Staying motivated for your last exam

When you have a number of exams spread across a couple of weeks it can be easy to get burnt out and stop studying for the last one or two. You might feel like you’ve put all your energy into your first two exams, and you don’t have enough energy to keep up your studying stamina for another week.

However, it’s quite possible your strongest subject is coincidentally at the end of the exam period. Remember that almost all your subjects are weighted equally, so all the exams are important!

Here are some tips on how you can stop yourself getting burnt out and tired during the exam period.

Make a schedule

Write up a schedule of what you want to get done every day between now and the end of exams. Be specific about what you’re going to get done, for example, “Chemistry: 2014 VCAA exam”. Make your study goals realistic, but also make sure you’re working hard. This is the last time you’ll have to study for these subjects, so put in your best effort!

In terms of making your goals realistic, don’t convince yourself that you’re going to get up at 7 am and study consistently until 8 pm, with one break for lunch. You might be able to do this for one day, but it’s not a sustainable study method.

Set yourself up for productive study

When it gets close to exams, it might feel like a good idea to go all out and start cramming and studying crazy hours. However, if you have a long exam period, this is unsustainable. When you’re studying, you need to make sure you’re taking regular short breaks, like going for a 15-minute walk, so that you can keep working.

Keep your phone away from your study area, and only check it during your breaks. This is especially true if some of your friends have finished their exams and have forgotten that you’re still in exam mode.

When you relax, really relax

It can be easy to get caught up in total exam mode and forget how to relax. However, when you’re taking a break from study, do your best to completely switch off from it. Schedule in relaxation times, which could be something like watching your favourite TV show, going for a swim, or catching up with a friend (and promising not to talk about study!)

If you have a really long break before your last exam and you’re feeling prepared, it might even be a good idea to schedule a whole day off. You could get out of the house and take yourself out for lunch or to see a movie, or stay home and chill out all day. This is a good way to recharge the batteries and feel refreshed before diving back in to studying.

Look after yourself

You’ll get burnt out even more quickly if you’re not looking after your body. Make sure you’re getting lots of sleep and eating regular meals.

It’s also a good idea to have some of your study breaks involve exercise. Exercise gives you endorphins, which will help you feel good, and it will also mean you sleep better. If you’re sitting down at a desk all day, sometimes your body isn’t tired enough to sleep well at night. Exercise can help with this problem.

Year 12 English exam – Be Prepared!

Author: Maria D'Amato

The English exam is always the first of the VCE exams and it is often the one you are most nervous about. This blog will discuss how to tackle the exam and more importantly what to focus on. Master these points to be sure you will get the very most out of yourself and achieve a result that you can be proud of.

General Exam Tips

• Remember to take a dictionary.

• Use black or blue pen.

• Answer every question.

• Devote equal time to each of the three sections – they are equally weighted.

• Spend 2-3 minutes planning, and write short plans only. Plans will not be assessed.

• Spend no more than 50 minutes on each of the sections, as you don't want to run out of time.

• You must bring each of your essays to a conclusion.

• Allow 3–5 minutes to proofread and edit your work. Check spelling and grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing and clarity of expression. Ensure you have included all the components of your plan.

• Please learn the correct spellings of authors’ names, characters’ names, and text titles. The assessors will view this favourably.

• Put the pen down momentarily and take a deep breath before commencing the next essay.

Section A: Text Response

• Select one of the two questions. Select the topic you know you can answer best.

• Look carefully at the key terms used in the prompt and unpack their meaning.
  Essay questions are set up very carefully and each key term needs to be addressed.

• The introduction needs to directly answer the prompt.

• Don't memorise essays and reproduce them in exams.
  Remember to respond to the prompt and focus on what’s relevant to that prompt.

• Be consistent with the development of the contention across the essay. Each paragraph in the body of the essay needs to develop your contention.

• Examples and evidence are drawn only from the text. You cannot bring anything external to it.

• Learn a comprehensive series of quotations from the beginning, middle and end of the text.

• Don’t forget to mention the ways in which the author expresses or implies a point of view and/or values.

• The conclusion includes the fulfilment of your line of contention.

Section B: Writing in Context

• You will be given a prompt to which you must respond, which is almost like a universal statement.

• In Section B you are able to express your thoughts and ideas relating to the overall theme in whatever form you choose, be it imaginative, persuasive or expository; however, you must work with the prompt regardless of what format you choose.

• The studied text is there for inspiration, not to write a text essay on.

