biology questions

[H2O]

1) Would VCAA exams from previous study designs (earlier than 2006) be good as practice exams? Or do they have too much irrelevant stuff that's not needed in the current study design?

2) Form notes from:     
-teachers powerpoints or
-Heinemann textbook and/or NoB or
-notes posted from people on VN?

3) On school syllabus it says to do checkpoints 2-3 weeks before exams.  Should I start now or save it till then?

[shinny]

1. They can be still useful, but you can try to do them through Checkpoints to get all the crap filtered out for you automatically. Still, there's been many years now post-2006 so do those first and only do pre-'06 if you run out. The study design didn't change THAT much though. I remember doing quite a few of them.
2. Combine every source you can find possible, and filter through the information into your own notes. I used probably about 7 books to write my Bio notes.
3. Uhh, I think the whole reason why Checkpoints is separated into topics is so you can start now. Practice exams is what you should be doing 2-3 weeks before exams, preferably much earlier depending on your goals. Biology is one of the few subjects where I believe the exam questions don't reflect what's in the textbook and the SACs whatsoever, so answering the exam is a skill that takes time to develop in itself. You'll see what I mean once you start doing them.