenge

At the beginning of Year 12, Sophie was already discouraged with her progress in English – this resulted in a lack of motivation and minimal effort into her next multimodal assessment. Unfortunately, this led to Sophie receiving only 55% and bawling in the classroom. With two less than ideal marks already and high goals, Sophie felt a lot of pressure to do well in her next assessments and needed a comeback plan. This is when she reached out to Art of Smart.



I didn’t really step up to that Year 12 level…I didn’t put in as much effort as I should have. I didn’t really understand the concepts that were behind the common module.

Key Problems

❓ Sophie struggled to understand what questions in English were actually asking and as a result, this would drag down her marks

🤔 Sophie confessed she didn’t actually understand the concepts of her texts in English which made it difficult to produce strong essays

📉 Sophie had received low English marks which she needed to pull up if she was going to make it into law! 

Our Approach

Sophie firstly needed someone to help build her confidence in English and so her tutor, Tricia, would set small tasks every week. These would be a paragraph or a 20 minute mini essay that Sophie could get feedback on and do to develop her skills. This way Tricia could quickly identify whether Sophie truly understood the question and saved her from investing time in an essay when she didn’t! Additionally, Tricia provided Sophie with exemplary pieces to look over so that she could compare and incorporate parts into her own work.

A stand out for Sophie throughout her English journey were quick 20 minute essays that Tricia would set for her. It was a great tactic that worked really well for Sophie, and anyone who struggles to answer the question succinctly in essays. 

Focus

Interpreting the question

Understanding themes and concepts

Building confidence 

Improving exam marks

Creative writing

Strategies

20 minute mini essays

Writing introductions and topic sentences

Research and making notes

Receiving feedback

Wide reading and analysis of creative writing

 

Inspirational Tutor

Weekly Study Plan

Comprehensive English Notes

Subject Break Down

The Result

Sophie makes it clear that you should never give up. After receiving low to average marks up until HSC trials, Sophie ended up getting a Band 6 in her HSC exams and an overall mark of 88%! This mark improvement was after many practice essays, a lot of feedback, research and breaking English down into smaller pieces.

Band 6

HSC Exams

88%

Overall mark

97%

Of customers believe our tutors build great rapport

94%

Of customers increased their confidence

From Art of Smart, Sophie saw a 37% mark improvement

Tricia was the fairy godmother of English for me, she absolutely saved my mark. She helped affirm that everything was going to be okay, she was very supportive and would help me enhance upon what I was already doing well. 

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?”

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