From a 99+ ATAR graduate: How to best prepare for your QCAA Science External Exams

Manoj Arachige -

Breaking down the Assessment

There is a similar assessment set up for Physics, Chemistry and Biology. The external exam consists of 2 papers. Paper 1 contains 20 multiple-choice questions and a few short response questions. You will be given a ‘question and response’ booklet, and a multiple-choice booklet. Paper 2 solely contains short response questions where you will be given a ‘question and response’ booklet. You are allowed to utilise a QCAA-approved graphics or scientific calculator. For each paper, you are given the appropriate science formula book, 5 minutes of perusal time and 90 minutes of working time.

Multiple-choice Questions

You will fill bubbles in your ‘question and response’ booklet to answer questions from your ‘multiple-choice booklet’. Normally, these questions are relatively easier, require limited working out and are done relatively quickly compared to short-response questions. They can include requiring calculations, analysing graphs, using formulas, point-blank definitions and more. Each multiple-choice question is worth 1 mark.

 Short-response Questions

These questions are more extensive in comparison to multiple-choice questions. They may require you to answer using single words, sentences or paragraphs, utilise equations and calculations and interpret unique diagrams/tables/graphs. The key differentiator for each question is ‘command’ words such as describe, calculate, list, determine and discuss. The questions can be worth a range of marks and have multiple parts to answer (parts a, b, etc).

In the Physics external exam for questions that require an answer as a number, you will be provided with a box with the specific units of measurement and told what to ‘round’ your final answer to (a certain number of decimal places and/or significant figures).

Lastly, the number of lines given, and the number of marks allocated for each question provides an indication of how long your response should be, whether it is working out with numbers and/or written in words. 

Where to start?

Understanding the content

For each science subject, there is a syllabus/subject matter with dot points aligning with each mathematical concept explored. These dot-points demonstrate questions and question types that you can be tested on in your external exam. Many of the dot points, specifically questions attaining definitions, listing, describing and/or discussing can be directly asked in your exam. The subject matter can be found on the QCAA education website for every senior subject conducted in Queensland.

I recommend having a copy of your science subject’s syllabus and reading through it for Units 3 and 4.  Then employ a traffic light system of green, yellow and red.

Green represents content you understand well and can answer multiple-choice questions and complex short-response questions relating to them. Yellow shows a ‘halfway’ understanding of a specific dot point and can answer many multiple-choice questions but struggle with most short-response questions. Red displays a limited understanding of the matter and difficulty in completing simple multiple-choice questions.

Going through the unit 3 and 4 syllabus highlight the dot points using this colour coding system to demonstrate to yourself how much of the content you understand. This will help target your revision and what subject matter you may need to ‘relearn’ and/or revise.  Below is an example of what it may look like, I’ve taken the Physics syllabus and went through a portion of Topic 1 in Unit 3 with this colour-coding system using the 2025 updated subject matter.

You can also pair questions to specific dot points from your allocated science resources and/or question bank to help regularly revise concepts and types of questions you may encounter.

This colour coding system can be helpful for many people; however, it may not be the best fit for you. This is simply an example of a method to organise your thoughts and categorise what needs to be done to perform as well as you can for your external exam. If this system doesn’t fit your method of studying, search and try a different method that will help your revision be targeted and organised for you to achieve the best mark possible in your exam. Prior to your external exam, you can practice answering some of these dot points that require a worded response by allocating a certain number of marks to them (these can differ for the same dot point).

But it is highly important to understand what the syllabus contains as that is all you can be asked for your final exam and is the best way to ensure you don’t miss any concepts no matter how small or difficult they may be.

Question Types and Past External Exams

There are many different ‘methods’ to begin your preparations for your external exam. Another “tactic” is collating all the resources that are available to you; revision papers/questions given by your school, questions available in the allocated resource your school uses and past external exam papers from 2020 onwards. For further practice, you can turn to other states (e.g. Victoria) for final past papers and complete questions/exams that fit the QCAA syllabus.

