Maximising Scores | Further

[AirLandBus]

Going into year 12, doing 3/4 further, alongside 3/4 methods, english, IT and physics.
My teacher, whom is the head subject advisor/arranger/what ever she does, is adamant that i should/will be dux for further.
Obviously further isnt going to be the subject i dedicate all my time to, but i will still be putting a minimum hour a night.
So for me to dux, and get high grades what is required? The content itself isnt that difficult, so how should i make sure that i know what im doing and getting full marks on all my questions, cause im aware that 50 raw students cant afford to drop a single mark, even for stupid things like forgetting to label the boxplot (for example).
So from those 50 raw students, what should i be looking out for. Im quite strong in methods, so to prevent become latent with further what should i be doing - minimum textbook questions and more checkpoint/neaps?
Just want to maximise my score and know how to approach the subject.
Thanks.

[Dan1995]

Going into year 12, doing 3/4 further, alongside 3/4 methods, english, IT and physics.
My teacher, whom is the head subject advisor/arranger/what ever she does, is adamant that i should/will be dux for further.
Obviously further isnt going to be the subject i dedicate all my time to, but i will still be putting a minimum hour a night.
So for me to dux, and get high grades what is required? The content itself isnt that difficult, so how should i make sure that i know what im doing and getting full marks on all my questions, cause im aware that 50 raw students cant afford to drop a single mark, even for stupid things like forgetting to label the boxplot (for example).
So from those 50 raw students, what should i be looking out for. Im quite strong in methods, so to prevent become latent with further what should i be doing - minimum textbook questions and more checkpoint/neaps?
Just want to maximise my score and know how to approach the subject.
Thanks.

First thing, good luck with your studies and I hope it all goes well.
However, I'd recommend you ignore your teacher, aim to do the best you can, whether that's a 50 and top of the cohort or not is irrelevant, just aim as high as you can without putting the pressure on yourself needing to be the best, it will only stress you out.
Apart from that I would recommend doing as many practice exams as you can get your hands on, TSSM, Heffernan and MAV were the ones I found to be the best (save the VCAA ones for exam revision). Make sure to correct the exams as you go (maybe once a week or every 5 or 6 you do, sit down and correct them and make sure you can do any questions you got wrong). There are hundreds of trials out there and hopefully your school can provide you with access to those, I would recommend those over any text book questions.
After that, writing notes summaries before each SAC is a handy way to revise and might remind you of an area to go over, as well as saving time during an assessment should you need to look something up.
More than anything else, practice makes perfect, as long as you practice the same way you would in an assessment, don't take shortcuts or leave bits out of your normal study/homework because that will just get you in to bad habits early on.
My final suggestion is that if you find that you are making common mistakes, whether silly or not, make a not of them in your notes somewhere and that might remind you to be more careful when doing those sorts of questions, just for example if you forget to put the correct units  then make sure that you check your units carefully during any assessments.

Good luck!

[AirLandBus]

First thing, good luck with your studies and I hope it all goes well.
However, I'd recommend you ignore your teacher, aim to do the best you can, whether that's a 50 and top of the cohort or not is irrelevant, just aim as high as you can without putting the pressure on yourself needing to be the best, it will only stress you out.
Apart from that I would recommend doing as many practice exams as you can get your hands on, TSSM, Heffernan and MAV were the ones I found to be the best (save the VCAA ones for exam revision). Make sure to correct the exams as you go (maybe once a week or every 5 or 6 you do, sit down and correct them and make sure you can do any questions you got wrong). There are hundreds of trials out there and hopefully your school can provide you with access to those, I would recommend those over any text book questions.
After that, writing notes summaries before each SAC is a handy way to revise and might remind you of an area to go over, as well as saving time during an assessment should you need to look something up.
More than anything else, practice makes perfect, as long as you practice the same way you would in an assessment, don't take shortcuts or leave bits out of your normal study/homework because that will just get you in to bad habits early on.
My final suggestion is that if you find that you are making common mistakes, whether silly or not, make a not of them in your notes somewhere and that might remind you to be more careful when doing those sorts of questions, just for example if you forget to put the correct units  then make sure that you check your units carefully during any assessments.

Good luck!

Thanks, so much.
Yeah im not to concerned about being DUX, but having something to try and achieve that is realistic, knowing that teacher thinks ive got a high chance at makes me want to work for it even harder. But im aware its not the end all be all, and if i dont get it i dont get. Im not going to stress myself over it. In terms of practice during the year, what would you recommend as a solid plan.
Complete minimum questions from the textbook, but focus mainly on exam questions?
OR
Complete minimum questions from the textbook, and do extra questions from neap and checkpoint sources so i can leave practice exams until later?

When you suggested using practice exams instead of the textbook, how would i fit this in? Do i just do the core module for now, and as i work through the other modules do the same? How often would you recommend doing them?

Ive got a good foundation for taking notes. I use TSFX notes as a base, and add every single question i mess up on when doing the textbook exercises to, while adding tips and tricks to the notes that i discover <- Atleast i use this technique for methods and plan on implementing it into further studies.
Thanks for your advice and for the good luck!

