ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => Victorian Education Discussion => Topic started by: dior1 on December 23, 2008, 06:14:08 pm
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Hey guys.
Just wondering if anybody has any useful tips for succedding in the final year of high school and to maximise your ENTER score :D
I would love to hear any words of wisedom you can pass on!!
Just incase you are wondering, I'm doing English, Further maths, Italian and psychology.
Post away :D :D
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further maths - start exam type questions ASAP.
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English: write practice essays consistantly and seek help on areas of improvement.
Ask your teacher for honest and harsher marking of your essays if you notice leniency.
Keep your notes organised.
Use the English forum for help.
You might find discussing novels/etc with classmates helpful for preparation.
Keep on top of your SACs. Unit 3: 25%, unit 4: 25% = 50% of your study score right there.
Italian: don't leave your detailed study for "later" and end up rushing it.
Don't hate and neglect any subjects pretty much.
... and suck up to your teachers. Make sure they like you.
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English = biggest kick in the balls
never neglect engerish.
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... and suck up to your teachers. Make sure they like you.
This may sound stupid, but why?? Is it because they may be biased and give you higher SAC marks?
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... and suck up to your teachers. Make sure they like you.
This may sound stupid, but why?? Is it because they may be biased and give you higher SAC marks?
Not necessarily, but if they DON'T like you - the will most likely give you lower marks. That's my experience.
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... and suck up to your teachers. Make sure they like you.
This may sound stupid, but why?? Is it because they may be biased and give you higher SAC marks?
There's a chance they'll look at your essay more favourably, lol. Just give them a good impression.
If you can show them you're putting in effort before a SAC, they might be more obliged to ... be nice with marking your work.
With teachers cross-marking (many teachers correcting) ... teachers like the brag about their students. If they think you're an awesome student, other teachers will hear about it. Thus, you benefit either way.
Unless your friends notice and start joking about your change of behaviour haha, but hey, your gain their loss. ;)
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... and suck up to your teachers. Make sure they like you.
This may sound stupid, but why?? Is it because they may be biased and give you higher SAC marks?
In some cases yes. Also means they'll be more likely to go that extra mile for you: finding more prac exams, correcting that extra essay, letting you borrow that other textbook etc.
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yeah at my school teachers were biased as some went in my favour and a couple didn't but yeah maintain a good relationship with them
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Italian: Don't do what I did all year; you'll just end up disappointed. I got basically A's to A+'s throughout the year, and in the exams, I crashed and burnt. Know all of your tenses 'perfectly'! It doesn't matter whether it is an 'are' 'ere' or 'ire' verb, you must know how to spell it as well as pronounce it. I also agree with Toothpick, don't leave the detailed study to the last minute. I was lost for words when she asked me for my 1 minute, and needed to ask 'puoi ripetere, non ho ben capito' about 3 or 4 times (many more throughout the whole thing...). So don't neglect it, and ultimately, make sure you get a teacher who knows what they're doing (mine didn't, and hence why I ended up with a 23 in Italian).
Psychology: My love-hate relationship with this subject continued throughout the duration of year 11. My strategy was to basically revise everything I knew, and consolidate it into long-term memory. Come time for the mid-year and end-of-year, I would recommend making little cards to memorise key facts and what not. Soon enough, those cards should just be used as cues, and you will know the knowledge back to front. And of course, it is best to understand rather than just memorise as you can apply your knowledge to different concepts better, and be able to tackle exam questions in more depth.
Good luck. ;)
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in psych unit 4 do sec 3 FIRST...my biggest mistake yet
start writing notes now and revise everyday...i didnt do that but i didnt relli get a great score
AND dont bother ur time with other text books ONLY use jacaranda...and do all the VCAA exams...even the ones not in the study design...some questions came up in the mid year....
psych is a great subject and does not need prior expertise to do well in..(like maths and chem)
most questions in the exam need like 4 or 5 words....as long as ur precise
GO TO THE MONASH CAULFIELD lecture for psych ....they give u notes and show the minimum amount of words needed to get 100% for the exam
VERY VERY useful
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Study!
For English: Know your texts better than you know yourself. Do lots of practice plans and read broadly, including looking through the paper every day.
For Psych: I have an advice thread on this in the Psych thread which basically has all of the advice I have in it.
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do everything that i didnt.
i dead set did not study all year. i had my own personal reasons for being unable to study. and boy do i regret it.
take advantage of every moment you have. this one year can map out the rest of your life.
and of course, always make time to socialise and bum around. otherwise you will burn out at the times where you most need your wits about you.
