Hi!
Thought I'll just pop in and give some tips that helped me. Laura's given some great advice, that I dont really know how to top ha ha.
Its important that when you do maths, you realise whether you understand why you are doing what your doing. I've come across people who do maths just by purely learning off formulas, but you need to always understand the why. (content based.) Methods is a subject that requires you to think outside the box, rather than answering direct maths questions. Sometimes being able to relate the maths into real world scenarios might help.
For instance, when getting a question about the derivative, make sure you know what facts you are gaining out of the question, rather than the final answer. What does it mean if it is a negative gradient in the context of the problem?
To improve in Methods in general (not really sure how different it is to VCE though) make sure you are doing a lot of practise. Its important that you do textbook questions to consolidate knowledge, but then as soon as you understand the topic, start doing application style questions, as it will help you immensley, come exams.
Just one tip if you are making silly errors in Methods, it might be easier to check as you go. Most of the time, people find that checking their work after they finish the entire exam is a good idea, but sometimes not the best in terms of time management. If you do the question and check it straightaway, theres less chance of you making a silly mistake.
I hope this helped! let me know if you have any other questions