ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => VCE Science => VCE Mathematics/Science/Technology => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE Biology => Topic started by: SS1314 on January 18, 2020, 11:18:48 am
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Hi,
I just wanted to know which companies make the best exams (the ones that are the most similar to the VCAA ones). Also which practice exams are utterly rubbish and are not worth my time?
Thank you
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From my personal experience, NEAP and Insight (particularly NEAP) write great exams that are similar to VCAA's. TSSM is also okay. Avoid TSFX and Lisachem.
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In addition to the above STAV are quite good. I think they replicate VCAA quite well.
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Thank you for the replies
Just one more question, how many practice exams do you think I should do (assuming I mark each one thoroughly and record my mistakes)? Would 40 be enough for a 45+ SS?
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Thank you for the replies
Just one more question, how many practice exams do you think I should do (assuming I mark each one thoroughly and record my mistakes)? Would 40 be enough for a 45+ SS?
Assuming you are only doing 1 or 2 unit 3/4 subjects just do as many as you can tbh but like you said don't just do them for the sake of getting your numbers up - make sure you learn from each one and make sure you don't make the same mistakes twice.
40 is a lot and is quite good but it isn't unheard of for students to do 50+ especially when going for those high 40's/50 study scores.
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I agree, the NEAP exams are really good and I didn't mine the Aced exams either (Just make sure you at least complete the 2013-2019 VCAA exams). Obviously, if you are planning to do 40 you most likely will do some of the earlier ones too. Definitely have a go at the 2018 NHT one too (find it here).
I got a study score of 50 last year and only did 20 practice exams, so like Sine said, make sure you focus on the quality and not just the quantity. Churning out bad quality practice exams is not particularly helpful. That said, if you do have time to complete 40 at a high standard and run thoroughly through your mistakes, go for it! I suppose the more practice the better (just don't push yourself too hard, and if you are planning to do 40, start early!)
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I agree, the NEAP exams are really good and I didn't mine the Aced exams either (Just make sure you at least complete the 2013-2019 VCAA exams). Obviously, if you are planning to do 40 you most likely will do some of the earlier ones too. Definitely have a go at the 2018 NHT one too (find it here).
I got a study score of 50 last year and only did 20 practice exams, so like Sine said, make sure you focus on the quality and not just the quantity. Churning out bad quality practice exams is not particularly helpful. That said, if you do have time to complete 40 at a high standard and run thoroughly through your mistakes, go for it! I suppose the more practice the better (just don't push yourself too hard, and if you are planning to do 40, start early!)
How early do you think I should have covered the syllabus so I can start practice exams? My school covers the syllabus just before the term 3 holidays, do you think I can get 40+ exams done if I don't go ahead of my class?
Also, just letting you know I am in year 11 next year doing two 3/4 subjects
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How early do you think I should have covered the syllabus so I can start practice exams? My school covers the syllabus just before the term 3 holidays, do you think I can get 40+ exams done if I don't go ahead of my class?
Also, just letting you know I am in year 11 next year doing two 3/4 subjects
I think when you finish learning content is mostly self-directed. Personally, I was finished by the start of September, which gave me two months of revision and practice exams. Considering that you only have two 3/4s I would suggest trying to get the content learnt by around this time or earlier. But be careful not to rush content, make sure you are covering it in depth and fully understand everything VCAA requires you to.
Thereby, I would advise you to work ahead of your class (especially if you are eager and passionate about the content) it certainly will make it easier to get your aim of 40 practice exams done! Even if it is just lightly reading of the content you are soon to cover. Additionally, it means you can treat class time as revision, to finalise your knowledge of the content and pose any necessary questions to your teacher.
However, take this advice with caution as it is really up to you and what suits you best. There is no reason why you can't get high 40s without working ahead, as long as you continually put in effort throughout the year and try your absolute best to get the content down :)
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I think when you finish learning content is mostly self-directed. Personally, I was finished by the start of September, which gave me two months of revision and practice exams. Considering that you only have two 3/4s I would suggest trying to get the content learnt by around this time or earlier. But be careful not to rush content, make sure you are covering it in depth and fully understand everything VCAA requires you to.
Thereby, I would advise you to work ahead of your class (especially if you are eager and passionate about the content) it certainly will make it easier to get your aim of 40 practice exams done! Even if it is just lightly reading of the content you are soon to cover. Additionally, it means you can treat class time as revision, to finalise your knowledge of the content and pose any necessary questions to your teacher.
However, take this advice with caution as it is really up to you and what suits you best. There is no reason why you can't get high 40s without working ahead, as long as you continually put in effort throughout the year and try your absolute best to get the content down :)
When should we finish learning U3 content and beginning practice exams if we were learning ahead?
Is TSFX any good?
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When should we finish learning U3 content and beginning practice exams if we were learning ahead?
Is TSFX any good?
Personally, I don’t remember when I finished learning U3 content, probably around the middle of term 2, three weeks or so before the AOS 2 SAC. So when should you finish? I think it’s best to see what works for you during the year. Don’t stress too much about finishing U3, as it will most likely just happen naturally. My main advise will be focus on studying for each upcoming SAC (so in other words, it is probably not good to spend lots of time studying U4 when your U3 SACs have not yet been completed).
I don’t believe the TSFX exams are particularly detailed or helpful.
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NEAP and STAV are probably the best IMO, because TSSM and TSFX are either too detailed or too vague and weird.
NEAP and STAV, while being considered 'harder' then the VCAA ones I found they were extremely similar in they types of questions, the length of the paper and my marks on the NEAP ones where very similar to the mark i actually got
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Hi,
I just wanted to know which companies make the best exams (the ones that are the most similar to the VCAA ones). Also which practice exams are utterly rubbish and are not worth my time?
Thank you
So i did around 40 prac exams and got a 45. So from memory, this is what i think;
Don't do accessEd, absolutely useless questions. Complete waste of time
Neap was pretty good but some of its question are harder than an average vcaa question
I really liked ACED for some reason because its question were pretty much on the same level as VCAAs
In my opinion, I didn't like STAV questions as some questions were really hard but you could try them if you have time
Insight was a joke, i remember one of the past exam (2013 i think?) was so ridiculously hard that my percentage was like 20 below my average. However their recent ones seem to be more reasonable
LISACHEM was ehhh, i feel like they reuse some questions and some [more recent] exam questions were pretty dodgy in terms of quality.
QATs was inconsistent, some years they will have good papers and some years they will have shit papers.
TSSM was alright, its like NEAP but a bit easier
I only did one TSFX paper so I can't really comment on it but it seemed pretty similar to TSSM.
From what i remember, Kilbaha was pretty bad.
So here's the list:
1. VCAA (obviously)
2. NEAP
3. ACED
4. TSSM/TSFX?
5. STAV
6. INSIGHT
7. QATS
8. LISACHEM
9. Kilbaha
10. AccessED