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my advice would b to never go into a subject thinkin u only need a ceratin score, cos i found that i didnt put in as much effort cos of this. eg, for chem i went in saying that i only needed 35 thus didnt put in nearly as much effort as i should have and only got 32! kind of the same in spec, once i realised how hard it was i lowered my expectations and didnt put in as much time or effort as my other subjects which i prob should have
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don't do what donny don't does.
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For the sciences/maths subjects.
It's all about perfection and not making any stupid mistakes with your working out etc.
Because everyone pretty much knows how to answer the large majority questions hence the difference between a 40 and a 50 is being very careful.
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For the sciences/maths subjects.
It's all about perfection and not making any stupid mistakes with your working out etc.
Because everyone pretty much knows how to answer the large majority questions hence the difference between a 40 and a 50 is being very careful.
ohh i was wondering why it was so hard to get 50 in methods...that pretty much explains it
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yeah. do subjects you like and will be motivated to do well in. never chose a subject cos your friends are or cos an authority figure expects you to. also, if you feel uneasy about a subject, speak out and ask for help or run for the hills! dont stick with chem just cos its your 7th subject and dont care about it! thats what gets you 25's......
i love english and did well in it. but i did well cos i have a natural flare for it. i wrote minimal practice essays and managed a 43. i was lucky. you and all other 09'ers should try their hardest to understand all course content and what is expected of you. dont sit back and relax just cos you think things are easy. work at it and get better that best.
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... and suck up to your teachers. Make sure they like you.
This may sound stupid, but why?? Is it because they may be biased and give you higher SAC marks?
In some cases yes. Also means they'll be more likely to go that extra mile for you: finding more prac exams, correcting that extra essay, letting you borrow that other textbook etc.
Nah that could counteract against you if they realise you are just using them. Just stay quite in class and LISTEN, you can bludge in maths and science but you have to listen in english because you are communicating ideas.
Oh and since we are talking about ideas, always try to express sophisticated ideas, this doesnt mean your vocab has to be complex, you can still write a simple piece but it has to be in-depth. Like examiners are looking for your thought process, and obviously your grammar and spelling dictates how you express this.
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They say that the key to good writing is clarity, and this is true. However a pretentious vocabulary reaps many rewards.
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just work solidly throughout the year. sounds obvious, but really, just try and do a couple of hours every night, and make sure to allocate time off! say every friday or saturday night you get a break, and don't do ANY work! even leading up to the exams, don't do too much work on these nights off - maybe reread english texts if you feel like it, or go over notes for your favourite subject, but do NOT work hard! you need a break.
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Unlike me, make sure you try hard in sacs. They do mean something in the end. :( lolz.
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Dont get into the trap of thinking that you have to do maximum practice exams to get an A+.
The key is to revise all your work first (like the theory and formulas) and do exams and GO OVER THEM to find your mistakes. AND LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES!!!!
My friend who got 50 in chem only did about 5-6 prac exams for each UNIT exam, because he did this.
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For English, work consistantly throughout the year. Unless you have a flare for it, it's not a subject that you can get good at overnight. When you get corrections back, work on your area(s) of weakness until you improve and eventually perfect it. For example, expression was a huge problem for me since forever and I only fixed it during my SWATVAC. You have to be vigilent about your mistakes and make a conscious effort to improve, and it only comes with continual practice. Also it is really important to communicate with your teacher this year. Seek them for help and don't be afraid to ask them to mark extra essays that you've done.
As for Italian, don't write your writing tasks in the same fashion that you would approach an English essay. For LOTEs, it isn't really about complexity. Focus instead on using sophisticated sentence structures, the correct grammar, idioms, tenses and overall accuracy. An examiner would prefer a simple, coherently written piece instead of something overly complex which doesn't sort of show off your knowledge of the structure of the language, if that makes sense at all. Of course, i'm saying all of this based on my experience with French and Chinese, so i'm assuming that Italian would be the same.
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If you can, try to get A+'s in your exams. That usually helps.
In all seriousness, never think you're too good. There was a guy at my school who was doing alright in his sacs, I guess, and he kept going on about how accounting and methods, etc were a cakewalk for him in our spares. He ended up with 50 something. On that note, don't just rely on your teachers. Use other texts besides the ones listed by your school. Seriously, if I didn't do physics in year 11, spesh would have been an epic fail. SAC marks =! Exam marks. Just because you're averaging in the 90s in your school SACs doesn't mean you're entitled to the same in exams. Look at past VCAA papers, as well as other trial exams, and accompanying solutions/reports. Get a feel for the structure and type of questions. Doing them helps, too.
That stuff is only sorta useful if you went to a school like mine where SACs are basically spoon fed (at least in the subjects I did). Just trying to say that school standards aren't always the same as VCAA ones.
