QCE, VCE & HSC - let's work together :)

[Bri MT]

Hey everyone,


Now that exams are over I know that many of you are looking to contribute to the next cohort of students & you might not be sure how to do this. I've got a thread here which lists some things you could do but now I want to take the chance to emphasise two things:

1. You don't need to have scored in the top x% to give back. Regardless of what score you get or how you feel you went this year you will have learnt things you didn't know 12 months ago that could've been useful for previous-you to know. There's heaps of different things you could contribute: e.g. discussion around a topic that you struggled with and what you learnt from that, your experiences with trying different study techniques, how to mark your own assignments, coping with academic pressure etc. No one has done everything perfect in their studies and it's good to have a range of experiences available for students to learn from.

2. You don't have to stick to your state or your year level. In particular, Queensland students will be receiving an ATAR for the first time next year and haven't even had external exams before so you can imagine the stress they're going through. Since QCE is only a recent addition to AN, there aren't as many resources available for them and it would be great if we could change that. If you're unsure about topic cross over I have a thread here for Q&A about syllabus overlap but I'll also be posting guides below (I'm doing the guides from memory so I might get some of what's in VCE & HSC slightly confused but if I say it's in QCE it's in QCE. I'll keep working on this to add in more info ).

biology

A lot of the cellular stuff is highly conserved across states albeit sometimes in a different order.
VCE & QCE overlap:
- cellular respiration & photosynthesis (for cellular respiration they use the range 36-38 ATP in the equation)
- anaerobic respiration
- DNA structure and replication (inc. differences in eukaryotes and prokaryotes in terms of DNA structure, role of helicase & DNA polymerase etc.)
- transcription & translation (QCE students don't need to know about promoter regions but do need to know about transcription factors)
- meiosis
- types of mutations (but not the impact of these in translation i.e. no knowledge of missense, nonsense, silent)
- PCR & gel electrophoresis
- gene sequencing
- making recombinant DNA (restriction enzymes, plasmid vector, ligase etc.)
- reading phylogenetic trees
- QCE students need to know more about evolution & natural selection than VCE students. Aside from the hominid stuff, they need to know everything you know plus more
- plasma membrane (lipid bilayer, diffusion across protein channels, fluid mosaic model etc.)
- differences between prokaryotes and eukaryotes
- roles of organelles & what they look like (e.g. smooth ER, rough ER, vacuole, lysosomes etc.)
- enzymes (reaction rates, denaturation etc. Note that comparing induced fit & lock and key models is extension and not a core part of the syllabus)
- basic properties of stem cells (QCE students don't need to know about different types of stem cells)
- nutrient and waste transport in plants and animals (digestive system of animals, respiratory system phloem & xylem etc.)

chemistry

HSC, VCE, QCE:
- redox reactions (predicting reactions, galvanic and electrolytic cells. Note that QCE students don't need to know about secondary cells or cover fuel cells to the same extent)
- titrations
- IUPAC naming
- isomers (note: QCE students don't need to know about this to the same extent as VCE)
- organic chemistry reaction pathways (making esters, products of oxidising different types of alcohols etc.)
- collision theory
- thermodynamics (e.g. exothermic & endothermic, maxwell-boltzmann curves)
- dynamic equilibrium (e.g. calculating K, Le Chatlier's principle)

HSC & QCE
- pH, pKa, strong vs weak acids & bases etc.  (VCE students cover some of this in yr 11)
- reactivity of metals (predicting displacement reactions)
- polyester synthesis & properties
- lipids & soap
- Haber process

VCE & QCE
- organic polymers (e.g. amylose & amylopectin, polypeptides)
- IR, mass spec
- biodiesel production

psychology

There's heaps of overlap between QCE & VCE psych.

Not in QCE psych:
- Selye's GAS, transactional model of stress & coping, different types of stress
- FFF response
- taste & smell perception
- bullying
- 4P factor model

Basically everything else is in

I hope everyone has a great holiday period and thank you in advance to everyone who helps their fellow students