How to pass matric with distinctions in SA

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how to pass matric with distinctions

It is that time of the year when you are applying and getting responses from universities. Some of you already have provisional offers, some of you have been or will be put in waiting lists and some may not qualify to get accepted to a university yet as you have been doing badly in school this year and in grade 11. Well do not worry there is still enough time to get your act together and prepare for one of the most important exams in your life. Even if you have been doing badly you can still get good marks and even get distinctions in this years matric exams.

So what do you need to do to pass matric?


There is a long way of doing things and there is a short way of doing things that goes straight to the point when time is against you. The long way is, since you still have time, you can catch up on the all the work you have done this year and start revising from now onwards, if you are missing some notes ask some of your classmates to help you out so you can copy their notes. Form study groups and meet every weekend to study sections of your syllabus. Read your text books and ask for help from your teachers if you don't understand any sections. Attend all revision sessions. That is the long way to do things and I am sure people have been doing revision before the June exams and now for the September (trial) exams before the big end of year exams. That was the long way and it does not always work for everyone, some people prefer to study on their own .

The short way and what usually works even in university is that you should download all the past 4 to 6 past papers and memos. This will help you see the types of questions that are likely to come out and how to answer those questions so that you get as many marks as possible. This will save you a lot of time because it will save you the hassle of going through unnecessary sections of your textbooks and you know exactly what is expected of you. Lucky for you the South African department of education has made things easier for you by providing the past papers for all matric subjects from 2008 to 2021. You get the option to see Feb/Mar, May/June and Oct/Nov (even sept Eastern Cape past papers have been made available)  papers for every year since 2008.
The education system in South Africa has changed a lot over the years so I would advise doing the most recent past papers first before doing older ones as the content is more relevant to you guys as matriculants in 2021. Click here to go and download past papers and memos.


What I usually do when using memo's:


If I have time I will look at the different sections in the exam and then I would identify those sections in my textbook. I would read those sections so that I gain an understanding of the concepts and then I would attempt to try and answer each section in the past paper one by one. Studying one section at a time, using the memo to check my answers afterwards.

If I have no time especially for math's and physics kind of papers, I would work in reverse. Meaning I would look at a question and then look at the memo to see how they answered the question writing it down step by step. Then I would look for a different past paper with a similar question and I would attempt to answer that question using the methods used in the memo of the first question I looked at and then check the memo to see if I followed the right procedure. And then Finally I would attempt a third past paper with a similar question this time without checking the procedure from a different past paper, in the end I will see If I have managed to understand the method by checking to see if my answer is correct. If it is correct, I will move on to the next question and repeat the procedure I just described. If my answer is wrong, I will try and find out why it is wrong by going back to my textbook to read up on the method or watch a YouTube video on the same topic to get a clarification (As a high school student if you are having trouble with a problem you can just ask your teacher, they will be proud that you have been taking initiative).

Also read this post on the 9 tips to get A's in Matric

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