Do not burn out. I don't actually know how to fix this, but it isn't any fun. It happened to me at the end of first semester. It got to the point where I couldn't do any work at home, not even revise for sacs. Luckily though, I managed to scrounge enough motivation to get through revision period and exams. I think economics is what caused the turnaround. My eco teacher is a really slow marker, so by the time we were up to our third outcome, he hadn't even finished marking our first. When we finally got them back, I didn't get the highest mark (after being on top for a year and a half, only to get beaten by a short asian girl with thick glasses is NOT cool). The possibility of coming second was the kick in the pants I needed, I guess.
Oh, and try to get some good sleep the night before exams. I got around 3 hours for both my english and bm exams, and the last half of both were not fun. I tried to compensate with energy drinks and coffee (for English), but all that happened was me yelling at everyone before it started, and me being dead and repeating the same stuff halfway through.
Anyway, good luck to y'all!
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English - Know your texts backwards, read/watch them atleast twice before you actually start school next year. Consistently write practise essays throughout the year for all sections of the exam. Get as much feedback as possible from your teachers. Too many essays is never enough. Get a decent SAC ranking, sounds obvious but in a subject like english I found my SAC ranking(A+ unit 3 and A unit 4) really helped me when my results came, as I thought I was going to get like ~30 SS.
Further Maths - Start practice exams as soon as term 3 holidays start. Do them consistently until about a week before the exams. I think I did atleast 25 exams each for further and methods, so if you are organised and print off them all before the holidays that should be an achievable amount if you're just doing further. Also, get checkpoints, do them throughout the year and get used to exam style questions, this is very important. SAC's matter - do as much preparation as possible.
And.. I didn't do any more of the subjects you did so I can't really help. ;/
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For the sciences/maths subjects.
It's all about perfection and not making any stupid mistakes with your working out etc.
Because everyone pretty much knows how to answer the large majority questions hence the difference between a 40 and a 50 is being very careful.
+1
Learning the concepts and theory in math/science is relatively easy and most people only go a bit further than this. To achieve high 40s you need much more than that; you need to practice until you are sick of the subject, to the extent where you can be half-asleep and still finish a question perfectly. Its just drill work, nothing special.
To achieve 50 you need to then, somewhat ironically, go 'back to basics' and become familiar enough with the theory that you can apply it laterally, i.e in an unfamiliar context.
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For the sciences/maths subjects.
It's all about perfection and not making any stupid mistakes with your working out etc.
Because everyone pretty much knows how to answer the large majority questions hence the difference between a 40 and a 50 is being very careful.
+1
Learning the concepts and theory in math/science is relatively easy and most people only go a bit further than this. To achieve high 40s you need much more than that; you need to practice until you are sick of the subject, to the extent where you can be half-asleep and still finish a question perfectly. Its just drill work, nothing special.
To achieve 50 you need to then, somewhat ironically, go 'back to basics' and become familiar enough with the theory that you can apply it laterally, i.e in an unfamiliar context.
and practice makes perfect.
there are plenty of practice materials around, a few of the more generous members have gone to the trouble of uploading it, it'll be a sin to not use them. =]
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For the sciences/maths subjects.
It's all about perfection and not making any stupid mistakes with your working out etc.
Because everyone pretty much knows how to answer the large majority questions hence the difference between a 40 and a 50 is being very careful.
+1
Learning the concepts and theory in math/science is relatively easy and most people only go a bit further than this. To achieve high 40s you need much more than that; you need to practice until you are sick of the subject, to the extent where you can be half-asleep and still finish a question perfectly. Its just drill work, nothing special.
To achieve 50 you need to then, somewhat ironically, go 'back to basics' and become familiar enough with the theory that you can apply it laterally, i.e in an unfamiliar context.
and practice makes perfect.
there are plenty of practice materials around, a few of the more generous members have gone to the trouble of uploading it, it'll be a sin to not use them. =]
but don't become a robot
Rest is essential :) you dont want to burn out
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You also don't want to study too hard on your subjects. It's always good to take up sport or debating (:D) to take your mind off things and to feel relaxed rather than stressed during VCE.
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For the sciences/maths subjects.
It's all about perfection and not making any stupid mistakes with your working out etc.
Because everyone pretty much knows how to answer the large majority questions hence the difference between a 40 and a 50 is being very careful.
+1
Learning the concepts and theory in math/science is relatively easy and most people only go a bit further than this. To achieve high 40s you need much more than that; you need to practice until you are sick of the subject, to the extent where you can be half-asleep and still finish a question perfectly. Its just drill work, nothing special.
