Study-Hard Hey, @Study-Hard! I'm really sorry about the delayed reply; I was on placement, so wasn't checking in as frequently. My brief thoughts on your questions below:
Is it a good idea to do VCE HHD units 3&4 without doing unit 1&2?
That depends on a heap of different factors! I did HHD 3&4 without HHD 1&2, but not really by design - I picked up HHD 3&4 in Year 12 after changing my mind about my subjects. If it's a good idea or not really depends on your other options, your interests, and lots of different other things, but based on what you've said, it sounds like a solid idea to me.
Will it disadvantage me in some aspects?
This was one of my biggest hesitations before starting HHD 3&4. Honestly, I didn't really feel at all disadvantaged. I'm not 100% sure if this has changed (best to check the study designs for 1&2 and 3&4), but there wasn't too much overlap between the two. From what I can tell, HHD 1&2 gave a decent foundation for HHD-type thinking, but not as much in terms of actual content - maybe just a little bit of terminology, which was pretty easy to pick up.
I assume that things are similar now, and that you wouldn't be at much of a disadvantage, but keep in mind that my experiences were 10+ years ago.
You mentioned you got a 50 in HHD, so any tips, tricks, or advice on that?
I'll copy and paste some tips I wrote on a thread on the (now-archived) forums. The caveat is that it's now outdated, but I think some of the tips would probably still hold. My main advice, though, is to start early - particularly if you're unsure about picking up Units 3&4 from scratch. I found that the sooner I got into application stuff (so applying content I was learning from the textbook/class to practice questions), the sooner I developed the skill of answering questions specifically in HHD.
Theory
We have established that Health is, at least from my experience, fairly content-heavy. As such, taking good notes is important. I didn’t have any close friends in my class (it’s okay, don’t feel bad), and I was thankful for that – it gave me an opportunity to really focus. Taking clear notes during class will save you a bundle of time later on, meaning that a) you don’t need to catch up on content before the exam; b) you don’t need to re-write your notes to make them legible; and c) you can focus on the jewel of all study techniques: practice exams.
General revision
Ideally, by this point, you would have some kind of idea as to how you most effectively learn. But if you don’t (and don’t worry if you don’t), perhaps it’s time to start trying a few things (especially if you’re not going into Year 12 next year – the earlier you get that understanding, the easier you will learn in the future). I used a heap of study techniques during VCE, and I think this kept me from losing motivation. For example, I: did practice questions, both writing and speaking my responses; used rote learning for definitions; colour co-ordinated my notes; summarised paragraphs from the textbook into single sentences; turned content into songs and poems; related as much of the content as I could to other passions (primarily sport); taught family members (or, if unavailable, pets); made posters; used drawings to represent major concepts; and so on. There is no limit on creative ways in which you can study, and that really mixes things up nicely.
Definitions
More specifically, Health encompasses quite a few definitions. By the end of the year, there are certainly many that you will need to know, preferably word-for-word, for the exam. Another modified cliché may be relevant here: a definition a day keeps the big, bad assessors away. By focusing on one or two definitions each day during the year, you will build your repertoire to the point that the overwhelming number of definitions needed is, well, no longer overwhelming.
SACs/exam
General techniques for SACs and exams apply to Health as much as any other subject. Imagine that you are marking your own exam. You don’t want to have to trawl through responses to find the key points. As such, try to make it as easy as possible for whoever it is marking your exam to give you marks. Underline what you are defining, highlight key points, use names and statistics given in case studies in your responses, and do whatever else you can to show that you are directly answering each question.
Use your resources
As I briefly mentioned earlier, Checkpoints is a great resource for SAC and exam revision; it has quality practice questions for each Area of Study and (I think) comes with sample responses, too. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or clarify concepts in class. When exam time came around, I liked to use the study design for each of my subjects. By taking each dot point, and trying to write as much as I could about that point, I a) revised content, practising how to explain concepts concisely and effectively; or b) worked out what I needed to study further. Very nifty and grouse.
I'm really struggling to choose my subject. Its either HHD or further. I've been doing Advance maths for 2 years now, so all my teachers recommend that I should do Further maths, but at the same time, I don't really like maths, and I feel more confident in HHD (not done it before) But I'm not too sure.
What I'm hearing is that you don't like maths, and that you feel more confident in HHD. There are other things to consider (like what you want to do after school, if you need specific pre-reqs for uni etc.), but on the face of that information alone, it seems like a pretty clear decision to me.
What's the best thing to do if I skip HHD unit's 1&2 and directly do 3&4? Will I still have a chance of getting a 45+ study score?
You sure can - I'm living proof of that!
Sorry to bombard you with questions, but any advice would be appreciated!
No problem at all, and apologies again for the delay. Please feel free to ask any other questions if you have them! 🙂
