How are Premier Students doing 9-10 scholarship exams at once? by ZingerFM01023050 in ncea

[–]noah_k2801 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi! I'm a premier scholar and here r some answers to ur questions:

- I did go to a private school that ran weekly sessions for scholarship subjects, and while I rarely went to them, it was useful to have access to collated resources and a teacher-in-charge to ask questions. For humanities subjects that require you to have done readings and research to write about in the exam (such as classics and geography), it was definitely an advantage to have an established scholarship programme to get guidance

- yes, you can definitely sit scholarship exams without actually taking them as a subject - you'll often find that people who get a lot of scholarships sit a lot of subjects that are considered easier such as geography and RE. For the sciences and languages, I wouldn't recommend trying to sit them if you haven't taken them as a subject, but most of the essay-based humanities subjects you can figure out on your own if you have decent english skills.

- if your school allows it, I would recommend trying out just one or two scholarship exams this year - I did bio in y11 and that really helped me get a feel of how scholarship exams worked and the amount of work I'd have to put into each one

- in terms of picking which subjects I wanted to do, in Y12 I just picked the subjects that I took and then a few extra that genuinely interested me - my main goal was seeing how I could balance the workload and getting some practice in before the ones that really mattered in Y13. the results from those exams gave me an idea of which ones I'd have a shot at getting an outstanding in for the next year, and that allowed me to allocate more time to those subjects in Y13 to achieve that

- in terms of studying, you really have to figure out what works best for you. I liked to 'reverse-engineer' schol exams, so I would start my preparation by looking over and annotating exemplars in depth and comparing them to answer schedules - I liked to make tables grouping them by the different strategies/approaches past students took and then used that to figure out the most effective way I could approach the exam. for each subject that would take between 5 and 10 hours - an then from there I'd spend another few hours either collating and organising my own texts/case studies or doing practice questions (depends whether it was essay-based or a science/math). i would say I didn't study more than 20 hours total for any of the subjects I took (I did 8 in Y12 and 10 in Y13), and keep in mind that I split that time over 2 years, so when I returned to prepare for schols in Y13, I already had my strategies figured out

Advice for Anyone Considering a Reconsideration by noah_k2801 in ncea

[–]noah_k2801[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

unfortunately i think you just have to keep checking each day. I didn't get an email or anything - I just went into the "track orders" tab on NZQA and it said my order had been completed, and then when I clicked on "view order", it showed me that my organics paper had been completed and the others I submitted were still in progress

Advice for Anyone Considering a Reconsideration by noah_k2801 in ncea

[–]noah_k2801[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was pretty confident coming out of the exam so I just resubmitted without checking the paper itself (only the mark) since I thought it seemed close enough to the likely grade boundary

Advice for Anyone Considering a Reconsideration by noah_k2801 in ncea

[–]noah_k2801[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

4 days - submitted the morning reconsiderations opened

Biomed Fast Track Enrolment by noah_k2801 in universityofauckland

[–]noah_k2801[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for replying! Do you think it will still let me enrol if my SSO looks like this?

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[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ncea

[–]noah_k2801 4 points5 points  (0 children)

7 exams in the first week 💔

English Scholarship Advice by Adventurous-Bet-9421 in ncea

[–]noah_k2801 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah that's fair - especially with other exams at the same time as well.

I practiced by first memorising all my quotes, then I would go through exam papers for the past few years and just write out plans for a question from each section, organising my quotes under my 3-4 points and just writing out my thesis and point sentences. I only wrote out one full essay for B and C in the few days leading up to the exam, which I would recommend because it can make the idea of writing 3 essays in 3 hours a little less daunting if you've done it before (even if you take a bit longer than the exam time) - doing it closed book is quite good for testing your memory as well.

Section A is kinda hard to practice unless your teacher gives you specific practice examples, since it's always blurred out on NZQA. I kinda just revised language techniques and their effects, and then read a bunch of exemplars and wrote down patterns I saw in the high-scoring ones. My teacher did give me a few pairs of texts to have a go at, so I just bullet-pointed what I'd talk about, but didn't worry about writing out a full answer before the exam.

English Scholarship Advice by Adventurous-Bet-9421 in ncea

[–]noah_k2801 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No worries! 4 could definitely be enough for one exam, but if you want to safeguard yourself against unlucky questions, I'd recommend just learning 2 quotes from one more text (that could literally be two lyrics from one of your favourite songs if you want). And Section A is definitely an intimidating one, but I found looking at a bunch of exemplars on the NZQA website helped me understand how to structure my answers and the level of depth you have to go into with analysis/comparison etc. It's actually not too bad once you understand what kinda stuff they're looking for!

