Today we will take a look at the Syllabus and past HSC questions. We want to really identify how questions are asked. The idea of the video is not to predict future questions but rather understand the types of questions that may be asked and how the board of studies has implemented the glossary of terms within these questions
We need to first acknowledge that all the questions you are about to see are the property of the board of studies and are only being used for educational purposes.
We would hope that teachers can use this video in one of a couple of ways. To showcase the different types of questions that might be asked and to also provide students with practise questions to receive feedback. If you are a student, feel free to pause the video throughout and utilise the past HSC questions to practise. Don’t forget your teachers love receiving all these extra questions to mark…
Let’s start with the glossary of terms.
Knowing the glossary of key terms is fundamental. It is really a guide for you as a student to help structure your answers as well as knowing how much depth to go into in each question. You can find a list of the glossary of terms on the Board of studies website or – even better – you could review your syllabus and look at the learn to columns to see what glossary terms are used.
So for this video we have broken apart the improving performance syllabus – dot point by dot point to show you every question that has been asked in the HSC since 2010. Just a point to remember, there are only 20 marks allocated every year (which generally equates to 3 questions per exam) to this option so it is important to know all areas comprehensively as questions could come from any area of the syllabus.
So let’s begin by looking at the first dot point. We’re going to look at this as Training types and it has all 5 options listed. Remember when you are studying this area you only need to know two of these types of training. As you can see, only one question recently has been asked in this section. The question itself asked for types, meaning more than one, so make sure you do your research and prepare for questions that will ask for knowledge in multiple areas.
In the next dot point, initial planning considerations, the two questions that have been asked come straight from the learn to column, almost word for word. Again, we stress the importance of knowing your syllabus.
The next dot point has had questions that specifically focus on periodisation. Two different styles of questions have been asked and both require a lot of thought and planning before answering.
Moving onto the dot point elements to be considered when designing a training session, you can see two 12 mark questions have been recently used. For this particular dot point, knowledge, detail and examples are key. I teach my classes to relate this to sports they play, especially if they play at a high level as they are likely to be doing this in their own training sessions without even realising. As part of your notes, be sure to adapt the content to a sport of your choice.
As you can see from the planning to avoid overtraining dot point, it has been a popular choice for questions. Two 12 mark questions and one 8 mark question means that you need to know and this area quite well. Knowing physiological and psychological considerations isn’t enough. You need to be able to analyse overtraining by considering these areas, identifying someone who is potentially overtraining, what to do in this situation and how to avoid it.
Again the use of drugs dot point has been popular as it is a larger dot point that covers a wide variety of content. As you can see the most recent question has asked for the advantages and disadvantages, however this is slightly different to the syllabus terminology that has been used which asks you to learn about the benefits and limitations. Essentially it’s the same, however in the stress of exam environment make sure you read the question, plan and then answer.
And finally the last dot point relating to technology and sport has seen two questions recently. Again the questions are related to the learn to column without using the exact terminology. Therefore your revision needs to be thorough and you need to put thought, time and planning into your answer for a question from this area of the syllabus.
Remember you can pause the video at any stage and utilise this resource to practise answering HSC questions.