To achieve 50 you need to then, somewhat ironically, go 'back to basics' and become familiar enough with the theory that you can apply it laterally, i.e in an unfamiliar context.
and practice makes perfect.
there are plenty of practice materials around, a few of the more generous members have gone to the trouble of uploading it, it'll be a sin to not use them. =]
but don't become a robot
Rest is essential :) you dont want to burn out
its also because those people that have no concept of something and just become proficient in a number of rote steps really bug me (and get ridiculously high ENTERS). hopefully uni will force them think for once.
In maths at uni you definitely can't get away with just using formulae efficiently, as I found out in my first year. You have to understand the foundations very thoroughly to have any hope. It's pretty similar with physics too, and I'd imagine so with other subjects like chem etc.
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- be very, very careful with unqualified tutors.
- even if it is embarassing and annoying, get all the help you can get from your classroom teachers. (unless they are hacks. then don't. don't talk to them at all) ask questions, ask for help, ask for opinions on how you can improve your work, where your strengths and weaknesses are etc. etc. this is where the real gems of your improvement are, no kidding.
- choose the subjects you like. really. it will only make it easier/less painful for you to work hard and get higher grades.
- try and stress less and sleep properly throughout the year and during the exam period. a day before your exam, if you feel like you can't handle your nerves DON'T STUDY, it will only make things worse. Take it easy, if you have done consistent work throughout the year, a day or two less of study won't make any difference, honestly.
- for humanities subjects, all you have to do is address the dot points in the study design. don't complicate things for yourself. just address the key dot points with clear arguments and if you can, sophisticated evidence and you will be FINE. that is all there is to it. it is absolutely worthless trying to get up on the state by learning shitloads of nothing.
- for LOTES, practice your oral exam material starting from June consistently and as the exam approaches, daily. Apart from knowing the material back to front to a point beyond sounding like you are just recounting a speech, you will develop confidence in your abilities. It will pay off tenfold. i found learning tonnes of vocab was useless for the written exam, just learn key and frequent vocab and how to use your dictionary skilfully.
- don't take SAC grades for much. they don't really matter in the bigger scheme of things. whether you did excellent or shit throughout the year, that can all change by how you go in the exam. if you are getting really unconventional SACs to do, do constant revisions of exam style questions throughout the year, as that is what will ultimately matter.
hope that helps somewhat.
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Psychology: If you want to do really well in psych, make sure you study extra hard for the end of year exam. At mid-year, psych might be the only mid-year people have, so more people do well, but at end of year they have 3 or 4 other subjects to focus on, so they tend to do less well than at mid-year (if that makes sense).
The main strategy I had for studying was to go through each dot point and make summary notes, and made cue cards with all the definitions (because the examiners are extremely pedantic; some definitions have to have a certain word to get the mark, and if you omit that one little word, you won't get the marks - it's ridiculous). I also did a LOT of practice exams and went to the lectures at Monash Uni which were excellent.
(Feel free to PM me if you need any help next year).
Italian: For LOTEs (I did Indonesian), make sure you know all the really simple year 7 language like dates and times. Also, my teacher gave us a vocab list at the start of each topic, but if your teacher doesn't do this there should be one in your text book. Learn these words really well, coz it will make writing tasks so much easier. And make sure you know complex grammar; examiners love that. And for the oral, the earlier you prepare the better. Practice every night, no matter how insane it drives you (I don't EVER want to hear about deforestation in Indonesia again).
In general: if you bomb out on a SAC, don't stress too much. For each subject, you might have 5 or 6 SACs for the whole year, and altogether that's only 50% of your mark (or 33% for psych). It's exams that really determine your mark in the end. For Lit, I was expecting a 35 max, coz I got B+'s and A's all year, but I got an A+ in the exam and that brought my study score up to a 40.
I did about 3 hours of homework/study a night, which is a lot more than most people, but I think it was worth it (also the oral exam takes up a lot of time).
And make sure you have a social life during the year, but really knuckle down for exams (I have the advantage of not being 18 til next year, so I couldn't really go clubbing, which is something that really distracted most of my friends). I had a normal social life throughout the year but for most of October and November I studied my arse off, and in my opinion was completely worth it. But it depends on how well you want/need to do.
And another thing is make sure the subjects you're doing are right for you. I ended up dropping maths methods half way through the year because a) it was too hard, b) took up way too much time and i was doing badly, and c) i didn't need to do it. so don't do something if it really doesn't suit what you're good at/if you don't enjoy it, because you won't do well (at the time a lot of people said I was crazy coz it gets marked up so much, but dropping it allowed me to do better in all my other subjects and ultimately get better study scores and a better ENTER).
Hope this helped :)
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You also don't want to study too hard on your subjects. It's always good to take up sport or debating (:D) to take your mind off things and to feel relaxed rather than stressed during VCE.
I agree with ur last sentence. But you can never study too hard for anything.
