Hey!
I did both notes and questions from the Oxford book from what I can remember. I also did Cambridge checkpoints (sometimes) in addition to past SACs and practice/trial exams.
Hope this helps! Might be worth checking out other textbooks if you cant understand certain concepts from a particular one and need more resources tho 
Is it possible to get a 98+ atar doing Eng Lang, Bio, Chem, Methods, Chem, Psych, and Geo? Psych and geo both scale down but I do enjoy them.
girlmeetsvce pretty sure to find the factor of dilation, u need to divide graph of y=root x from from y=root5x so root 5/ root 1 is js root 5 i think and the xs cancel out
Hello! Long time lurker, first time poster. I've been reading a bunch of VCE journals and thought it'd be cool to start my own. My older sister had a VCE journal from way back when ATAR Notes was still on the old forums, and I remember it being a big part of her year 12 life, so here's me jumping on the bandwagon.
My VCE Journey so far
On a whim, I jumped into my first 3/4 in year 10 - Media. I was totally clueless and had no idea what I was signing up for, but miraculously, my school approved me doing it. Throughout the year, I kept hearing people talk about getting 40s as if it was a walk in the park. So I, as a naive year 10 child, thought a 40 would be easy. Then results day rolled around and I saw a 37 - which instantly humbled me.
This year (year 11), I did Literature 3/4, and put significantly more effort into it, having learnt from my past mistakes, and managed to get a 43 which I was beyond pleased with.
What's still to come
Next year (year 12), I'll be doing Drama, Theatre Studies, Methods, Spesh, and Economics. Yes I know it's a messy bunch - hence the title of this thread.
I'm aiming for Bachelor of Arts at Melbourne Uni, double majoring in English and Theatre Studies (that's one major) and Screen and Cultural Studies (that's another major), with a concurrent Diploma in Mathematical Sciences (what a mouthful). Screen Studies is better known as Film Studies at other institutions but I guess Melbourne Uni gotta be unique.
Don't ask me what sort of job I'm planning to get with that. That's a problem for future me.
As for my goals, I'm hoping for 40+ in all my subjects (possibly too ambitious, but shoot for the moon, amirite?), and 45+ in Methods. Methods and Spesh are the subjects I'm most confident on. I'm not a super mathsy person, but at least with maths, if you put in the effort, you reap your reward. It's not like artsy subjects where things are just so subjective. You can put your heart and soul into a piece of creative work, but if the person marking it doesn't vibe with it, then too bad.
But anyway, thatās enough of an intro from me. Iāll try to update regularly and I hope you guys donāt get bored reading. To my fellow class of 2025 people, hereās to us smashing next year!
Tl;dr:
scored a raw 39ā¦ hope that gives me credibility 
analyse: identify the main features, then providing detail by breaking the concept down and connect them to one another
apply: use the information provided or knowledge in a particular situation and make connections using the theory
compare: 2 similarities and 2 differences (or 1 similarity + 3 differences / 1 difference + 3 similarities)
2 marks for two similarities and 2 marks for two differences
1 mark for one similarity and 3 marks for three differences
1 mark for one difference and 3 marks for three differences
define: usually 2 marks that require a clear stating of the meaning and a link to relevant information
1 mark for the definition
1 mark for linking to relevant information
describe: provide a detailed description of a term, including features and characteristics
discuss: consider advantages and disadvantages of a concept. the amount of each can be decided upon the marking scheme
distinguish: usually 3 marks that require the definition of both terms and their main difference (must not repeat/ re-word the definition/s)
1 mark for defining the first concept
1 mark for defining the second concept
1 mark for the difference
evaluate usually 5 marks that require 2 advantages and 2 disadvantages (or strengths/weaknesses) about the concept, then a personal opinion related to the sustainability of the concept in relation to the question (donāt repeat any previous writing in the response, rather link it in a relevant sense)
2 marks for two advantages
2 marks for two disadvantages
1 mark for personal opinion
explain: define the concept/term and provide key characteristics to make a clear and understandable response
identify: point out without further explanation a concept/ term. usually will be followed with a define or describe command
justify: provide a explanation for the concept and give valid reasoning behind this, most likely by showing evidence (advantages/disadvantages) or links to the case study
outline: identify the main concepts/terms and explain. length/depth or response will be determined by marks allocated to the question
propose: put forward an idea in relation to a concept and explain it in relation to the question
girlmeetsvce I can't give feedback on any of these (besides atar notes but only lecture form) but if you're looking for business resources I'd suggest checking out red Kenneth's YouTube channel as he does videos for every single dotpoint of the business study design,they're generally not too long so a pretty good tool, plus completely free to access
girlmeetsvce just review over the more high-end stuff such as investigation methodology and analysing quality of data (accuracy, precision, repeat/producability, errors and validity).
the study design has it watered down im pretty sure, but as long as you know your main content knowledge i wouldnāt be overwhelmed not knowing science skills as it shouldnāt be heavily examined yk
girlmeetsvce oh i hated this question so much, hoping the psych exam isnāt like the bio exam (i donāt do bio i have heard it was crazy difficult). here was my approach
(1 mark) defining alzheimers (keyword: neurodegenerative disease)
(1 mark) symptom of alzheimers is a difficulty remembering autobiographic memories, which comprise of episodic and semantic memories
(2 marks) episodic and semantic memories are encoded by the hippocampus, and in a patient diagnosed with alzheimers, brain imaging will show a shrinkage in the hippocampus, leading to the inability to remember any new episodic or semantic memories as they cannot be properly encoded through the hippocampus
(1 mark) this highlights how autobiographical memories rely on the hippocampus for encoding
marine should be option A as it serves as a control group (baseline to compare results to). the salt will have no impact, similar to what a placebo would do. it wouldnāt be option B as having some sort of light isnāt providing a baseline as the variable of light is still being manipulated. option C and D would be incorrect as they are alterations to the experiment thus various experimental groups.
