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studyhard_77

Hello guys,

So I have successfully finished the first semester of second year. It been a roller coaster . I think I spoke too soon about were I stand concerning how good the semester was going to be. It has been tough but now its over and done with.

PPE 3
This subject was full on, lots of new skills we learnt including but not limited to:

1. Giving IV medications
2. Stoma Care
3. PIVC and CVAD management
4. NGT insertion and enteral management
5. Neurovascular obs
6. Supplemental oxygen
7. Inserting male and female catheters

And MANY MORE!!! , but despite learning all of these exciting new skills , it was very mentally taxing considering balancing time management, the exams and the placement components. In fact, speaking of placement, it went really well, rehab was not bad, learnt heaps of medications and catheter management whereas for paediatrics, the strengths were documentation and being more confident in the progress notes, fluid balance charts and IVC hourly rounding. I took out lots of cannulas, did lots of frequent neurological obs and called my first MET call which was nerve wrecking but any signs of deterioration raised many alarm bells, it was necessary to do. Apart from some of the above mentioned, I realised that paeds may not be a speciality i am willing to work in because it can be very emotionally taxing , seeing the kids and families in distress and it’s not something i can see myself doing long term. But at least i know for now so that specialty is crossed off my list of “most likely to do specialties after graduation”. Not to say that adult nursing is not emotionally taxing as well, it is, however, with children i feel way worse seeing them in such a vulnerable state and i feel like it would be very depressing for me to stay in such environment. 3.5/5 i will give this subject.

Pharmacology In Nursing

Oh my gosh , dont get me started on this depressing ass subject bro, despite everything, i still managed to score a Distinction as my final grade but boy oh boy, the amount of studying and memorisation was beyond measures. So happy to see that i am not going to do this subject ever again. 3/5 i will give this subject

Evidence Based Practice for Nursing. and Midwifery
So so so so ……

a) boring
b) exciting
c) meh

Dear reader, i’ll give you 2 mins to think of what you think the answer will be:

5….4…..3…..2…1….

the answer is A. This subject was like a complete waste of time, not to talk about the fact that i completely distaste group assignments, and this marks the beginning of more to come in the future. . Everyone is either unavailable, sick or has work…. group assignments suck. Content wise, still very boring, it talks about research, methodologies, clinical appraisals which i think could be all taught within three days not three months and a hefty load of school fees to deduct. Honestly a rating of 2/5 for this subject and thats with me being generous enough lmao

Health Variations 1- Introduction to Alterations in Health

Okay so this subject was the actual best so ill give an 3.8/5. I actually learnt useful things and understood the pathophysiology of certain diseases that i believe will see more than once in the nursing field. However, the assignments were really like inconclusive and so incoherent. It was hard to understand and more importantly to do but oh well, it’s done and dusted .

So next semester subjects are as follows:

Promoting Mental Health and Wellbeing
Health Variations 2- Chronic Conditions and Disability
Health Variations 3- Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Conditions
Professional Practice Experience 4

So thats that for the whole first semester of year 2, for now am gonna enjoy the little glimpse of freedom i have before i go back to uni. Good bye guys…..

Hey everyone!
If you're maybe thinking of doing eng lang for year 12 or are going into it this year, this is for you. I've put together a video explaining everything you need to know (how lang compares to the other Englishes, if it's hard, study load and commitments etc.) check it out if you're interested
(also it's gone to YT kids by accident so feel free to comment any questions here in the meantime)
Wingdings

haps Sorry about this random reply. But another tip randomly came into my mind that I think is essential. Use AI to ask questions about the content or just an exam question in general. This carried me hard during biology as it helped deepen my understanding for all topics. However, I always recommend crosschecking the responses you get from AI, as they are not always 100% accurate.
Check this out also, pretty useful: https://archive.atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=193592.msg1186100;topicseen#msg1186100

Hi,
I've just completed bio this year and obtained a study score of 45. I am telling you what I personally did; this may not be good advice.

Question 1: I personally did not use my notes and I resorted to using cue cards. But, I took information from a textbook (edrolo) and added additional information I obtained from my teacher (nelson textbook). This is so I would have a strong foundation of information, as in some cases nelson would miss out on information, vice versa.

