Check out our tutor’s Lanyi’s experience with VCE Specialist Maths and how she got a 52 (scaled).
What score did you achieve in VCE Specilist Maths?
I achieved a scaled study score of 52 in Specialist Maths in 2024 with an overall ATAR of 99.15.
How did you study for VCE Specialist Maths? What techniques did you use to study?
First of all, it is to understand and grasp the concepts rather than just simply memorising formulas and how to do questions. In simpler words, it is knowing “why” do I do this rather than just “how” to do this. So when you encounter a difficult and unfamiliar question you can understand the basic logic behind the question and answer with the concepts rather than just memorising formulas and get stuck whenever there is a “twist” in the question styles that you were familiar with.Another advice is to have your own notebook for this subject. Although buying other people’s notes is easy and effortless, you are missing the opportunity to organise your own thoughts and understandings of concepts in your own words and own notes. Having your own notes not only allows you to learn concepts in your own learning style but also you can understand the gaps in your knowledge that you are less comfortable with when you cannot write and organise the concept in your own words.
What is your advice for VCE Specialist Maths students for the SACs?
For the SACs, always aim to revise as early as possible. Unlike a lot of other subjects, Specialist usually has around 3 SACs in total which is very little, so not doing well on one SAC is more detrimental than subjects that may have 5 SACs throughout the year. The questions in the SAC are often always more application based so it requires you to do a lot of exam style questions that are beyond the basic questions in the textbook. So to do well in the SAC, I recommend early revision, at least earlier than the time your school starts revising. Adding on, I recommend doing as many exam style questions as possible. Company paper questions, exam questions, other schools’ SAC questions, IB curriculum ect. For the SACs, teachers often “copy” questions from company papers and so on, so being familiar with as many question types as possible! Along with this, always do the questions that your teacher has provided for you, especially the past year SACs. If possible, not just do them once but multiple times if you cannot get high marks on those questions.
Throughout the year, I suggest keeping a “fault book”. This book can be on paper or online but it is a place for you to write down questions that you have done wrong. “Fault book” is different for everyone, but for me and many high scorers that I have asked, they usually divide the fault book into 3 large sections:
- Silly mistake
- Concept based mistake
- Question type
If you are someone who understands everything but always makes silly mistakes, writing it down can help you understand what silly mistakes you usually make (is it the negative sign, the square…) and try to tackle them rather than always blaming the “silly mistakes” when you did not score as high as you expected. The concept based mistake is when you made a mistake because you didn’t understand or confused certain concepts together (like the imaginary part of 2+3i is 3 not 3i). The third part is question type, where you did not know how to do this question because it is an unfamiliar question (like you know proof by mathematical induction but you never did mathematical induction with trig). The third part of the fault book usually accumulates quickly at the end of the year when you are constantly doing practice questions.
What is your advice for VCE Specialist Maths students for the end of year exams?
I also recommend doing company papers early, don’t wait until much later when you finish your last SAC (as many schools only finish their last SAC a couple weeks before the exam). You can just cross off the areas you haven’t learnt yet in the paper and deduct the time from the total time (remember 1.5mins per mark). Start with untimed first and move into timed. You don’t have to finish everything in the timed sessions at first, but do more timed practice and you will get much better! VERY IMPORTANT: BE FAMILIAR WITH YOUR CAS. Memorise the commands on the CAS (the memory will come to you when you enough questions)
How did you balance study with the rest of your life during VCE?
In year 12, I had regular music lessons after school and some volunteering work so on those days I just studied whenever I had the time after school. On the other days, from the start to midyear, I planned my schedule according to the tasks I had to get done during the day. It was a specific plan, like I have to finish analysing which part of my reading text or complete which set of questions for Spesh. When I finish the tasks, the rest of the time is free time for me. I also left Friday night as a block of time for me to rest and hang out with friends. Near the end of the year when we start doing company papers and trial exams, I do at least 2 to 3 trial exams each day and rotate between the days. Like on Monday you do Spesh and Chemistry and mark them, on Tuesday you do Methods and English and review the papers you did on Monday and so on. But I also left a block of time open during the week for socialising and commitments like music and volunteering