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You also don't want to study too hard on your subjects. It's always good to take up sport or debating (:D) to take your mind off things and to feel relaxed rather than stressed during VCE.
I agree with ur last sentence. But you can never study too hard for anything.
True but you can over study for something... and then you end up burning out.. it's hard to explain but you can put so much pressure on yourself to study, that after a hours and hours you don't absorb anything, and you become exhausted, and perform badly on SACs/Exams (I know what that's like)
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You also don't want to study too hard on your subjects. It's always good to take up sport or debating (:D) to take your mind off things and to feel relaxed rather than stressed during VCE.
I agree with ur last sentence. But you can never study too hard for anything.
True but you can over study for something... and then you end up burning out.. it's hard to explain but you can put so much pressure on yourself to study, that after a hours and hours you don't absorb anything, and you become exhausted, and perform badly on SACs/Exams (I know what that's like)
thats called cramming
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be rounded, while its important to study consistently and hard, you need an outlet or two. its not worth sacrificing an important year of your life in general for a 4 digit score.
and for the LOTEs - immerse yourself in the language. watch the news on sbs, download songs and podcasts, start learning ur general convo for oral early on - don't leave it to the last minute!
for english - i think wiriting a lot of detailed plans is better than writing a lot of essays. examiners know was pre-prepared responses look like and you are more likely to cover a broader range of topics if u do plans. (then, when you do go to write essays make sure u practice under timed conditions!!! this is so important)
in general, you can never do too many practice exams :)
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my advice - have a life. dont just study study study, have fun..and study!
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my advice - have a life. dont just study study study, have fun..and study!
I would say the priority should be emphasized the other way around, don't just fun fun fun, study.... and have some fun!
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my advice - have a life. dont just study study study, have fun..and study!
I would say the priority should be emphasized the other way around, don't just fun fun fun, study.... and have some fun!
+1
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I did about 3 hours of homework/study a night, which is a lot more than most people
Was that just for psyc. ?
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I did about 3 hours of homework/study a night, which is a lot more than most people
Was that just for phsyc. ?
What the hell is phsyc.?
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I did about 3 hours of homework/study a night, which is a lot more than most people
Was that just for phsyc. ?
What the hell is phsyc.?
physics/psychology
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i assume its physics because no way any1 can do 3 hrs a night for psychology. ;D
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phsyc --> psychology
Where does the "ph" come from? :P
I've never understood why this mistake is made, mainly because everyone's taught from about age 6 that ph = f, so phsycology = fsycology. Nonsensical.
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^ i never recall making that mistake, you must be blind
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^ i never recall making that mistake, you must be blind
Your modifying skills are excellent
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i know huh? they're superb ! :)
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^ i never recall making that mistake, you must be blind
dude, psychology is psych GET IN UR HEAD.
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English:Dont start and finish reading your novels 2 days before the exam. '
It sure kicked me in the balls, ss 28 ftw.
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dude, psychology is psych GET IN UR HEAD.
w/e like i care........
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METHODS CAS: - make sure you go over all yr11 topics and are proficient with them.
- like all other vce subjects, don't let the work pile up
- get a good tutor if you think you need it
- do as many trial exams as you can
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My tip:
If you completed 3/4 subjects in year 11 and did well, don't ponder on those results thinking that you're a sure thing to get a good ENTER.
This is the case for me, I missed my desired ENTER by 0.1. :-[
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work consistently rather than cram, and prepare for sacs/exams by doing exam style questions
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My tips:
1. Do 2 Unit 3/4 Subjects in Year 11 and ace them
2. Actually care about your schooling. Dont think that Year 11 doesnt count, because it bloody well does.
3. Get sleep during the night, try not to study too close to bed time because trust me, you wont sleep.
4. If you get a shit teacher, then use other teachers around you to reach your highest poetntial.
5. Dont blame your school. If you are like me, and were unfortunate to have a weak cohort and have teachers give students relitively high SAC marks, then only see them bomb out on exams- get a tutor ASAP.
6. Dont get too cocky. This probably goes to students from a small school, who have under 150 year 12's at there school. Just because you kick ass at that school doesnt mean your top shit, it just means your better than any other student at that school. :P
7. KNOW YOUR STUFF- otherwise your kidding yourself.
Finally-
Have a life. Seriously, VCE is too damn stressful to take seriously. Dont just become anti social like i did and study your arse from now till next November. Have a break, socialise and realise that VCE is just a game. In a game there are those that win and those that lose, and at the end of the day a four digit number doesnt sum up WHO YOU ARE as a person. Its just a friggin number!
