We all know that the best way to get good marks is to study effectively and be able to apply the knowledge that you have been taught. However, VCE is such a big time in our academic lives that any extra help, tips or tricks are welcome! One way for you to gain a better understanding of your subjects and assessments is by looking at resources by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA).
Most people already know that VCAA website has past VCE exams, and subject syllabi. But the most overlooked hidden gem is the VCE Study Design. Let me show you why.
What is in the VCE Study design?
The VCE study design is usually broken into:
- Introduction
- Assessment and reporting
- Unit 1
- Unit 2
- Unit 3
- Unit 4
You can find all of the VCE subjects with links to their study designs on the VCAA website.
Introduction
This section has a lot of general information and would probably be a good place to go for subject selection. If you are unsure about what you will be studying in a subject, the aims and structure outlined in the introduction section of the study design are always a good place to start!
Importantly, the introduction includes a section called ‘Entry’. This outlines all of the prerequisites for entry to the subject. Often, you don’t need to have studied Unit 1&2 for a subject to start Unit 3.
Assessment and reporting
The most important information in this section is the breakdown of marks for Units 3&4. For example, in Psychology, Unit 3 is worth 16%, Unit 4 is worth 24% and the exam is 60%!
This is really critical information because if you didn’t do as well as you would like in Unit 3, it is still very achievable to get a high study score with good exam revision.
Unit 1&2
In Unit 1&2, all content is delivered and assessed by your school, so VCAA provides lots of outlines rather than in-depth information.
The main takeaways are the overviews of topics covered in each unit. These topics are called ‘Areas of Study' (AOS) and each unit usually had 3 areas of study. Under each area of study, there are often key skills or knowledge that can easily be used as dot points of revision.
For example, if you know that you have a business management SAC in Unit 1, specifically the internal business environment (AOS 3), you can look at the key knowledge required for that area of study.
One of the key knowledge points is:
- Costs and benefits of purchasing an existing business compared with establishing a new business
Using this, you can list all of the benefits and costs as a way of revising your SAC.
Additionally, in Unit 1&2, VCAA has a list of suitable assessment tasks that your teacher can choose from. If we look at Unit 2 of English, your teacher can only assess you with a written assessment be it persuasive, comparative, or analytical.
Unit 3&4
Unit 3&4 contains all the information found in Unit 1&2. To avoid repeating myself, make sure that you look over the areas of study in both Units 3&4, and use the key knowledge dot points as revision tools for study summaries.
Unlike Unit 1&2, VCAA has strict assessment rules that your teachers should follow in Unit 3&4. The study design has an outline of what your SAC should be and the weighting that they will have. This is a really important way of prioritising your studies.
As an example, in Unit 3 of English, all students will have the following SACs:
- An analysis of a text (written) (30 marks)
- A creative response to a text (written or oral) (30 marks)
- A comparison of two or three texts (written) (40 marks)
- VCAA also states that written tasks should be 800-1000 words and orals should be 4-6 minutes.
From this, we can see that prioritising essay writing is a good idea and that we should aim to write practice essays between 800-1000 words. The two or three-text comparison is worth more marks, so we should also make sure that we prioritize this slightly more.
Exam
You can usually find the weighting and duration of the end-of-year exam here. The front page of the exams usually includes a breakdown of questions and marks as well as suggested time.
Other information
With certain subjects, there may be other sections in the study design that is useful.
- The biology study design has a list of key scientific terms and their definitions which is really helpful in SAC and exams!
- In the English study design, the text selection section breaks down how your texts will be spilt across the year and used for different assessments.
How to Use Study Design in your Studies?
I will walk you through the biology study design, and show you how we can use this to structure our studies over the year.
Biology Units 3 & 4
Unit 3: How do cells maintain life? (20% of marks)
AOS 1 - What is the role of nucleic acids and proteins in maintaining life?
- Nucleic acids and proteins
- DNA manipulation techniques and applications
- SAC: 50% of unit 3 marks (10% of overall biology mark)
- 50-70 minute written SAC or 10-minute oral presentation
AOS 2 - How are biochemical pathways regulated?
- Photosynthesis and cellular respiration
- Biotechnology applications
- SAC: 50% of unit 3 marks (10% of overall biology mark)
- 50-70 minute written SAC or 10-minute oral presentation
Unit 4: How does life change and respond to challenges? (30% of marks)
AOS 1 - How do organisms respond to pathogens?
- Responding to antigens
- Acquiring immunity
- Disease challenges and strategies
- SAC: 33% of unit 4 marks (10% of overall biology mark)
- 50-70 minute written SAC or 10-minute oral presentation
AOS 2 - How are species related over time?
- Genetic/ other changes to populations and species over time
- Relatedness of species
- Human change over time
- SAC: 33% of unit 4 marks (10% of overall biology mark)
- 50-70 minute written SAC or 10-minute oral presentation
AOS 3 - How do we investigate cellular processes or biological change?
- Scientific design, evidence and communication
- SAC: 33% of unit 4 marks (10% of overall biology mark)
- Scientific poster 600 words
Exam (50% of marks)
- Two and a half hours
I personally put these at the front of my binders for each subject, but you could always stick them on your wall for quick reference. This helped me to know what and how I was getting tested for each SAC and also to put into perspective the weighting of SACs and the exam.
- For example, if you have a bio SAC worth 10% and a business management SAC worth 15%, you know that you want business management to be one of your top subjects.
- You do not have a lot of time to waste when studying for your VCEs, so being able to prioritise your studies is so important.
Before starting a new topic, I would use the key knowledge points to guide my reading and make sure that I understand the key terms that were going to be covered.
For revision, the key knowledge points would form the basis of my revision. I would either read through these points and review the parts that I was least confident with or make my summaries/flashcards from these dot points.
Most popular VCE subjects and what their study designs reveal?
Click on the subject names for a quick link to their study designs!
Conclusion
To the readers that have made it this far, you may have noticed that my number one tip is to prioritise your time during VCE. By breaking down the study design, you can know what content will be covered and also what assessments are worth the most. However, I think that it is equally valuable to know which subjects to prioritise!
My suggestion, and probably the biggest tip that I tell my students is to play around with the KIS Academics ATAR calculator to see what subjects are worth more of your time and effort.
Start by giving yourself a 30 in each of your subjects (30 is the average mark) and then increase or decrease your scores according to your strengths and weaknesses. This way, you can see which subjects to prioritise and then, which SACs should be most important to you.
For more study resources, check out these articles:
Manoj Arachige
Manoj Arachige
Manoj Arachige
FAQs
How are 3 and 4 units different from 1 and 2 units?
- Unlike Unit 1&2, VCAA has strict assessment rules that your teachers should follow in Unit 3&4. The study design has an outline of what your SAC should be and the weighting that they will have. This is a really important way of prioritising your studies.
What is the number one tip for studying for VCE?
- The number one tip is to prioritise your time during VCE. By breaking down the study design, you can know what content will be covered and also what assessments are worth the most.
What should I do at the start of the year when studying for a 3/4 unit?
- Create a cheat sheet of the study design for each of your subjects so that you are prepared for the year ahead.
Written by KIS Academics VCE Tutor Katrina Hall. Katrina currently offers tutoring in French, Mathematics, Science and Biology. Katrina is currently pursuing a Doctor of Dental Medicine at USYD and has received stellar reviews from her KIS Academics students. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to her. You can view Katrina’s profile here and request her as a tutor.
