The easy and cheap tip to help students get a 40-plus VCE study score

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The key to VCE success has emerged in a study of the learning habits of tens of thousands of students who sat the exams in the past two years – and it’s easy, cheap and accessible for any student.

Practice questions are the game changer when it comes to helping year 12s achieve top study scores in their final results.

Mentone Girls’ Grammar deputy principal Tim Macdonald and student Maggie Stickland.

A private study aid provider has used its database of more than 57,000 VCE students from 2023 and 2024 to track the effectiveness of their study approaches. It shows a strong link between large numbers of practice questions attempted or completed in the months before the exams to study scores above 40.

But the company’s findings also indicate that there is no substitute for hard work in the months leading up the VCE exams, most of which will be sat from late October to mid-November this year.

The average student in the cohort achieving a 40-plus study score from last year’s biology paper, which contained 51 questions, completed more than 800 practice questions in preparation for their exam.

The Edrolo researchers identified several areas in which practice questions might give students the edge, including repetition of correct answers boosting long-term memory and making recall easier under pressure.

They also say the questions increase engagement with the material, reducing the stress of exam day, and can help students identify their weaknesses and areas that need more work.

Practice questions, past exams and other study materials are freely available through schools, the Victorian Curriculum, Assessment Authority (VCAA) and elsewhere, so any student can load up on practice questions without paying for commercial study aids, like those offered by Edrolo.

The company tracked the number of practice questions attempted by the 57,500 VCE students who used its materials to study for their VCEs in 2023 and 2024.

The data was compared with the students’ publicly available results, published by the VCAA, showing a strong correlation between large numbers of practice questions undertaken and high study scores.

Strickland says practice questions have been useful.

Mentone Girls’ Grammar student Maggie Stickland, hoping for a high score in general maths this year, has already completed almost 2000 practice questions in the subject, with many more to come as she and her schoolmates prepare for final exams over the coming weeks.

She says the practice questions have been useful, not just in the exam hall on the day, but for her school-assessed coursework (SAC) component of her VCE study score.

“Having access to additional practice questions and tests has been invaluable in preparing thoroughly for my SACs,” the student said.

Mentone deputy principal Tim Macdonald said the school prioritised practice questions to get its students familiar with what they would face at exams, and the coming weeks were a crucial time for all VCE students to be completing questions, warning those who had not yet started to get moving.

“These holidays coming up are when you want to get started,” Macdonald said.

“In the last week or so of this term, you’re getting your notes ready but when you’re into the holiday period, you should be hitting those practice questions pretty hard.”

John Hattie, professor of education at the University of Melbourne, who is also on the Edrolo advisory board, backs this up, saying the company’s research underlined well-established principles in the science of learning.

“Deliberate practice with the specific goal of mastering new concepts and skills can be effective for student growth and achievement,” he said.

Leading maths teacher and education commentator Marty Ross encouraged students to access the free resources.

“The key to doing well in VCE mathematics is practice, practice and more practice,” Ross said.

“It is best is to practise on past exam questions, and the more that other practice questions resemble exam questions, the better.

“There are a number of third-party products around, some clunkier than others, but they are all reasonable to practise on.

“But, do so after completing the relevant textbook questions and every past exam question you can lay your hands on.”

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