Up until now our ‘Zoom an Expert’ service provided students with access to our amazing teachers Fergus, Tim and Adrian. We have now expanded our Zoome an Expert team to include our expert HSC Coaches, who graduated in either 2019 or 2020.

2. Book your preferred Expert via the Student Dashboard

We are excited to announce our latest engagement feature of the HSC CoWorks student portal with the introduction of ‘achievement badges’! 

Students are now awarded achievement badges for reaching specific milestones with their output produced and overall engagement with the HSC CoWorks program. The more badges earned the closer a student will be towards achieving their HSC goals. Badges also help foster feelings of accomplishment and encourage students to keep working towards their goals with smaller rewards along the journey to the top of Mount HSC.

Every time a student submits work for expert feedback they will be making progress towards building their badge collection. Submissions of draft essays/reports/depth study/major works, multiple choice, short answer questions, Essay Building Templates, challenge questions, planning pads, mind map pads as well as maintaining a streak or being a top point scorer in a 24hr period are all badge earning opportunities. 

 We have nine different types of standard achievement badges covering all aspects of students’ opportunities to engage with the CoWorks program and prepare for assessment tasks and the exam room. We also have custom ‘Challenge’ badges at different stages of the HSC journey to keep students engaged in specific ways across the HSC journey.

In conjunction with the launch or our new Achievement Badges we also have two challenge badges for students to work towards over the summer break with our December Christmas Badge and our January Summer Badge. To earn these badges, the target is a modest 500-point target which is highly achievable for all students and an important step towards making the most of an extended period away from the school classroom. 

While it is important students take a break to recharge the batteries after a long and challenging 2020, it is equally important that students use these holidays effectively to prepare for their final three terms of schooling. Students who don’t allocate at least a part of their summer break towards preparing for a big 2021 will be left playing catch up from the first term starting in late January. Most students will quickly move into assessments and exams early into Term 1 so at a minimum these two Challenge Badges should be earned by all students.

Challenge #1: The ‘Christmas Badge’ will be awarded to students who generate 500 points between December 1st and December 25th. Students will also earn 10 BONUS MARKING CREDITS towards Trial Exam submissions in July/August. 

Challenge #2: The ‘Summer Badge’ will be awarded to students who generate 500 points from the 1st of January to the 31st of January. Students will also earn 10 BONUS MARKING CREDITS towards Trial Exam submissions in July/August. 

Students can earn points towards these two ‘Challenge Badges’ through:

Achievement badges have proven to be a highly effective source of motivation and engagement for students to work towards as they make their way to the top of Mount HSC with these two achievement badges also providing the extra reward of additional marking credits for use later in the year. 

Check out our Summer Study Guide for suggestions on what students should be working on over the summer break and how they can earn 500 points and achieve their Summer and Christmas Badges.

We wish all HSC CoWorks families a relaxing and restful holiday period and look forward to seeing all students achieve these two challenge badges as part of their preparation for a big 2021. 

Happy Holidays!

Across the globe there is a virtual learning revolution going on with millions of students from Kindergarten through to University completing their learning via Zoom and other similar platforms. 

While face to face school largely returned to normal fairly quickly for our students across Sydney and NSW, University lectures and tutorials for our team of coaches were mostly delivered virtually through to the end of this current semester and from all accounts the virtual delivery of university courses will continue into 2021 and beyond with a ‘blended’ university experience across virtual and face to face learning. 

Given the changing world of university and work that our students will be entering into and the enormous efficiencies for students, parents, coaches and teachers HSC CoWorks will continue to offer a range of Virtual Coaching opportunities for our students including a full virtual campus for students who are happy to work from the comfort of their home or cannot attend one of our physical campuses by attending only virtual sessions. 

We have a dedicated team of virtual coaches and teachers who are available across the week to support our students outside of their allocated sessions to receive coaching and support as they need it.

‘Zoom a teacher’

Book a call with one of our highly experienced HSC teachers to receive support and improve understanding for a current topic or English text or to get extra support for an upcoming assessment task. Calls typically go for 15 – 20 minutes and are focused on improving thinking and building confidence to allow the student to move forward. The teachers have a range of times available for students to book these calls.

Have you got your vision board? What’s in store?

Completing revision exercises proactively in the month of June will significantly increase a students ability to increase output leading into July. If a student has consistently taken action (as little as 20 minutes per day) towards being ready for the heavily weighted Trial Exams starting on August 17th they will be able to stay calm, composed and feel in control as the exams get closer and closer. 

At HSC CoWorks we are always working to support your child with their existing and subject specific challenges as well as making progress towards being able to operate successfully and independently in the face of the challenges of the Trial Exams and final HSC exams.

We use the Measured Performance score (effort, engagement and output score) and streak activity (daily training/output) to monitor student progress in this area. For the student who is able to maintain reasonable Measured Performance of 30 – 35+ and have regular streak activity, they will be in a MUCH stronger position and be more prepared for the exam room.

If students in the month of June can be producing the additional output and doing 20 minutes of daily revision (brain training) of previously completed topics they will be at a significant advantage to those who need to build momentum from a low base without the structure of school in the holidays and with so many other competing agendas vying for their attention such as school sport, socialising, social media and anything else that looks more attractive than studying!

Click here to read the feature.

Particularly as we approach the main HSC events, including the trial examinations and final HSC exam block, students need to prioritise completing tasks online across all over their subjects and topics.

Not only does completing online tasks enable them to apply their content and practice exam-style questions, the marker feedback that we provide on their work acts as an invaluable support for students in improving the quality of their work.

There are many factors that contribute to the achievement of an amazing HSC result. The only factor, however, that you simply cannot go without if you want to achieve such a result is hard work.

Continued focus and effort will maximise a student’s chance of success in the greatest way possible.

Commit to the process. Put in the work. Results will soon follow.