Practice exams - the more the better?

With one semester already behind you, you may be starting to think about trying your hand at a few practice exams. Most VCE® Exam students who want to maximise their scores will use practice exams as a indication of where they are at and whether they have any particular weak areas that they need to address.

Practice exams are not just another way of 'studying'. They are also tools that help you hone your exam technique. They do not replace classroom notes. They are not always accurate predictors of what will come up on the final exam. While they are seriously useful VCE® Exam preparation tools, don't rely solely on them. 

So, for your VCE® Exam prep, how many practice exams should you be aiming to do for each subject?

The simple answer is: as many as you can get your hands on or have time to do. Many students will go through dozens of papers for each subject through the year. At a certain point, however, you may find that you are going through vce® Exam practice exams merely for the sake of doing them. If your scores on these papers have stopped improving, you may need to change your approach.

Obviously, the more practice papers you do, the better you'll get at them. Keep going until you are satisfied with the scores you are getting.

Where can I find VCE® Exam practice exams?

The best source of practice exams is the VCAA website. VCAA provides past papers online along with answers as well as examination reports on how students across Victoria fared on that particular year's exam. You should probably save these for later in the year when you have finalised all your revision. 

A number of VCE® Exam preparation courses also provide some sample papers with answers. There are many of these out there; your school may have purchased some, others you may have to purchase yourselves.

Should I work through practice exams throughout the year or save them until just before exams?

It is better to start practice exam questions early. The exams that VCAA set are generally more difficult than what you will find in textbooks, so you should prepare yourself for the standard expected by VCAA. During the semester, Cambridge Checkpoints is an excellent resource. Checkpoints divides practice questions into separate topics so that you can work through them in preparation for class tests and SACs.

What should I do if I'm running out of practice exams?

If you have already completed a significant number of practice exams but still feel like there's room for improvement, you should consider going over old practice exams, looking at questions you got wrong, and reading through the suggested answers. Redo extended response questions and practise writing clear, succinct responses to them. Discuss any challenging questions with classmates. Most importantly, make full use of the practice exams you do have. 

If you have already done all this but feel like you need more practice, then company papers are a good option, which can usually be purchased either on their own or with a VCE® Exam preparation course of some sort.

Otherwise, textbook questions can help. For subjects like English, you can even make up your own exams by finding some sample prompts and an article to analyse. You can test your classmates with questions as well.

Should I do my practice exams in timed conditions? 

You should try to do most of them in timed, exam conditions, which means closed-book for subjects that don’t allow you to bring in extra notes. Timing is a big factor on exam day. VCE® Exam exams are designed to pressure you for time, so get used to working through questions and writing essays quickly (some students in the English exam claim they write fourteen pages in the three hours!).

However, don’t just do the exam, correct it and then forget about it. Take time to read over the suggested answers. Categorise your weaknesses. If you’ve submitted an essay to a teacher or given it to someone to read, ask for feedback, not just a score.

Remember that VCE® Exam practice exams are not the only revision tool you have. In Year Twelve, students have access to far more practice papers than they could expect to have in any tertiary course. Do as many as possible, but don’t rely solely on them. VCAA can set some surprise questions and have done so in the past, but if you know the course content inside out and have tested yourself with a few practice papers, you will be prepared for them.