When to start doing practice exams?

[ayesha2011t]

Hey guys,

So at the moment, in further my school has completed the core and are going to have a sac on it straight after holidays.

Just wanted to know, is it beneficial for me to do practice exams on the core( vcaa and companies) starting from now, in exam conditions obviously, or should I just do the questions as practice without exam conditions?

I'm asking this bc, since the core is most important I'm afraid if I don't frequently practice I will fall behind and forget.

[Swagadaktal]

Ok first, Further is not a subject that you easily fall behind in - you need to consciously not ever open the book to fall behind

And do VCAA questions from now,, company papers if you have more time, and do them in timed conditions. Strictly speaking, you should finish them pretty quickly - if not then keep timing yourself until you consistently do it within a certain time period.

Make sure your studying now is comprehensive and conceptual right now so that when you reach the end of the year it won't be too hard of a job recalling all of the information you learnt.

[ayesha2011t]

Ok first, Further is not a subject that you easily fall behind in - you need to consciously not ever open the book to fall behind

And do VCAA questions from now,, company papers if you have more time, and do them in timed conditions. Strictly speaking, you should finish them pretty quickly - if not then keep timing yourself until you consistently do it within a certain time period.

Make sure your studying now is comprehensive and conceptual right now so that when you reach the end of the year it won't be too hard of a job recalling all of the information you learnt.

yeah, true further isn't something you can fall behind in. I'm just a bit worried that by the end of the year, I'll suck at the core while doing better in the modules which really isn't even that good.

About the company papers, many people told me to leave the VCAA ones till the end as my 'mock exams' as they are the most similar. In your opinion, is that better or not?

[Aaron]

Do exam questions at the same time as you're doing a topic (or when you can confidently answer it). There's no better time to start! What I would recommend is simply write your working out in a summary book or something, so you have a record of how to solve a particular "VCAA-style" question. With further in particular, students tend to make a lot of careless simple mistakes so I would focus on a) correctness and b) accuracy.

About the company papers, many people told me to leave the VCAA ones till the end as my 'mock exams' as they are the most similar. In your opinion, is that better or not?

Agree. Although FM (VCE maths in general, I should say..) takes on a new study design this year, so be wary of any changes that have been made as they will be reflected in past VCAA exams.

[Escobar]

when I did further, I didnt start doing full exam papers until a few weeks out from the exam
however, in preparation for each sac, I did all the questions from the past papers relating to the section of the course that i was being tested on
because the content of further is fairly simple, you probably wont forget stuff come exam time unless you leave study to the last week or so

[ayesha2011t]

Do exam questions at the same time as you're doing a topic (or when you can confidently answer it). There's no better time to start! What I would recommend is simply write your working out in a summary book or something, so you have a record of how to solve a particular "VCAA-style" question. With further in particular, students tend to make a lot of careless simple mistakes so I would focus on a) correctness and b) accuracy.

Agree. Although FM (VCE maths in general, I should say..) takes on a new study design this year, so be wary of any changes that have been made as they will be reflected in past VCAA exams.

Alright, thanks for the advice! I'll 'further' my skills in being accurate :')