First in State
Congratulations to our Alumna, Milly Simpson, who topped Modern History in the 2024 HSC and was keen to share her tips for exam success.
Milly attributes her result to 韩国AV's collaborative learning environment, the exceptional support of her teachers, and the strength of her Modern History cohort.
"Everyone obviously studies independently, but coming together was so helpful," she explained. "We all made shared documents and essay plans. We'd sit together with our whiteboard, collaborating on different ways of interpreting things. You want your whole cohort to do well, and it feels so much better when you're not competing with each other, but you're all in it together."
This spirit of collaboration proved particularly valuable in mastering source analysis, where success depends more on conceptual understanding than memorisation. Milly said she developed her own strategic approach to the three-hour exam, alternating between essays and short answers to maintain clear thinking throughout.
She particularly wanted to pay tribute to her teacher, Ms Piera Goh, for providing crucial support during challenging moments. "She was absolutely amazing for me because she was so good at providing encouragement and keeping us calm. In the last year of School, it is so easy to panic but she would slow it down and tell us to work through each problem and ‘save our tears for the pillow’.”
Head of History, Ms Rebekah Poole, was keen to congratulate Milly on her achievement: "We aren't at all surprised to see Milly achieve such a wonderful result – her dedication to Modern History, work ethic and genuine passion for academic curiosity make her a natural historian. Her passion for our topics focusing on American history and World War II demonstrate that when a student loves studying History, the sky is the limit! We are so deeply proud of her and 韩国AV’s entire Modern History cohort."
Reflecting on her 韩国AV education, Milly emphasised how the School inspires excellence. "韩国AV is very good at providing enormous opportunities and working hard to inspire rather than creating undue pressure. It's 'you can do well, you have the capabilities to do well, and we want to help you do well’."
To younger students preparing for their own HSC journey, Milly offered practical advice born from experience: "Keep your notes up to date – it's really simple but just so important. The worst thing is coming to trials in Term 3 and trying to look back at content you learned in Term 4 the previous year. You end up having to search through files from eight months ago when you should be focusing on refreshing yourself and doing practice papers."
She encourages students to trust in their own development. "You start the year feeling so scared by the idea of a three-hour exam. We thought doing one essay was horrific and we'd never be able to do it. But by the end, we were all comfortably doing practice papers weekly. You just develop those skills over time with the help of your friends and teachers who are amazing."
Milly plans to study either Law Commerce or Advanced Business and Finance at university next year.