It’s the night before your VCE Chemistry exam and you’re freaking out — don’t worry, you still have an abundant number of productive hours ahead of you!
We’ll go through make the most of your short-term memory span to learn as much content the night before your VCE Chemistry exam.
Below we have five important pointers for smashing your VCE Chemistry study the night before the exam!
So, let’s get stuck into it!
Tip #1: Revise using the Chemistry Syllabus
Tip #2: Focus on Your Weaknesses
Tip #3: Look through Past VCE Chemistry Exams
Tip #4: Have Some Mnemonics Up Your Sleeve
Tip #5: Study for the VCE Chemistry Exam with a Friend
Tip #1: Revise Using the Syllabus
You have limited time so try keep all your study as relevant as possible the night before your VCE Chemistry Exam.
Everything that you can be assessed on is in your VCE Chemistry Study Design, so let’s start there.
This may sound like a lot, but after careful review and a thorough look we can sort through the content easily!
Any possible question they may ask is in the syllabus, so if you go through the syllabus and understand what you are looking for, the questions and topics will be less daunting.
Half the battle in any exam that goes over 2 hours is keeping your nerve, so if you can keep calm in the face of not knowing a question, it’ll go a long way.
What you can do is use this little system to rate your confidence with each syllabus dot point – next to each one, give yourself a rating on how you feel and what your plan for the night is for that topic.
After a while, it should look a little like this:
| Topic | Am I familiar with it? | Study Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Carbon Valence numbers | Yes | Quick look over notes |
| Acid Base reactions | Yes | Nothing - I’m all good |
| Nomenclature of structures | Sort of | Do some practice questions |
| Valence Bonds | No | Rewrite notes and do study questions |
| Cis and Trans structures | No | Rewrite notes and do study questions |
This will help you make the most of your night as well as helping you feel a bit more prepared to take on the cram.
Tip #2: Focus on Your Weaknesses
It’s easy to do what you’re are good at. However, that isn’t what is needed right now.
For example, if you’re really confident in Valence structures but completely weak in Endothermic Reactions, don’t solely focus on Valence Structures to try and get that last little mark — you want to make sure most of your areas are somewhat covered.
It is a lot easier to get 1 or 2 of the simpler marks of a 5-mark question than it is to get that final mark. So to give yourself the best shot possible, you should spend your VCE Chemistry study time making yourself as well balanced as possible!
Use short-term memorisation techniques like repeatedly writing the content out or using rhymes or songs to encode it into a smaller form to maximise retention.
Tip #3: Look through Past VCE Chemistry Exams
VCE Chemistry exams have a tendency to be patterned and have similar styling and questions – make the most of this predictability. Flick through five years of past papers and note what questions pop up in most years.
Note: The big 6+ mark questions tend to follow a similar structure that you will notice is repetitive if you go through enough exams, getting those nailed down will go a long way to helping you get a good chunk of marks from the exam
Don’t get hung up on your guess though — it’s wise to be prepared but nobody’s psychic so you could be wrong. And you don’t want something silly like that catching you off guard on the day!
This is an easy way to target your chemistry cramming where it needs to go.
Check out our master list of past papers from the past decade of VCE Chemistry exams!
That said, don’t forget about all the little 1-2 markers! They might not be worth much on their own, but if you miss them all, they’ll add up real fast.
Tip #4: Have Some Mnemonics Up Your Sleeve
Since there are lots of formulae and a lot of content, it helps to have some memory tricks to help you on the way, getting those long equations out on to the paper or helping you in a mind blank.
There is the one that everyone knows – PORK — Products Over Reactants = K (the equilibrium constant). Here’s another another short and sweet one: PANIC – Positive Anode, Negative is Cathode.
There are plenty of more Googleable mnemonics that you can look up as relevant to you and your study!
Tip #5: Study for the VCE Chemistry Exam with a Friend
Chances are, you’re not the only one in your class or friend group stressing out the night before the exam, so turn a negative into a positive.
Find a friend in who is keen to go through content and start studying over video call!
This will help you both get through the night a lot easier, making the studying a lot more easier and enjoyable — without sacrificing the precious final moments of productivity before your VCE Chemistry Exam.
It’ll also help you both catch anything the other slips up on, further reinforcing the gaps in your knowledge and making you more prepared for the exam.
We all know that there is nothing more reassuring than finding out someone is in the exact same boat as you are!
At the end of the day, your VCE Chemistry exam is only an exam — simply, give it your best shot and you’ll be okay!
Got some spare time to ace VCE Chemistry?
Check out more of our VCE Chemistry resources:
- How to Ace Your End of Year Exam for VCE Chemistry
- The Definitive Guide to Using the VCE Chemistry Data Booklet Effectively
- VCE Chemistry Past Exams Master List
Are you looking for some extra help with preparing for your VCE Chemistry exams?
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Joshua Kulasingham is currently a Content Writer at Art of Smart. He completed a Bachelor of Science and a Masters of Occupational Therapy and has written for a variety of charity organisations and has worked for educational resource companies. In addition to this, he has had a variety of tutoring experiences with different students. In his free time, he loves playing basketball, playing the drums and hanging with friends!
