How to pass the VCE IT exam

Or, at least, a few tips that might come in handy

DISCLAIMER

I am not an examiner.
I have not marked previous exams.
I do not know this year's exam questions.

Want to know the secret of how to pass the IT exam?

Here goes, in brief...

• The IT Lecture Notes' Golden Rule: use common sense when making a decision.
• know the meanings of IT words and concepts in the study design. More particularly, know the subtle differences between similar words (e.g. bit vs byte)
• if given a case study, your answer must be relevant to that organisation, not for any old organisation.
• if you can think of various options, choose the best option, not the first option you thought of
• read the question carefully and work out exactly what it wants you to do before you start writing
• identify the verb of the question and obey it: if asked to list, simply give the names of things. If asked to "explain" or "describe", give detail, examples, reasons.
• use IT terms like "data" and "efficiency" and "hard disk" properly
• do not be irrelevant, vague and waffly. Answer succinctly. Explain yourself when necessary. Don't try to bluff.
• answer the question you were asked, not the one you wished you'd been asked

First, get into the right frame of mind about the exam.

The exam is your way of showing how much you know about IT. The examiners do not deliberately try to trick or confuse you (but they occasionally do accidentally confuse people.) They are really keen that you do as well as you can.

SWAT VAC AND BEFORE

You must have a study and revision method that works for you. Don't worry about how other people learn best. You do what works best for you. Now is not the time to be experimenting with "interesting" exam preparation fads.

If you know you learn best by reading and writing, read and write your notes with a pen. If you learn best by typing, type. If you learn best by listening, record your notes onto tape and listen to them over and over.

Many students believe music helps them study. Sometimes that is true. I find music with lyrics is really distracting if I'm trying to learn text stuff. Try music with no lyrics, not too loud either. Have you ever tried Gregorian chants as background music? It's actually quite soothing when you're stressed.

TIP: If you really want to know if you understand something, teach it to your mother, grandfather or little sister. As soon as you get a confused "Huh?" from them, you know you need to study some more. If you can't explain it, you don't really understand it.

Look at previous and practice exams. Work on them under exam conditions, with a strict time limit. Compare your answers with the solutions. If you find you're way off track with an answer, you know what you need to do more research on. Even if you can't put aside 2 hours for a full paper, set yourself 10 minutes for a 5 mark question (see more about exam timing).

You should build a personal summary of the key knowledge in the Areas of Study in the course: a brief outline of the main concepts, key words, and examples. Do not try to plough through your textbook once a week. Daily refreshing of your neurons is far more effective in establishing long-term memory. Weekly "pig outs" on huge quantities of material will not only leave you mentally exhausted after the first hour, but will evaporate quickly in the next two days.

You'll also be so discouraged that you'll do anything to avoid returning to that subject.

If you know you have trouble with certain concepts or words, write (or draw) a really good typical example of it that you can remember easily. e.g. "top down" vs "bottom up": a brief, concrete example of each will be far more memorable than an abstract paragraph full of words.

Do not try to memorise paragraphs of text. Learn concepts. You will not be asked to recite paragraph 3 on page 115 of your textbook. You will be asked to put knowledge to practical use.

Know the difference between easily-confused words: effectiveness vs efficiency, data vs information, testing criteria vs testing methods.

Learn basic IT terminology and use IT words carefully. Referring to a 3.5" disk as a "hard disk" or saying "He should get more megs" will earmark you as a complete doofus. Start your own personal glossary of words you know you have trouble with. For each word, define it (or use an example of it) so you understand what it means. Never work with notes you don't really understand. You're wasting your time. Go back, learn the basics, then come back to the notes.

You are not expected to be an engineer, but you should have a good general knowledge of computer-related topics. You won't be expected to know the structure of TCP/IP packets, but you will be expected to know what a webpage is. You should know: a web site, a browser, web server, email, virus, hard disk, laser printer, monitor, software vs hardware, scanners, operating systems, application software, utilities, USB ports, modems, CD-ROM, RAM, megabyte, "K" - that sort of thing. Remember that you will probably not be asked "What is RAM?" but a question could well use the word "RAM" and you will be expected to know what it means so you can answer the question.

