Last minute tips before your VCE exam
What to do before your vce exams
Table of Contents
Introduction
“The best last-minute revision is no revision”
This was a tip I heard a few years ago, and at the time my reaction was “are you crazy????” I couldn’t comprehend how anyone could possibly not be doing anything the days before the most important exams of their life.
That was, of course, until I faced the same situation myself, just a few days before my own exam. That was when I realised… they were right. Doing any more practice questions or revision the days before your exam will only cause unnecessary stress. And there’s nothing more important than confidence. Because what is the point of knowing anything if you don’t have the confidence or the proper focus to get it down on paper? Instead, trust that your hard work over the course of the year is enough, because it is. With that being said, let’s have a look at what you should do in the days leading up to the exam.
The Week Before
Make the most of this time! However, don’t do overboard and grind endless papers. If you feel confident enough, I would even suggest doing no extra exams, at all. It is better to use this time to review your past mistakes instead, or alternatively, doing the difficult questions in the previous exams you come across. This is a light but efficient form of study, and can also be a confidence boost! You can really see how much you have improved, and rest assured that there are countless mistakes you have discovered which you won’t make again.
The Day Before
Don’t do too much work. Put simply, no matter who you are, it is very unlikely that you will drastically improve the night before. Take care of yourself, take it easy, and try your best to destress. If you’d rather feel productive, you can glance through your notes, doodle a mind-map, look at your mistakes log. But make sure it’s not effort intensive, and stop as soon as you feel tired!
And also, make sure to prepare the pens, references, whatever you’ll bring to the exam room, AND MAKE SURE TO CHARGE YOUR CAS!!! Nothing worse than your CAS running out of battery in the middle of Exam 2… 😢
The Day of Exam
Hopefully you will wake up feeling refreshed from plenty of sleep. And if there’s ever a time for a healthy, nutritious breakfast, it’s now.
Make sure to get to the exam room with plenty of time to spare, and try avoid talking to other people while everyone is waiting outside. You risk hearing unhelpful information; before my exam, people wouldn’t stop hyping up conic transformations (???). It’s just not a good idea talking to people when everyone is stressed out.
Now for the final step, just walk into the exam room, and go ace it! Good luck!