Where do I go from here?

[Alex_94]

Hey there,

I'm currently in a bit of a dilemma with all of my subjects, but seeing as this is the Methods board I'll give you my Methods spiel!

Basically I've gone through the year, worked average in class (not 100% head down, but no messing around), completed all required textbook exercises and have finished the year with roughly a 55% SAC Average.
This is in a relatively normal cohort of around 60 people in a public school, where I'd probably be sitting comfortably below average.

To be blunt, I need a 25. I've accepted the fact that it will be my weakest subject, hopefully along with my 31 in Legal from last year in my bottom 2. But 25 is what I'm simply aiming for.

Anyway, I've attempted a few of trial exams (including the official school one) and I've done very poorly.
I'm falling short in most areas, and when I try to revise the weak topics then attempt them again, I see no improvement.

This is by no means a "hurrdurr VCE sux I giv up #tuffstudentlyfe " post, but a search for advice.

Does anyone have any ideas as to how I should approach this last month before the exam?
(I'm in the same position for Chem too, dunno if I should post a similar thread there...)

[Hutchoo]

Hey man.
I'll give you my advice in dot point form:

* Make sure you make error notes after each exam. Make them detailed and make sure you know WHY you got them wrong!

* Don't start doing company exams before you do at least 3-4 VCAA exams. VCAA exams are much easier in comparison to most company exams, they also show you what VCAA expect.

* Don't worry about getting crappy scores! Even if you get 5/40, doesn't mean you can't fix it.

The most important thing is to make exam error notes though. I have learnt SO MUCH just from fixing my errors, I'm sure it'll be the same for you.

Ohh and if you don't really understand the theory, I recommend going on Youtube/Google/your textbook and just spend a few hours reading through everything!
Getting a 25 in methods isn't 'very' hard at all. If you follow those dot points, you'll be more than fine.

GOOD LUCK!
//if this doesn't make much sense, I'm sorry, i'm quite tired =(

[Alex_94]

Thanks brah!

Guess I'm just a little overwhelmed with the amount of "error notes" that I have to make for Methods.
I did what you said for Bio over the past couple of weeks and everything's almost fine n' dandy now.

I'd always thought that the VCAA exams were best to keep until after the company ones, hence why I've only done 1 for each subject.
But definitely open to anything that could be beneficial.

And don't worry, that made perfect sense! 

[Hutchoo]

I think it's good to leave them to the end, yes, but if you're aiming for a 25, you should do most of them at the start.
From my experience, if you can't do well on VCAA papers, chances are you won't do very well on practice papers.
Make sure you have a solid understand on the FUNDAMENTALS.

[BubbleWrapMan]

I think after you've had a go at doing all of the VCAA exams you should just go through the answers very slowly, i.e. over a week or so, until you understand all, or a majority, of the questions that have been on exams for the past 6 years. If I were in your position I would probably do this, it's definitely well worth your time to get used to their questions and look for patterns and types of questions that appear every year. The solutions on the assessment reports are often a little lacking in detail, so just ask here if you want more explanation on the solutions.