General Advice - Secrets to VCE Success

[sheepz]

lol because u might have a migraine like on the day of the exam and can't achieve your full potential or for some reason you were late to the exam and have less time to complete it

[Mao]

or nearly get run over by a car =P hehe LOLz

TIME + DEDICATION + TALENT + ATTITUDE + MOTIVATION = AWESOMENESS

SUPERSAIYAN + SATAY CHICKEN + FRESH SALAD + DIJONNAISE = AWESOMNESS as well tho...
there's my secret gone...

[julzy]

there is definately luck involved, particulary with humanities subjects. for example you might get a very familiar topic in english, or passages you have already worked with in literature

[abcat]

i didn't have so much as a routine as i just did the homework as it came. or didn't do it if it was english homework. i just made sure i did a bit of study before sacs and then the exams. i'd like to say i did some study on my own accord but i am too lazy, generally if you do the work set by your teachers (if they are good teachers, of course), that'll get you a score you should be comfortable with.

don't neglect english. you may absolutely loath it like i do, but it's always going to be in your top 4, and you need it to be at the same standard as your other subjects. i ignored it all year, and come exam time i had a week to teach myself an entire book. i feel i would've been a bit less stressed if i'd paid more attention to english during the year, so i suggest you do the same

also, choose subjects that scale up. unless you can absolutely kill a subject that scales down (e.g. health, or the art subjects). i didn't really like physics, but i couldn't have achieved my enter without it, same goes for methods. one arts subject (unless your an arts freak) is about enough, i luckily got a great score in media, but many of my friends got great scores but saw them fall down greatly with scaling. same goes for art, vis comm, studio arts etc. while the effort and time put into these subjects is equal (often more) to a subject like physics or maths, you  won't see the same reward in terms of study score.


- that's the advice to the lazy vce student like me

[Collin Li]

On a related note, about success... which is related to salary:

Proof that salary is inversely related to knowledge:
Using axioms:
i) Time = Money
ii) Knowledge = Power
iii) Power = Work / Time (Physics)

Knowledge = Power = Work / Time = Work / Money
=> Knowledge = Work / Money
=> Money = Work / Knowledge

Therefore, for "Work" held constant, as Knowledge increases, Money decreases. Good on ya, low achievers

[Mao]

On a related note, about success... which is related to salary:

Proof that salary is inversely related to knowledge:
Using axioms:
i) Time = Money
ii) Knowledge = Power
iii) Power = Work / Time (Physics)

Knowledge = Power = Work / Time = Work / Money
=> Knowledge = Work / Money
=> Money = Work / Knowledge

Therefore, for "Work" held constant, as Knowledge increases, Money decreases. Good on ya, low achievers

LOL! here's another proof: why girls are evil

girls are time and money (admit it!)


Time is money


money is the root of all evil


hence
girls = evil

lol joking =P

[Collin Li]

Too old, and off-topic/irrelevant

[AppleXY]

On a related note, about success... which is related to salary:

Proof that salary is inversely related to knowledge:
Using axioms:
i) Time = Money
ii) Knowledge = Power
iii) Power = Work / Time (Physics)

Knowledge = Power = Work / Time = Work / Money
=> Knowledge = Work / Money
=> Money = Work / Knowledge

Therefore, for "Work" held constant, as Knowledge increases, Money decreases. Good on ya, low achievers

LOL! here's another proof: why girls are evil

girls are time and money (admit it!)


Time is money


money is the root of all evil


hence
girls = evil

lol joking =P

huh? Yeah... right lol

[enwiabe]

DISCLAIMER: I do not advise this study routine to anyone. It was effectively a 'cram-for-the-end' crappy plan. In 20/20 hindsight, I'd have done consistent work and probably wound up with a lot higher than 99.45. But, hey, I knew my limitations and predicted my ENTER after my exams to the exact .05. I knew going into my exams that I was of about 99.5 standard and voila... To anybody reading this, use this as a guide to see how I was a lucky son of a bitch and that's about it.

99.45 success:

Term 1 - Nearly fuck all.
- Didn't do any of the textbook specialist chapters (effect: Constantly felt really guilty in class. Led to more stress before SACs due to feeling unprepared)
- Spent about 2-3 hours working on my oral English SAC (got highest score; excellent) (really damn nervous giving it, stuttered and faltered a bit. Probably reduced my manner mark in the SAC)
- Only read 80 pages of In the Lake of the Woods. Read a study guide, memorised a few quotes, learnt a bunch of points that could be used in an essay to win decent marks. (obtained a very good, 2nd highest mark available) (So so so so scared about this. Got NO sleep the night before, was exceedingly lucky to make coherent sense in the SAC much less fall asleep)
- Consistent UMEP work of about half an hour - hour each day. Covered both spec and UMEP for me. (The only redeeming feature of term 1)

Terms 1+2
- Chemistry; 1 hour of cramming in the study room before each SAC - Obtained excellent on each of the 6 sacs except for one which was very good - excellent (made me feel exceedingly unknowledgeable in chem. Had to relearn the ENTIRE course for the exam because I'd only committed the knowledge to short-term memory, subsequently lost it all after each SAC)

Term 2
- Spent about 30 minutes revising Vectors, Circular Functions and some other shizzle for the SAC (most of it covered in UMEP, anyway, therefore no need to work at it) Topped SAC - 96%
- No time afforded to spec SAC on differentiation or complex numbers, relied purely on UMEP knowledge. 2nd top - 90% (Coming 2nd top hurt so much especially considering I was better than the guy who beat me. Felt like shit for about a week afterwards for not studying because I knew I could easily have got 95+)
- 2-3 weeks before chem exam did about 30 practise exams. (70/73 on mid-year) (Actually felt good about this. I did the work and got the mark)
- English media SAC. Wrote 3-4 practise essays cumulatively. Obtained 2nd highest score (Very Good). (Felt like shit, with a few more practises could have *easily* hit excellent)
- No UMEP work done due to lack of impetus on doing the work. (Felt like shit, fell WAY behind. Suffered dearly for it whilst studying for semester exam)