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English:Definitely THE most important subject as it is one that will definitely be counted in your final score, and can drag your score down after all your efforts in your other subjects, or be the saviour. Drafting essays and handing them to the teacher for correction before you do your final copy is crucial, because it's an easy way to stop marks being taken off. For example, if you fix (take out/include) everything that they suggest - it can make a difference :) also, drafting on the computer & using spell check & thesaurus is a good way to improve your essays AND Study Guides - I highly recommend them. I was never really good at English and would just summarise the story, rather than analyse texts and draw ideas from them. Study Guides are great so that you can grasp how to do just that. In the end I got a 39 :) oh and ALSO - re-read your texts before the exam ... I know its draining, especially if you dont like to read like me, but if you re-read it, and quote it as you go along, you will most likely develop a new view which is crucial for the exam. & for context, do 2/3 text & 1/3 - other (like from an article) if you can memorise something out of an article, that may be the difference between an 8 or 9 out of 10.
<u>generally...</u> don't decide on what will be your lowest subject and put less into it, because you can predict all year round your scores (like I did) but you never know what will happen in the exam. For example, I was hoping for a 38 for international studies with my A+ sac marks, but did so shit in the exam and i knew i was doing shit as i did it, and wound up with a C+ that got me 30. -- for Further, I predicted 25 - 30, didnt really care, just needed a 25, didnt like it, never studied it, kept saying it will be my 5th .. then came the exam, and it was really easy and I scored 33, and was kicking myself I didnt study because it would have made a huge difference (especially if i did practise exams and learned to not be caught out by tricks - it's true .. for multiples, theres lots of easy mistakes) I needed an extra 0.15 for my enter, so put 100% into every subject or you will regret it.
Economics ... I found that you really just need to understand it. You can't memorise this subject. Really, all you need to memorise are definitions and budget initiatives... other than that, just know how to discuss everything. ROMEO SALLA study guides are the BOMB. (if anyone would like unit 3&4 of them [usually $20 each] msg me, we can negotiate) My biggest tip would be to understand latest issues.
for example, in this years exam there were (i think it was 12 marks?) on Climate Change... I was not ready to discuss that issue, and mainly studied the credit crisis... (although that most likely will be on this years exam) & know budget initiatives for each economic issue. Use "Mr Wood Economics" - It's a great site to keep up to date and it's made for VCE students. (http://economics.mrwood.com.au)
Legal Studies: READ A+ LEGAL NOTES STUDY GUIDE - over & over again. ... and the A+ questions & answers book. :)
and definately have a life in vce... party, make new friends, cherish the ones you have. for me and most of the other people i know, it was the biggest roller coaster of our lives. but i know i would not trade the social side of my vce for a 99 enter score.
sorry for the ramble!
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I agree with gonzo. but im not so sure which type of cramming your talking about. [yes, there are diff types of cramming]
Are you talking about 'last last minute cram' eg. do some study for the last few hours before exams or cramming for the entire day?
work consistently rather than cram, and prepare for sacs/exams by doing exam style questions
work consistently but do not over-load WHILE working consistently.
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i've got some uni friends that always cram for their exams and still get great results, i guess different methods work for different people. someone may be in great stress and go backwards and the other person may use the stress to PROPEL forwards!>!!
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humph: reminds me of your post here ;)
http://community.boredofstudies.org/407/enter-vce-marks-guidance-counsel/154525/estimated-physcology-study-score-thanks.html
[sorry, can't quote on this computer]
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humph: reminds me of your post here ;)
http://community.boredofstudies.org/407/enter-vce-marks-guidance-counsel/154525/estimated-physcology-study-score-thanks.html
[sorry, can't quote on this computer]
Hahahah. Wow that was a long time ago.
Clearly stupid spelling mistakes are one of my pet hates :P
edit: also wow, a lot of VNers were posting in that thread...
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dont neglect english
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eeeeep! english is probably my weakness area :S
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i found english to be a pain, tempted to slack off a bit and did just that..mistake tho coz i got 35 SS when i think i def could have worked harder to get a better score like my sister did and she got 39. it's also good to study early before the exam or sac like it's nearly coming up then looking over some neat notes over and over really helps. I crammed a bit and stressed mostly at the end and damn right i felt "exhausted" in the last 2 months or so and felt the pressure...so remember to keep up if not ahead of work early in the year! i did that with business and sailed to it
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work consistently rather than cram, and prepare for sacs/exams by doing exam style questions
I say people underestimate the power of cramming. I always left things to the last minute and procrastinated, but when I didn't have much time and I was stressed and I had a lot to do, I was able to study efficiently and get a lot done and do it well. It helped me in English and in MUEP when I had to write an essay or prepare for a SAC or exam and left myself only a night or two for study - the urgency of the situation made it seem high stakes and less mundane, and also forced me not to overanalyze things and just get on with them. It may have even helped me with time pressures of exams.
