.webp)
HSC Math Extension 2 is all about developing problem-solving skills, mastering key formulas and applying your knowledge to unfamiliar questions. Here are some practical study tips to help you prepare for assessments effectively and improve your exam technique.
What score did you achieve?
I achieved an overall HSC mark of 96 in HSC Maths Extension 2, with an overall raw internal mark of 89 (without scaling).
How would you advise students to go about organising their notes?
Honestly, I’m not big on taking notes for Maths - unless you’re just starting out with new content and you want to begin to unpack it and understand it. But in most math topics, even in Extension 2, the overall tenets and concepts are relatively simple to understand. I’d say you should be looking more at organising flashcards rather than notes, as this will help massively with memory retention, which is key for topics that are formula-heavy such as Integration and Mechanics.
What is your advice for internal assessments?
For internal assessments - and I cannot stress this enough - speak with your teachers about what they want to see from you in the exam. This can extend to showing a simple line of working out that will get you an extra mark or a mini explanation at the end of a problem explaining how you got to your answer. However, it depends on each school and what the teachers/marking criteria wants and how they choose to mark it, which is why it is imperative that students should do this if they want to do well. In my experience, the main thing that’s important to do well in Math is to just expose yourself to as many questions as possible.
Obviously, you will have to do a couple of questions on the same topic/sub-topic (e.g., partial fractions, which is a sub-topic of Integration) so that you can master the steps and formulas, but this shouldn't take too long and what really matters is exposure, so that you won’t be stumped by any question in an exam. Plus it makes you more adaptable, and even if you don’t get full marks for a question, you can still get partial marks instead of zero. And lastly, practice doing past papers and questions under timed conditions. For instance, you might try solving the first short answer question in 5-10 mins, as this will typically be one of the easier ones, and then try solving the last question in 20-25 mins, as this would be one of the harder, if not the hardest, question. Practicing under these timed conditions forces your brain to stop overthinking and focus on finding the shortest/most efficient way to get the answer, ensuring you’re 100% locked in on the question, as well as getting you used to the high-intensity environment of an actual exam.
What is your advice for exams?
The HSC is no different from an internal school exam - no need to change anything preparation wise, apart from maybe the amount of time you study!
How did you study? What techniques did you use to study?
My approach to studying Maths was simple - I focused on exposure and active recall, rather than spending hours rewriting notes. Once I understood a concept, I’d move straight into doing questions. The more questions I could throw at myself, the better, because this meant I’d rarely get stumped by something unfamiliar in an exam. For the formula-heavy topics like Integration and Mechanics, I used flashcards and did active recall once or twice a day, which had me memorising everything within a couple of weeks. After that, it was just a matter of applying the formulas across as many different questions as I could find.
I also made sure to do past papers under timed conditions as I got closer to exams. This trained me to find the most efficient way to solve a problem and get used to the pressure of an actual exam, so there were no surprises on the day.
My advice would be to not overcomplicate it. Understand the concept, memorise the key formulas through flashcards, then get as much exposure to different questions as possible. And don’t leave timed practice until the last minute - the earlier you get comfortable working under pressure, the better.
Do you have any resources that you used?
Flashcards will be your best friend. I would recommend using this mainly for formulas, however, and using active recall maybe once or twice a day should have you memorising it within 2-3 weeks at the most. In terms of studying, I also happened to receive tutoring for Extension 2 Maths, so I got plenty of resources from there which helped my exposure to different questions. However, if you aren’t receiving tutoring, there was also a good website called 1000 Math Ext 2 Revision questions which was also immensely useful in applying my knowledge to various different questions. And of course, school slides, resources and past papers will also help in training your mind to learn how to solve all kinds of different questions.
How did you balance study with the rest of your life during Year 12?
I think, come Year 12, it really hit me that this was it - the final year I could spend at school was finally here. That kind of served as a motivation to me, because I wanted to do well both academically and experience as much as possible socially as well so I could have the best year overall as a send-off. In order to find this balance, well that’s why I figured I had to learn how to study smarter, not harder as I had done in previous years, which I learned how to do with the various techniques I’ve listed above e.g. exposure, flashcards, active recall, timed conditions. Using these techniques, I was actually able to cut down on some study time and still have a substantial social life, both of which massively contributed to Year 12 being the high school year I was most fond of.
