How many practice exams?

[LiquidPaperz]

Hey Guys, with exams coming closer i was wondering, from those that scored well and also those doing a 3/4 atm, how many exams did you do/are planning to do?

I know that its quality>quantity , in the aspect that you understand your mistakes and not just kill exam after exam. However from those who scored well what is the minimum, ideal/recommended amount you should be doing?

Our teacher said if your not doing 1, sometimes even two a day your sabotaging your mark. Im in year 11 atm doing 2 3/4s so i guess i have the time, but also for future reference it'd be good to know. I wont have problems with exams, i have about 100-200  for all my subjects, and i am aiming to hit at least 40-50 range, then after that start mentally doing exams in my head when i feel confident.

Thanks!

[Billion]

I received a high 40 for my 3/4 last year.
I was probably the last person to start doing exams in my cohort for my subject (and ending up getting the highest study score). This may have been because I focused on learning the ALL the content first (I had consolidated notes under each dot point and I revised these until I was 100% comfortable with the knowledge).

From then, I did about 5 papers not under timed conditions, then about 25 under exam conditions.
I went through each exam and marked (harshly) where I went wrong, cut out the question and pasted it into a "error log book" in which I would read this a couple times per week.

For subjects like busman, health, p.e. etc I think it's better to know your notes 100% before moving onto exams.
However for the maths/science subjects exposing yourself to questions is more important.

[LiquidPaperz]

Thanks for the Billion! I also thought the same. How long did you spent consolidating each area of study before you went onto exams? and how did you consolidate, did you do checkpoints or just read them?

cheers

[walkec]

I started doing practice exams for my 3/4 last year at the end of the second week of the holidays (I was away the first week and a half).
I think I did about 10 all up, most of time in timed conditions.

Like Billion, if I got a question wrong I'd make a note of what topic it was from and revise a lot over that topic before doing another exam 

[Zealous]

40-50 range should be more than enough. As you are well aware, the number varies between people, but here is what my experience is like:


(Scale not included, intentionally)

The first few make the biggest difference as you notice the massive gaps in your knowledge, and the last few provide the smallest improvement, but can still make a difference.

[Rod]

40-50 range should be more than enough. As you are well aware, the number varies between people, but here is what my experience is like:

(Image removed from quote.)
(Scale not included, intentionally)

The first few make the biggest difference as you notice the massive gaps in your knowledge, and the last few provide the smallest improvement, but can still make a difference.

+1, thanks Zeal

Also, for physics/chem/bio where there is mid-year exams, would you recommend 40-50 mid year exams, or 40-50 full exams? So does 40 mid-year exams equate to only 20 of those 40-50 exams you recommend?

cheers

[Zealous]

+1, thanks Zeal

Also, for physics/chem/bio where there is mid-year exams, would you recommend 40-50 mid year exams, or 40-50 full exams? So does 40 mid-year exams equate to only 20 of those 40-50 exams you recommend?

cheers

Hey Rod!

There aren't many 2013+ combined Unit 3 and 4 practice exam papers available, so I'd do everything I can get my hands on (there might be 10-15 at most depending on the subject). In terms of the separate papers, I think it's just up to you how many separate Unit 3 and 4's you think you need to do to reach the level of confidence you want for exams (and how much time you have). I think it's a good idea to do all the Unit 3 and 4 VCAA past exams as the examiners reports are really helpful (just be careful of old Study Design questions).

Also, since you're doing Physics, you can actually just do a Unit 3 and Unit 4 exam one after another, but only do one detailed study and that will be about 2.5 hours, which is the length of a real exam and about 150 marks - so that's always an option if you don't have combined papers but want to try out the exam conditions.

Though, I haven't actually done any combined Unit 3 and 4 exams , so past students may have some good comments to add on this topic.

[Bluegirl]

I read all this stuff and I'm just like what 40-50.
It doesn't really make sense that I did 8 for psych last year and ended up with a 40?
I think I'll do about 10 for each of mine..


Good luck everyone else haha.

[brenden]

Ime ~12-15~ gets most people to the point of marginal utility.

[BucketPreacher]

40-50 per subject? WTF. Shit I need to get on top of my stuff I haven't even started revision. I don't even know how you could get your hands on that many exams per subject.

I am going to start my exam study when I have 40 days left. I'll probably pull 8 hour days of study on the holidays to try relearn all the content for three subjects (idc about the other two) then do some practice exams. Shit time is actually really limited!!

[Professor Polonsky]

Practice exams are a very useful, but not the only, tool in your toolbox. It's too easy to forget that, and I know people who wish they'd done things other than just bury themselves in practice exams.

I feel like, depending on the person and the subject, anywhere between 7-35 could be ideal. Yeah, that's a very big range, and absolutely is there no definitive answer. That's why you should always ask yourself "What did I gain from doing this?" and if the answer is "not much", perhaps you should put that subject aside (or do things other than exams) for a while.

[Aaron]

I think 40-50 is a bit extreme. Then again, it depends on the person. You may understand the content doing just five practice exams, or it may take twenty.. You really can't put a definitive number on this.

My suggestion: Do as many as you need to do until you understand the content fluently.

[LiquidPaperz]

i geuss its the matter of being exposed to as many questions as you can.

is 1 exam a day too extreme (eg 1 exam 1 and exam 2)?

[psyxwar]

i geuss its the matter of being exposed to as many questions as you can.

is 1 exam a day too extreme (eg 1 exam 1 and exam 2)?

Not at all, but it's not necessarily the best use of time

[Bluegirl]

Not at all, but it's not necessarily the best use of time

What would you suggest?