Hi everyone!
I graduated in 2018 as Dux of my school with an ATAR of 99.30 so I thought I would share some of my main tips for doing well in VCE.
While this is what worked for me, I understand that people learn differently and my suggestions are by no means the best way to study for everyone! In the end always do what works for you.
1. USE THE STUDY DESIGN
The first thing I did before starting year 12 was to print off the relevant pages of the study design for each subject. I kept these in a folder with me and used them all year. The study design is absolutely your best resource and you would be crazy not to make the most of it. I think it is a good idea to refer to it regularly so that you can keep track of what information you really need to know and identify your weaknesses. From experience, I know teachers sometimes go outside the study design in terms of the content they teach you in class. While it is still good to listen in case this information comes up in the SAC, it is good to know what to focus on come exam time so that you don't waste precious time learning irrelevant information. You can also use the wording in the study design to derive some definitions if you like. For example, in the psych study design a neuron is described as "the primary cell involved in the reception and transmission of information across the synapse". So if you're asked what a neuron is at any point, why not just give them their own words back? The most important time to use the study design in my opinion is as a revision checklist. Before each SAC, I began my study by identifying the study design dot points that were my weaknesses. I then went back and found more information about this area and usually put it in my own words on flashcards to test myself until I was confident I understood it. This same strategy applies to the exam. In the school holidays and weeks before exam time I read through each study design again and compiled a list of gaps in my knowledge, which I then went back and fixed. Also, don't ignore the key skills section of each study design, especially for science subjects as this is also fair game for the exam!
2. START EARLY
By early I don't mean learn the whole course in the summer holidays! It is however a good idea to begin familiarising yourself with exam style questions from early in the year. I did some checkpoints questions as part of my preparation for SACs and started doing a small number of open book practice exams in the term 2 holidays (but only on the content we had already covered). This also applies to SACs. I recommend starting to revise for a SAC at least a week before so that you can just relax the night before the SAC and get a good night sleep! This will also significantly reduce stress come exam time as you don't feel like you are playing catch up.
3. PRACTICE EXAMS > NOTES
In my opinion, writing and rewriting notes is almost always a waste of time. In year 12 you are really time poor and it is important to make sure the time you spend studying is actually helpful. I very rarely made any of my own notes in year 12! Instead I had either notes from a past graduate, ATAR Notes' notes (which I think are the best company notes - and no I'm not being paid to say that) or notes from my teacher for each subject. I tried to absorb as much information as possible in class and from reading the textbook and then made flash cards to fill in the gaps for information I wasn't confident with. Testing yourself with flash cards or practice questions means you are so much more actively involved in studying rather than passively copying out definitions from the textbook. Spend as much time as possible doing exam questions instead of making pretty notes that you don't really understand. There is no right or wrong number of practice exams to do but personally I did 10-15 per subject. Also, make sure you prioritise VCAA past exams!! These are the closest to what the real thing will be like so invest your time in these rather than doing all company exams and running out of time for VCAA ones. I would suggest leaving the most recent exams until later in the year, as these are the most similar to what you will be given on the day.
4. MARK YOUR PRACTICE EXAMS THOROUGHLY
You are absolutely wasting your time if you sit down and do a 3 hour practice exam and then never look at it again! You really don't need to be doing that many exams as long as you make doing them worthwhile. Nobody enjoys marking practice questions but it is worth it, as it is the best way to improve. Personally, I think it is much better to mark your own exams most of the time so that you understand what to look for as a marker. Also be harsh when you're marking (you are not doing yourself any favours giving yourself a mark when you know you didn't really get it). I think one of the biggest mistakes people make is powering through tonnes of practice exams so they can tell everyone they did 60 for each subject, without really taking the time to learn from their mistakes. Ease into exams by starting open book but eventually you should definitely be working to time under exam conditions. There is no point being able to write a 10 page masterpiece in 6 hours when you will only have 1 hour per essay in the exam. When marking, read the examiner reports carefully and I think it is a good idea to make note of any definitions or useful explanations they give in the comments - these will probably come in handy at some point! For example, in psychology there was conflicting information about brain regions involved in memory in the textbook and edrolo so I went through past examiner reports and found a massive rant from the chief examiner clarifying this. Any topics from very poorly answered questions in recent years will also probably come up again so pay extra attention to these.
5. WORK ON YOUR WEAKNESSES
It is so tempting when you are tired or don't really feel like studying to do questions on your favourite topic. It feels good correcting your work and getting it all right! However, it is so much more beneficial to invest your time in the topics you hate. Love matrices but hate networks? Then it will probably be the networks questions you stuff up on the exam so if you really want to improve, then that is the topic you should be working on. One of my teachers said to me "work on your weaknesses until they become strengths" and I totally agree with this. If you are aiming high then you have to tackle the tricky topics as soon as possible.
