Which practice exams are better for Psych 3/4?

[vashappenin]

Engage, Neap, TSSM, Lisachem or Stav?
I'm doing VCAA exams, but there's only 2 for the current psych study design and I need more, so which ones, in order, are best? Which ones should I leave until last? This way I can do the ones that are of better standard first, and the ones that aren't as good I can leave until last if I have time

Thanks in advance (:

[anonymous1]

Neap is really good, so is STAV after those lisachem (just my opinion-others may think otherwise, also depends on subject)
I haven't done TSSM or Engage
Start with Neap

[yearningforsimplicity]

I think NEAP exams as well as the ones in the Neap SmartStudy Guide had the most varied/unique questions and some were challenging too which was good! STAV was also a bit challenging compared to the vcaa papers which was great to do last after I'd built up some knowledge and practice from doing the other ones. I think in terms of similarity to the actual vcaa psych exams, Insight and TSSM and LisaChem were most relevant and pertaining to vcaa-style questions. That said, though, all of the external company psych exams are made well in my opinion so you can't go wrong

I'd say start with VCAA (although there's only a few for the current study design), it would be a good idea to also do the pre-2011 exams too and depending on your time constraints, if you have time try to do all of the past vcaa ones (obviously some of them aren't relevant and can't be done as exams under timed conditions but just selectively draw out the Q's for the current study design from them and do them as practice - it really helps! ). Also, reading assessors reports from all the years will give you an idea of how to answer questions effectively so as to get the full mark

[ecvkcuf]

yearning how many prac exams did you do for unit 3?
also what if your school doesn't offer any prac exams? i really can't afford to buy prac exams as I've already bought a lot of material for chem like checkpoints, atar notes, and english study guides, etc.. and Imma cheapo

[vashappenin]

I think NEAP exams as well as the ones in the Neap SmartStudy Guide had the most varied/unique questions and some were challenging too which was good! STAV was also a bit challenging compared to the vcaa papers which was great to do last after I'd built up some knowledge and practice from doing the other ones. I think in terms of similarity to the actual vcaa psych exams, Insight and TSSM and LisaChem were most relevant and pertaining to vcaa-style questions. That said, though, all of the external company psych exams are made well in my opinion so you can't go wrong

I'd say start with VCAA (although there's only a few for the current study design), it would be a good idea to also do the pre-2011 exams too and depending on your time constraints, if you have time try to do all of the past vcaa ones (obviously some of them aren't relevant and can't be done as exams under timed conditions but just selectively draw out the Q's for the current study design from them and do them as practice - it really helps! ). Also, reading assessors reports from all the years will give you an idea of how to answer questions effectively so as to get the full mark

Thanks for that! I've been doing practice exams from the past study design over the past few weeks, and I've also been looking at assessor's reports, but thanks for that anyway (:
My fault for not mentioning that, sorry!

[monkeywantsabanana]

NEAP.
Lisachem is probably the hardest due to many of its irrelevant questions.
STAV and INSIGHT are also good.
Personally, I wouldn't touch TSSM.

[yearningforsimplicity]

yearning how many prac exams did you do for unit 3?
also what if your school doesn't offer any prac exams? i really can't afford to buy prac exams as I've already bought a lot of material for chem like checkpoints, atar notes, and english study guides, etc.. and Imma cheapo

Ummm I think I did around 40 (This isn't much though, considering it includes all the vcaa papers from like 2002 + some external exams from like 2006-2010 and then the 2011 ones the teacher handed out too and those exams included in the neap smartstudy guide and A+ notes exam guide). Again, doing a lot of questions (especially the ones in the A+ notes book and neap smartstudy guide, as well as the ones in your textbook) will be just as efficient - at the end of the day it's all about exposing yourself to as many Q's as possible and learning from your mistakes

[Genericname2365]

yearning how many prac exams did you do for unit 3?
also what if your school doesn't offer any prac exams? i really can't afford to buy prac exams as I've already bought a lot of material for chem like checkpoints, atar notes, and english study guides, etc.. and Imma cheapo

