Jessica Lieng graduated in 2016 with a perfect 50 in VCE PE.
Click here for complete course notes for VCE PE.
You’re on the home stretch of the Tour de France. You are nearing the finish line, but feel the lactic acid building up in your legs as you struggle to keep going.
Soon, it will be all over. But with the scorching sun blazing directly above, your electrolyte levels have become dangerously diluted. And you can sense your intramuscular glycogen levels beginning to deplete.
You look down. All out of hypertonics.
“Slow down,” your CNS tells you. But you are trying your hardest to block it out.
You close your eyes. Need to finish, need to finish, need to finish, need to get a 50 in PE.
This was essentially how I was feeling around this time last year (except for the Tour de France bit), so I don’t doubt many of you are feeling a similar way.
I wasn’t anticipating getting a 50 – or anywhere near it. But as soon as I blocked them out, I could get back into gear (cycling pun intended?).
So, what should you be doing in the final three weeks before the exam?
THREE WEEKS TO GO
First thing’s first: if you haven’t started doing practice exams, I strongly suggest you start as soon as possible.
It is important to not only practise the tough questions (such as energy system interplays), but also the seemingly simple concepts (such as the notoriously underestimated “critiquing of programs using the SEM” questions, which catch students every single year).
You want to head into the exam assured there are no gaps in your knowledge.
With the mountains of SACs you would have had during the year, it’s not unlikely for you to have skipped over some subtleties in many of the topics. To ensure nothing in the exam surprises you, it is vital that you are confident in your understanding of everything in the course.
In this regard, I am enthusiast – and an advocate – for utilising study groups as an effective (and efficient) learning strategy.
This is extremely relevant as, at this stage, time is of the essence.
Your cohort are your friends – not your foes. And it is important that you work with your classmates – not against them. Teach one another the concepts of the course you may not be entirely confident with.
One benefit of this is that it is an excellent diagnostic measure. How comprehensively you can explain concepts to other people automatically tells you what you know well, and what you may need to work on.
The other benefit of studying in groups is that teaching others has been proven to be the best method of retaining knowledge.
TWO WEEKS TO GO
Once you reach the two-weeks-to-go checkpoint, you are in a vital period.
The other cyclists are just as determined to get to the front of the pack, and you do not want to fall behind.
You should be consistently knocking out practice exams, whilst also getting feedback for them (emphasis on the latter).
The key factors that differentiate students in PE is not whether they know their stuff or not, but how well they respond to questions – and whether they write the right thing. For example, be aware of simple nuances like not saying that it is the accumulation of lactate or lactic acid, but rather, the hydrogen ions that cause fatigue.
The only way to know whether your responses are relevant and adequate is to receive feedback on them.
ONE WEEK TO GO
In VCE PE, you learn about the carefully orchestrated strategies elite athletes employ to bring about optimal performance in time for competition.
So why not apply those techniques to how you’re studying for exams? Ultimately, as VCE students, you are all athletes of the mind.
Training program = your study.
Major competition = the VCE PE exam.
Although PE focuses on physiological performance, the same principles apply to psychological performance.
Does an athlete training for a marathon run one marathon per day the week leading up to the competition? No. They taper their training.
Similarly, you should not be doing one practice exam per day in the final week before your VCE PE exam.
Although you may have naturally progressively overloaded your study, don’t forget to taper your training to allow for peaking in time for the PE exam.
In this final week, it is vital you pace yourself and don’t “hit the wall” directly before your exam.
Make sure you get some rest the week prior to the PE exam, because, as we all know, sleep is often viewed as the single most important factor for optimal physiological and psychological performance.
You’re on the home stretch of the Tour de France. You are nearing the finish line, but you feel the lactic acid building up in your legs. Keep going.
