How to ACE Your Exams (99.95 ATAR Tips)

[@Vigilante2011]

You just pointed out everything that I've been doing wrong with active recall. Thank you! This is pure gold!

[@ArcherNewton]

Hi Jason! Really glad it helped! Definitely please let me know any other questions if end up having any questions! :)

[@hungnguyenquoc9487]

Hello Archer, I am a year 12 who is prepping for my external examinations, which are in the upcoming weeks! I absolutely love you videos and I use it as my reward between my study breaks. So thank you so so much!

[@ArcherNewton]

That's really cool! Thank you for your comment and best of luck for your externals! You got this! 💪

[@hi-hc3ms]

how did your exams go ?

[@hungnguyenquoc9487]

@@hi-hc3ms hi mate, i studied in qld and my atar was 99.80. I am studying med at griffith uni

[@alfie6952]

Great video mate! Just about to commence my first round of Yr11 ATAR exams and this is just what I needed to see as I have been applying many of these preparation concepts already and you prove that they work when applied correctly. Thanks again and good luck at med school!

[@ArcherNewton]

Cheers! Best of luck :)

[@yathprem]

Man you come across so confident and the value you're providing here is so to the point! Whilst I have no purpose for this video I stayed for it entirely because you were v gripping! You're going to be going huge dude! 🤟🏾

[@ArcherNewton]

Hi Yath! Thanks so much!!! haha yeah the ATAR is our version of A levels. P.S. This is the video I smashed out in a day!

[@sandyseetharaman4068]

Hiiiee Archer Me being a yr 9 student feeling inspired to try and get a good ATAR and go to medical school tysm for this video I feel very happy and less scared. I do have anxiety towards exams but learning these tips hopefully I can achieve well. I just don't wanna jinx it

[@ArcherNewton]

Thanks for the comment Sandy! All the best in the future :)

[@theheirofslytherin33]

Thank you! Will apply all of this for my SPM exams!!

[@ArcherNewton]

good luck!!

[@wyonnapaul4575]

Really appreciate this, thank you very much !

[@ArcherNewton]

Thank you :)

[@nigmo9227]

Fantastic video, this is gonna help a bunch.

[@ArcherNewton]

Thank you, glad it helps!!

[@drtao8325]

Hi Archer, I am studying NCEA in New Zealand. Can you tell me whether all my English NCEA level 3 credits will be counted towards my ATAR regardless of if I have better credits from other subjects?

[@coreyking212]

Hey Archer :) You mention your strategy for preparing for an exam, but how did you prepare for SACs? You can't really use past exams, did you use checkpoints or some other resource? Thank you :) Corey

[@ArcherNewton]

Hey Corey! I used past tests and exam revision guides for practice questions - but you're right, there's a limited supply of questions. This means it's super important to build your understanding as much as you can when learning, without practice questions. Because you can't rely on them as they won't always be around and there won't always be good valuable questions. Hope that helps :)

[@SARAH-qb7yc]

VCE exam starts next week, good luck and thank you for the advice. Do you have any tips for chemistry, and a bit struggling with redox and electrolysis questions?

[@ArcherNewton]

Hi Sarah! No problem, what specifically are you having trouble with redox and electrolysis?

[@SARAH-qb7yc]

@@ArcherNewton writing equations form the cell, and how to write them as it’s sometimes molten and solution,😐

[@ArcherNewton]

@@SARAH-qb7yc Mostly it just comes down to understanding each step and why you are doing it and that will help out the most. I'm doing the same stuff right now and that's what I depend on.

[@nickjacobs829]

Chairman Approved

[@ArcherNewton]

niceee

[@GoAheadShaun]

thanks arch

[@ArcherNewton]

Cheers!

[@chrispmathematics]

@GoAheadShaun don't disappoint the video kid

[@makh8782]

Hello archer :) thank u soo much for such great videos. Absolutely helpful. I wanna ask you if solving sample questions before understanding the lesson would boost my learning?

[@ArcherNewton]

Thank you Touma!!! Not particularly sure what you're exactly explaining but what I'm gathering is that you're asking if doing the sample questions before learning actually how to do them would boost your learning? If that's the case, 100%, one of the best ways of learning is by doing and it will make it a lot more memorable and concrete for you because you solved it yourself without having to learn a specific instructional method to solve it the first time. Let me know if you meant something different and I hope that helps, please let me know any other questions that you have!

[@amaligadd532]

What app were you using during the scoping the subject part of the video with a checklist?