Ummm I think I did around 40 (This isn't much though, considering it includes all the vcaa papers from like 2002 + some external exams from like 2006-2010 and then the 2011 ones the teacher handed out too and those exams included in the neap smartstudy guide and A+ notes exam guide). Again, doing a lot of questions (especially the ones in the A+ notes book and neap smartstudy guide, as well as the ones in your textbook) will be just as efficient - at the end of the day it's all about exposing yourself to as many Q's as possible and learning from your mistakes

Is it worth doing checkpoints or is it better to skip it since a lot of it is in the VCAA exams?

[yearningforsimplicity]

yearning how many prac exams did you do for unit 3?
also what if your school doesn't offer any prac exams? i really can't afford to buy prac exams as I've already bought a lot of material for chem like checkpoints, atar notes, and english study guides, etc.. and Imma cheapo

Ummm I think I did around 40 (This isn't much though, considering it includes all the vcaa papers from like 2002 + some external exams from like 2006-2010 and then the 2011 ones the teacher handed out too and those exams included in the neap smartstudy guide and A+ notes exam guide). Again, doing a lot of questions (especially the ones in the A+ notes book and neap smartstudy guide, as well as the ones in your textbook) will be just as efficient - at the end of the day it's all about exposing yourself to as many Q's as possible and learning from your mistakes

Is it worth doing checkpoints or is it better to skip it since a lot of it is in the VCAA exams?

I didn't buy checkpoints for unit 3 psych - I think for unit 3 just go through all the VCAA exams - it's essentially the same thing but if you want to see how questions should be answered in terms of structure it might be helpful I guess? If you're however just looking out for something like common errors students make with answering questions then probably just check out all the vcaa assessment reports for psych right from 2002 (they give out invaluable advice!). For unit 4 psych, however, I did get myself checkpoints because of the new Mental Health area of study for which there were barely any past questions which I could practice answering

[Genericname2365]

yearning how many prac exams did you do for unit 3?
also what if your school doesn't offer any prac exams? i really can't afford to buy prac exams as I've already bought a lot of material for chem like checkpoints, atar notes, and english study guides, etc.. and Imma cheapo

Ummm I think I did around 40 (This isn't much though, considering it includes all the vcaa papers from like 2002 + some external exams from like 2006-2010 and then the 2011 ones the teacher handed out too and those exams included in the neap smartstudy guide and A+ notes exam guide). Again, doing a lot of questions (especially the ones in the A+ notes book and neap smartstudy guide, as well as the ones in your textbook) will be just as efficient - at the end of the day it's all about exposing yourself to as many Q's as possible and learning from your mistakes

Is it worth doing checkpoints or is it better to skip it since a lot of it is in the VCAA exams?

I didn't buy checkpoints for unit 3 psych - I think for unit 3 just go through all the VCAA exams - it's essentially the same thing but if you want to see how questions should be answered in terms of structure it might be helpful I guess? If you're however just looking out for something like common errors students make with answering questions then probably just check out all the vcaa assessment reports for psych right from 2002 (they give out invaluable advice!). For unit 4 psych, however, I did get myself checkpoints because of the new Mental Health area of study for which there were barely any past questions which I could practice answering

Ok thank you, that helps. 

[vashappenin]

Lisachem is probably the hardest due to many of its irrelevant questions.

Personally, I wouldn't touch TSSM.

I know it's just a tad late, but is it still worth doing Lisachem?
And why wouldn't you touch TSSM?

[monkeywantsabanana]

Yeah, by all means do it, expose yourself to as many questions as possible. It was defs one of the harder ones for me.

I had a bad experience with TSSM and its revision book, also their exams are very straight forward.. you wouldn't get anything that easy on a VCAA exam.

But again, by all means, and just to reiterate - expose yourself to as many questions possible.
(: