Old VCAA Exams vs. New Commerical Exams

[acinod]

So far I've done a few 2011 physics trial exams. I don't think I'll have enough time to do every single trial exam and I want to focus on my other subjects.

So is it better to do the remaining 2009-2010 trial exams from various companies such as Insight and Lisachem, or is it better do the VCAA papers from before 2009? (VCAA has papers up to 2002) Is there really a big change to the study design because I briefly looked through an old VCAA paper and all the topics seem to be quite similar. Or is it better to stick to doing the latest commercial papers for the current study design?

[Lasercookie]

If you're tight for time, stick with doing current study design exams.

I think it would be worthwhile just spending 15 minutes just thoroughly reading through an old VCAA exam (and then looking at the assessor reports). I can't remember any interesting questions of the top of my head at the moment, but they are in there. At least by looking through them, you'll notice the questions that are repeated every year etc.

edit: The study design hasn't changed too much. There's a few stuff in the old ones that have been shifted around a bit etc. (I think 2007 and earlier detailed studies were short answer), but I've found them all do-able.

[acinod]

Thanks laseredd!

So basically for physics lets say I have 10 commerical exams (current study design), 2 current VCAA (2009-2010) and 4 old VCAA (2005-2008).

Lets say I only had time to do 8 exams and 2 of those have to be the 2 latest VCAA exams so I have 6 exams left.
Is it best to do 4 of the old VCAA papers and 2 of the new commerical exams or just all commerical exams?
And if I'm doing commerical exams, what are the best papers in the years 2009 and 2010?

Thanks

[Lasercookie]

Thanks laseredd!

So basically for physics lets say I have 10 commerical exams (current study design), 2 current VCAA (2009-2010) and 4 old VCAA (2005-2008).

Lets say I only had time to do 8 exams and 2 of those have to be the 2 latest VCAA exams so I have 6 exams left.
Is it best to do 4 of the old VCAA papers and 2 of the new commerical exams or just all commerical exams?
And if I'm doing commerical exams, what are the best papers in the years 2009 and 2010?

Thanks

I would choose do current study design VCAA first. Some people like to leave them for last, to see how much they learn - but I prefer to learn from the VCAA exams. After all, they are the gold standard.

If you're limiting yourself, it's probably best to stick strictly to the current study design. It's also probably best to go for a variety e.g. do one of STAV, Neap, iTute, Insight, TSSM, Chemology. Be wary of incorrect solutions and dog questions that VCAA would never ask. You should still be able to answer these kind of dog questions though, I haven't come across anything unanswerable yet.

I don't think it really matters though, the changes from the old study design aren't too significant (I didn't come across any questions I didn't know how to do). I'm pretty sure some of the stuff I did is no longer on the course however. That's why I think it's best to do the current study design exams. But you can't afford to ignore VCAA completely though, there's a lot of value in the assessor reports (and if you're reading assessor reports, you might as well read the exam).

My only opinion is to just do current study design VCAA first. Personally, I've done VCAA 2002 to 2010 - but I have a lot of free time on my hands since I only have two 3/4 subjects.

[paulsterio]

You do realise that doing VCAA Exams or Practice Exams don't matter too much because VCAA Exams are written by different people every year?