Biology 3/4 Exam Discussion

[geminii]

How do you recommend we do the VCAA exams from 2012 and before? Do we do both from the one year in one sitting or do them separately? If you've done them, how have you being doing them?

[homosapien]

yep, i had lower cutoff A and mid A+ last year and got 46

wow thats amazing! good job

[homosapien]

How do you recommend we do the VCAA exams from 2012 and before? Do we do both from the one year in one sitting or do them separately? If you've done them, how have you being doing them?

I strongly recommend you do at least a few prior to 2012
I started from 2012, then worked my way down to 2002
I sit them seperately, 3 hours is a bit much for me to cope with ahaha
But there are definitely some good questions that help strenghten your knowledge of the topics...some exams I found quite hard but its really good to be exposed to a whole bunch of questions
If i came across a question that just wasnt relevant to what we are expected to know (especially 2003,2002 exams) i just gave it a shot or left it out
Sometimes I might do the MC then do SA later in the day but it would probably be better to sit one whole 1.5 hour exam in one go considering the exam is so close

[homosapien]

yep, i had lower cutoff A and mid A+ last year and got 46

Sorry i forgot to ask, were you ranked first in your cohort or were you kinda just near the top?

[QueenSmarty]

Do you guys think the exam this year is going to be harder this year compared to last year's?

[gameboy99]

Do you guys think the exam this year is going to be harder this year compared to last year's?

Easier...last year was very hard with very hard questions everywhere.

Is it me but does last year's paper feel different from the other past papers??? The knowledge it is asking, the wording seems all seem quite different to all the other VCAA papers I've done (the format of the assessment report was different as well). Maybe a different company is making it I guess or maybe I am being superstitious?

[Adequace]

Easier...last year was very hard with very hard questions everywhere.

Is it me but does last year's paper feel different from the other past papers??? The knowledge it is asking, the wording seems all seem quite different to all the other VCAA papers I've done (the format of the assessment report was different as well). Maybe a different company is making it I guess or maybe I am being superstitious?

Probably new chief examiner.

[kimonokiwi]

Hey guys! So I've been saving up the 2014 and 2015 exams to do like the day before the exam. But a few people have said that the 2015 was quite tough - does that mean I should do the 2015 exam a bit earlier then? I'm getting a bit stressed ahh idk what to do.

[The Usual Student]

Probably new chief examiner.

chief examiner wouldn't have anything to do with the construction of the exam
But the examiner's report would be written a bit differenlty,
anyone given VCAA 1997 a go yet? Gulp

[Adequace]

chief examiner wouldn't have anything to do with the construction of the exam
But the examiner's report would be written a bit differenlty,
anyone given VCAA 1997 a go yet? Gulp

Nah, the chief examiner probably would considering that many examiners come together to actually make the exam..

[The Usual Student]

Nah, the chief examiner probably would considering that many examiners come together to actually make the exam..

Chief examiner's job is to come up with the solutions for the exam, whilst a variety of examiners come together to make the exam. From my knowledge no examiner even knows the ENTIRE exam, like they all add one or two questions or make little edits individually. I don't know if the chief examiner is one of the examiners who makes the exam but I am pretty sure they aren't since because the chief examiner for EL gave a lecture saying she had no clue what was going to be on the exam. The chief examiner will sit the exam near the exam date  and his or her answers are used as the model answers for the other examiners to follow when marking.

[blacksanta62]

Hey guys! So I've been saving up the 2014 and 2015 exams to do like the day before the exam. But a few people have said that the 2015 was quite tough - does that mean I should do the 2015 exam a bit earlier then? I'm getting a bit stressed ahh idk what to do.

I actually found the 2015 paper quite easy. I just did the 2013 paper however and only got 69%. Has anyone else done this exam? It wasn't the questions, more so the way they wanted answers for this paper. And a bit of concept loss on my part (shouldn't be doing 2+ hour exams at 9 at night
Are we allowed to attach questions we had trouble with on here? That paper seemed to have weeded out a lot

[Hydroxyl]

I actually found the 2015 paper quite easy. I just did the 2013 paper however and only got 69%. Has anyone else done this exam? It wasn't the questions, more so the way they wanted answers for this paper. And a bit of concept loss on my part (shouldn't be doing 2+ hour exams at 9 at night
Are we allowed to attach questions we had trouble with on here? That paper seemed to have weeded out a lot

I'm sure you're allowed.


Anyone have access to VCAA 1997-1999? If so, please message me!

[lyoko]

Hey guys,

Bio is coming up in less than a week
Was just wondering if anyone has any study tips for the night before the exam? I'm really nervous and am scared that I won't be able to obtain my goal of a 35+ study score...

[tylenolramyun]

Hey guys, less than a week till the exam! How's everyone feeling?

Same here....I've been getting arounf 80-85%.

What do you guys reckon the hardest topics are??
Mine is meiosis diagram(gametes, crossing over, gene linkage) and Human evolution

And what would your choice be ...STAV or NEAP???

Bit late on the reply, but I agree, human evolution is my least favourite topic as well. It's so wish washy

STAV and NEAP are both way harder than VCAA (MC is actually a wreck), but I would do more NEAP ones than STAV because the wording is more in line with VCAA's. That being said, neither NEAP nor STAV answers are never really in line with what the question is asking you lol 

In the end, VCAA papers are still worded the most clearly.
 

Hey guys,

Bio is coming up in less than a week
Was just wondering if anyone has any study tips for the night before the exam? I'm really nervous and am scared that I won't be able to obtain my goal of a 35+ study score...

First one, don't stress! Literally nothing goes in when you're stressed. I'd say just review over your corrections for trial papers the night before, and learn your wording (keywords mainly) for different processes/ definitions off by heart.

Hey guys! So I've been saving up the 2014 and 2015 exams to do like the day before the exam. But a few people have said that the 2015 was quite tough - does that mean I should do the 2015 exam a bit earlier then? I'm getting a bit stressed ahh idk what to do.

Not too sure if this is a sound plan, but I'm planning to do the 2014 and 2015 papers in the next 3 days or so, so there's enough time to revise mistakes before the exam.