Things you've learnt from VCE exams

[Joseph41]

Just thought this might be a nice thread for future students sitting 3/4 exams. The basic idea is, list whatever you've learnt from actually sitting your exam(s).

So like, for example:

English:
- Time management is super critical; I didn't finish all of the sections, so make sure you practise under time conditions.
- Remember to analyse the image!

Psychology:
- Don't neglect research methods.

Or whatever your advice might be. Pass on your knowledge - no matter how big or small.
BIOLOGY ADVICE:

Spoiler

- Main one is make sure you're answering the question - highlight exactly what it's asking, and make sure you come back to it in your answer if you go off on a bit of a tangent. Also, read the question carefully - try to avoid making silly mistakes! - K888
- Slow down and only have enough spare time to check answers, review your strengths before the exam - miniturtle

ENGLISH ADVICE:

Spoiler

- Don't rush your first essay thinking that you will run out of time. This happened to me and I feel like I didn't write the best LA essay that I could have done Just pace yourself - imactuallyalegend

- The thing I learnt from both my psychology and English exams was not to freak out about time, because time moves sooooooooooooo slow when you're in there!! - Mariamnourine

- Trust yourself and don't succumb to your stress, if you've put in the hard yards during the course of the year you'll be prepared. All year I've poured my heart and soul into English but in so many of my practise exams I would get to a certain point where my stress would get the better of me and I couldn't think anymore, so much so that I never completed one single practise exam (one time I even worked myself up so much I was in tears and couldn't write a single introduction).
All throughout the year too I struggled to write to the time because I could never efficiently express my ideas into words that I thought were 'perfect'. Last week actually, I read something on here about not letting perfectionism (something I've struggled with so much this year) dictate your writing and it helped immensely (ATAR notes has honestly been the best thing for me this year). Also on Tuesday, in the midst of getting my final pre-exam advice, my English teacher told me that 'tomorrow' I'm not going to let my anxiety hold me back anymore. Trusting my capabilities honestly worked so much because on Wednesday I went into the English exam trusting that each class and day that I had studied this year had prepared me for the exam, and I managed to write and finish three (in my opinion) good essays. Just have faith in your preparation and go into the exam visualising yourself finishing the paper. It's honestly just as much of a mind game than anything else. - abbeyrose

- Don't go in like robots, be astute and use the reading time properly to think what you are going to write about in each piece. I learnt this through doing lots of exams and fortunately I can say it worked. Most of my friends didn't finish their exams, cause they memorised their essays (it's best to memorise the ideas and topic sentences imo). - Syndicate

LOTE ADVICE:

Spoiler

French - K888
- Make sure you highlight which language you have to respond in! It's such a basic mistake to make, and a lot of people make it each year!
- Use highlighters in the reading comprehension to get the key parts.
- Don't use your dictionary during the listening section - if you don't understand a word, jot it down phonetically, and then figure it out when you have time to write down your answers.
- Likewise, don't worry about writing out perfect answers during the listening - make dot points or whatever, then write things down properly when you have time/at the end of the listening.
- Remember to follow the conventions of the text types in the writing section - whether that be dates, titles, addresses, tone, etc.
- Read your writing piece backwards when you've finished to pick up errors! Picked up this tip from my teacher and it was super useful.

PSYCHOLOGY ADVICE:

Spoiler

- The thing I learnt from both my psychology and English exams was not to freak out about time, because time moves sooooooooooooo slow when you're in there!! - Mariamnourine
- Not all marks are worth equal minutes - miniturtle
- Don't be tempted to rush through the Multiple Choice Section! So many people lose easy marks here from misreading questions, or just going with what seems right, rather than actually processing and analysing the question! VCAA always throws in options that appear very similar or answers that only differ a couple of words (ie. referring to glutamate as a neurohormone rather than a neurotransmitter in this years exam), so if you're careful these 'traps' wont't get you!

Most of the time, a lot of the questions in the MC can be worked out using process of elimination, so this is a good strategy to use when attempting difficult questions. Put a line through the answers you know are instantly wrong and work from there.

Although important, don't spend a large amount of time on the MC questions! If there are questions which you're honestly not sure about, put a little circle or mark next to the number on your MC answer sheet, and go to the next question. You're not only saving time by doing this, but you'll be more 'refreshed' when you read the question again after moving onto other questions. Just make sure you leave a line when you shade in your next answer on the MC sheet (this is why putting a little circle next to these questions help, but just make sure to rub them out at the end!)

