As a year 12 which exams should I prioritise?

[Coolgalbornin03Lo]

I was planning to do the 2010-2012 exams this school holidays. Then one VCAA exam per week (2013-2019) till the exam and also sprinkle company exams here and there. My teacher said to disregard this and just do the company exams from this study design and the VCAA exams from this study design. What do you guys think is best? Which companies (Aced, insight, NEAP) are best for bio?

[Sine]

I was planning to do the 2010-2012 exams this school holidays. Then one VCAA exam per week (2013-2019) till the exam and also sprinkle company exams here and there. My teacher said to disregard this and just do the company exams from this study design and the VCAA exams from this study design. What do you guys think is best? Which companies (Aced, insight, NEAP) are best for bio?

I disagree with your teacher's suggestions but if you are going to follow that the better commercial exams are probably STAV and NEAP.

[Coolgalbornin03Lo]

I disagree with your teacher's suggestions but if you are going to follow that the better commercial exams are probably STAV and NEAP.

I don’t think I’ll follow it as some company exam questions are WAY off- including NEAP even though they are really good 10% of each exam has some out of scope stuff. Thanks again sine!!!! I think I’ll stick to VCAA and only do the 2020 company ones which they give us on GAT day.

If you were in this situation what would you do?

[Sine]

I don’t think I’ll follow it as some company exam questions are WAY off- including NEAP even though they are really good 10% of each exam has some out of scope stuff. Thanks again sine!!!! I think I’ll stick to VCAA and only do the 2020 company ones which they give us on GAT day.

If you were in this situation what would you do?

Personally I like VCAA over everything. Even old VCAAs can be useful since it is not uncommon for them to recycle ideas even from a 20-year-old exam.

However, given the changes in the study design, it is important for students to get exposure to all the topics. Maybe if there is a new area of the study design you can use the newer commercial exams solely for those topics. Of course, ideally, you would want to be able to do everything but that isn't always possible given time constraints.

Even if you don't end up doing some of the exams that you want to you can still spend a short time on those exams by just reading through the exams. If you know you could answer the question well you can just move on and if you get to a question you are unsure of maybe then you can have a go at it.

[tiredandstressed]

VCAA > other companies
There is also vce nht exams that you can access as well
However, make you do plenty of exams based of the current SD

[Coolgalbornin03Lo]

Is it too early for me to be doing the 2017 sample exam? I’ve been doing company and old VCAA (2010-2012) and am saving new VCAA (2014-2019) till after the holidays. However I thought I’d do some NHT 2018  and 2017 sample exams to get some VCAA practise from the current study design.

[tiredandstressed]

Is it too early for me to be doing the 2017 sample exam? I’ve been doing company and old VCAA (2010-2012) and am saving new VCAA (2014-2019) till after the holidays. However I thought I’d do some NHT 2018  and 2017 sample exams to get some VCAA practise from the current study design.

Not at all give the 2017 sample a shot
But you are right to save the VCCA 2018-19 and NHT exams for closed book & closed time
Insight and ACED exams are usually very good quality

[Coolgalbornin03Lo]

I don’t wanna keep starting new threads so:
Are insight exams excruciatingly hard or is every exam I’ve done before this point in time been a joke? I’ve been losing 5-7 marks in MC and that’s been reducing but in this exam a whole 16 marks! I know that’s horrible and I’m now taking a break from exams but is this company just a tiny bit hard?

[homeworkisapotato]

I don’t wanna keep starting new threads so:
Are insight exams excruciatingly hard or is every exam I’ve done before this point in time been a joke? I’ve been losing 5-7 marks in MC and that’s been reducing but in this exam a whole 16 marks! I know that’s horrible and I’m now taking a break from exams but is this company just a tiny bit hard?

Hey! Insight is known for sometimes being harder than VCAA exams according to my Bio tutor who is also an assessor. Don't be disheartened, you can do this!

[rohanghosh]

Apart from VCAA, the best biology (and science in general) exams are made by STAV, NEAP and Lisachem.

[ThunderDragon]

Hey everyone

Just wondering, I've done 3 prac exams for Bio so far and my most recent one was around 70% (not great )  Is it better to spend today and tomorrow going through some of the gaps I have (mainly Immunity, Monoclonal Antibodies and DNA Manipulation) and do 6 more Practice exams or just grind through more practice exams? The exam is in 9 days so I don't know

[Coolgalbornin03Lo]

Hey everyone

Just wondering, I've done 3 prac exams for Bio so far and my most recent one was around 70% (not great )  Is it better to spend today and tomorrow going through some of the gaps I have (mainly Immunity, Monoclonal Antibodies and DNA Manipulation) and do 6 more Practice exams or just grind through more practice exams? The exam is in 9 days so I don't know

Hey do you mean six more in total or six more tomorrow alone?

ANYWAY, I always regret doing an exam before revising my problem areas. It’s a waste of time, that 2 hours could’ve been used to consolidate xyz topic. And it’s especially annoying when that topic you didn’t revise is in the next trial exam 

Anyway 70% is good especially for trial exams!!! On a VCAA exam that’s like an A grade! I believe in you thunder dragon! Keep going 

[ThunderDragon]

Hey do you mean six more in total or six more tomorrow alone?

ANYWAY, I always regret doing an exam before revising my problem areas. It’s a waste of time, that 2 hours could’ve been used to consolidate xyz topic. And it’s especially annoying when that topic you didn’t revise is in the next trial exam 

Anyway 70% is good especially for trial exams!!! On a VCAA exam that’s like an A grade! I believe in you thunder dragon! Keep going 

Haha 6 more in total  Yeah that does make sense! Thanks!

[Coolgalbornin03Lo]

Haha 6 more in total  Yeah that does make sense! Thanks!

Phew! I was concerned you weren’t sleeping/eating. Even 6 more is a lot- good luck