This wikipedia page details student syndrome:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_syndrome
Student syndrome refers to the phenomenon that many people will start to fully apply themselves to a task just at the last possible moment before a deadline. This leads to wasting any buffers built into individual task duration estimates.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson%27s_law
Parkinson's Law is the adage first articulated by Cyril Northcote Parkinson as the first sentence of a humorous essay published in The Economist in 1955:
Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
...The end
best advice ever
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the thing with english is that you dont have to be any good at it at the start of the year. compare me and my friend, for example. the whole first sermester i was getting A+'s and she was lucky to get a C.... i bludged. i knew i could dodge up an essay so i didnt bother. and of course i had other reasons hindering my study sessions, which are irrelevant. anyway, my friend, well she worked her butt off and was getting A's by term 4. she got a 39 ss from memory. i got 43.
ergo: even if you cant write an essay for shit, if you practice, pay attention and try your hardest... you will get better.
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English
Text Response: You'd be suprised how much ACTUALLY FUCKEN READING THE TEXT HELP! I'm not even joking here. Half the people at my school hadn't even read texts leading up to exams so that was their first step towards demise. The main thing for text response section is actually reading your texts at least 3 times. (I read the one I KNEW I was going to write on in the exam 5ish times and the other text we studied only twice-ish). Textually knowledge can't be substituted with big words and fancy language. Don't re-tell the f-n story!!! Address the question in it's entirety!!!
Context: I found this to be the most challenging because of its gay VCE vagueness. I'd reccomend most people to do either an expository or persuasive piece (unless you're super imaginative and can link it in with your text and the context).
Try sounding logical yet philosophical. (I've found this helps to enable a deeper level of discussion).
Language Analysis: Focus on actually analysing the language. That's all I have to say for this.
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English
Context: I found this to be the most challenging because of its gay VCE vagueness. I'd reccomend most people to do either an expository or persuasive piece (unless you're super imaginative and can link it in with your text and the context).
Try sounding logical yet philosophical. (I've found this helps to enable a deeper level of discussion).
I actually found this to be the easiest of the three sections; as the topics were somewhat limited, and could pretty much be related to my two or three pre-written essays.
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They say that the key to good writing is clarity, and this is true. However a pretentious vocabulary reaps many rewards.
Haha that's so true.
I swear the thing that got me an A+ for the literature exam was the phrase "the neo-Nietzschien dichotomy between the Apollonian Basil and the Dionysian Count Dionys...."
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I did about 3 hours of homework/study a night, which is a lot more than most people
Was that just for psyc. ?
no that was altogether for each subject, not just for psych.
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great tips here! cheers
feel free to keep 'em coming :P
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Hi there,
Here are some ideas I think, looking back, that I did last yr that worked for me.
> At the start of the yr, have a think about what you want to achieve. Don't set a study/enter score you need or anything like that (bc we all know that doing that may drive you mad), but just think what it is you want after year 12. Do you need to finish the year to get into a course, diploma, to volunteer overseas etc? Then try your best all year with this in mind; remind yourself, for example, that you're doing this business management homework so that next yr, when you're free, you can study events management. I saw friends who lost sight of why they were studying and just dropped out or gave up. Now they're not so happy. It's much easier to work hard if you know what the light at the end of the tunnel looks like.
> Never underestimate how much consistent work you need for English subjects. Whether it's Eng lang, Lit or English make friends with your teacher (if at all possible), write essays, try to hone your skills in first semester and really polish up ideas and pieces towards the exam. You don't have to write 1 million crappy essays...try to work on a few quality ones and think about the texts/topic questions deeply. You'll soon see how you can turn anyof your few ideas to match a myriad of topics. Btw, being friendly with your teacher will guarantee, in my experience, not higher marks from them but more feedback, marking and advice, thus your exam marks go up! A good relationship allows the both of you to communicate more productively and boosts your overall study score.
> Try to have fun with LOTEs. I know that my LOTE was the most daunting subject, but if you approach it with humour, try to study with friends and look to enjoyable resources to boost your skills it doesn't feel like the world will end. Meet for frequent conversation practice and talk about music, your leisure time, and things that interest you. For example, our French class would always go out to French movies etc. That kind of thing offsets the boring verb conjugations and reminds you how much fun the language is. For detailed study, pick something early. Make sure it interests you, but is straightforward. Obscure topics tend to die in the examination room bc the examiners can't think of what to ask. If you do a simple topic really in depth or with a slight twist, you'll feel confident and the assessors be impressed.
> Establish a routine. Work out what time of day you're most motivated to do homework pieces and when is best for revision. Try to make revision notes for each area of study as you go, so that you don't feel exhausted at the end of the unit. Make sure you factor in social activities to your timetable too-don't miss out on the fun of this year.
