Hi everyone,
I'm currently in year 11, and wanting to take up EI next year. I do also want to have a really high ATAR (98+) so I'm wondering if anyone has any tips or advice for doing well in EI?
Thanks 
Hey there, it's me again, from your other question. Yes, I'm in the mood to not do any more work right now even though the critical thinking test is on Wednesday and the EI report is due Friday I haven't gotten my study score back, but I've certainly finished my report, and had three SACs returned to me, with a 90+ average (class av 70 - also oof that first SAC got me down because I was over-complicating things (see advice #2)), not sure if that makes me qualified to answer, but here's my experience.
Advice 1# Manage your time and use class time effectively
Since everyone's work is different, almost all my classes were self directed learning, except when we did a little bit of a group reflection on structure/ other writing expectations or on critical thinking. The problem with this is that it means you have to drive yourself. If you don't use your class time wisely, you're going to lag behind, and since there's very few checkpoints along the way (depending on your school, for me there weren't, unless I asked for help). There's people in my class that haven't even started their report, and they have less than a week to go. From my experience, I did almost all my work during class hours and I finished my first draft last month. If you create realistic goals for yourself, taking into account screen breaks, you'll do really well.
Advice 2# Don't overcomplicate things.
"It was evident that some research questions contained multiple focuses or points of examination within a single question, or were vague or very general. These issues led to investigations that have difficulty dealing with the complexity of concepts and that are unable to explore key ideas in enough depth... Students are reminded that complexity and sophistication does not necessarily result from research questions with multiple focuses. A research question with one clear purpose, undertaken in detail and with critical thought, is just as likely to yield a complex investigation" ~ VCAA, 2018 report.
https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/exams/extendedinvestigation/eiwritten_examrep18.pdfFor some reason people think VCAA wants some elaborately complicated area of study. Note that they know you're Year 12 students (and in my case Year 11 students) with no PhDs or degrees of any sort. They want you to be realistic with what you can achieve. A misconception I had at the start of the year was that I was meant to do something that was Nobel-Prize worthy. Make sure you're not overburdening yourself with something you cant handle, since a) the word count is limited and some explanations cannot be fit in VCAA's recommended word count and b) you'll get sick of it and end up changing your topic anyway, like I did. I was planning to mathematically model how old people of the future would differ in loneliness levels compared to current Victorian Australians because of intervention from social media. Problem with that? Well, think about how many extraneous variables I would have had to account for. Luckily, I changed my topic after my first SAC (yes, you can change your topic anytime during the year, it's YOUR report!).
Advice 3# Do something you'll enjoy.
This is relevant to both the previous tips, because if you do something you enjoy, rather than something abstract you don't care about, you'll be more invested in your topic. It'll allow you to stay on track and better be able to justify why your topic is important throughout your report and during the oral presentations. My new topic is so interesting I literally procrastinated by doing EI (also why I finished so early, I just couldn't get out of EI). You're going to feel so accomplished when you're done!
Advice 4# Stick to the rubric.
Yes, EI is a very flexible subject and you're going to get a lot of choice in terms of what you research and how you develop a report, but schools need criteria to assess you. Before submitting any work, make sure - for your SACs - you go over EVERY single section of the high scoring sections of the rubric, and read out areas of your report that fit into it to ensure you've covered them. Then justify why you'd score them highly on another doc. I lost marks on my first SAC because I didn't realise the rubric was so important and I was a bit careless about things, don't be me. Read the rubric. At the start of the year, go to
https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/assessment/vce-assessment/past-examinations/Pages/Extended-Investigation.aspx and read all the past VCAA comments on the written report section (or at least the one for the previous year) along with the rubric. Build your work on the rubric, and read the rubric before starting on any writing, so you can mould your writing accordingly. Similarly, for your oral presentation, base your script off the rubric. I memorised my script for my Oral Presentation SAC, but I kept a copy of the rubric in my hand just in case.
Advice 5# Get people to proof read your work
I cannot stress how important someone else's opinion is. By September, you'll have read your report over a hundred times. It's so hard to find flaws at that point, since you've cherished your report like a baby. Getting input from your teachers is very effective. Start early, send drafts of parts of your report for feedback, and take it on board.
Advice 6# Keep your journal up to date
For validating your work, you need to have a journal. It isn't assessed, but it can be used for validation. Most people make one the week before their work is due. Not a good idea. Use it to track time, analyse articles, and set goals. Very useful, and keeps all my things in one place. I also don't have to worry about wasting time on faking entries next week when I submit.
Advice 7# If there's a week left till submission, proof read and edit your report instead of answering questions on atarnotes.
Speaking from experience here.
EI is a very rewarding subject, and it can be your "chill subject" at times. If you put in the work, I'm sure you'll get the outcome you want. If you're aiming for a high ATAR, then the most important thing is accountability. I don't know what sort of study score I'll get for EI, but realistically, I know that because there's very few students it's rare to get a 50. I'm doing five 3/4s next year (and two this year) so if I do get a lower score than I expect, it could be my seventh subject. I'm not discouraging you from pursuing EI, just pointing that out so that you know what you're stepping in to.
Hope this is somewhat useful.
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