Tips from previous Yr 12s

[humph]

For the sciences/maths subjects.
It's all about perfection and not making any stupid mistakes with your working out etc.
Because everyone pretty much knows how to answer the large majority questions hence the difference between a 40 and a 50 is being very careful.

+1

Learning the concepts and theory in math/science is relatively easy and most people only go a bit further than this. To achieve high 40s you need much more than that; you need to practice until you are sick of the subject, to the extent where you can be half-asleep and still finish a question perfectly. Its just drill work, nothing special.

To achieve 50 you need to then, somewhat ironically, go 'back to basics' and become familiar enough with the theory that you can apply it laterally, i.e in an unfamiliar context.

and practice makes perfect.

there are plenty of practice materials around, a few of the more generous members have gone to the trouble of uploading it, it'll be a sin to not use them. =]

but don't become a robot

Rest is essential you dont want to burn out

its also because those people that have no concept of something and just become proficient in a number of rote steps really bug me (and get ridiculously high ENTERS). hopefully uni will force them think for once.

In maths at uni you definitely can't get away with just using formulae efficiently, as I found out in my first year. You have to understand the foundations very thoroughly to have any hope. It's pretty similar with physics too, and I'd imagine so with other subjects like chem etc.

[applekid]

- be very, very careful with unqualified tutors.
- even if it is embarassing and annoying, get all the help you can get from your classroom teachers. (unless they are hacks. then don't. don't talk to them at all) ask questions, ask for help, ask for opinions on how you can improve your work, where your strengths and weaknesses are etc. etc. this is where the real gems of your improvement are, no kidding.
- choose the subjects you like. really. it will only make it easier/less painful for you to work hard and get higher grades.
- try and stress less and sleep properly throughout the year and during the exam period. a day before your exam, if you feel like you can't handle your nerves DON'T STUDY, it will only make things worse. Take it easy, if you have done consistent work throughout the year, a day or two less of study won't make any difference, honestly.
- for humanities subjects, all you have to do is address the dot points in the study design. don't complicate things for yourself. just address the key dot points with clear arguments and if you can, sophisticated evidence and you will be FINE. that is all there is to it. it is absolutely worthless trying to get up on the state by learning shitloads of nothing.
- for LOTES, practice your oral exam material starting from June consistently and as the exam approaches, daily. Apart from knowing the material back to front to a point beyond sounding like you are just recounting a speech, you will develop confidence in your abilities. It will pay off tenfold. i found learning tonnes of vocab was useless for the written exam, just learn key and frequent vocab and how to use your dictionary skilfully.
- don't take SAC grades for much. they don't really matter in the bigger scheme of things. whether you did excellent or shit throughout the year, that can all change by how you go in the exam. if you are getting really unconventional SACs to do, do constant revisions of exam style questions throughout the year, as that is what will ultimately matter.

hope that helps somewhat.

[ursus]

Psychology: If you want to do really well in psych, make sure you study extra hard for the end of year exam. At mid-year, psych might be the only mid-year people have, so more people do well, but at end of year they have 3 or 4 other subjects to focus on, so they tend to do less well than at mid-year (if that makes sense).
The main strategy I had for studying was to go through each dot point and make summary notes, and made cue cards with all the definitions (because the examiners are extremely pedantic; some definitions have to have a certain word to get the mark, and if you omit that one little word, you won't get the marks - it's ridiculous). I also did a LOT of practice exams and went to the lectures at Monash Uni which were excellent.
(Feel free to PM me if you need any help next year).

Italian: For LOTEs (I did Indonesian), make sure you know all the really simple year 7 language like dates and times. Also, my teacher gave us a vocab list at the start of each topic, but if your teacher doesn't do this there should be one in your text book. Learn these words really well, coz it will make writing tasks so much easier. And make sure you know complex grammar; examiners love that. And for the oral, the earlier you prepare the better. Practice every night, no matter how insane it drives you (I don't EVER want to hear about deforestation in Indonesia again).