> Finally, remember that it is a game. Work as hard as you can and you're almost guaranteed to do well, but as a wise teacher of mine always said, HOW WELL you do is entirely dependent on factors out of your control. Sure, the difference between a 40 and a 50 may be pure skill or meticulous care, but sometimes it is luck-the standard of the paper, the marks of the cohort, whether your bus is on time, whether it is 42 degrees on the day of your exam...you can't control everything. So study and focus, but enjoy the ride without freaking out too much. VCAA and VTAC work in mysterious and often cruel ways, and while we can uncover some of the mysteries here on VN, not all of it is in our control...
Good Luck, class of 09!
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Hey guys.
Just wondering if anybody has any useful tips for succedding in the final year of high school and to maximise your ENTER score :D
I would love to hear any words of wisedom you can pass on!!
Just incase you are wondering, I'm doing English, Further maths, Italian and psychology.
Post away :D :D
I recently saw an interesting/enlightening response to this here:
http://merspi.com/questions/11/what-subjects-should-i-pick-to-maximise-my-enter-score/18#18
With his permission, I'm going to put it on the Merspi blog soon! (http://blog.merspi.com -- find VCE study tips and advice here!)
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I don't knwo if this will be in the right palce, but ehre it goes
I have been made so depressed with the constant "you have to work hard, study hard, no sleep" etc etc news you hear from some memebrs, but mainly people from school.
So I was wondering if you have been slack these few days, like focused on one subject mainly, and neglected the others are you DOOMED to getting below 75 :(
I am realyyyyyy worried I have stuffed up VCE, I have averaged A+ in 3/6 subejcts, and rest have been B+ to A. However admitingly have been slack recently....no energy...no motivation. Can I still achieve minimum 75% ENTER :( I know its a rather vague question, but I don't know.
For example for economics I have done some VCAA exams and NEAP in tiemd questions and have gotten like 90% WITHOUT ANY reivsion. It was checked against VCAA reports and my teacher. So would it be okay if i negelcetd that subject a little?
English- I have barely written any essays, spent last few weeks memorising quotes and statements.
In other words, i need hope from people :( I feel so urgh. Is this okay....like I have study notes I have made throughout all the year made for EVERY subject, but I cant be bothered going over them :(, whenever i study for one subject I get scared I neglected another. LOL, please no tips about a study timetable =.=* been tehre, done that. But yeah, just advice whether it's too late :(
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xXNovaxX u will get above 75 with the info provided
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xXNovaxX u will get above 75 with the info provided
ooo I really hope so man! Thank you so much. But I hope people now aren't just going to say that coz i requested it :P hahaha, be honest! But no, I am sure you are telling the truth and not being sarcastic. i just think I am really hard on myself. Thankyou again TrueLight.
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I think someone needs to play with ENTER calc
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I think someone needs to play with ENTER calc
lol, I think thats the cause of pre-exam depression :(. Its because I know I have done great in my SACS, I tell myself that after looking at m marks. But when it comes to Entercalc I have nooo idea what to put down as a SS coz exam changes everything so much, and I don't know if I will do well in exams, so I tend to put a pessimistic number. The end result is the absolute bench line of what my ENTER requirement is.
I just wish entercalc spewed out an ENETR of at least 3-5% higher than I need so that I am safeguarded a little. LOL.
But trust me, entercalc is my homepage, and I have fiddled with it for hours lol.
(btw its not really my homepage, although it is a fantastic tool (thank you admin) )
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Nova I'm willing to put money on you getting 75+ from the info you have given so far :P
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i will even bet that you will get above 85
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VN Nova's-ENTER Tipping Competition
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I think someone needs to play with ENTER calc
lol, I think thats the cause of pre-exam depression :(. Its because I know I have done great in my SACS, I tell myself that after looking at m marks. But when it comes to Entercalc I have nooo idea what to put down as a SS coz exam changes everything so much, and I don't know if I will do well in exams, so I tend to put a pessimistic number. The end result is the absolute bench line of what my ENTER requirement is.
I just wish entercalc spewed out an ENETR of at least 3-5% higher than I need so that I am safeguarded a little. LOL.
But trust me, entercalc is my homepage, and I have fiddled with it for hours lol.
(btw its not really my homepage, although it is a fantastic tool (thank you admin) )
lol Admin didnt create the enter calculator
I did, nah daniel15 did
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Thank you guys. I am just over-reacting, and I will soon go off to study. Haha, who needs guest speakers to come to my school and talk about motivation. I'll just recommened VCENOTES to get it all (please don't take that in a sleazy tone) :D tyy
LOL @ KM
Okay how much are we talking here :P. $150,$150. Do I hear $1000