6. PLAY THE SAC GAME AND THE EXAM GAME
While SACs and exams are testing the same content, I think it is important to remember who is marking each type of assessment. For SACs, the type of question and content that will be tested is much harder to predict. This is why it is important to pay attention to all of the information your teacher is giving you, even if you think something they are teaching is outside of the study design. If they give you definitions, then use them on the SAC. If they give you practice questions to revise for the SAC then use them to predict the style of question you will get on the test. If they give you a checklist, then use that alongside the study design to revise. For the exam though, your teacher will not be marking your paper. When revising for the exam use the VCAA provided resources as your go to (examiner report, study design, past exams etc.). If you had to learn some irrelevant information for the SAC, forget about it now and focus on what VCAA says you really need to know. Same goes for any discrepancies between what your teacher has said and what VCAA has said in an examiner report - always go with what VCAA says for the exam.
7. SUBJECT LECTURES
There are tonnes of companies offering lectures all year but personally I believe revision lectures are far more beneficial than headstart lectures. There is just no way you can take in a whole semester of content in a few hours! These headstart lectures (before you have learnt the content in class) are almost always overwhelming in my opinion. If you want to go to any lectures then I found revision lectures are the way to go, as you actually understand content related tips people give you and you are just filling in gaps/reinforcing your learning rather than attempting to cram heaps of new information into your head at once. I didn't go to many lectures but out of those I did go to, I thought ATAR Notes and TSFX were the best. ATAR Notes is great because it is free and very good for covering the content, while TSFX is really useful if you want to hear tips from VCAA examiners. None of my teachers were VCAA examiners so I found TSFX lectures were a good way to get some extra inside information. However, lectures are in no way essential to do well - they are just an extra thing you can do if you want to hear something explained a different way or reinforce your knowledge.
8. ENGLISH SPECIFIC TIPS
I did general English in year 12 and got raw 47. I recommend reading each text the first time for understanding the plot/characters without taking notes or annotating, then a second time to annotate and record quotes and a third time closer to the exam to refresh your memory. I also aimed to write an essay a week during the school term from close to the start of the year. This may seem like a lot but I just allocated my study period every Monday to writing, whether that was just random paragraphs at the start of the year or a whole timed essay closer to the exam. I am one of those people who usually takes forever to write an essay so it was a real struggle for me to write 3 essays in 3 hours. The more you write though the faster and better you become. Also, if you just can't bring yourself to sit down and write a whole essay then it is absolutely ok to just do an introduction or just plan your paragraph ideas for a certain topic. Expose yourself to as many essay prompts as possible so that you know you can form a plan in your head quickly come exam day. Unlike other more content based subjects, I think it is a good idea to get someone else to read over your essays when you can. Sometimes what makes sense to you doesn't necessarily translate into a coherent argument on the page, so it is important to check that you are communicating your ideas clearly. Another thing I think is important is spelling and grammar. While I have heard teachers say this is not super important, at the end of the day the people marking your exam are English teachers and they are often just not going to be able to look past really obvious errors to appreciate your ideas, no matter how awesome they are. It is worthwhile just making sure you are spelling things like character names or the last name of the person who wrote the language analysis article correctly to give yourself the best chance of doing well. For remembering quotes, I typed my favourite quotes into a document and grouped the by theme so that I knew I had a wide variety to draw upon. I remembered them by testing myself and putting them up on the wall close to exam time.
9. DON'T IGNORE TIME
This is my biggest regret from the year 12 subject I did early in year 11 - not focusing enough on learning to answer questions in the time allowed. You can know everything there is to know but if you are too slow, you will definitely not do as well. I did year 12 Biology early and got raw 46. However, I made a pretty bad mistake, as I didn't keep track of time properly in the exam and ended up running out of time to properly answer around 10 marks worth of questions! Trust me, it really sucks leaving an exam knowing you didn't get to answer questions you knew how to answer. After this I really focused in year 12 on doing practice exams to time so that I could finish all of my actual exams to the best of my ability. It is a good idea to have a rough plan about how you will tackle each exam time wise and to remember to just move on if you are stuck!
10. ENJOY YOUR FINAL YEAR AND STAY HEALTHY
Year 12 can be a really full on time so make sure you look after yourself! It is so important to keep eating healthy food, exercising, seeing friends and getting enough sleep. Staying up late studying the night before a SAC or exam is never a good idea, as you just can't think clearly on 2 hours sleep. At the end of the day doing well in year 12 means nothing if you have sacrificed your mental/physical well-being. Year 12 is also a really fun time so make sure you enjoy spending time with friends and family, going to heaps of 18ths, continuing to do your hobbies/sports and taking time out to relax! I spent around 2-3 hours on school nights studying but always had Friday and Saturday nights off and varied how much study I did on the weekend depending on how much I had on. You don't need to be inside studying all the time to do well so make sure you stay balanced and look after yourself! ATARs are only one way to get where you want to go so try to keep some perspective.
Feel free to send me a message if you have any questions/comments or just want to say hi! (Once again all of these tips are just based on my experience so feel free to ignore me if you feel that something else works better for you).
Also I am offering tutoring this year for Biology (46) and Psychology (50) at Melbourne Uni, the state library or in the North- Eastern suburbs so please send me a message if you are interested or send me a text: 0431 324 479
I am also selling online copies of 5 Ransom and Invictus essays ($10), Ransom and Invictus resources ($5) and 6 language analysis essays ($5)
Thanks and best of luck for year 12!!
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