In general: if you bomb out on a SAC, don't stress too much. For each subject, you might have 5 or 6 SACs for the whole year, and altogether that's only 50% of your mark (or 33% for psych). It's exams that really determine your mark in the end. For Lit, I was expecting a 35 max, coz I got B+'s and A's all year, but I got an A+ in the exam and that brought my study score up to a 40.
I did about 3 hours of homework/study a night, which is a lot more than most people, but I think it was worth it (also the oral exam takes up a lot of time).
And make sure you have a social life during the year, but really knuckle down for exams (I have the advantage of not being 18 til next year, so I couldn't really go clubbing, which is something that really distracted most of my friends). I had a normal social life throughout the year but for most of October and November I studied my arse off, and in my opinion was completely worth it. But it depends on how well you want/need to do.
And another thing is make sure the subjects you're doing are right for you. I ended up dropping maths methods half way through the year because a) it was too hard, b) took up way too much time and i was doing badly, and c) i didn't need to do it. so don't do something if it really doesn't suit what you're good at/if you don't enjoy it, because you won't do well (at the time a lot of people said I was crazy coz it gets marked up so much, but dropping it allowed me to do better in all my other subjects and ultimately get better study scores and a better ENTER).

Hope this helped 

[ultimate]

You also don't want to study too hard on your subjects. It's always good to take up sport or debating () to take your mind off things and to feel relaxed rather than stressed during VCE.

I agree with ur last sentence. But you can never study too hard for anything.

[Odette.]

You also don't want to study too hard on your subjects. It's always good to take up sport or debating () to take your mind off things and to feel relaxed rather than stressed during VCE.

I agree with ur last sentence. But you can never study too hard for anything.

True but you can over study for something... and then you end up burning out.. it's hard to explain but you can put so much pressure on yourself to study, that after a hours and hours you don't absorb anything, and you become exhausted, and perform badly on SACs/Exams  (I know what that's like)

[Jeffree]

You also don't want to study too hard on your subjects. It's always good to take up sport or debating () to take your mind off things and to feel relaxed rather than stressed during VCE.

I agree with ur last sentence. But you can never study too hard for anything.

True but you can over study for something... and then you end up burning out.. it's hard to explain but you can put so much pressure on yourself to study, that after a hours and hours you don't absorb anything, and you become exhausted, and perform badly on SACs/Exams  (I know what that's like)

thats called cramming

[scumel]

be rounded, while its important to study consistently and hard, you need an outlet or two. its not worth sacrificing an important year of your life in general for a 4 digit score.
and for the LOTEs - immerse yourself in the language. watch the news on sbs, download songs and podcasts, start learning ur general convo for oral early on - don't leave it to the last minute!
for english - i think wiriting a lot of detailed plans is better than writing a lot of essays. examiners know was pre-prepared responses look like and you are more likely to cover a broader range of topics if u do plans. (then, when you do go to write essays make sure u practice under timed conditions!!! this is so important)
in general, you can never do too many practice exams

[bridgethuss]

my advice - have a life. dont just study study study, have fun..and study!

[Mao]

my advice - have a life. dont just study study study, have fun..and study!

I would say the priority should be emphasized the other way around, don't just fun fun fun, study.... and have some fun!

[Flaming_Arrow]

my advice - have a life. dont just study study study, have fun..and study!

I would say the priority should be emphasized the other way around, don't just fun fun fun, study.... and have some fun!

+1

[methodsboy]

I did about 3 hours of homework/study a night, which is a lot more than most people

Was that just for psyc. ?

[humph]

I did about 3 hours of homework/study a night, which is a lot more than most people

Was that just for phsyc. ?

What the hell is phsyc.?

[vce08]

I did about 3 hours of homework/study a night, which is a lot more than most people

Was that just for phsyc. ?

What the hell is phsyc.?

physics/psychology

[ultimate]

i assume its physics because no way any1 can do 3 hrs a night for psychology. 

[humph]

phsyc --> psychology

Where does the "ph" come from?


I've never understood why this mistake is made, mainly because everyone's taught from about age 6 that ph = f, so phsycology = fsycology. Nonsensical.