Projectile motion, gravity, quarks, flavours?! Need I say more? Clearly, HSC Physics is fun — especially having to write notes.
Like all science subjects, HSC Physics is content heavy and can be hard to understand so writing up effective notes can really benefit you when you’re near your HSC exams! You may be thinking to yourself, how do I even start writing notes for this subject?
To help you out with this process, we’ve put together this handy guide to make AMAZING HSC Physics study notes!
Step 1: Write Your HSC Physics Study Notes in Class
Step 2: Know Your Syllabus
Step 3: Use Multiple Sources
Step 4: Print Out Your Syllabus
Step 5: Enjoy the Process of Making Your HSC Physics Study Notes!
Step 1: Write Your HSC Physics Study Notes in Class
This is a step that is often underrated, but super duper important. As you already know, time management is key during your HSC year.
One way to stay super organised is to listen in your classes, ask questions and write notes as you go!
Collating notes from your classes and revising them as you progress through the term helps you build a good foundational knowledge that will really benefit come exam time.
As you may have heard already, the key to HSC is consistency. In addition to creating lesson notes from your classes, writing out notes for each topic you are covering in class as you are learning it is a really good way to stay on top of your studies, and give yourself plenty of time to revise when exam time nears.
We will expand on how exactly to do this later on!
Use these 4 Good HSC Classroom Habits to avoid falling behind!
Step 2: Know Your Syllabus
Next, make sure you know your syllabus! You must remember that all your questions in the HSC come from your syllabus, so it is definitely something you should know inside out.
If you haven’t got access to the syllabus, you can find it right here!
When writing your notes, write them in order of your syllabus dot points. Luckily for you, we’ve already organised an HSC Smart Notion Template for you, which includes HSC Physics syllabus points to follow, a master list of past papers, a habit tracker, Pomodoro timer, assessment planner, and more!
Handwritten VS Typed Notes
Now, to address the question of whether to handwrite, type, or use any other method of note-taking, I would say, pick a style that you enjoy and suits you best. Maybe you feel as though you learn better when handwriting.
If this is the case, hand write your notes! The same goes for other methods.
Whether you’re typing or handwriting, pick a font and colour scheme that you enjoy — it might sound a bit silly, but I always felt the slightest bit more motivated knowing that my HSC Physics notes looked pretty, or at least, neat.
Write Out Your Notes in Your Own Words
When writing these notes, use your own language — don’t copy information straight from the textbook or your teachers’ PowerPoints.
Being able to put a concept into your own words is like explaining it to yourself, thus, indicating that you have understood it fully. If you’re struggling to express a concept, then you might want to look back on it and revise the content.
Use Dot Points!
Again, this is a matter of personal preference, but I always found that having dot points was the most effective way to write notes as it not only looked a bit nicer, but the information was condensed in a way that was easy to revise over.
Here’s a sample of my notes to give you a sense of what I mean by all of that:
As you can see from the sample of my notes, I have chosen a specific font, a blue colour for the syllabus dot point, and broken down certain elements in dot point format.
Now, this isn’t all the information for this dot point, so don’t be fooled, but it gives you an idea of how I structured my notes.
Make it Visual
The last point in this rather lengthy step is to add images! Some concepts in Physics are best understood using diagrams and images, so use them to supplement and increase your understanding.
Step 3: Use Multiple Sources to Create Your HSC Physics Notes
Sometimes, it’s just the case that you won’t be able to understand how someone explains something — and that’s okay. However, it is your responsibility to look for alternative explanations.
When writing your notes, collate information from a multitude of sources. Whether this be through YouTube, other books, trustworthy websites — a wide range of sources will deepen your understanding of difficult ideas and will make your notes one of the best!
Here are a few places you can look for supplementary material:
- Your textbook
- Other textbooks
- HSC Together
- Khan Academy
- YouTube (there are countless science accounts that explain Physics concepts super well)
If you still don’t understand a concept, don’t restrain from looking a little bit outside the scope of the syllabus — this tends to help a lot by giving you a bigger picture of the ideas you are studying.
If you’re still stuck on a concept don’t leave it too late. Reach out today to get support from our expert HSC Physics tutors across Sydney. We offer small group tutoring at our Hornsby and Castle Hill Campuses, in your own home or online.
Step 4: Print Out Your Syllabus
…and write extra notes and look for inter-syllabus dot point connections!
This is a step that I personally found very useful. Print out your syllabus and jot down the key points and tricks that you may need, or that you come across during your study.
This makes your study and revision time rather effective as you have a handwritten page of reminders and key points that you can look through before your exam!
This also helps when you’re using your traffic light method — highlighting the syllabus points you do not know at all and ones that you are really comfortable with. This printed syllabus can be used as a secondary notes pile to supplement your original notes.
Exam Questions
Band 6 questions are often made with inter-syllabus links. Perhaps a question may include a mixture of module 5 and 6 content.
To prepare yourself for these types of ‘big mark’ questions, you must ensure that when writing your notes (either primary or secondary), you must have a nice section dedicated to the connections between modules.
More specifically, have connections between syllabus dot points. It may be useful to do this in the form of a handwritten flowchart, or a mind map not only because it is much easier to create these visuals using pen and paper, but can give you more room to enjoy the process of creating and seeing your connections.
Step 5: Enjoy the Process of Making Your HSC Physics Study Notes!
Really try to enjoy the process of making your notes. I know, this may sound impossible, but really enjoying something you are doing makes the effort you need to put in much easier and helps you retain information better.
You have had the opportunity to choose your subjects, so try to make the most in learning about them — one way to do this is by enjoying the note making process!
There you have it!
Now that you know how to create effective HSC Physics study notes, it’s time to get working on them! Check out some of our other resources below for info to supplement your notes:
- HSC Physics Module 5: Advanced Mechanics Guide
- HSC Physics Module 6: Electromagnetism
- HSC Physics Module 7: The Nature of Light Guide
- HSC Physics Module 8: From the Universe to the Atom Guide
Trying to improve your study notes for other subjects?
We’ve got guides for a range of subjects, which you can check out below:
- Standard & Advanced English
- Standard Maths
- Advanced Maths
- Modern History
- Ancient History
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Legal Studies
- Economics
- Visual Arts
- PDHPE
Looking for some extra help with HSC Physics?
We have an incredible team of HSC Physics tutors and mentors who are new HSC syllabus experts!
We can help you master the HSC Physics syllabus and ace your upcoming HSC Physics assessments 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 HSC Physics tutor and mentor, get in touch today or give us a ring on 1300 267 888!
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!