• You need to show knowledge of the text but can also go beyond it and draw on related ideas (such as current affairs, your own experiences) to develop your argument.

• Don't just retell the story; you need to explore the quality of ideas and link back to the text.

Section C: Analysis of Language

• You should devote at least 10 minutes of reading time to read the written material in this section. This will enable you to gain an impression of the overall issue.

• Remember the what, how and why language is being used in an attempt to influence readers/audience.

• Identify the Context, Contention, Tone, Audience and Purpose.

• You need to focus on specific phrases and analyse how the language used by the writer shapes the beliefs/feelings of the reader.

• Paragraphs for language analysis are essentially “point, evidence, analyse”.

• You also need to analyse how the visual material shapes the beliefs of the reader.

• Keep your language simple and straightforward.

• Don’t forget to use language of comparison to show the differences/contrasts of opinions.

And finally,

GOOD LUCK 😃 

Preparing for the exams

Exams can be scary for many people. Even for the best prepared! While we can’t take the exam for you, we can give you some tips on how to prepare, as well as what you can do in the room to maximise your exam time.

• Try to get a good sleep the night before. There’s no use staying up late studying – sleep will be more beneficial than another practice exam at this late stage. However, you’ll probably be nervous, so try not to stress if you can’t sleep – you’re still resting your body and mind if you’re lying down in bed. Having a bath, drinking a cup of tea (without caffeine!), or doing some meditation are also good ways to relax the night before.

• Don’t skip breakfast. Make sure you’ve eaten a healthy and substantial meal before the exam so your brain has enough energy. Stay hydrated, but be careful not to drink so much water that you need to take a toilet break!

• Don’t talk about the exam before the exam. I find that it’s best not to hang out with friends before the exam. However, if you think being around people is what you need, then talk about something other than how much you’ve studied and what you think will be on the exam.

• Use your reading time wisely. Decide before the exam what you’ll read during reading time. Will you quickly glance at the whole exam? Or will you focus on one question and try to work out an answer? What is essential is that you use this time to plan in your head what you are going to do.

• Decide your exam approach in advance. You know what the structure of the exam is going to be, so decide in advance in which order you’ll do the sections. Start with your strongest section/s first. However, be sure to plan your time correctly so as to not rush at the end.

• Stick to a time limit. Further to the above, set time limits for each section, and don’t go over them. It’s better that you finish all sections of an exam and don’t have time to read over them than miss out on writing the last paragraph of an essay, for example.

• If you’re stuck on a question, move on. If there’s a single question you can’t work out, don’t stay on it for too long. It’s quite likely your brain just froze for a second, and that when you come back to it, it’ll be more obvious.

• Don’t leave early. There’s always something more you can have a go at. If nothing else, review your work and read your responses aloud in your head. I’ve seen far too many people leave exams early and lament their responses once they get to re-read what they have submitted. Remember, VCE exams are not intended to be finished early so make use of the time allotted.

• Decide what you’re going to do afterwards. Most people find it extremely unhelpful and distressing to talk about the exam after it’s over. There is nothing you can do to change it now, so don’t talk about it. You could do something fun such as relaxing with your friends, or you might want to go home and chill out before studying for your next exam.

• If something unexpected happens on exam day, find out if you can apply for special consideration. If you were sick or think your circumstances affected your ability to sit the exam on the day, find out more here.

The best way to prepare for your exams

Authors: Maria & Chris

There unfortunately is no quick fix when it comes to acing your end of year exams. The simple fact is that the best way to prepare is to do lots of practice and, just as importantly, to take your practice exams seriously.

If you’re sitting practice exams at school, do not waste the opportunity to test your skills in an environment similar to what you will experience on the day. After all, you’ll be sitting your real exams at school, so try to make it a practice run for the real thing. Prepare for them as well as you can within the time remaining. Rehearsing your exam day a number of times at school is a good way to control your nerves on the big day (although a little bit of stress can give you adrenaline!) And even though it is just practice, don’t leave early – you can never read over your work too many times, and there’s always something else you can have a go at!

But to set yourself up for success you really should also be doing practice exams at home. Responding to a wide variety of questions is a great way to be prepared for whatever the exam may throw at you. Past exams are available on the VCAA website. You should also be able to access some different exams from your teacher.

When you sit practice exams at home, it’s important to practice them within the same conditions you will be under, including sticking to the time limit. It’s no use being able to answer all the questions on the exam in seven hours – you need to give it the best shot you can under a time constraint. Try not to become disheartened if it feels like you’ll never do everything under the time limit – you’ll get quicker and be able to include more detail with more practice.

