Order! Order! What’s the case? YOU. Yes, another year is almost half way done and it won’t be long until Term Two ends and Term Three brings an end to EVERYTHING. Final assessments will be handed in, marked and recorded for your ATAR count; Major Works will be finished, packaged and sent off for judges to mark; and then, The Trial Exams commence.
The Trials can feel like a courtroom. Those papers will be your jury as you write down your pleas to get that 99.9 ATAR and your teachers will act as the judges with each ‘case’ you sit through. But it doesn’t have to feel this way. Can I just say, I love it when people starting Year 12 ask me, “Is the HSC hard?” because then I can answer, “Look at it this way, you’re only just about to start the course now. Of course it’ll look, feel and seem hard, but by the time Term Three is at your doorstep, you’re finished – you would’ve have learnt everything you need to know for the HCS.”
I find the only reason people get anxious and paranoid about doing well when it comes to the trials is, they think it’s the real thing. It’s not – it’s like the real thing. Those papers are generally harder than the actual paper, but that doesn’t mean you can expect the HSC to be easy. The reason they’re called ‘Trials’ is because you’re trying out the exam. Believe me, you will go through many more of these and yes, they all look and sound the same. You’ll download, be given and buy books of past papers, and I can guarantee all you’ll notice is that they’re all asking you the same kinds of questions. My only advice is, do as many of these past and similar exams until you feel like you’ve got a handle on the structure and type of questions within the trials.
– Anvie.