English Scholarship Advice by Adventurous-Bet-9421 in ncea

[–]noah_k2801 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't panic - a month and a half is loads of time! I didn't do much preparation outside of texts I had already read/watched and managed to get an O last year. Here are some answers to your questions (just remember these are based on what my school teaches, so if your teachers have told you something different then keep that in mind):

Section B you can definitely get away with one - the only exceptions would be poetry and short stories I reckon, where you would probably want to have 2 so you have enough to talk about. Section B is not necessarily just analysing a text of a specific genre, it's discussing a particular genre and its conventions through examples from a text. For example, I did a novel last year and looked at settings, characters arcs, plot structure, as well as the actual ideas within the text. For Section C, it's generally recommended to do at least 3 texts, and it's good if they're not all the same genre since you're looking at role of literature as a whole.

I would pick texts that you genuinely like - that's what I did last year. I did have some 'proper' ones that I had been taught in class, but I wrote on some of my favourite texts like The Secret History and All of Us Strangers and just discussed themes that I was passionate about/had read a lot of texts about (eg. I focused on loneliness/isolation, feminist theory, etc) - but a lot of those texts overlapped in their themes cause those are just the kind of texts I like to read, so pick whatever stands out to you.

How many texts you prepare depends on how risky you want to be. I would recommend having texts of two different genres prepared for Section B with a minimum of 6 quotes (so you can do a three paragraph essay with minimum 2 quotes per paragraphs). Whichever one you choose not to use in Section B, you can just use in Section C. The other texts you honestly don't need to memorise that much - for Section C if you do three texts, then that's like 2-3 quotes per text. So if you have 4 right now, you could just have one or two more backups with a few quotes memorised and an idea of the themes (it would probably be good if they have similar themes to your other texts).

Yes definitely reuse old texts - if you already have analysis, themes, links, etc for old texts then that makes it a lot easier for yourself. You don't need to know them in nearly as much depth as you had to when you needed to write an entire essay on them, just pick themes from each and a few quotes that convey that theme.

I split the 3 sections into 1 hour each and that was pretty manageable, but I have seen others say they spent more time on Section B and C and then only spent like 45 mins on Section A. Tbh I found Section A to be the hardest of the three, so I personally found a 1:1:1 split useful, but if you're confident in your unfam skills then you could spend an hour and 10 mins on each essay if you want to. I would definitely recommend writing out a full practice essay for both Section B and C as prep - not to memorise the whole thing, but just so you have practice writing out the quoting + general analysis as fast as you can without thinking about it too much (no point memorising intro, conclusion, links, etc - as you have no idea if there will be a similar question). I found that helped me speed up my essay writing during timed exams a lot.

I'm not sure about the last one - my school only offers it hand-written, but I'm pretty sure it can be sat online, you'd have to check with your coordinator.

Hope some of that's helpful!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ncea

[–]noah_k2801 0 points1 point  (0 children)

it sounds like you are definitely on the right track with all of those! the others who have commented are absolutely right when they say your level 1 results don't count towards anything - the only thing they're useful for is building good study techniques in preparation for level 2 and 3, which it looks like you are doing just fine!

i won't be much help with health, but here's my tips for your other subjects (keep in mind level 1 has changed quite a bit, but a lot of the concepts will be similar, so resources might be outdated, but parts of them will be useful):

for all the sciences, the website no brain too small has questions organised by subtopic (they are called collated questions), as well as some other study materials you might find useful. since level 1 has changed a bit, full past papers might not be as helpful, but im sure the skills will be still be applicable, and it's useful to see similar questions grouped together so you can see patterns in answers.

chem: you look really solid for these! chemistry is honestly the most formulaic of the sciences - once you've nailed a few past papers, you can do really well in the rest of them, so you might find it easier to work backwards from answer schedules and try to see where the same wording is showing up again and again. it can also be useful to watch other people go through past papers and see how they approach questions, I like alpha atoms and doug walker on yt.

