I have just recently finished reading Steven Covey’s “The 7 habits of highly effective people” and found it a fascinating read on how, by changing my mindset I can become a more productive person with bigger and better outcomes. Whilst Covey never specifies a particular group of people, I believe that it resonates very well with the HSC, for both students and parents. Some simple tips can help make your HSC campaign better for everyone involved.
1. Become more self -aware regarding our own degree of proactivity by looking at where we focus our time and energy. This ties into our brain based learning idea that people should not reactively focus on their problems and concerns, but rather proactively focus on the things that they have the power to change.
2. Recognise the rules with which you must comply. Students and parents in the HSC often wonder why schools set certain tasks and rules in particular manners. When concerns are raised a formidable solution often comes about. However, when these systems cannot be changed, this is where we see the difference between being proactive and reactive. Proactive people do not let things beyond their control negatively impact their learning. Rather, they accept it and move on. This ensures their focus remains on their Mount HSC campaign.
3. Become a self-disciplined planner. This is perhaps the biggest struggle students face in the HSC, especially during Term 1, where often the link between what is being studied and exams in August and October is not always clear. However, the students who receive the best marks are those who are able to identify what it will take for them to succeed in their subjects and then establish plans that will make these goals happen. This includes scheduling study time (and sticking to them) as well as never finding excuses as to why certain deadlines were not met, but rather taking responsibility and looking to how it can be improved up for next time. As Jesse always says “you can have excuses and you can have results but you can’t have both!”
4. Be prepared. Proactive students complete their homework on time, do their readings and spend enough time working on their assessments and preparing for exams. When an HSC student is prepared this means that they aren’t frantic and stressed in the short-term lead up to their assessments and exams and it also means that we don’t receive calls from parents who are concerned about how their child went once they have gotten their marks back. The correlation between those who we have seen working hard in the office and submitting work to the website and those who perform the best is well established.
These four tips are useful to your HSC but are also useful to every aspect of your life. By shifting the way that you think and act you can make sure that your time is spent doing something meaningful towards achieving your goals, whatever they may be.
HSC CoWorks offers HSC Tuition and HSC Coaching in Sydney across a number of subjects. Our team is made up of a team of HSC experts. Experienced HSC teachers, HSC markers, high achieving ex-students and certified life coaches. We have been a part of successful HSC campaigns since 1996 and in this time we have worked with 1000s of students as they have made the climb up Mount HSC® to get into their dream University course.
