Change of Tactic

[Studyinghard]

Hey guyz

Need some help with just general tactics for studying ( hence put in general section ).

In yr 11 I did 3/4 Biology and got 31. I hadn't done 1/2 and got put into 3/4, 1 week or so in the yr 12. All I am really wondering is did I do something wrong. I did the basics that everyone did.

Mid term not so much, only about 5 or 6 practice exams and half of checkpoints and got a C+ and thought I deserved it but then a hell of a lot more for end of year and at that point wasn't really looking for a good SS but just a confidence booster. Did around 20 practice exams, checkpoints, some tuitions and just extra work all around. Only managed a B+.

From the Biology experts in particular and also just people who sort of have some advice what should I have done better to make that B+ into an A or even better. I am not sure how far I was from an A but still.

Was Biology maybe just not my subject because I am a little nervous because after doing all that study and only managing a B+. Is that what is going to happen no matter how much I study now?

Thanks in advance

EDIT: This isnt to say im not going to study like hell for the rest of the holidays and the whole year but a different study plan might be something to think about for me

[Visionz]

What was your old username. You were the guy preaching 5 hours or youre not trying.

[slothpomba]

I hadn't done 1/2 and got put into 3/4.......

A lot of people under-estimate the amount of work they need to do in Yr 11/ dont really care. This is the case for many many YR 11's doing 3/4 subjects that i have seen. While it is not so great to get a mark lower than you expected, it is useful as well, it'll really kick you into gear.

I don't know about you but when i didn't get a mark as high as i expected, my reaction was like "woah...this is real...it isnt a game or anything...i should really try harder next year" i know it sounds silly like you would know things like that before but it really makes you realise its real.

I think theres the advantage of getting a low mark it really gives you the realisation, which many people who haven't done 3/4 wouldn't of had. They probably would of had this realisation after they got their final year 12 marks and enter score.

[Akirus]

Reading through your post, let me just give you some very general advice:

Your objective is not to study as much as possible, it's to do well on your VCE.

You may think they are the same, but in actuality they are two very separate matters. Do not confuse them. You may liken this to repeatedly running into a solid wall instead of just walking through the door beside you (which you cannot see because you have your eyes closed in your "determination" to run through the wall). No matter how frantically you charge in this manner, you're only going to end up very sore.

I could explain further but there's really no value to it unless you think about it yourself.

[Studyinghard]

What was your old username. You were the guy preaching 5 hours or youre not trying.

Yes I do preach about studying 5 hours a day and if you had read my post I had mentioned that I come to this realisation only during yr 11 (which was after my mid term mark) and I have been doing a lot in the holidays, so please read posts next time. I am still doing all this and just want to know if my tactics are wrong.

Thanks for the advice ^^

[Aqualim]

Well it sounds as if your doing the work, but the important details aren't sticking in, or you are misinterpreting a question maybe?

I know this is my flaw at times, as I get hit with a question, I know the answer, but end up wording it wrong or leaving out an important 'key word', which starts to make sense when I got an A instead of an A+ when doing my Unit 2 Business Management Exam, I would be able to answer the question, but often wouldn't supply an example (very cruical in bus man), which is why I would often get 1 out of 2 marks on my definition questions.

So I guess all in all the preparation is there, my only suggestion this year is to cover the course early, so you can spend as much time as possible fine tuning your exam responses, and ensuring that you cover every detail, even the details the question doesn't ask for (to be safe) haha

Good luck this year!

[kyzoo]

You may think they are the same, but in actuality they are two very separate matters. Do not confuse them. You may liken this to repeatedly running into a solid wall instead of just walking through the door beside you (which you cannot see because you have your eyes closed in your "determination" to run through the wall). No matter how frantically you charge in this manner, you're only going to end up very sore.

xD I like to use this analogy - going to China. You can work your whole life trying to do dig a hole to China, or you can just fly an aeroplane to China. The latter requires much less effort on your part, yet is much more effective. In short, it's all about method, not blind effort.

Studyinghard, I can't really offer you advice because your being too general in "Did around 20 practice exams, checkpoints, some tuitions and just extra work all around." I did the same.

So all I can say is to focus on results rather than just doing work. Think hard about how to minimize mark loss, rather than blindly believing that if you do enough work, you will get the results. Blind faith fails.

[stonecold]

hehe i agree.

it is not so much about how much you study imo, it is about studying when you feel like it.
there is no point forcing yourself to do hours of reading, notes and questions when you don't feel like it.  you don't really take anything in.  you should do study at your "peak study time" so to speak.  you are better off doing an hour of quality study that sticks rather than five hours of torture...

[NE2000]

You may think they are the same, but in actuality they are two very separate matters. Do not confuse them. You may liken this to repeatedly running into a solid wall instead of just walking through the door beside you (which you cannot see because you have your eyes closed in your "determination" to run through the wall). No matter how frantically you charge in this manner, you're only going to end up very sore.

xD I like to use this analogy - going to China. You can work your whole life trying to do dig a hole to China, or you can just fly an aeroplane to China. The latter requires much less effort on your part, yet is much more effective. In short, it's all about method, not blind effort.

Studyinghard, I can't really offer you advice because your being too general in "Did around 20 practice exams, checkpoints, some tuitions and just extra work all around." I did the same.

