Year 12 '25

capell42lay

Hey all,

Im going into Year 12 with four subjects - English, Health, Methods and Chem, and I was wondering if you guys have any tips. I did do Biology and General this year (accelerated), but tbh it was a real struggle for me, cause my Yr 11 subjects were also very content heavy or required much of my time (I did Art and Spec - but dropped it for 2025) - ik i shouldn't have done that but unfortunately I did. Also when i did the accelerated 3/4's i didnt know how to approach the subject until very late, and that was consequential when it came to my exams etc.

A bit about my perspectives for '25's 3/4's - I absolutely hate English (its the worst subject possible for me), Health (i just picked up but advance week was ok), Methods and Chem I enjoy but find that there is a lot of content.

Let me know if there is something you guys recommend for me to do to achieve the best scores.

Thanks!

TSE-Tuition

Hi capell42lay !

I can only give advice about English (cos that's what we do) - the main thing I'd recommend is to set yourself up for success over the summer by reading AND annotating as you go!

Before you read your texts, google 'themes in TEXT NAME' and find 4-5 big themes to look out for, then stick them on a post-it note so you can see the list as you're reading. I've got a tiktok here about how to position your post-it for maximum effect. You can also use your phone to do voice typing so you're taking down quotes AS you read!

The new AOS for crafting/creating texts is tricky to study for because it's so free-form. They've reduced the writing load for the SAC from 2 texts to 1 (although you still have to write a commentary) so my advice would be to think about what kind of text you're most confident in (eg short story, reflective essay, speech, etc) and then just hone that form of writing over and over for different stimuli. It would also help if you know ahead of time what your school has chosen for their framework so you can read/watch the mentor texts over the summer to get a feel for what the framework is about.

Hope that helps! 🙂

Koala4444

Hi there!
For English and HHD, I really don't have much recommendations as to what a student can do.
For Math Methods and chemistry however, both being subjects that I did this year as a 2024 graduate, I have two critical pieces of advice: Don't fall behind. Revise very often.
Here's the overview of Math Methods:
AOS1: functions and graphs, not too difficult compared to year 11.
AOS2: Algebra. Not the difficult parts, mostly an extension of year 11 algebra.
AOS3: Calculus, aka derivatives and integrations, which extends from the year 11 into the less straightforward functions. Until Calculus properly returns, things are chill. Then suddenly a lot of the analytical short answer questions emerge from this topic.
AOS4: Probability. I highly suggest you learn the basics of this AOS before going back to school. There are new concepts and processes/formulas you'll learn. In my school, this topic was taught last and teachers say it's easy. But when most students are balancing a few subjects and are burnt out, it can be hard to put in the extra effort for completely new concepts/information.
Know how to operate the CAS, and how to do Math without CAS/calculator. Most students are overly reliant on calculators, but tech-free sections are still important.
Do your exercises, do practice questions early in the year, revise the beginning of the year topics, and ask your teacher a lot of questions. (Don't bother with Checkpoints, waste of money when they sell VCAA exams just rearranged).
Chemistry: Similar to Methods, don't fall behind, do practice questions early on for the specific topics you are learning, revise every often. Mind maps and condensed lists of characteristics and notes are useful for organic chemistry, comparison of different cells (electrolytic, fuel, galvanic) and general revision. For the poster SAC, always refer back to the marking rubric and make sure that you address everything.
For chemistry, I also recommend that you learn the command words just like biology and HHD. Their exam questions can be approached in a methodical way using the wording and number of marks allocated, and a lot of the questions often get recycled throughout the years/are similar in structure and knowledge they test, and you need specific key words and examples to score full marks.
TLDR: Keep up with the coursework, revise earlier concepts as you go ahead, do practice exam questions on the topics as you learn them, learn how to use command terms and mark allocation to answer short answer questions. Make sure to get support from your teachers and the people around you and know that whatever result you get from the next year, you have done your best with your circumstances.
If you have any questions for me, let me know!

capell42lay

Koala4444 learn the command words

Yeh I heard that bio was similar to the science subjects in terms of learning the terms. I also heard that if you include a certain words you get full marks - similar to bio, would you know somewhere that I could quickly find then and learn them or do to prefer that I read the content and highlight them etc?

haps20 As for worded answers, i just looked through heaps of examiners reports til I was confident with most of the content covered in those longer answers questions.

Are they repetitive? As in like bio over the years had basically the same questions asked just in different way...

haps20 bit of unerstanding id move onto exam questions.

Yeh I had a look - textbook looked too easy.

haps20 I hated english with my whole life.

Ngl i have a good teacher this year who is so passionate about English so im counting on her rnn, but i still have to study myself 🙁

Koala4444 Do your exercises, do practice questions early in the year,

Stupid questions but do you reckon this will help me overall or is there anything else I should do (i did unit 1/2 methods in year 10 so i have basically forgotten the content and am not too comfortable with it yet) - cause only a handful of people (like 3) get above 40.

BUTTT thank you so much for answering, I will def implement these tips and hopefully year 12 can be better :/

haps20

Hey! I just graduated this year and we happen to have the exact same subjects!! Just in different orders.
I straight away know we have a somewhat similar mindset as we both do the same subjects, and hate english!

Health - Lots and lots of practice questions and get them marked!! If you want to do really well id suggest knowing some answers to questions that you can apply to almost any situation your given. EG I would often link back to increasing governemnt funding, increasing income, reducing likeliness of disease, things like that. Mind maps are also very helpful with this as well. Use the examiners reports as health can be very annoying, as you would have seen with bio 3/4, with the structure they like with answers.

Chem - Try to go over content before your teacher covers it in class. I had a tutor that was a week or two ahead of my class so it meant I was familar with the content once it got to class time, but this is definately achievable on your own so i 100% recommend. Try your best come exam time to get the calculation questions done quick and easily. Because you do methods you would obviously have some kind of strong mathematical understanding, use this in chem and it can be a lot more helpful when working with the numbers. As for worded answers, i just looked through heaps of examiners reports til I was confident with most of the content covered in those longer answers questions. You'll also see very queickly that every year the chem exam has a very similar format so use that to your advantage!

Methods - I didnt do incredibly in methods but was still around top 15 at my school. I used vic maths notes a lot for methods to do past exma quesrtions before each sac that helped a lot. I foudn the chapter questions were not useful at all so once you have a bit of unerstanding id move onto exam questions.

English - I hated english with my whole life. Enough that I was so petty I didnt do one practcie exam for it. The only thing I have to say is that english brought down my atar a massively!! I always knew that it would although I made the choice that I would rather get very high scores in my other subjects and completely ignore english than do pretty good or average in all of them. So do be warned that even if you dont like it, I do recommend studying for it. (Although if the rest of your subjects carry then it doesnt matter that much)

Good luck!!! Im also selling old study design hhd notes at a reduced price of $10 if your interested, they contain lots of tips and sample answers also to help🙂

Koala4444

capell42lay
Honestly, for command words I don't think there's much difference between any subject that has short answer questions. Answering VCE questions is a pretty transferable skill in my opinion. As for keywords... they're the very concepts and stuff that you learn as you go and do practice questions/exams. The examiners' report is the place to go to make sure you know your keywords for questions regarding each topic/concept.
For your preparation and studies, consistency will be of most help. But I do suggest you go back to revise Methods 1&2 since you aren't comfortable and do your holiday homework, so that you don't struggle in class and feel out of place, which can be very demotivating and hold you back.
Hope this helps!

capell42lay

Thank you so much!!!!

capell42lay

TSE-Tuition Thank you!!!