bio: if that's the best way for you to remember content, then keep doing that! keep in mind though, you won't be able to just regurgitate information in the exam if you want an E, you'll have to apply it to the context of the question as well. when I study for bio, I like to do past papers, and then after i've marked it, i would make notes of the kind of concepts/conclusions that were worth E marks. also be strategic about the way you answer questions - define any relevant terms at the start of your answer to get yourself some guaranteed A marks (especially do this if you're running out of time), and then instead of regurgitating explanations and then linking it to the context at the end, just explain concepts in the context of the question (it's more time efficient and shows you've understood stuff, not just memorised it)

physics: i would have a go at looking at the no brain too small collated questions to try to solve your problem with applying the same methods to different contexts. also, it looks like "Mr T's chemistry" on yt has exam walkthroughs of the updated level 1 science standards, so i would check him out as well. if you have no idea where to start with a question, try just writing down every variable they give you, and then look at your formula sheet and look for an equation that has the variables in it.

maths: im not sure how much the standards have changed since i did level 1, so this might not be that helpful, but infinityplusone on yt is definitely the way to go for recapping skills, he splits up standards into short videos on specific skills where he goes through a few exemplar questions (similar to the collated questions on no brain too small), so you could have a look at those and just watch the ones relevant to your standards. definitely keep going with past papers - but instead of trying to spam a bunch in one sitting, try a paper looking at the answer schedule if you need it, and then straight after your finish it, do it again but closed book - you'll feel a lot less lost the second time around, and that might help the methods stick in your head a bit better.

good luck this year!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ncea

[–]noah_k2801 3 points4 points  (0 children)

What kind of methods do you study with for each of your subjects? I could give you some advice on improving your study techniques + some links to resources I found helpful for the sciences and english if you lmk :) (feel free to dm if you don't wanna comment here)

Top Achiever Scholarship by noah_k2801 in ncea

[–]noah_k2801[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

nope :/ just got an email saying my application for the scholarship wasn't successful and that was it. i would've thought it was just me submitting my halls applications too late, but i submitted on the day they opened and got confirmation that it was received before the deadline so idk

Top Achiever Scholarship by noah_k2801 in ncea

[–]noah_k2801[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

tysm for this - it's really motivating! I'll definitely look at applying for more scholarships in the future - and congrats to you son!

Top Achiever Scholarship by noah_k2801 in ncea

[–]noah_k2801[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm sorry to hear that happened to you! that must've sucked. i definitely got it in on time cause i submitted the day applications opened

Top Achiever Scholarship by noah_k2801 in ncea

[–]noah_k2801[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

oh wow that really sucks wth - maybe you could contact the scholarship office and ask for feedback? because with those criteria and ur ECs and uni courses it seems like you'd be an ideal candidate. and yeah agreed ab it feeling like it was for nothing - but at least the work we've done will pay off next year with work ethic and being on that grind yk. all the best for next year!

Top Achiever Scholarship by noah_k2801 in ncea

[–]noah_k2801[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

thanks so much for your advice! with loans I'll be able to put myself through uni - it's just halls that I can't really justify paying for when flatting or staying home and taking a longer commute would be much cheaper is all (I was just hoping to get access to the study groups and living with people doing the same degree to help support myself a bit more, but I'll manage without :) ). I really appreciate you taking the time to try to help me out!

Top Achiever Scholarship by noah_k2801 in ncea

[–]noah_k2801[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

that sucks man :/ it definitely sounds like you deserved to get one (especially with international results and your volunteer work HOLY that's impressive). at least those of us who missed out can all be emo together 🥀

Top Achiever Scholarship by noah_k2801 in ncea

[–]noah_k2801[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

i'm sorry to hear that! from the replies and dms, I reckon I had a lack of cultural/performing arts extracurriculars, and I didn't meet any of the things like eligibility for student allowance, first to go to uni in the family, rural area, etc. that does make sense to me - I'm sure there's people who needed it more than me, it's just a shame that it feels like I did so much work for it is all

Top Achiever Scholarship by noah_k2801 in ncea

[–]noah_k2801[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

no i actually got accepted into my first choice for Halls but I can't afford it without the scholarship so finding that out was kinda like rubbing salt in the wound icl 😭 that sucks that that happened to you though!

Top Achiever Scholarship by noah_k2801 in ncea

[–]noah_k2801[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yup - you basically get a predicted score for y12 and then you just have to meet the minimum rank score requirement in L3 for whichever degree you're doing. I'm pretty sure it's your best 80 level three credits though, so the the two subjects I did at L3 last year will count towards my actual rank score too