During my time studying for the HSC, like all students I spent a lot of time studying for my exams – so which methods did I use and which ones were the most effective?

The most common and most traditional method would be repetition, performing the same action repeatedly until you completely master it. While this method has its uses it is probably the most misused and over worked method within education, students repeatedly writing out their essays trying to memorise them or mechanically doing 100 math questions of the exact same format is not effective in the long run as it takes away any thought required to effectively answer questions. What is much more important is understanding the concepts behind what we are doing and understanding when we can apply them – which is why answering a range of questions is much more effective. Students can do this by using past papers (if they are available) and if not completing the topic tests in maths textbooks/writing responses to each of the main themes being explored during english class.

Another key skill is managing your own attention, sitting down for 4+ hours and trying to study effectively from start to finish is a lie we have all told ourselves, and with our phones being with us at all times you will almost always end up scrolling for significant portions. A way to manage this is breaking your work down into blocks or setting smaller achievable goals – such as completing a set amount of short answer/extended response at a time or completing specific pages of questions. Then after each milestone is reached, taking a short break where you can go walk around/have a drink of water and get your mind off studying for a moment, allowing you to reset. Doing this, you can often studing for much longer periods and stay on task much longer – making your study much more efficient.

Charlie Curran