[@ArcherNewton]

Hi there, I think you're talking about Notion :)

[@methods_9952]

Hello, I’m entering year 10 and I need advice. What did you do in Yr10? Study tips? Study schedule? Also I need some math tips and how to advance in it. One last thing how do you manage to write and essay in 1hr. THANK YOU SO MUCH. (I’m trying to enter med school btw) once again thank you 🙏

[@ArcherNewton]

Hi there! In year 10 I started learning more about how to learn so that I could study smarter and not harder since I almost reached burnout in year 10. A lot of my videos on this channel go into the techniques I learnt about in year 10 and they are definitely the best scientific strategies I've found. I do need to make a video about how to study for maths but the main idea is to really understand the fundamental building blocks of what makes up the maths concepts that you're learning, you need to understand why things are the way they are and always be thinking about how you go about particular problems. One good way is attempting problems first on your own before learning how to do that problem. In year 10 you can often do quite well by just learning how to solve particular maths problems, rinse and repeat. However, once you get into higher years, the questions get much harder and you will often see questions you've never seen before, so it really requires you to understand the underlying concepts so you can apply them. Depends what essay you have to write really, whether is pre-rehearsed or responding to a text that you see within that 1 hour too. It's too difficult for me to respond to that question without some more detail. Best of luck and keep studying hard, but even smarter! Hope that helps, please let me know any other questions that you have!

[@methods_9952]

@@ArcherNewton wow, thank you so much you’re really genuine. You’re a real one ❤️

[@methods_9952]

@@ArcherNewtonits most likely going to be a text response within an hour. Can you please dot point the things that helped you overall to achieve such an amazing atar? For example study timetable, how you studied, how you took notes cause I’m also trying to get into medical school. Btw I’m a really hard working student and once again thank you for your time. Best wishes bro

[@ArcherNewton]

@@methods_9952 Hi again! Yeah basically all of those questions are the common questions that I get so I've made videos for all of them on this channel :) You can check them all out and I'll be happy to follow up any questions you may have 😃

[@methods_9952]

@@ArcherNewton hi Archie, if you can please look up ‘the academic hacker’ on KZbin and view his study timetable. What do you think? Is it better than the traditional retrospective timetable?

[@shahidaa2048]

Thank youu!

[@ArcherNewton]

No worries, hope it helps :)

[@Jessica-jh7ul]

Hey what tablet or iPad are you using?

[@ArcherNewton]

Hi Jessica, the iPad Pro (2018) 11"

[@belakim676]

Hey I find your videos really cool. I am currently in year nine in Australia and I need a 99.90 ATAR to get into the course I want to do. What could I do now that would help me in the future? Thank you loads for making such incredible videos :)

[@ArcherNewton]

Hi there! That's awesome to hear :) I would study hard but also smart. What I mean by this is to invest in your education and learning how to learn yourself which is a huge skill which will allow you to separate your performance from the rest. Already thinking about this stuff early is a great start. Keep it up! Hope that helps, please let me know any other questions that you have!

[@polar5636]

Are you in yr 9 this year or were you last year??

[@delrheacastelino4788]

Hi, I really wanted help, I'm a year 11 student who took chemistry, methods, human bio, psychology, English and korean. I pretty much was on the verge of the failing if not completely fail for this half of the year, so now I don't know how to get myself back up and get my atar back up, please help me

[@ArcherNewton]

Hi Delrhea, I know it may be quite hard at this time but realise that this is just learning about what's not working which means now you know what's not working and use that knowledge to focus on what else can help. This is the main reason I teach study techniques because they're genuinely just so much more reliable than normal techniques. I hope this helps. If you need any other help, please DM me on Instagram and I'm really happy to help!

[@TTTTTTTTT853]

Hey Archer, do you still need to make notes at all? I know that active recall is a far better way of studying than rereading notes, but if so, do you still need to learn the content through writing notes at the first place, or just learn it though active recall?

[@ArcherNewton]

Hi Tony, there are much better ways of writing notes like mindmaps which take the good from taking notes and gets rid of all of the bad (lack of focus on building relationships, not processed etc), effective note taking facilitates the processing of information but unfortunately not many people write effective notes

[@Mindfultherapy_12]

Hey, I just need tips for year 11 I am already stressed out because I wanna go to the medicine field and to get there I need a good atar. I chose maths advanced which is okay and chemistry which is HARd and biology which is OKAY.💀

[@ArcherNewton]

Hi Victoria, I'll answer this in your other comment :)

[@Mindfultherapy_12]

@@ArcherNewton 😅

[@samuraigorilla2311]

my man has newton in his name

[@ArcherNewton]

hahaha yep

[@christabelquarshie9857]

Exams in less than three weeks should week should I make questions and answer them

[@ArcherNewton]

Yes of course, asking questions to yourself and creating problems to solve will definitely improve your retention and understanding of what you have to study. Let me know how it goes and any other questions you may have!

[@encly3881]

Do U not think that learning about content (E.g. amino acids) and then putting that info into your own words/making your own summary notes of the topic is helpful throughout the year? Or do you think just doing questions is better??

