Maybe you’re at the beginning of Year 11 and wondering how you’re going to ace HSC Modern History in Year 12.
Perhaps you’re at the beginning of year 12, and want to get some tips on how to make the most use of your time and smash Modern History in the next few terms.
Or maybe, you’re prepping for your Trials and want to get some hot tips on how to get that Band 6 in Modern History. Wherever you are in your HSC Modern History journey, you have most certainly come to the right place!
We’ll give you a bunch of top tips from Anika, a recent graduate, who took Modern History as one of her subjects in the HSC and received an outstanding mark of 96%!
Let’s take a closer look at how she did that!
Tip 1: Get started on your notes early
Tip 2: Practise writing as you go
Tip 3: Speak aloud to memorise your content
Tip 4: Prepare points/write essays for every dot point
Tip 5: Do practice exams!
Tip 1: Get started on your notes early
Anika told us that she began writing a set of Modern History notes in class, while her teacher was teaching. She would take note of the content on her teachers’ powerpoint as well as anything her teacher was saying — these notes would be handwritten.
“I initially started handwriting my notes in class… I would copy down the powerpoint and write little additional notes based on what my teacher was saying,” said Anika.
Every two weeks, Anika would compile her notes in typed form, on a word document.
This process of writing notes whilst first being taught the content, and revising while rewriting the content allowed her to begin memorising and understanding content in a manner that was more effective than cramming content right before her exams.
She said, “Once every two weeks or so, I would copy the (handwritten) notes onto my computer in Word and organise them, and cut them down as best as I could… so that I would want to go back and revisit them.”
Anika saw the benefit of writing her notes early as this allowed her to solidify her knowledge as the term went by and do many practice exams before her actual exams.
Tip 2: Practise writing as you go
While Anika was writing up her notes, week by week, she would also ensure to write practice essays and responses every single week and give these to her teacher for feedback.
These practice responses not only helped with familiarising herself with an exam type environment, but again, with the memorisation and repetition of content and details such as statistics.
“I would probably be doing an essay a week, maybe more,” shared Anika.
This feedback process also helped improve her responses from an early stage in the course, so that come exam time, Anika had top notch responses!
“I would get feedback on my essays typed before I then went in and started to write them because I wanted to make sure my ideas were concrete.”
Learn how to write a strong thesis statement for your HSC Modern History essay here!
Tip 3: Speak aloud to memorise your content
Modern History has a lot of content, and memorising all the details can come across as a difficult task!
Anika came up with a really nifty solution to engage in her learning, making learning the content enjoyable, and effective, by reading her notes aloud!
“Leading up to my exams, I began to teach my notes out loud,” highlighted Anika.
Through repeated reading, she was able to solidify the facts in her mind, yet again, allowing her to dedicate more time to refining and perfecting her responses.
Tip 4: Prepare points or write essays for every dot point
With the amount of content in the subject, and the ambiguity surrounding the possible essay questions, Anika decided the best way to prepare and decrease her stress levels before her HSC exam was to prep/write an essay for every single dot point that an essay question could be made from.
“I think I did (an essay for) every dot point for the two essay topics there were and I wrote the full essay on each,” Anika said.
In terms of prepping for an essay, Anika would write down key points, ideas, and structure whilst her full essays would be, well – full essays.
Anika took the path of memorisation, in that she would have well written, sophisticated essays in mind that were malleable enough to alter to different questions, so that she was able to write the quality and quantity that she was supposed to in her exams.
This was a method that allowed her to ‘kill two birds with one stone’ so to speak, in that she was able to revise content, and improve her essays whilst undergoing this memorisation and practice essay process.
Tip 5: Complete practice exams!
Like in any HSC subject, doing as many timed practice papers as she could, was one of Anika’s biggest top tips!
By completing many fully timed, exam style 3 hour papers, Anika was able to get herself used to the format of the exam, lessen her stress, and effectively study for her subject.
She would begin with an open book paper, then gradually remove material until she was completing practice exams fully closed book.
Practice exams are always a great way to study for real exams, and Anika attested to this fact, “Leading up to exams, I would do 4, 3 hour practice exams with time and I would start open book then I would gradually go to closed book.”
Most importantly, make sure you have someone review your work! Whether that person a teacher or tutor, it’s essential to know where you need to improve on your responses. Check out how our expert HSC tutors in Fairfield can provide individualised support!
Find out master list of HSC Modern History past papers here!
And that’s it!
That’s how Anika managed to achieve a terrific score of 96 in her HSC Modern History exam and ace the subject!
In summary, make sure you know your content and do lots and lots and lots of practice. We wish you the best of luck in your HSC Modern History exam, and hope you smash it out of the park!
Check out some of our other HSC Modern History resources to help you study more effectively:
- How to Write a 10/10 HSC Modern History Source Analysis
- How to Write Effective Study Notes for HSC Modern History
- HSC Modern History Core Study: Power and Authority in the Modern World
- Practice Questions for Power and Authority in the Modern World
- How to Get a Band 6 in Your Modern History Historical Investigation
Looking for some extra help to ace HSC Modern History?
We pride ourselves on our inspirational HSC Modern History coaches and mentors!
We offer tutoring and mentoring for Years K-12 in a variety of subjects, with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home or at one of our state of the art campuses in Hornsby or the Hills!
To find out more and get started with an inspirational tutor and mentor get in touch today!
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Yasmin Hasan is a current first year psychology student at UNSW. She loves making art, playing piano or reading in her spare time. She graduated from high school in 2021 so her memories of her own high school experience are still quite fresh. She would love to use her own experiences to help other students build their confidence and improve in their academics!
