2016 VCE exam guide — Informatics: Align you skills with your effort

Preparing for the right topics, remaining organised and covering as many questions as possible are very important steps when preparing for your VCE Unit 3 and 4 Informatics examination. Boosting your confidence is about aligning your knowledge and skills with your effort, and working smart in your revision process could help to lift your results as you approach the final stages of your journey.

The Unit 3 and 4 Informatics course has been released this year. To be confident that you have covered everything that can be expected in this course check the study design on the VCAA website: www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/computing/ComputingSD-2016.pdf

Pages 28 to 38 of the study design cover the key knowledge and key skills that are examinable. There are other headings in some of the outcomes and you should be very familiar with those areas as well.

The examination at the end of the year will also be different to what we have had previously. This year there are three sections. Section A is multiple choice questions and worth 20 marks; Section B is short answer questions and is worth 30 Marks; Section C, worth 50 marks in the examination, is based on a case study AND the questions in this section will refer to the case study.

VCAA have a sample VCE Examination available on their website: www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/exams/technology/it-informatics-specs-samp.pdf

It would be very prudent to complete this (if you have not already done so) and ask your teacher to work through the answers with you. VCAA do not provide any solutions but working through this with your teacher will provide an opportunity to have a conversation that opens up strengths and weaknesses in your learning.

As a study technique, reading through text that is in prose form does not lend itself to efficient use of memory and taking the time to create a grid that contains all the items highlighted for study in Units 3 and 4 is a very helpful process.

Once you have copied this information into a grid, take the time to create a baseline of where you are placed at the moment.

A simple traffic light system is a good tool to use. Highlight strengths in green, challenges in red and areas of uncertainty in orange.

A baseline process such as the one suggested will help guide your time more effectively as you will be working on the things you do not understand as a priority.

Being organised is a very important key to efficient revision. Organising your notes to maximise the memory potential should be done in a way that is compatible with how your brain works rather than organisation based on aesthetics.

Use mind maps to create visual representations of your note taking. The key knowledge and key skills need to be seen as a set of relationships and not isolated dot points.

Besides a mind map for each individual outcome, you could also create a mind map of relationships between each of the areas of study.

For example, Unit 4 Outcome 2 deals with, among other things, the laws that affect how organisations control the storage and disposal of their data and information.

Create relationships across all areas with the laws that you are studying in this outcome and how these laws are applied to the use of data and information.

Similarly, the ways we can protect data during storage and disposal that are reviewed in Unit 4 Outcome 2 can be applied to transferring data using the cloud, databases and accessing data stores from other organisations.

Your capacity to remember what you have learnt will get stronger as the connections between knowledge and skills are made.

If you take the time to make connections between the outcomes, you will gain memory advantage as you will see patterns emerging at the holistic course level.

Another model that can be used to make strong links is to categorise your key knowledge and skills using the problem-solving methodology framework.

Pages 14 to 16 of the study design detail the stages in the problem-solving methodology as well as the components and processes within each step.

Each stage in the methodology could be expanded by mapping the key knowledge and skills from each of the outcomes to the areas of analysis, design, development and evaluation.

When looking at the key knowledge and key skills presented in the study design make sure you have clearly referenced terms in the glossary beginning on page 11.

Not all the words in the glossary will be relevant to this course so take the time to go through each of the key knowledge and see if there is a corresponding definition in the glossary and how it is used will allow your memory to make links between content and explanation.

Remembering differences between ideas is another method for developing good memory techniques.

For example, on page 29, Unit 3 Outcome 1 list entity relationship diagram as one of the tools in the creation of a relational database solution.

It is only used in the database component of the course. So knowing this applies exclusively to one area will allow you to make efficient links in your memory.

As this is a new course, finding questions to answer may be a difficulty at this point as there are not many out there.

The VCAA past examination papers and assessment reports are not 100 per cent relevant to the new course. Having said this, there are questions in those past papers that are relevant and should not be dismissed as useless.

Look through previous examinations by noting the questions that are relevant and use the reports to assess your paper. Reflect on your multiple choice and written answers in light of what is written in the corresponding Assessment Report.

Take the time to complete practice examinations that are specific to the new study design. Make sure you are familiar with the different question stems and use these to guide your actions in answering a question.

If you are asked to list things then simply list your answer and move on. If the question asks you to explain, then give more detail.

If you find you have not answered some questions well, then ask your teacher for more questions in this area. Consider this your quality assurance process.

Above all, as you approach the final period of your revision leading up to the examination keep in contact with your teacher.

Your teachers are the best resource you have at this time of the year. The VCE Informatics Examination counts towards 50 per cent of your study score so anything you do to lift your results will be to your benefit.

Robert Koren is Head of Information Technology Faculty 9-12 at Overnewton Anglican Community College, Keilor

EXAM DETAILS

COMPUTING: INFORMATICS

When: November 11, 11.45am-2pm

Reading: 15 minutes

Writing: 2 hours

Worth: 50 per cent of study score