Question 2: I have always incorporated practice questions into my study. I recommend from day 1 spoon feeding yourself exam questions (this is super underrated). Whilst you may be worried about wasting exam questions, you likely will not remember these questions you picked (I didn't), and it is better to build a foundation on how to structure responses earlier rather than later. I only started practice exams two months post-exam.

Question 3: You must always stay ahead of content if you are planning to score 45+. I recommend at least 2 chapters ahead, but over the summer holidays I completed the whole of unit 3 and was very comfortable with the content (I felt that this was a bit extreme).

Question 4: For pre-sac study I started revising 2 weeks before the actual sac. I did practice exam questions and cue cards. For pre-exam, I revised all my cue cards 3 months pre-exam and stopped using cue cards 2 months pre-exam. For the remainder of the time, I did practice exams from vcaa and other company exams; try to complete between 25-40 exams before the actual exam. For a 45+ you should only be loosing a minimum of 10 marks per exam (this is the amount of marks I lost on the actual exams; however, I really only lost 0-6 marks on average per exam, so try to aim for less than 10).

Question 5: I personally found evolution the hardest topic, though others say it is the easiest. It is very divisive as parts of it are purely common sense and cannot be taught. But, generally, the hardest topics are considered to be attenuation for the trp operon, insulin recombination and transformation, and possibly CRISPR. However, the aforementioned topics, excluding evolution, are all memorisation based, so once you memorise these processes (which are very long), you'll be sweet.

Question 6: I cannot emphasise this enough and not enough people know about this, but you MUST use the biology FAQ document. It ensures that you do not learn content that you do not need for the exam, sacs are different. This saves so much time and is arguably more important than using the study design.
I know this may sound contradictory to the aforementioned point, but extend yourself beyond what VCAA requires. Now, whilst the content you are learning may not appear on the exam, it further fortifies your understanding on how different concepts interlink with each other, strengthening this basis will only make you score higher. On a year-to-year basis, the difficulty of the exams fluctuates (for example, this years bio exam was extremely difficult), you want to prime yourself so you can adapt if VCAA decide to pump out another hard exam.

Hope this helps!

Tldr; 3-step guide to VCE Studying from past VCE Raw 50 scorers and Educators

Hiya everyone,
I know summer is starting soon but I wanted to make a post to help out all the 2024 VCE Biology and Chemistry students starting next year

Before getting into it, so you know my words have some weight, who am I?
My name is 𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗽𝗲, and along with Kiran and Amir - we’re VCE Educators who all scored Raw 50s (+ Kiran scoring a Premier’s Award) & are passionate about passing on our knowledge to future VCE students. We’ve worked with over 300+ students and are proud to have some of the best student success stories you’ll ever find.

These tips and tricks have come from my years of mentoring students. These strategies have worked for myself and the students I've helped, but it is not the only way to approach studying Biology or Chemistry. What I can guarantee is that applying at least some of these strategies will help increase the effectiveness of your study sessions. A lot of this post will be Biology focussed to keep it streamlined, but it applies directly to Chemistry as well.

Right off the bat I will tell you that knowing your theory is only half the battle. If you want to score very well in Biology/Chemistry you will likely need to change your study to tackle such a content-heavy subject.
Throughout the year whenever you sit down to study, you will need to have a goal with what you want to achieve for that study session.

You should split your study into 3 steps:

1) Pre-study:

• Skim through the material and figure out what you want to learn from this study session. Is it "learn a concept?", if so, how will you know whether you know it well or not? (Eg: Protein synthesis - success indicator would be => I am able to describe the steps of protein synthesis with a focus on key words).
• If studying before class, or a tutoring class, make sure you skim through and expose yourself to the major concepts involved.- This will help reduce your cognitive load in class. Instead of seeing all the material for the very first time, you'll be more familiar with the material already which will help you learn the material more effectively.

2) Study:

• When studying, gradually increase in complexity and understanding
• FIRST focus on understanding the key words, the language used. How can you expect to understand post-transcriptional modifications (after transcription modifications) if you don't understand what transcription means, what mRNA is, what RNAP is and what words like transcribe, nucleotides and base pairing all mean.

Study specific tips - Tip #1: Use imagery when learning the information:

• A well known fact is that using imagery when studying helps to encode information in your brain. By pairing words and pictures together, your brain has more links to the same information, making it easier to recall this again in the future.
• This is exactly why programs such as https://pixorize.com are used by top medical professionals even after they graduate.