After collating your resources create a week-by-week timetable of the question banks and exams you will complete leading up to your externals. This way you have organized resources and a timetable to stick to that will greatly help you revise without feeling overwhelmed and that there are a million things to do before your externals.

Question banks will act as revision resources to the different types of questions you can be asked on different topics. When sitting past exams it’s vital to try and replicate the “in-exam experience” with a timer, print-out of the appropriate formula sheet, writing on paper and in a silent room where you won’t be disturbed during your exam. By doing so you can identify which exam techniques you may need to work on (timing, being able to stay calm when unsure how to do a question at first glance, skipping questions you may not be able to complete, minimising silly mistakes, etc).

Breaking down your mock exam results

This section is assuming that you’ve received your mock exam results and looking to best use that experience to enhance your results for the external exam.

The actual mark you receive doesn’t matter and comparing to others won’t help either. In most cases, you had little to no time to prepare for them and it’s just seeing how much math content has been stored in your long-term memory. Further, the mock exam is also an example of what your teachers think may be on your external exam and will not contain all the content you could be tested on.

However, it does allow you to practice with:

  1. The exam format
  2. Timing
  3. The pressure of sitting in a hall
  4.  Being comfortable with seeing a question you don’t know how to solve straight away. 

After receiving your mock exam papers, it’s important to try and identify what topics you had trouble with and what topics you understood better. The mock exams are a great tool to use to practice your exam techniques and see what you “know” and what you don’t “know” in the syllabus. This will then help you with potentially filling out the traffic light system explored before and targeting your revision to do the best you can in your exams.

Furthermore, scan your results for worded response questions. If you were given partial marks for some of them, it’s important to find out/ask what aspects you were missing from your response that would be required for this ‘sort of’ question that was allocated a certain number of marks.

It’s almost guaranteed that you will do far better in your actual exams than your mock exams if you do targeted revision and take on feedback from your mocks.

Final Tips and Tricks

  •  Always have a printout of your formula sheet with you.

This applies whether you are doing a question bank or timed exams. It’s important to be very familiar with your formula book, especially what formulas/content isn’t on it. Also, in your exams, the formula sheet can always give you that a “light bulb” moment for a question that you may have been unsure of.

  • Learn all the permittable tricks you can do with your calculator.

Your graphics calculator will save you lots of time and get rid of silly mistakes from working out. This includes utilising tables, graphs, equation solver and more features to complete questions. For example, if you are doing simultaneous equations, it may be more efficient to graph both equations and find the intercept of the two.

  • Try to snag some extra marks even if you don’t know how to complete a question.

This could involve drawing a diagram, writing down the appropriate formula, completing certain calculations or just “yapping” about the concept. This is specifically for short-response questions worth more than 1 mark and if you are able to attain some marks these will help boost your overall score. For multiple-choice questions that you are stuck on, still fill out a bubble as a guess or conditional guess (stuck between 2 or 3 answers) as you may end up being lucky!

FAQs

How much is the external exam worth in QCAA?

For Physics, Chemistry and Biology the external exams are worth 50% of your score for each subject. Paper 1 and Paper 2 marks are collated together to make up your 50% for that subject.

What should I do on the night before my QCAA exam?

It’s important to take it easy and stay in a “relaxed” state of mind. The night before you may do some questions just to keep you on your toes and look over a topic that you may not feel overly confident about, but it’s important to do an activity that isn’t stressful and relaxes you (e.g an episode of a tv show, watch some TV, have a chat with friends/family, etc). Try and go to sleep at an appropriate time, achieving a full 8 hours.

Want more personalized study guidance to help drastically improve your marks? A private tutor can make the biggest difference! 

Written by KIS Academics Tutor for QCE Specialist Mathematics and Mathematical Methods, Ragulan Gnanavel. He also provides assistance for Physics, English and Modern History assignments. Ragulan is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Actuarial Studies and a Bachelor of Commerce at UNSW. He has outstanding credentials as a tutor, and you can view Ragulan’s profile here and request him as a tutor.