[@ArcherNewton]

Summary notes does allow for further processing of the material, however there are far more effective ways to further interleave and process the information, in a way that leads to better encoding into your long-term memory. One of the first ways of doing this is by finding relationships between pieces of information which can be done through careful and deliberated questions that search for 'Why is it important?' and 'how does concept X relate to Y'. Memory is built of relationships. What you've mentioned so far is pretty basic and extremely popular - it has been rated as 'low utility' many times in scientific literature. For example, Dunlosky's studies.

[@aquarxus4894]

With the advice about maths, I found that I was doing thousands of maths questions but not getting the grades I wanted, so next time should I be selective on questions and time myself

[@aquarxus4894]

When pre learning for a maths subject, how do u teach urself it ? KZbin videos? Then what textbook questions would u attempt? The hard questions then the easy questions? I find that I can never learn content in class without having time to review it beforehand. Also what do u do when u don’t know the answer to a question? Would u search for KZbin on a similar method?

[@aquarxus4894]

And how often did u study for maths? And when would u backtrack? To incorporate spaced repetition

[@ArcherNewton]

Hi Aquarxus, yeah so you should always be picking the questions that you think are going the the most rewarding and useful to you. However, you shouldn't time yourself if you're not already confident with the questions untimed. There is little point in testing yourself timed if you can't do the questions untimed, it just wastes the learning opportunity from that question that you attempt. Thanks!

[@ArcherNewton]

I hadn't 'pre-learned' for maths, I just always look at various extra resources whenever I'm learning something so I can find the easiest information to understand. I look at things like wikipedia, khan academy, lumen learning and sometimes youtube videos. I tend to prefer to read information at my own pace so I can pause and think about what is being said to try and create connections between the concepts being discussed. I wouldn't do textbook questions before learning a topic. You should do easier questions before doing harder questions when learning because you don't know the content well enough. For studying for a test/exam you should always be challenging yourself. If you're currently knowledge is about half of what you want it to be, you should be attempting medium-high difficulty questions to make your brain think. It can be futile if you waste time doing easy questions when you already know the answer. However, if you don't know the answer to an easy question, then you should do that because that shows a weakness in your understanding. I often don't really understand content within a class, there's just not enough time. I just focus on learning and fully understanding stuff post-class. When you don't know the answer to question, you first need to try your hardest to try draw on some concept to have a good attempt. The act itself of just taking an attempt can make your brain 'click' and then you find the answer through trial and error of different methods. However, if you just don't know, I would then look at my notes and try again. If I really can't get it, I just check the answers and try and see why I could not get this answer, figure out what I need to do next time, how can I make sure that this mistake never happens again and how can i get the most learning value out of this question. You could go to KZbin to find out how to answer those particular questions, but it's much better if you can figure out the process yourself to answer maths questions because you'll find a way that makes sense to you. Hope that helps, please let me know any other questions that you have!

[@ArcherNewton]

I studied for maths pretty regularly. I backtracked every week on the weekend when I attempted exam level questions for the content that I was looking at. This meant that by the time exams came I already knew all the concepts well enough that they just need a little brush-up and polish. I knew the basics of all the concepts so I never had to completely reteach myself something. That's why it's also quite useful to learn something 100% properly for the first time so that when you have an exam you're not learning something for the first time.

[@zacrasheed4522]

99.9

[@XmapOCE]

Hey mate, appreciate this video, I’ve recently entered into year 12. This video is a great way for me to start, but I have a quick question, should I base all my notes off the syllabus or is their other sources you would recommend.

[@ArcherNewton]

Hi Mete! Thank you :) Yeah you should but you should always consult different sources of information to understand the content in more depth. The syllabus won't show all the detail, it'll just tell you what you can be examined on. Hope that helps, please let me know any other questions that you have!

[@awexom7553]

What subjects did you do in year 12? And which state are you from

[@ArcherNewton]

Hi, I’m from South Australia and I did these year 12 subjects: Specialist Mathematics Mathematical Methods English Psychology Biology Physics Research Project Music: Solo Performance Music: Ensemble Performance Uni: 2 x subjects If you have any other questions, please let me know :)

[@awexom7553]

@@ArcherNewton thanks for the reply! What were your top four subjects

[@ArcherNewton]

@@awexom7553 Can't particularly remember, but I think it was Physics, English, Methods/Spec

[@mr.m1154]

Are you truely happy?

[@ArcherNewton]

Yeah man - I feel good

[@evan.5967]

ARe you HSC or VCE?

[@ArcherNewton]

SACE :)

[@evan.5967]

@@ArcherNewton Oh okay thanks

[@socialgrowthmax]

you need video editor???

[@ArcherNewton]

Always looking for more :)

[@socialgrowthmax]

@@ArcherNewton am level 1 saler on fiverr..

[@ArcherNewton]

@@socialgrowthmax fcpx?

[@socialgrowthmax]

My fb plz message me.. For more details

[@theheirofslytherin33]

Thank you! Will apply all of this for my SPM exams!!

[@ArcherNewton]

good luck!!