Why Starting to Study for HSC Trials NOW is the Secret to HSC Success

You’re 3 weeks into Term 2, so why am I telling you that you need to start studying for HSC Trials now?!

Before you immediately close this tab, hear me out! 

I’m here to give you the gift of hindsight BEFORE your Trials even happen.

Let’s just say I’ve considered everything from procrastination and assessments to stress and panic that’ll occur this term that may affect your ability to study effectively for Trials.

Interested? Let’s jump in so we can walk you through why starting your study now is KEY to your HSC success!

Reason #1: Too late to start studying over the holidays

Reason #2: Time to build up your study notes

Reason #3: Focussing on your Term 2 assessment

Reason #4: Leaving time for procrastination

Reason #5: Building up your long-term memory

How to Create an Awesome HSC Trials Study Plan

Reason #1: It’s too late to start studying for Trials during the holidays

As the saying goes, failing to plan is planning to fail!

The best thing you can do for yourself is to start studying early — which means during Term 2!

Let’s do some maths. At this point in time, Trials are about 11 weeks away. 

If you start studying now and spend about 2 hours studying each night — let’s say 4 nights a week (from Monday to Thursday) — that’s 8 hours of study a week.

Multiply that by 7 weeks of term you’ve got left and BOOM you’ve got 56 hours to study — pretty manageable too at just 2 hours a day!

This number doesn’t even include the holidays too! If we estimate you can study 4 hours a day 5 days a week for two weeks, that’s an extra 40 hours!

You literally would have 96 hours to study…

NOW, let’s compare this to say if you start studying during the Term 2 holidays which are 2 weeks long. 

You cram and study 6 hours a day for 5 days a week (let’s give you the weekends off). 

Multiply 5 days x 2 weeks x 6 hours a day and you’ve got 60 hours of study time. 

You have literally over 1.5x that time if you started studying during term!

That’s 60 hours to study for a minimum of 5 subjects (so 12 hours to study for each subject). 

Now that we’ve done all the maths, have a think about what’s sounding more achievable in terms of thoroughly studying and going through each syllabus dot point for each subject…

12 hours definitely isn’t enough for each subject!

Want to make the most of your Trials study this term? Introducing our HSC Trials Jump Start Program! You’ll get 1 on 1 sessions, study plan workshops and tutoring classes designed to not only help you master your content for Term 2 and ace your Term 2 assessment, but prepare for HSC Trials as well!

Sound like the comprehensive kind of support you need? Check out our HSC Trials Jump Start Program here!

Reason #2: You need time to build up your study notes

Study notes take time!

Writing your study notes during the holidays definitely isn’t a good use of your time — this is the time you should spend studying i.e. going through your notes and memorising content!

And like we said before, you’ve only got 60 hours if you start during the holidays — half of that, if not more, will be chewed up by writing your study notes!

For content heavy subjects, study notes are KEY, if not, pretty important for all subjects!

Take the time to build up your study notes week by week. 

The best way you can do this is by writing up your study notes each night after you’ve had your class. 

Get it all down while it’s fresh — use the syllabus but also your class notes and textbook to put them together. 

Need some help writing effective study notes?

We’ve got the ultimate guide to writing effective HSC study notes just for you right here!

Reason #3: You’ll be busy focussing on your Term 2 assessment

Trust me when I say this, you’ll be so focussed on your Term 2 assessment that you won’t even THINK about Trials until the holidays — but it’s too late by then!

You need to dedicate time this term to both preparing for your Term 2 assessment but also preparing for Trials. 

You’ll definitely thank yourself later when you’ve spent the term doing regular amounts of study for Trials by the time holidays hit because you’ll just be doing easy revision!

To put it into perspective, your assessment this term will be worth somewhere between 20 to 25% whereas your Trials will be worth 30% of your internal marks!

That’s basically over half of your internal marks pending on how well you do this term!

That means you should be putting some pretty equal amount of effort into both preparing for your assessments in Term 2 but your Trials as well!

Reason #4: You need to leave time for procrastination

Yes, you heard me right — leave time for procrastination!