Tip #2 - Use active recall when studying:

• Active recall means trying to actively remember the answer in your head instead of looking at a question and simply reading the answer (which would be a form of passive recall).
• We want active > passive recall.

Tip #3 - Ask yourself questions as you study to realise things you don't know:

• Asking questions to yourself and trying to answer these questions is a form of enquiry based learning (learning through inquisition).
• Imagine a young child who is so curious about the world. They always ask the question "WHY?". Why is fish salty? Why is the world round? This inquiry-based learning approach explains why children learn so much so rapidly.
• So when studying Biology topics, constantly ask yourself questions and try to explain these. If you can't explain a question (eg: Why is X more important than Y) then it's likely because you don't know it and should study up on that idea.

Here's a Biology-Specific Example - If you just learned post-transcriptional modifications, you'd ask questions like:

• Does this occur in all cell types?
• What would happen if this didn't occur?
• Can this be harnessed by scientists for various reasons? If so, for what scenarios?

Tip #4 - Keep a document with key words and model answers to know:

• VCE Biology is all about using the RIGHT key words and MODEL ANSWERS in your exams answers.
• You can know the theory super well but unless you've had someone show you what key words to use for each topic, I guarantee you will end up losing marks in your school SACs and final exams.
• Start doing topic tests and past papers early. Spend ample time reviewing the solutions and pay close attention to what key terms are used in the answers. By sifting through these answers with a fine-tooth comb, you will develop a collection of the words and phrases to use for each topic.
• Alternatively, have a Biology mentor show you all the key words and model answers to use for each topic and then commit these to memory in a document you will build on throughout the year.

Tip #5 - Have your answers reviewed by a professional:

• To make sure you are using the right key words and expressing your theoretical knowledge in a way that will get you marks, you need a professional to consistently give you feedback on your answers.
• If your teacher will always be available after class to give you feedback, then you should definitely make the most of this. Otherwise, you should find someone with lots of experience helping Biology students achieve Raw 40+ scores to help you.

3) Post-study:

• After you finish studying, check to see if you met the success indicator you established in your pre-study step.
• Spend a few mins (₅ mins) also reflecting on how you performed in your study session. Ask yourself questions like what went well? vs. what didn't go so well (I got really drained and lost focus). Consider ways of improving and use each study session as a way to become more effective.
• After the study session I would set a time to review this topic again within 24-48 hours. This is because everyone, and I mean everyone, regardless of their goldfish or einstein level brain forgets information they've just learned. The brain isn't that amazing at absorbing everything that's thrown at it. You need to consistently review the information so that your brain appreciates that it's important and encodes it more effectively.
• By reviewing it within 24-48 hours, it 'cuts the forgetting curve' meaning you remember more in the long term - and that's exactly what we want.
• And by taping into the 'study' strategies we talked about earlier such as, imagery encoding, there is less resistance to recalling the concepts making your retention more efficient and longer-lasting.

In summary some study strategies include:

• Setting up a 3 step plan to study
• Following active recall
• Preparing a doc with key words and model answers
• Inquiry-based learning
• Reflection after study

What to do these summer holidays?
If you found this useful, then get a personalised study plan to use these holidays. Or want actual help putting that Study Plan into action? If yes, then I’d be happy to help out __________________________________________________________________________________________
FREE PERSONALISED VCE STUDY PLAN
Because I'm procrastinating, you can hop on a free 20-minute call with me (Raw 50/VCE Educator) and we'll run through your VCE goals for next year. At the end of the call you should have:

• A personalised study plan to get a head start across the holidays
• Learned 3 things to do each week to see a change in your test scores
• Gotten a preview of Novicate's VCE Portal, study guides and private discord

Book a time here -> https://zcal.co/i/mNINUCw9

Need More VCE Help in 2024?
If you think you'll need quality Biology/Chemistry tutoring and want to join the 300+ students who’ve averaged a Raw 42+ study score, then dm me.

Our big focus is teaching you exactly how to answer VCE exam questions so you don't lose silly marks. Along with our tutoring, I've built a VCE Training Portal which includes - Netflix-style theory videos, Study Guides, Question Booklets, Regular Topic Tests and 600+ step-by-step question breakdown videos.

If you found these tips and strategies useful please like and leave a comment If this post gets lots of engagement I will be releasing more test and exam strategy tips to use for your SACs throughout the year.