Practice Exams are gospel. Doing them is a must, it’s a non-negotiable. In this blog we’ll be providing a detailed answer to the common question “How many practice exams should I do?”

The Practice Exam Epiphany: Quality Over Quantity

At Novicate Academy, we understand that preparing for the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) can be a daunting task. The pressure is on, and the road to success can seem like a never-ending journey. One common piece of advice that circulates among VCE students is the importance of practice exams. And while there's no denying their significance, it's essential to dispel the myth that simply doing a tonne of practice exams will automatically lead to better results. Spoiler: It doesn’t.

Tailoring Your Approach to Success

In the world of VCE and in fact education in general, it’s often not by chance that past high achievers score so well. It’s in your best interest to look at their study habits, techniques and strategies used by high achievers so that you too can adapt their techniques. However, every student's journey to success is somewhat unique. This is particularly true when it comes to practice exams. The key is to find the right balance between quantity and quality.

Imagine this scenario:

• Student A sits down to take 10 practice exams, diligently completing each one. They finish feeling confident, and get the scores they’re aiming for.
• On the other hand, Student B feels less confident in their practice exam sittings. They opt to do 15-25 practice exams instead. They understand that it might take more repetitions to truly grasp the intricacies of the subject’s VCE exam format & marking criteria.

The Personalised Approach to Practice

The lesson here is clear: there's no magic number of practice exams that guarantees success. The critical factor is accepting that you may need to do more practice exams depending on your confidence and how you’re tracking.

So, how do you tailor your approach effectively?

1. Self-Assessment: After each practice exam, take a moment to assess your confidence in your performance. I also suggest guessing what % score you’ll achieve in this test. I’ll explain why in just a bit.
2. Evaluate Your Expectations: Compare your initial confidence and % guess, with the actual results of your practice exam. Did you overestimate your performance, or did you guess correctly?
3. Identify Concept Gaps: If you fell short of your expectations, meaning you felt confident but performed less than expected, here’s how you can improve. It's time to grab a red pen and dissect your exam. Identify where you went wrong and pinpoint any concept gaps. Go to your Novicate key-word and model answers notes/other study notes, review those topics and transfer across these tough concepts to a new high-yield doc (master exam doc). Here you will collate only the topics/concepts you’re weak at.
4. Iterative Learning: Repeat this process for each practice exam you undertake. As you progress, keep reviewing the master exam doc, and watch your confidence performance grow & improve.

Quality Over Quantity

The key takeaway here is that the quality of your practice matters more than the quantity. It's not about the number of exams you complete, but rather how well you learn from each one. I tell all my students that you should be spending MORE time analysing your practice exam to learn from it, than actually doing it. This means aim for 2-2.5+ hours reviewing. This is what VCE High Achievers do again and again.

So there you go. Embrace the personalised approach, review your exams, build your master doc and let this guide you on your road to VCE success this year!

If you’re after a step-by-step VCE Revision filled with VCE Revision events running through all VCAA exam-assessable unit content in a day, simulated mock exams or ongoing support, check out Novicate’s revision events.