Is VCAA psych exams moving towards harder more application style questions?

[Coolgalbornin03Lo]

So I sat the 2020 exam today and Gone are the days you could rote learn your way to a 40 in psych. I didn’t rote learn and 40 still isn’t possible! It’s no longer the “easy” subject everyone said it was- I personally always struggled with psych so this exam wasn’t a surprise to me hehe. But still it was just so much common sense required- even the “hard” 2019 exam seemed easier than this and it was apparently the hardest one yet!

Guys the exam was so hard😭😭😭 or I’m just dumb

[tiredandstressed]

So I sat the 2020 exam today and Gone are the days you could rote learn your way to a 40 in psych. I didn’t rote learn and 40 still isn’t possible! It’s no longer the “easy” subject everyone said it was- I personally always struggled with psych so this exam wasn’t a surprise to me hehe. But still it was just so much common sense required- even the “hard” 2019 exam seemed easier than this and it was apparently the hardest one yet!

Guys the exam was so hard😭😭😭 or I’m just dumb

You're definitely not dumb! VCCA is moving towards harder more application focused exams, this is evident when you compare the 2019/20 exam to those of previous SDs, recall is not just enough. You have to know your stuff and be able to apply it demonstrating a high level of psychological understanding.
The 10 marker this year wasn't cute, but hope the exam was a venue for you to be able to show off your knowledge (yes try to have fun when u can lol), but more importantly, PSYCH IS OVER time to move on and focus on the rest of your exams )

[khaiv710]

So I sat the 2020 exam today and Gone are the days you could rote learn your way to a 40 in psych. I didn’t rote learn and 40 still isn’t possible! It’s no longer the “easy” subject everyone said it was- I personally always struggled with psych so this exam wasn’t a surprise to me hehe. But still it was just so much common sense required- even the “hard” 2019 exam seemed easier than this and it was apparently the hardest one yet!

Guys the exam was so hard😭😭😭 or I’m just dumb

It definitely was a different paper to what I was expecting. I was a bit iffy on the multiple choice, but I think I went okay for the short answer section. The 10 marker absolutely violated me, though. I was so sure research methods wouldn't be in the 10 marker that I completely neglected doing practice questions on it.
TLDR; The exam was fairly hard, or we're both just dumb. 

[scientificllama]

That exam was definitely the most difficult psych exam I have ever faced.
Not only were the multiple-choice questions vague and often at times had multiple correct answers, but all the short answer questions did not require any form of rote learning but rather application.
You guys aren't dumb, 99% of the people doing psych exam found it difficult (tbh a couple of students were crying when they saw the 10 marker), but it was written in such a different way than all the previous exams.

Fingers crossed the benchmark for an A or A+ is reduced this year.

Congrats for everyone who has now completed year 12 psych!🥳

[MoonChild1234]

you definitely aren't dumb

literally everyone (including me) thought that was the hardest psych exam they had done

at least its over now!!

[Chloe182]

I worked so, so, SO incredibly hard this year and I was so disappointed in myself after sitting that exam... But after reading this thread I'm feeling better! I had done heaps of practice exams but none of them even came close to this level of hard!

[caffinatedloz]

People asked this same question about biology a few years ago. I like the idea of the exams being more application-based because it discourages rote learning and rewards a depth of understanding and ability to connect and apply knowledge. I

 don't do 3/4 psych but my friends who do were all complaining about how much research methods and application stuff there was in the short answer section. It sounds like everyone struggled so hopefully that means that people will probably do better than they thought!