[Dan1995]

Thanks, so much.
Yeah im not to concerned about being DUX, but having something to try and achieve that is realistic, knowing that teacher thinks ive got a high chance at makes me want to work for it even harder. But im aware its not the end all be all, and if i dont get it i dont get. Im not going to stress myself over it. In terms of practice during the year, what would you recommend as a solid plan.
Complete minimum questions from the textbook, but focus mainly on exam questions?
OR
Complete minimum questions from the textbook, and do extra questions from neap and checkpoint sources so i can leave practice exams until later?

When you suggested using practice exams instead of the textbook, how would i fit this in? Do i just do the core module for now, and as i work through the other modules do the same? How often would you recommend doing them?

Ive got a good foundation for taking notes. I use TSFX notes as a base, and add every single question i mess up on when doing the textbook exercises to, while adding tips and tricks to the notes that i discover <- Atleast i use this technique for methods and plan on implementing it into further studies.
Thanks for your advice and for the good luck!

My approach was to do the required text book questions and maybe do a couple extra in areas I thought needed more practice, but then I just completed trials. By the time the exam came around I had completed over 110 trials, only 20 of those were completed after the conclusion of classes in term 4.

With the exams I would be doing each module of the exams as you are studying that module in class and then come back to the other modules as the year progresses. You should have at least a week for revision for a SAC after you finish learning the content, if not two weeks to be able to do a large portion of your revision, this is the time during which I would recommend doing trials. As the way questions are written in trials is more similar to the way they appear in a VCAA exam, the text books are not quite as close.

[AirLandBus]

My approach was to do the required text book questions and maybe do a couple extra in areas I thought needed more practice, but then I just completed trials. By the time the exam came around I had completed over 110 trials, only 20 of those were completed after the conclusion of classes in term 4.

With the exams I would be doing each module of the exams as you are studying that module in class and then come back to the other modules as the year progresses. You should have at least a week for revision for a SAC after you finish learning the content, if not two weeks to be able to do a large portion of your revision, this is the time during which I would recommend doing trials. As the way questions are written in trials is more similar to the way they appear in a VCAA exam, the text books are not quite as close.

Hmm, sounds like a good idea. Ill suss out some exam papers when school goes back, but im not sure how many our school has. Im guessing not very many. Might have to resort to checkpoints and NEAP to be honest. Either way. Better then the textbook.

[Orson]

Going into year 12, doing 3/4 further, alongside 3/4 methods, english, IT and physics.
My teacher, whom is the head subject advisor/arranger/what ever she does, is adamant that i should/will be dux for further.
Obviously further isnt going to be the subject i dedicate all my time to, but i will still be putting a minimum hour a night.
So for me to dux, and get high grades what is required? The content itself isnt that difficult, so how should i make sure that i know what im doing and getting full marks on all my questions, cause im aware that 50 raw students cant afford to drop a single mark, even for stupid things like forgetting to label the boxplot (for example).
So from those 50 raw students, what should i be looking out for. Im quite strong in methods, so to prevent become latent with further what should i be doing - minimum textbook questions and more checkpoint/neaps?
Just want to maximise my score and know how to approach the subject.
Thanks.

Hey man, I tried to PM you but it says you are a 'Guest' and that you don't exist.

As for maximising Further Scores, sit as many practice exams as you can, and then correct them in detail.

[Cosec]

Hey man, I tried to PM you but it says you are a 'Guest' and that you don't exist.

As for maximising Further Scores, sit as many practice exams as you can, and then correct them in detail.

Hahaha sorry buddy. Deleted that account. This is my new account.

[pancham]

Hey!

I wouldn't say to minimise the amount of textbook questions done in favour of exam questions this early because you'll find that for your SACs you'll get a different types of questions and they'll usually be more difficult than the exam so you could possibly be selling yourself short if you neglect the textbooks for exam questions already - I'd say to probably do a sufficient amount of the textbook questions, then do the NEAP/checkpoints for revision and so that you get a taste of what the exam questions for that module would be like, and practise your skills in that area if it's a module you feel less confident with.

I'm definitely agreeing with the "do as many practice exams as you can and correct them thoroughly" sentiment though! However I'd probably leave that for 2~3 months before the exam not so much starting from now because the exam questions are often similar or repeated in some form so you'll be able to remember them more clearly. (That being said I didn't take my advice at all and lazed around the whole year, so I'm sure there are better ways to approach the subject LOL)

[Cosec]

Hey!

I wouldn't say to minimise the amount of textbook questions done in favour of exam questions this early because you'll find that for your SACs you'll get a different types of questions and they'll usually be more difficult than the exam so you could possibly be selling yourself short if you neglect the textbooks for exam questions already - I'd say to probably do a sufficient amount of the textbook questions, then do the NEAP/checkpoints for revision and so that you get a taste of what the exam questions for that module would be like, and practise your skills in that area if it's a module you feel less confident with.

I'm definitely agreeing with the "do as many practice exams as you can and correct them thoroughly" sentiment though! However I'd probably leave that for 2~3 months before the exam not so much starting from now because the exam questions are often similar or repeated in some form so you'll be able to remember them more clearly. (That being said I didn't take my advice at all and lazed around the whole year, so I'm sure there are better ways to approach the subject LOL)

41 is not a bad effort for lazying around all year.  Thanks for the advice. Thats what im going to do I think. Just got to make up my mind, Checkpoints or Neap?! Recommendation? I swear im buying extra resources every day. Oh well. Hopefully it pays off. Can always sell them at the end of the year.