Scenario: you’re sitting at your desk the night before your VCE Physical Education exam is one day and you don’t know what to do — no stress, let’s help with that!
Firstly, remember that it will be okay! Secondly, you still have time to study and prepare for your upcoming exam. The five tips below will help you be the most effective you can be with the time remaining before your exam.
Let’s get cracking!
Tip #1: Study Using the Syllabus
Tip #2: Focus on What You Aren’t Confident In
Tip #3: Revise Past Exams
Tip #4: Prepare Your Mnemonics
Tip #5: Study With A Friend
Tip #1: Study Using the Syllabus
Your time is definitely limited on the night before your VCE Physical Education exam. Hence, you have keep all your study as effective and relevant as possible.
That means only studying what you need to know. Don’t bother to wasting time on information that you won’t be assessed on!
A great place to start is your VCE Physical Education Study Design! Everything that you can be assessed on is in there, and if a topic isn’t in the study design that means its not going to be on the exam.
Going through the syllabus will also help you figure out what you do know and what you aren’t so sure about.
Take the study design and identify your own strengths and weaknesses in the content.
What we recommend is using a system to understand your confidence with each syllabus area of study . For each area of study, give yourself a confidence rating regarding how you feel and then put down what your plan for the night is for that topic.
After a while, it should look a little like this:
| Area of Study | Am I confident? | How should I study? |
|---|---|---|
| Aerobic Capacity | Yes | Quick glance through notes |
| Skill based sports | Yes | Nothing, all set! |
| Muscle movement patterns | Sort of | 20 practice questions |
| Lactate Inflection Point | No | Rewriting of notes and perform checkpoint questions |
| Exercise Principles | No | Rewrite notes and watch Youtube videos |
This can aid you to make the most of your studying in one night as well as helping you feel a bit more prepared and at ease to take on a lot of studying.
Tip #2: Focus on What You Aren’t Confident In
We all naturally tend to lean towards doing what we are good at. However, that may not be the best way to prepare for your exam.
Example Scenario
You’re really strong in Aerobic Capacity questions but not confident in Muscle Movement questions
In this case, don’t direct all your time and focus on Aerobic Capacity to try and get that last little mark — you want to make sure most of your areas are somewhat covered.
The logic behind this is that it’s lot more simpler and effective to get a couple of the easier marks of a 5-mark question than it is to wrangle out that final 5th mark.
Spend your VCE Physical Education study time making yourself as well balanced as possible and shoring up your weaknesses to ensure you can at least have a crack at every question.
Tip #3: Revise Past Exams
When you look through enough VCE Physical Education exams, you’ll notice there will be repeating patterns and have some similar styled questions. This can be your best friend!
Study the past five years of exams and make a note of what questions pop up the most.
These questions are likely to pop again in your exam — granted, it won’t be exactly the same, but it’s a good idea to put extra time into studying these areas.
This is an easy way to aim your last Physical Education study where it needs to go on the night before the VCE exam.
Tip: Make sure you are looking at the ‘Examiner’s Report’ for each exam and each question to help you structure your answers as they show exactly what student’s need to write to get the marks in the question (and also show what students usually get wrong – make sure you don’t make the same mistakes)
Tip #4: Prepare Your Mnemonics
Since there is a heap of content, it helps to have some tricks up your sleeve to get your memory going, getting the necessary information on a topic out on to the paper or helping you in a mind blank.
Here are two that every PE student should know:
- FITT: Frequency, Intensity, Time, Type (of exercise).
- PARVM: Practical, Appropriate, Reliable, Valid, Measurable.
Have a search through Google for more mnemonics that you can search up and store if they are relevant to you and your study!
Tip #5: Study With A Friend
You are most likely not the only person needing to cram the night before the exam, so set up a mini study session!
Phone a friend in who also needs to smash through revising content and start studying over video call or in person.
Remember that everything is better with company, and this will aid you both in getting through the study session a lot easier.
It’ll also help you both call each other out on anything the other slips up on. No more forgetting parts of the VCE Physical Education content!
Ultimately, everyone knows that the most reassuring feeling is knowing that someone else is in the exact same boat as you are, you are not alone!
And, That’s It!
Most importantly, remember that this is just an exam and it will not control your life. Just make sure to give it your best shot and you will be okay! Finally, best of luck for your exam, you are going to ace it!
Want to boost your exam confidence? Check out more of our VCE Physical Education resources:
- Everything You Need to Know from the VCE Physical Education Study Design
- VCE Physical Education Past Papers Master List
- How to Ace Your End of Year Exam for VCE Physical Education`
- All Past Exam papers from the VCE together in one place
Are you looking for some extra help with preparing for your VCE Physical Education exam?
We have an incredible team of VCE tutors and mentors!
We can help you master the VCE Physical Education study design and ace your upcoming VCE assessments with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home or online!
We’ve supported over 8,000 students over the last 11 years, and on average our students score mark improvements of over 20%!
To find out more and get started with an inspirational VCE tutor and mentor, get in touch today or give us a ring on 1300 267 888!
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!
