A Guide to VCE Health and Human DevelopmentHi

After receiving a number of messages regarding HHD and looking at the lack of resources (compared to other subjects on this forum) I hope this may help some students
Introduction: Firstly I would just like to say Health is an amazing subject, I loved studying every bit of it. (Yes even nutrients!) Often people think that Health is boring and that there is a lot of content but I just wanted to say that it is not more than any other subject and I DEFINITELY disagree with the idea that it is boring.

I hope this addresses any questions or concerns you may have
Are Units 1 and 2 needed for HHD 3/4?No. Health 3/4 is designed so that it is has no assumed knowledge, in fact I didn’t do units 1 and 2 and I did not find any difficulties.
However if you were like me and paranoid about this fact I suggest you have a look over the following topics.
-Dimensions of Health
-Measurements of Health status
-Determinants of Health
-Trends in Data
Some of the definitions going from 1/2 to 3/4 are different so make sure you learn the ones correct for your year
TextbooksI have seen numerous threads regarding “do I need to buy more than one textbook” etc and my advice is often no. By far, the best textbook is Key Concepts as it is written by an examiner and revision lecturer. It offers tips and explains how to approach and answer various types of questions. But in all honesty the textbook that your school uses will be fine and easier for you as you will be working out of that book in class and your teacher will refer to that book.
Also if you really feel the need to have another textbook your library should have a copy

Other good resources for Health include Study On (jacaranda) which I found extremely beneficial
Checkpoints is available to, but it only has previous exam questions and these are best to save before the exam.
Yearningforsimplicity has an amazing pack with amazing resources (plus its very good value for money!)
yearningforsimplicity's HHD 3&4 EXAM REVISION PACKS :)How to approach learning the contentI found that an efficient and interesting way to approach HHD was to first read the whole text book to get a good understanding about the subject.
When starting a chapter or section, I found it helpful to go to the question pages and read the questions, as this will help you read more efficiently.
Then go to the section you are learning about and read this more than once, I know that reading is a passive method of studying but for health it is necessary and reading the content a few times allows your brain to come to terms with the necessary information and to make sense of all the statistics that are interesting but not necessary.
After this completing questions is the most important thing and you should aim to do as many as possible.
This work will help you understand the many definitions that Health has, so step is to then put the definitions and other key terms onto cue cards (or how ever you best learn

) then make sure you know these of by heart.
Then when you know the content, I recommend watching clips on youtube or follow the links from your textbook and watch these. This will help you when it comes time to suggest examples and come up with your own ideas.
SACsFor Health you can pretty much guarantee that your sacs will be tests, involving data analysis. This is good because it provides practise for the exam

Most schools have 3 sacs for each unit.
This is a rough guide to what they may be like
Unit 3 Outcome 1 (two sacs)Compare the health status of Australia’s population with that of other developed countries, compare and explain the variations in health status of population groups within Australia and discuss the role of the National Health Priority Areas in improving Australia’s health status.
Outcome 2 (One sac)Discuss and analyse approaches to health and health promotion, and describe Australia’s health system and the different roles of government and non- government organisations in promoting health.
Unit 4 Outcome 1 (Two Sacs)Analyse factors contributing to variations in health status between Australia and developing countries, and evaluate progress towards the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.
Outcome 2 (one sac) Describe and evaluate programs implemented by international and Australian government and non-government organisations, and analyse the interrelationships between health, human development and sustainability.
Some Tips for Sacs 
Definitions are very important and will make up a proportion of the sacs especially with the first sac !.
Data Analysis is also something that is very important to understand, in the exam you will have to read and interpret data such as graphs and tables. Therefore being able to do this well will put you ahead of other students. Questions often ask to identify the trend and then explain reasons for the trend.
Talking with your teacher is the best way to achieve high marks as they are the ones setting the sac and they know what’s on it.
ExamsThis year there has been a few minor changes in the study design but nothing to major therefore you will be able to undertake the previous years exam with only a few minor alterations. A summary of the changes can be found here
Main changes for the new HHD 2014-2017 study design! :)VCAA will produce a sample exam so doing this is a must !
Doing Practice exams is important but the questions are where you learn from, so if you can do at least 10 company practice exams, but if you have other subjects to study for the main focus should be on answering questions well. When you complete an exam paper give it to your teacher to mark or post some of your answers on here, because you can always improve on your HHD answers.
During the exam make sure you use all your reading time, to formulate answers and to study the data because you will be writing to the last minute or two in the exam!
Other FAQsDo I have to memorise the definitions word for word? Look, the examiner is not going to take a mark of for the odd different word but it is much safer to learn all the words in the study design word for word (or as close as you can) because if you miss out on a key word you will not get the mark
How much work should I do over the summer holidays? I would suggest to have a general read over the textbook and watching as many health related clips as you can. In terms of actual work it is not really necessary to do more than your set holiday homework. But if you do feel the need then I would recommend completing up to nutrients.
Are revision Lectures Necessary? For Health there are not that many resources so going to a lecture can be very beneficial, I went to the Health Teachers exam Network one and I found it helpful. If you are going to a lecture then I recommend that you go to one by an examiner or textbook writer like the Health Teachers exam Network one as they can offer you more tips and tricks than the others can.
If you have any further questions or queries then feel free to ask

Good Luck