So all I can say is to focus on results rather than just doing work. Think hard about how to minimize mark loss, rather than blindly believing that if you do enough work, you will get the results. Blind faith fails.

I agree. But I would just add that I don't think it's appropriate to focus on minimizing mark loss for the whole year. I think you work on that area during tests and SACs and in preparation for these so you gradually get better at it, but I believe if you spend the whole year fretting about marks it might actually not be as helpful as it should theoretically be. Why? Because a lot of people lose motivation if their only motivation is marks. A few failures (relatively speaking) and it could affect your performance for the rest of the year. I think to begin with just try and enjoy your subjects. Enjoy learning about them. Don't even bother about questions, just learn, make notes, try and understand them and appreciate them for their positives. Then as SACs begin (most schools don't fully start till term 2; they only have a few in term 1) you can begin honing in on exam technique and trying to push yourself to a better exam score. You are less likely to lose motivation if you have come to enjoy the subject material. This attitude can also make working less of a chore.

[Studyinghard]

Ive sort of started doing that. For methods and Further especially I have just started doing them in my leisure time because I find it interesting aha. I just take my textbook to bed and try to just read through the concepts

[m@tty]

Ive sort of started doing that. For methods and Further especially I have just started doing them in my leisure time because I find it interesting aha. I just take my textbook to bed and try to just read through the concepts

That's all I have done so far. Besides doing a few questions for Spesh.
Best thing to do now in my opinion. Unless you are the note writing type, if so, you should do that now.

[kyzoo]

But I would just add that I don't think it's appropriate to focus on minimizing mark loss for the whole year. I think you work on that area during tests and SACs and in preparation for these so you gradually get better at it, but I believe if you spend the whole year fretting about marks it might actually not be as helpful as it should theoretically be. Why? Because a lot of people lose motivation if their only motivation is marks. A few failures (relatively speaking) and it could affect your performance for the rest of the year. I think to begin with just try and enjoy your subjects. Enjoy learning about them.

True, after exams I've totally lost sight of enjoying learning, and become narrowly fixated on marks. In retrospect, I would have become demotivated if I had focused solely on marks. I lost 8-10 marks in the 2nd SAC and got a bare A+. Back then, I didn't care about marks so much, I wasn't even aiming for a score, I was just enjoying the thrill of learning and mastering concepts. I only started caring about score after the exams, which has unfortunately turned into an obsession of sorts. I need to rewind my psychological journey back to what it was in the middle of the course, and forget about score altogether.

[Greggler]

quality over quantity.

doing tonnes of prac exams is great. for biol last year i did about 6 for my midyear and 8 for my end of year prep properly.
By doing them properly that involved reading time, doing them in isolation. and then spending a few hours per exam, studying from the questions.

i had printed off a few other exams, which i would occasionally do questions here and there. but these exams that i did 'properly' probably took around 4-5 hours to do when you factor in the amount of study that can be utilized by analyzing the sorts of questions asked on exams.

just doing exams for the sake of doing them is not an effective manner to study really.

[Akirus]

The problem is, if you lack urgency you will allow room for compromise.

Caring about your score does not mean you need to pay excruciating detail to exam technique or whatnot to minimize loss. If you're going to tell me it's not possible to enjoy learning and focus on maximizing your result at the same time, I can only laugh at such narrow-mindedness.

And that is exactly my point: stay open in your thinking and avail yourself to all routes towards the fulfillment of your objective, not just the immediate and obvious.

There are not more than five primary colors, yet in combination they produce more hues than can ever been seen.

There are not more than five cardinal tastes, yet combinations of them yield more flavors than can ever be tasted.

In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack: the direct and the indirect; yet these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers.

The direct and the indirect lead on to each other in turn. It is like moving in a circle—you never come to an end. Who can exhaust the possibilities of their combination?

[NE2000]

But I would just add that I don't think it's appropriate to focus on minimizing mark loss for the whole year. I think you work on that area during tests and SACs and in preparation for these so you gradually get better at it, but I believe if you spend the whole year fretting about marks it might actually not be as helpful as it should theoretically be. Why? Because a lot of people lose motivation if their only motivation is marks. A few failures (relatively speaking) and it could affect your performance for the rest of the year. I think to begin with just try and enjoy your subjects. Enjoy learning about them.

True, after exams I've totally lost sight of enjoying learning, and become narrowly fixated on marks. In retrospect, I would have become demotivated if I had focused solely on marks. I lost 8-10 marks in the 2nd SAC and got a bare A+. Back then, I didn't care about marks so much, I wasn't even aiming for a score, I was just enjoying the thrill of learning and mastering concepts. I only started caring about score after the exams, which has unfortunately turned into an obsession of sorts. I need to rewind my psychological journey back to what it was in the middle of the course, and forget about score altogether.

It's natural to turn your attention to marks in such important exams. As I said, the month before the exam it is good to focus on marks as it will enhance your performance. Then after exams it is easy to just remember the marks part. But yeah for now it's best if you just focus on how interesting your subjects are. Particularly English - a lot of people treat English as a chore - but some of the texts are actually really deep and the way the authors use words to send their message across is something that can be very interesting to analyze.