St Aloysius College Newsletter

From the 

Leader of Year 12 Wellbeing

Mrs Rachel O'Connor

The July school holidays are fast approaching and it is important to look back and reflect on what the students have achieved. Congratulations to our First Place Subject recipients for all your hard work and dedication. Congratulations to all students who received  awards.

 

Your sons and daughters are busy completing the last of the term’s assessments tasks and are now also preparing for the Trial Higher School Certificate examination. This is an important time for students to reflect on their needs, both in academic terms and in wellbeing. The school holidays should be a time to be with family and to rejuvenate after a long term, however it is still important that time is allocated to completing class tasks and preparing study notes. Now more than ever, it is important to keep your study routine in place.

 

School holiday hints -

  • Maintain your school timetable throughout the holidays. Start at 9am and finish at 3pm and complete set tasks within this time period. Allow yourself time off in the afternoon to do what you love.
  • Use past papers and get to know the structure of your HSC paper. Most exams are 3 hours long. Learn to navigate it so there are no shock factors when you get to your trials.
  • Hand practice responses to your teacher for marking. Your teacher will be able to provide feedback if you are on the right track and in what areas need strengthening. 
  • Have study sessions with your friends and work independently
  • PLAN NOW for effective study habits. 

I thank you for the continued support of the College  and I wish you all a fantastic holiday. I look forward to the return of our students ready to start a very busy Term 3. 

 

NESA Homepage

  • Glossary of key terms 
  • Access past HSC papers
  • Multiple choice question practice quizzes
  • HSC resources: Standards Materials
  • Key dates and exam timetables
  • Access to the Syllabus for each subject

Study Idea 1

For each dot point in the syllabus, read the notes and activities that you have completed in class and make sure you understand them. If you don’t, make a note of your questions and ask your teacher next lesson.

Study Idea 2

Make summaries of your class notes under each syllabus heading. These summaries will become your study notes so make sure you understand them. Use acronyms, tables, mind maps and dot points to aid in memory recall.

Study Idea 3

Form a habit of self quizzing. When you read your study notes ask yourself questions like:

  • What are the key ideas?
  • What terms or ideas are new to me?
  • How do the ideas relate to what I already know?

Study Idea 4

Another effective way to study is to generate questions for yourself and write down the answers. Check your answers to make sure your judgments of what you know and don’t know are accurate. 

Study Idea 5

Create flashcards of key ideas and concepts for each syllabus dot point. This is a good way of paraphrasing ideas in your own words.

Study Idea 6

Use mnemonic tools. These will help you hold large volumes of new materials in your memory that can be cued for ready recall

Study Idea 7

Plan and prepare responses to practice questions. Hand these in to your teacher for feedback on a regular basis. 

Study Idea 8

Review your feedback. Take corrective feedback and use it to rework and rebuild your learning.

 

Study Idea 9

Reflective writing - download and do a ‘brain dump’ by writing out everything you’ve learned on a topic.