Furthermore, try to complete your exam without the aid of study notes and textbooks. You won't have access to them on the day, so best you learn to wean yourself off them now. If you have done the preparation beforehand then this should be easy. If not, then you know you have a bit more work to do. The good news is that you still have time to prepare.

After you do a practice exam, it’s really important to go through it afterwards and see which bits you got wrong and which bits you can improve on. If you’re doing a VCAA exam, you absolutely should read the exam reports on the website – they not only have answers to the exam, but specific advice about what the examiners are looking for, and what a lot of students missed or consistently get wrong.

Practice makes perfect when it comes to acing your exams. By preparing to perform under exam conditions, both mentally and physically, you have the best chance to succeed on one of the biggest days of your life (no pressure of course!)

Overcoming Frustration

When you’re studying hard for a long period of time, you might start to feel burnt out and frustrated, and your workload might feel completely insurmountable.

Sometimes we may lament that “There is so much to do that I’ll never get it all done – I may as well do nothing”. This is understandable, but unhelpful in the long term. Instead, follow some of these tips so that you can find the drive to go on and overcome the frustration of feeling like you’re stuck in a rut.

• Set achievable goals. If you’re writing a list or thinking about what you want to achieve in a day, don’t expect too much from yourself. This isn’t an excuse to do one small task and call it a day, but you do need to set goals that you can reasonably achieve. Achieving every task you set yourself to do in a day gives you a great feeling of accomplishment. Setting achievable goals on a consistent basis will also prevent you from getting burnt out.

• Break work down into small chunks. If you know that you’re super behind in chemistry, try not to think about the enormous amount of work you need to do to catch up. Instead, you can break it into smaller sections and focus on completing one section at a time.

• Study in short blocks. Know the amount of time you can reasonably concentrate without a break – this might be one hour, for example. There’s no way you can concentrate for five hours straight. Schedule breaks throughout a study session, and don’t make your breaks longer than the scheduled time.

• Save your easiest tasks for the end of the day. When you’re tired after an hour or two of really good study, it can be tempting to completely switch off. But at the end of the day you could also quickly do a small task that isn’t too much of a mental strain. This could be some kind of repetitive task like revising vocabulary for your LOTE subject. The flipside to this is making sure you do your trickiest work at the beginning, when your mind is fresh.

• Make your study space a study sanctuary. I find that when I’m particularly unmotivated, it helps to make my study space as nice as possible. This makes it feel like somewhere I want to spend time. Light a scented candle. Put some flowers in a vase or move a houseplant into your space. Play some instrumental background music, if this isn’t too distracting for you. Make a special flavour of tea in your best cup.

• Look after yourself. Try to make your breaks positive. For a short break, make a fun, healthy snack, like a fruit and veggie smoothie. For a longer break, go for a walk, run or swim. If you’re studying in front of a screen, try not to take breaks in front of a screen as well.

• Remember that things will be better tomorrow. If you’re feeling frustrated or sad about your studies, remember that things will be better after a good night’s sleep. If you’re really not getting anything done, try to go to bed early.

Top 4 tips for approaching practice exams

Author: Chris Ebbs

Practice exams are, in my opinion, the best way to study for an exam. It’s (obviously) really important to know and understand all the content of the course, but understanding the ways in which the questions will be asked is also vital. You can revise the content as much as you want, but you need to make sure you can apply your knowledge. Here are my top tips for doing practice exams.

1.     Do as many as you can get your hands on. The VCAA ones are all on the website (along with exam reports that explain the answers). Your teacher will also have some non-VCAA exams, so ask for those. Non-VCAA exams might not be the most accurate representation of what’s going to be on the exam, but they will apply knowledge in slightly different ways and help you expand your understanding of the content.

2.     Actually go through the answers. I’ve encountered so many people who ‘do’ practice exams, but never go through the answers. Practice exams are a great learning tool, so make sure you look up what you got wrong and why you got it wrong. Find the content in your textbook and practice the skill.

3.     Do exams under timed conditions. There’s no use in understanding the content 100% back to front if you can’t answer the questions in the allotted time.

4.     It’s never too early to do a practice exam. In year 12 I had a teacher who asked us to track the different practice exams we did. I kept a record of the date I did an exam and the percentage I got. Over time I actually saw improvement! If you think this might help you or inspire you to keep going, give it a shot.