Procrastination is pretty inevitable, we don’t always get what we want to get done, and that’s okay. 

One way we can manage our procrastination is by deliberately leaving time to procrastinate. 

If we start studying for Trials now, we’re leaving a good buffer for procrastination time. 

Attempting to study for 1 hour a night, 4 nights a week is a good start — if you miss a night it won’t be a big deal compared to if it were the holidays.

If you start studying for Trials during the holidays, let’s be realistic, you’re probably going to spend those first few days, if not the whole first week relaxing, going out and catching up on some TV shows.

Now you wake up and it’s the second week of the holidays… sh*t. You’ve got 1 week to get your act together, cram and study for your Trials.

So, why not start studying now and factor in the procrastination time!

Reason #5: You need to build up your long-term memory 

Cramming right before Trials might seem like a good idea but you’re actually cheating yourself in the long run. 

It means you’ll end up studying more later.

How?

A little thing called your short term memory! Cramming is only effective to build up your short term memory. 

Did you know that your short term memory can hold information for about 18 to 30 seconds whereas your long term memory can hold information indefinitely?!

The process of reviewing and revising every so often is what builds up your long term memory. 

And so, to remember things in the long run i.e. for HSC Trials AND your HSC exams, building up your long term memory works best. 

If you take the time to spend weeks learning content for your HSC Trials, you’re more likely to remember it later for your HSC exams, which actually means less studying later!

How to Create an Awesome HSC Trials Study Plan

So, I’ve laid down all the reasons you should start studying now, but where do you begin?

Not to worry, we’ve got our ultimate 30 day HSC Trials study plan that you can check out here!

You can also watch us break down how to study for Trials below! Check it out!

Step #1: Set a Goal Mark

Write down the goal mark you’d like to achieve in your HSC Trials for each of your subjects.

This is important because without a goal mark, you won’t be able to tell how much you need to do to prepare for your HSC Trials and HSC exams.

When setting your goal mark, add some stretch!

For example, if your goal mark is 80, aim for 85! If It’s 70, let’s aim for 75!

Step #2: Write a to-do list

Now, write a to-do list for each of your subjects that includes everything you need to do to prepare for HSC Trials.

This will make you feel less anxious and overwhelmed by getting everything that’s currently in your head onto paper!

PLUS we’re making all of these thoughts actionable! Meaning they’re no longer just thoughts, we’re going to act on them!

Now think about the time-frame in which you’ll need to complete things on your to-do list.

Make a weekly map where you take your to-do list and prioritise what happens in what week leading up to Trials. 

In this way, you’re identifying milestones of what you need to complete and when.

Step #3: Create a wall chart

Now that you’ve got everything on a timeline, print it out and stick it on your wall! This is your wall chart.

If you stick it up on your wall, it’s visible, it’s no longer sitting as a file in your folder on your laptop where it’s out of sight and out of mind. 

Every time you complete something, cross it off and it’ll become a real-time progress bar on how you’re actually going in preparing for your HSC Trials.

This will motivate you and create a sense of urgency!

And that wraps up why studying for HSC Trials NOW is the secret to succeeding in the HSC.

Best of luck!

Are you looking for some extra help during the HSC?

We have an incredible team of HSC tutors and mentors!

We can help you master your HSC subject and ace your upcoming HSC assessments with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home or at our state of the art campus in Hornsby or the Hills!

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We’ve supported over 8,000 students over the last 11 years, and on average our students score mark improvements of over 20%!

To find out more and get started with an inspirational HSC tutor and mentor, get in touch today or give us a ring on 1300 267 888!

Momoko Metham is currently the Digital Marketing Manager at Art of Smart Education, having previously held roles as a Digital Content Coordinator in 2018 and an Academic Tutor and Mentor since 2017. She is currently in her final year of a Media and Communications degree at the University of Sydney with a double major in Marketing and Spanish and Latin American Studies. Momoko’s writing has been published in Archer Magazine, Dynamic Business and Honi Soit and she was the General Editor of the ARNA Literary Journal in 2019.