Chem resources?

[walnut]

Hi,
So I just received my first prac/test sac results back and I'm honestly kinda upset but not surprised as I walked in without fully understanding everything...Just wondering if they're any resources that have really helped with solidifying the concepts within chemistry as it's something i've always struggled with.
p.s I've heard that the resources from exampro are pretty good however the questions seem to be pretty hard according to others, i've got the atarnotes notes book but i feel like i need to do more questions... and what're everyones thoughts on the checkpoints book as it's quite pricey due to the fact that they're recycling old VCAA questions which may 'ruin' the exam experience.
Thanks!

[Bri MT]

You might be interested in this article: https://atarnotes.com/sac-results/
I'd also recommend you check out these threads:
 - Chemistry Resources, it's a stickied thread so very easy to find: https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=128626.0
 - Vaike's Guide to VCE chemistry: https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=176367.0
- This set of links to heaps of useful threads for VCE: https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=171255.0


I wouldn't worry about doing exam questions "ruining" the exam experience at all - it's good practice and you aren't going to be able to memorise them all anyway, but you'll learn your areas of weakness, common questions structures and how they expect you to answer.
If you are concerned about the price you can go on the VCAA website and manually sort questions by topic and filter for study design relevancy

[Sine]

Hi,
So I just received my first prac/test sac results back and I'm honestly kinda upset but not surprised as I walked in without fully understanding everything...Just wondering if they're any resources that have really helped with solidifying the concepts within chemistry as it's something i've always struggled with.
p.s I've heard that the resources from exampro are pretty good however the questions seem to be pretty hard according to others, i've got the atarnotes notes book but i feel like i need to do more questions... and what're everyones thoughts on the checkpoints book as it's quite pricey due to the fact that they're recycling old VCAA questions which may 'ruin' the exam experience.
Thanks!

exampro is probably towards the harder end of the spectrum (although I'm basing this from the previous edition on the older study design)

I've never been too much of a fan of checkpoints since like you said they do ruin the exam experience but also because it is literally old vcaa questions which you can find on the vcaa website and to add to that often the people at checkpoints end up copying the question wrong or giving wrong answers.  So a good option could be to go to old vcaa exams (or preferablly other company exams) and find the topic you are studying and work through those questions.

I personally only did VCAA questions (going through old exams per topic and answering them) throughout the year for biology since it's a theory subject so the exam factor and on the stop thinking is quite low because you either know the content or don't in comparison to say a methods question where you actually need to work something out or think about something differently for the first time.

[lazaward]

I personally use checkpoints and lisachem. I find that lisachem is really good for a basic understanding while checkpoints gets you used to really difficult styled questions. It won’t ruin practice exams at all, it’s literally the best form of practice. I know my sac questions aren’t really up to VCAA difficulty so doing these questions is a good way to challenge me now so I’m prepared for the exam at the end of the year!

[uhoh]

I personally use checkpoints and lisachem. I find that lisachem is really good for a basic understanding while checkpoints gets you used to really difficult styled questions. It won’t ruin practice exams at all, it’s literally the best form of practice. I know my sac questions aren’t really up to VCAA difficulty so doing these questions is a good way to challenge me now so I’m prepared for the exam at the end of the year!

hey! is lisachem the kevin berry blue book or another book?

[lazaward]

hey! is lisachem the kevin berry blue book or another book?

It’s another book. It’s called learning materials by lisachem I’m pretty sure.