Term 3
- 2-3 hours of cramming before UMEP semester exam at Scotch (this made up our assignment mark). Poor study skills and lazy attitude led to a woeful 68% on it. (Made me feel like crap for weeks)
- English; creative writing SAC. Wrote 1-2 practises for each type of folio piece. Obtained Excellent on both pieces. (Not much I could have done for this SAC it was creative writing. Glad that I got the excellents but didn't really feel like I could have studied/learnt anything from it)
- Spec; started doing 20 minutes a night once hit on differential equations, kinematics, dynamics etc. still fell behind because i was a lazy douche. Came 2nd top of DE's (85%) SAC and top of kinematics/dynamics (93%). Not given a percentage for our applications SAC but I got "Excellent" and saw only one 'cross' on my paper for an incorrectly labelled co-ordinate. Must have been near 100% (this cluster of SACs was fairly good, I'd been doing more consistent work. Maybe not enough as I should have but it was enough to see me get top SAC ranking overall and I was *pretty* happy)
- Blueprints for a Barbed-Wire Canoe SAC (English): Did not read entire book, had to bullshit my way through most of the essay. Got Very Good. At this point, because I already knew I couldn't do In the Lake of the Woods I was aleady doing an "OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT I'M SO FUCKING UNPREPARED" thing and my god I had such high stress levels. I was such an IDIOT as it was only a 150 page book. Looking back on just 3 months ago I want to slap myself SILLY for such retardation. >_>

Terms 3+4
- Chemistry; 1 hour of cramming in the study room before each SAC - Obtained excellent on each of the 6 sacs. (made me feel exceedingly unknowledgeable in chem. Had to relearn the ENTIRE course for the exam because I'd only committed the knowledge to short-term memory, subsequently lost it all after each SAC)

Term 4 (exam revision):
- 30 practise exams for chemistry (completely fucked up the exam due to silly mistakes)
- 40ish (lost count) practise exams for Spec, divided up into equal amounts of exam 1 and exam 2
- 10 practise essays for Minimum of Two, ~12 for Blueprints and approx. 6 full media tasks
- ~15 UMEP practise exams in which I taught myself about 1/3 of the course.

Interestingly, I did more revision work for Maths Methods last year than I did cumulatively for all of my subjects this year. Still wound up with the same study scores more or less. 44 spec, 44 english, 43 chem, 5.5 UMEP and 44 methods, 28 hebrew from last year.

I should have done more consistent work throughout the year. I didn't, and that's why I have no raw scores of 45+. Take it from me, cramming doesn't work as well as you want it to.

In conclusion: Don't do Hebrew if you're shit at it. Big mistake.

[brendan]

new links
Familiar faces were best in the state

HSC aces with the world at their feet

Maths whiz has eyes already on Nobel prize

[humph]

gah, i hate threads like this. it really does depend on the person. i had no study regime whatsoever. over the whole of yr12, i probably averaged about 20mins study a day - but that would mainly be due to things like english essays and music practise when i had to. i would study a bit before each exam but to be honest for the most part it made no difference. i was one of those people who either knows it or doesn't - studying made no difference.

that being said, i should've done more practise exams for spec, methods, and physics. i came into those exams knowing all the content but i wasn't psyched for them - hadn't got myself into the right groove. as a result, i made stupid mistakes in each exam, and underachieved.

with english, i did make sure i read the two texts i was going to write on a fair few times. but my only real study for english was going to the state library every day in the week leading up to exams. spent most of the time playing chess against my friends, mind you. i found it more helpful to discuss topics with friends for english than write essays. worked for me...

i found that i worked a lot more at uni this year than i did in yr12. this is for a couple of reasons:
- whereas i'd always go to class in yr12, i probably only went to about half of my lectures this year. also in yr12, i had 10 study periods a week (out of 35 periods) and if i needed to do homework (usually very minor things) this is when i'd do it. at uni, i'd actually have to sit down at home and do all my assignments properly.
- had to get an HD average at uni, and i did some very difficult subjects (second year maths course on real analysis in particular). and unlike yr12, i didn't always understand what was covered in lectures straight away, so really had to put the effort in some of the time.

looking back on it, i really did no work in yr12, but i wouldn't say i learnt a whole lot either (apart from in uni maths, which was great). this year i actually learnt new things and unlike high school, you're not taught to the exam, but to the course content in general. makes a huge difference...

[/0]

Going to the state library before exams sounds like an awesome idea, I'm definitely gonna be doing that the next two years. Nerd party!

[Collin Li]

Going to the state library before exams sounds like an awesome idea, I'm definitely gonna be doing that the next two years. Nerd party!

Great idea! I went with just one other guy a lot and we'd just ask each other questions. It was very useful in solidifying my understanding of all the concepts.

[humph]

Going to the state library before exams sounds like an awesome idea, I'm definitely gonna be doing that the next two years. Nerd party!

yeah, it's good, especially if lots of your friends/people from your school are there. kinda funny though, before exams (especially spec/methods/chem/physics) it's completely full, with about 90% of the people there being asian. lolz.

later on though it gets empty. my friends and i went there the days before our UMEP maths exam to do practise papers and it was pretty much empty because exams were almost over. think that was when we were at our most productive though...

[phagist_]

Great idea! I went with just one other guy a lot and we'd just ask each other questions. It was very useful in solidifying my understanding of all the concepts.

Yeh definitely, and it's not like your at home where you can go play computer games/watch TV. You are actually there and pretty much are forced to work due to the environment (which is what I needed!)