Study Habits to Master in the VCE

When it comes to achieving good results in the VCE® Exam, studying will obviously go a long way, but some small changes to how you study and how you approach your VCE® Exam prep can make a big difference. Your attitude towards your VCE® Exam studies in the coming months will have a cumulative effect on the effectiveness of it. Developing good study habits early on is vital!

Firstly, it’s important to keep a balanced lifestyle. You will do yourself no favours if you burn yourself out early in the year! Keep up your hobbies, sports, recreational and social activities. In fact this holds true even in uni and when you begin work, and is definitely something to thrive for no matter how difficult it might seem. Keeping a balanced lifestyle will keep you less stressed throughout the year, and good stress management will go a long way in helping you study better.

In that same spirit of keeping a balanced lifestyle, you should make study a regular occurrence, making it as much a part of your lifestyle as any of your other hobbies. Try to dedicate a set amount of time to study each day, preferably at a consistent time of the day. The amount of time you should be spending will differ from person to person, and also depends on the number and nature of the subjects you are taking. By the time you start studying for the VCE® Exam, you should have already identified your strengths and weaknesses in terms of subjects, and be aware of the amount of time that you need to be allocating to each. And remember, piling up hours and hours of study does not necessarily make that study effective.

When studying, take breaks! People are simply not built to sit at a desk for hours on end, and you won’t learn as effectively if you do so. Learning less effectively means you are wasting precious time, time that could be spent elsewhere. One technique you can use is the Pomodoro technique, a fancy (and copyrighted) way of saying “take a 5 min break every 25 mins and take a longer 30 min break after repeating for 3 times”.

So what should you be spending your time on? You need to determine this from your past results. The areas where you can make the most improvement will be your weakest ones. Few people like confronting their weaknesses, but this is the most effective way of improving your overall score. It’s helpful to set up a list of topics you may be weak in for subjects like mathematics, sciences, and other content-based subjects. For other subjects which are more centred on essays or are otherwise not content-based, it may be more helpful to dedicate regular time to practice. Once your list is set up, split it out over time so you can dedicate a solid amount of time to understanding the topics, before spending further time memorising it (in the case of content-based subjects).

When studying for your VCE® Exam exams, it is ideal to have past papers to work with, preferably as similar as possible to the ones you’ll encounter. For each of your school-based assessments, try to have attempted past papers from your school, and more importantly, have these marked so you get feedback. This will highlight areas of weakness, or in more positive terms, areas with potential for improvement. Similarly, where possible, practice for your external exams with past external exam papers. Papers differ between schools but tend to remain similar within a school over time.

When working through past papers, it’s best to time yourself and to replicate as many of the exam conditions as you can. Don’t get up and walk off halfway through and come back to it if you can help it, this won’t be nearly as effective. Don’t start answering the phone or get distracted by Facebook etc. It is actually a good idea to do the paper away from these distractions. This isn’t always practical of course, given how long exams take, but if you can spare the time, it is well worth it. On the other hand, if you are aware of any glaring gaps in your knowledge, your time is probably better spent there first, tackling exams can wait. Once you feel confident that you have covered all topics, past papers are the way to go though!