How Tom Improved his Business Studies Results by 38%

📈 Mark improvement of 38% in HSC Business Studies

Tom changed his perspective and started to become more invested in HSC Business Studies.

🎉 Received Early Entry from Macquarie University

Tom successfully received an early entry offer from Macquarie University.

👔 Entry into his Dream Course

Tom received entry into a B. Commerce/ B. Arts at Macquarie University.

Orange curve
Yellow curve

The Challenge

Tom wanted to do well in Year 12 but wasn’t doing the work required which resulted in a disappointing mark of 30% for his first Business Studies assessment. This was compounded by a lack of motivation as Tom felt disconnected from Business Studies content and couldn’t see its real life application. While Tom did attempt practice questions, he wasn’t marking them which made his work redundant as he wasn’t correcting his mistakes. As a result, Tom was almost going to drop HSC Business Studies.

I wasn’t motivated, nor dedicated enough to succeed in any subject including Business Studies.

Key Problems

💤 Tom was not organised and this made achieving good marks hard; his sleeping schedule was all over the place and he didn’t even have pencil case to bring to school 

😎 Tom would complete practice questions but never marked them which meant he wasn’t correcting his mistakes and not improving

📄 Tom didn’t understand the stimuli in business reports and didn’t know how to approach and incorporate them which cost him marks

Our Approach

When Tom started tutoring with Melanie, he finally could see the real life applications of his studies. Melanie had told Tom to think of the case studies as his own business which would motivate him to engage with the course content and make the stimuli more digestible. This resulted in Tom shifting from the mindset of “I can’t do this” to instead asking “How can I improve this?”. Tom started writing notes, answering short answer questions and doing business plans, he found it really useful to have Melanie who could offer him in-depth feedback and advice.

Tom started using a combination of the memory palace technique and colour coding to help him get the content downpat! He would assign a specific sticky note colour to a business function and place it somewhere in his house. By creating these associations, he was able to ‘revisit’ these places during exams and recall information better!

Focus

Improving exam marks

Understanding content

Writing better extended responses

Memorising content

Creating effective notes

Strategies

Completing and marking papers

Asking questions and study groups

Structures and personalised feedback

Memory palace and colour coding

Handwritten notes

Inspirational tutor

Practice papers

Colour coded notes

Study groups

The Result

Tom’s newfound motivation for HSC Business Studies led to a massive improvement from his initial mark of 30%. By finding a connection between his studies and personal goals as well as memorisation techniques, Tom found it much easier to study for the subject. Tom is now studying a Bachelor of Commerce and Arts at Macquarie University. 

38%

Overall mark improvement

33%

Increase in all results

97%

Of customers believe our tutors build great rapport

94%

Of customers increased their confidence

From Art of Smart, Tom saw a 38% improvement in Business Studies

Melanie taught me this mindset of “This is my business, how can I make it succeed on my own terms” and I think this was the biggest contributor to my mark improvement.

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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