any tips or hints?

[emb_23]

past students please share

[longy1991]

work your arse off 

[emb_23]

just quietly your study scores are insane

[vexx]

umm tips, just do all your homework, checkpoints & heaps of prac exams
(its what im gonna do.. but i haven't done the course yet so maybe longy can elaborate on his incredible success....

work your arse off 

just quietly, i want to be you.

[longy1991]

awwww shucks guys lol 

I think i did every single practice exam i could find for chemistry. And then i made an "error book" (as the great derrick ha puts it). But i made a shorter version where i basically listed every big or really stupid mistake i made in a practice exam, and read through it every so often before i did a proper timed practice exam to make sure i wouldn't make the same errors again. I also made sure i got a LOT of exposure to some really odd questions, which helped a lot for last years midyear lol.

[kyzoo]

I've been using the error book (I call it tricky points document) idea for a while with my Maths and Science subjects, and I just came up with an idea today. For each tricky point, compose a question that directly tests your ability to recognize the corresponding tricky point. Haven't tried it yet it lol.

read through it every so often before i did a proper timed practice exam to make sure i wouldn't make the same errors again.

>.< I don't believe in repetition, I believe in being actively engaged with the material and employing the generation effect

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_effect.

[longy1991]

i believe by reading it before doing an exam i was being actively engaged, that's why i didn't say i memorised my errors lol... I read it before proper practice exams so i could actively not make the same errors in each exam. I think your idea of testing your knowledge with a suitable question is also good though.

[herzy]

i'd agree wtih the general idea of kyzoo (me being totally against memorisation) but here i agree wtih longy1991 - its crucial to know exactly where you make mistakes, and to remember not to make them again.

other than that, practice, and know the course back to front. that goes for any subject though. with chem its particularly true - like biol, wtih enough practice every question looks the same

[longy1991]

lol cheers herzy.

I've heard with uni studying is a completely different story, it's just like about absorbing volumes, but in vce it was all about knowing EVERYTHING upside down, back to front, and inside out, and making absolutely 0 errors lol... kinda silly when you think about it.

[herzy]

AGREED

[herzy]

in vce it was all about knowing EVERYTHING upside down, back to front, and inside out, and making absolutely 0 errors lol... *kinda silly when you think about it.*

[Gloamglozer]

lol cheers herzy.

I've heard with uni studying is a completely different story, it's just like about absorbing volumes, but in vce it was all about knowing EVERYTHING upside down, back to front, and inside out, and making absolutely 0 errors lol... kinda silly when you think about it.

Yep.  And that includes, for Chemistry, knowing how the topics relate to each other because more often than not, in the exam the short answer questions will have more than one topic in it.

[ninwa]

Error book is a brilliant idea.

Also I would prioritise doing practice exams / practice questions over re-reading the theory (if I recall correctly, there is a lot more application than theory in chemistry. Though I did do it 3 years ago so it might have changed by now). I know someone who pretty much learned the course through practice exams and got 40+.

If there's diagram-y stuff like the nitrogen cycle (not sure if that's in the study design anymore), make a poster of it and stick it somewhere you'll see every day (my teacher used to recommend the toilet >_<).

[longy1991]

Lol I had chromatography/spectroscopy stuff in my toilet lol.