Don't give generic responses! Ever! Always relate your question back to the scenario given. If the question talks about why Suzie may be experiencing a stress response, include Suzie and the situation she is in in your answer. VCAA loves to deduct marks for generic answers, as they are not fully answering the question. - Globe

REVOLUTIONS ADVICE:

Spoiler

- Time management (like in all exams) is important. You're probably going to spend the whole exam writing, so making sure you spend an equal amount of time on everything is key, so you don't end up getting flustered.
- Pick the questions you want to do first in reading time, and try to stick to one revolution at a time. For me, I picked the question I knew was going to be most difficult and would require a bit more time, then I did the other part of the exam for that revolution, then I went on to the other revolution, and finished it off with my essay, because I knew I could write it quickly and writing it didn't require much thought compared to the other parts of the exam.
- Make sure you only answer within the time that's specified in the question - so, if you're given a timeframe of 1958-1963, don't give evidence from stuff from 1967, etc. - K888

GENERAL ADVICE:

Spoiler

- Thought I'd chip in even though I'm not doing VCE Exams this year with a nifty piece of feedback that'll apply to any exam ever (esp if you do law):
TIME MANAGEMENT. - HopefulLawStudent
- Just manage your time well, make sure you know what the question is asking you, and you'll be sweet. Try to answer every question, too, even if you're stuck and don't really have much of an idea. - K888

Updated to reply #11.

[imactuallyalegend]

ENGLISH
Don't rush your first essay thinking that you will run out of time. This happened to me and I feel like I didn't write the best LA essay that I could have done
Just pace yourself

[Joseph41]

ENGLISH
Don't rush your first essay thinking that you will run out of time. This happened to me and I feel like I didn't write the best LA essay that I could have done
Just pace yourself

Nice! Thanks for contributing.

I'm going to collate all of the advice posted into the first post

[Mariamnourine]

The thing I learnt from both my psychology and English exams was not to freak out about time, because time moves sooooooooooooo slow when your in there!! Like if you want to live for eternity, just sit a Psychology exam. 

Honestly, I don't even know why I stressed prior, I can't believe I feel for the whole 'exams are scary'and 'you wouldn't have enough time' things.

[abbeyrose]

Trust yourself and don't succumb to your stress, if you've put in the hard yards during the course of the year you'll be prepared. All year I've poured my heart and soul into English but in so many of my practise exams I would get to a certain point where my stress would get the better of me and I couldn't think anymore, so much so that I never completed one single practise exam (one time I even worked myself up so much I was in tears and couldn't write a single introduction).

All throughout the year too I struggled to write to the time because I could never efficiently express my ideas into words that I thought were 'perfect'. Last week actually, I read something on here about not letting perfectionism (something I've struggled with so much this year) dictate your writing and it helped immensely (ATAR notes has honestly been the best thing for me this year). Also on Tuesday, in the midst of getting my final pre-exam advice, my English teacher told me that 'tomorrow' I'm not going to let my anxiety hold me back anymore. Trusting my capabilities honestly worked so much because on Wednesday I went into the English exam trusting that each class and day that I had studied this year had prepared me for the exam, and I managed to write and finish three (in my opinion) good essays. Just have faith in your preparation and go into the exam visualising yourself finishing the paper. It's honestly just as much of a mind game than anything else.

[HopefulLawStudent]

Thought I'd chip in even though I'm not doing VCE Exams this year with a nifty piece of feedback that'll apply to any exam ever (esp if you do law):

TIME MANAGEMENT.

[Joseph41]

Thought I'd chip in even though I'm not doing VCE Exams this year with a nifty piece of feedback that'll apply to any exam ever (esp if you do law):

TIME MANAGEMENT.

What are your thoughts on how to best manage your time?

[Syndicate]

English:

Don't go in like robots, be astute and use the reading time properly to think what you are going to write about in each piece. I learnt this through doing lots of exams and fortunately I can say it worked. Most of my friends didn't finish their exams, cause they memorised their essays (it's best to memorise the ideas and topic sentences imo).

[K888]

Figured I'd chime in with stuff I learnt from sitting my exams in 2015 & 2016:

Revs:
- Time management (like in all exams) is important. You're probably going to spend the whole exam writing, so making sure you spend an equal amount of time on everything is key, so you don't end up getting flustered.
- Pick the questions you want to do first in reading time, and try to stick to one revolution at a time. For me, I picked the question I knew was going to be most difficult and would require a bit more time, then I did the other part of the exam for that revolution, then I went on to the other revolution, and finished it off with my essay, because I knew I could write it quickly and writing it didn't require much thought compared to the other parts of the exam.
- Make sure you only answer within the time that's specified in the question - so, if you're given a timeframe of 1958-1963, don't give evidence from stuff from 1967, etc.