girlmeetsvce i replied to your email but ill provide my answer here too. in essence, in the context of this experiment, they're testing the effect of caffeine through the correlation of gender. gender isnāt being investigated explicitly, rather the effects of caffeine per gender. i would put this into a context of a between subject design where the same participants are used in both groupsā you can change caffeine consumption but you cannot change gender (in an experimental context).
girlmeetsvce i think because in the question stem it's comparing non-caffeine drinkers with caffeine drinkers. also in the stem it's given the number of caffeine or non-caffeine drinkers rather than the number of males and females that participated in the experiment. it doesn't give enough detail about the gender aspect and because it's written more as a side note you could say gender is an extraneous variable.
i (painstakingly) went through each vcaa exam for psych and notes relevant/irrelevant questions
VCAA 2013
MCQ
4, 9-23, 28, 30, 33, 35-38, 41, 43, 45, 46, 50-55, 57-60, 62, 64, 65
SA
6, 8, 17
Section C
1, 2, 3, 4, 5
VCAA 2014
MC
3, 9, 11, 12, 14-17, 19, 24, 25, 27, 29, 32, 33, 35, 38, 39, 42, 45-47, 50-57, 59, 62
SA
1, 3, 4, 5, 6a, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Section C
1, 3
VCAA 2015
MCQ
2-6, 8, 9, 10, 15, 19, 22, 23, 25-28, 30-39, 48-51, 57-65
SA
1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10a, 10c, 12, 13a
Section C
1, 2, 3
VCAA 2016
MC
1, 6, 8, 10-12, 16, 19-22, 24-27, 32-34, 41-44, 46-49, 53, 55, 58, 61-63
SA
1 (replace āsocial learning theoryā with observational learning), 3, 4b,d,e, 5b, 9, 10, 11a, 14
Section C
1, 2, 3, 4
VCAA 2017
MC
10, 28, 37, 43, 44
SA
2, 5b
VCAA 2018
MC
25, 33, 40, 47-50
SA
7d
VCAA 2019
MC
19, 20, 22, 35
SA
2b
VCAA 2020
MC
17, 20, 23, 25, 26, 31
SA
(none)
VCAA 2021
MC
13, 26, 43, 50
SA
3a, 4e, 6a, 6b(i)
VCAA 2022
MC
6, 21, 28, 46
SA
3a
That's a good way to think about it - whichever you enjoy the most even under pressure. I'm glad to know I'm not alone!! Mainly cos literally everyone ik has a goal, except me :/
I was also just thinking i'll give all my subjects my best shot, and just do the best course I can get into out of my subject interests, based on my results.
girlmeetsvce omg thank you so much!! clarifies so much for me
__
girlmeetsvce also if someone could explain brain waves, amplitude frequency + what is total vs partial sleep deprivation I'd be so grateful!
sorry, i canāt explain total vs partial sleep deprivationā havenāt covered that yet. BUT i can explain the brain wave stuff
brain waves = measured in an EEG which detects, amplifies and records the electrical activity of the brain
on an EEGā¦
an EEG is likely to show (copied from edrolo textbook)
4 types of brain waves:
can sample size be commented on if the total population is not given
Yes, if a sample size is small then that can mean the experiment is not externally valid (difficult to generalize results)
what's the difference between sleep onset and latency?
Sleep latency is how long it takes you to fall asleep, sleep onset is when you initiate a period of sleep.
girlmeetsvce
From the time you enter sleep to the time you enter deepest NREM-3 sleep the amplitude of waves increases continuously while frequency of EEG reading diminishes correspondingly.
Remember frequency represents how many waves there are per second , and amplitude is a measure of the degree of synchronized brain activity (neurons are acting in concert)
Juliet āstudy = write write write!!ā - my very amazing english teacher. so iām going to quote everything she has told us this year. notes donāt really matter if you donāt know how to analyse what those notes mean in the context of the text youāre studying. so always write is what she gets at! paragraphs, topic sentences, analytical statements. and perfect those. edit. edit again. be harsh and critique everything (with discretion of course).
she also encourages us to plan essays as a form of revision. set out three big ideas, quotations, how they will be analysed. unpacking prompts with different interpretations and perspectives, etc etc.
iām not advising to not take notes, because for this AOS i have barely any in-class notes and weāve finished all the actual learning. your notes shouldnāt be only whiteboard notes. have a document. thematically organise quotes. have points of analysis for the quotes, and motifs, and any other construction feature that may be evident. have synonyms for everything!!
from my amazing english teacher, in my not so amazing words, hope that helped
I organise all my subjects in the same way. Each subject has a folder with an assigned colour (e.g. english is blue and psych is green) which correlates to the colours on the schedule I made and the stickynotes I keep with my classwork on my laptop.
I have a printout of the study design at the front of my binder with 2 notebooks, one for notes and one for work. I also have plastic pockets at the back for any handouts and I keep one plastic pocket per AoS to keep everything from the same topic together.
girlmeetsvce
i second this. i apologise to vcaa how i will never play mƶlkky in my life
i flopped all the area questions i was so lostā¦
and i have nothing against ernest, but damn if i met him in person i would love to talk to him 
Ernest is an eco warrior and I applaud him for it lol.
Honestly the depth/area questions were my downfall (how am I supposed to remember any of that I don't remember ever knowing how to find the area of a hexagon)