French:
- Make sure you highlight which language you have to respond in! It's such a basic mistake to make, and a lot of people make it each year!
- Use highlighters in the reading comprehension to get the key parts.
- Don't use your dictionary during the listening section - if you don't understand a word, jot it down phonetically, and then figure it out when you have time to write down your answers.
- Likewise, don't worry about writing out perfect answers during the listening - make dot points or whatever, then write things down properly when you have time/at the end of the listening.
- Remember to follow the conventions of the text types in the writing section - whether that be dates, titles, addresses, tone, etc.
- Read your writing piece backwards when you've finished to pick up errors! Picked up this tip from my teacher and it was super useful.

Bio:
- Main one is make sure you're answering the question - highlight exactly what it's asking, and make sure you come back to it in your answer if you go off on a bit of a tangent.
- Read the question carefully - try to avoid making silly mistakes!

For the others, I don't think I have particularly specific advice. Just manage your time well, make sure you know what the question is asking you, and you'll be sweet. Try to answer every question, too, even if you're stuck and don't really have much of an idea.

[zofromuxo]

My subject specific ones aren't worth taking from someone who didn't get a 40+ SS nor an ATAR of 80+. So instead I'll give you something that can be applied globally in all your exams.

Mentality
This can make and break you.
Have a realistic and positive one.
Eg: I went in all my exams with "Do your best, exams don't define you and who gives a f**k what happens". I had this because a) I had all my exams in the first 2 weeks so I couldn't get upset over doing bad on them and b) It made me only focus on performing on the exam and not caring about other things.

Also if you have things like rest breaks, make sure you know how they work.
-I only learnt till I finished 2 exams till I understood they changed the workings for it :/

[Bri MT]

Biology
Slow down and only have enough spare time to check answers
Review your strengths before the exam

Psychology
Not all marks are worth equal minutes

[Globe]

Psychology:

Don't be tempted to rush through the Multiple Choice Section! So many people lose easy marks here from misreading questions, or just going with what seems right, rather than actually processing and analysing the question! VCAA always throws in options that appear very similar or answers that only differ a couple of words (ie. referring to glutamate as a neurohormone rather than a neurotransmitter in this years exam), so if you're careful these 'traps' wont't get you!

Most of the time, a lot of the questions in the MC can be worked out using process of elimination, so this is a good strategy to use when attempting difficult questions. Put a line through the answers you know are instantly wrong and work from there.

Although important, don't spend a large amount of time on the MC questions! If there are questions which you're honestly not sure about, put a little circle or mark next to the number on your MC answer sheet, and go to the next question. You're not only saving time by doing this, but you'll be more 'refreshed' when you read the question again after moving onto other questions. Just make sure you leave a line when you shade in your next answer on the MC sheet (this is why putting a little circle next to these questions help, but just make sure to rub them out at the end!)

Don't give generic responses! Ever! Always relate your question back to the scenario given. If the question talks about why Suzie may be experiencing a stress response, include Suzie and the situation she is in in your answer. VCAA loves to deduct marks for generic answers, as they are not fully answering the question.

If I can think of some more tips, I'll be sure to add them later

[Joseph41]

Would love some more responses, here. We're in mid-June now; I'm sure a lot of students will be looking for exam-specific advice in the next few months!

[Bell9565]

I've noticed this for biol and chem in particular but may be applicable to all sciences/content subjects (I don't do any others).

Don't just learn the content, make sure you understand it. If you just memorise the course that'll do you no good rather, if you understand the concepts you don't need to spend anywhere as much time studying so you can recall it - instead you can spend time on questions.

Alsoo come up with random ways to remember things that work for you rather than what the teachers tell you. For example in psych satellite cells are in the PNS as they are far away from the earth/centre of the body and since that starts with 'S', schwann cells are the other glial cell in the PNS. Having little ways to remember things and connect it all together helped me so much!

[Quantum44]

Methods:

Trust yourself.

For me, methods was the one subject where I had the most perfectionist mindset, and this really hurt me in my trial exam (thankfully not the real exam). I had all the knowledge and had done tonnes of practice, so I was very invested in succeeding in the trial exam to get a confidence boost. This ended up with me obsessing over every question, paranoid I’d make a silly mistake somewhere. Near the end I realised I was very pressed for time and got flustered, not managing to pull off a very good score. This made me realise the importance of trusting your skills and not second-guessing every calculation you make. You certainly need to be careful in the exam, but you also have to keep moving, and it’s better to have time to check over at the end rather than rushing through the final question (which is often the hardest of the paper and worth the most).