On the day before and the morning of an exam, don't break routine. Don't go to bed at 6pm aiming to be super-bright in the morning. You'll probably wake up at 3am and not be able to get back to sleep. Don't have a massive breakfast if you usually have a light breakfast. You don't want to discover for the first time during an exam that your bowels can't handle porridge, bacon, Fruit Loops and muesli.

Do NOT try studying until 3am on the morning of the exam: if you're not already up-to-speed, this will be useless. Studying at such hours is only about 2% effective anyway. Go to bed. Pretend you're on a tropical island until you get to sleep. If you find yourself tossing and turning, stop thinking "exam". Think of something quite dull, e.g. shelling peas, mowing the lawn, your favourite episode of Gilligan's Island.

Your IT exam is at 3pm. What are you usually doing at 3pm? Is your brain in a dozy state and do you always veg out for an hour after getting home? Are you alert and active? If you are dozy and flat at 3pm, practise doing heavy brain work at 3pm for a while before the exam. Get your body clock into training for working instead of turning off and having a snooze.

Make sure you know when and where the exam will be held. Don't miss half the exam because your mate Fred said it was at X o'clock. It is very embarrassing to turn up at the wrong venue too. You do not get extra time if you arrive late. Stupidity is not a grounds for "consideration of disadvantage."

Go to the toilet. Go twice if necessary. Deal with other bodily needs too. You don't want an urgent toilet trip in the exam to break your concentration and waste writing time.

Make sure you have a grey-lead pencil and a sharpener for the multiple choice section. You are also allowed to take in pens, highlighters, erasers and a ruler. Take plenty of spares!

Have a reliable watch to prop up on the table in front of you so you can better keep track of time.

Have your own tissues if you have the sniffles. Hell. Take 'em even if you're feeling fine.

You must have a greylead pencil (no fainter than HB) for the multiple choice section.

You are not allowed to take in :

• mobile phones (or any other communication device)
• calculators
• computers (unless you have special needs and have been approved to use a computer)
• watches with data storage capacity
• dictionaries (even if you are in ESL)
• cheat sheets, books, notes, blank paper
• white-out liquid or tape

Clever people might even sharpen their pencils before the exam, and bring a spare pencil or spare leads for a mechanical pencil. You will probably also want a ruler or Mathomat in case you're asked to draw a Gantt or PERT chart or design a page, or do a DFD or structure chart etc.  Just don't spend half an hour trying to produce works of art!

Make sure you know your VCAA student number.

Read the instructions carefully on how to mark the multiple choice answer sheet (see a sample). Get it wrong and the machine won't be able to read your answers. If you're lucky, a human will notice the problem and fix it by hand.

DURING READING TIME

You are not allowed to handle a pen during reading time. Put it down! You are definitely NOT allowed to use your fingernail to mark the exam paper.

Read actively. Don't just skim without paying attention. Read ALL the questions before you answer any of them. Read the instructions carefully. If you are told to "answer 2 of the following 6 parts", work out which two you will tackle. Look for landmark words like "data" or "information", "efficiency" or "effectiveness". Raise a mental warning flag when you reach such key words and pay very careful attention. Misreading a question could lead to a 100% wrong answer.

Be on the lookout for multi-part questions. Many questions will be multi-part with instructions on what you are meant to do. Look for key words in the instructions like "and" & "or". e.g. "Answer part A or part B", "Choose one of the following..."

If you are told to choose (for example) TWO of the following four options, you will be marked on the FIRST TWO that you answer. The marker will NOT choose your best 2 answers and mark those. Only answer the number of items you were told to answer. If you answer all four options instead of just two, and your first two answers were terrible but the second two were terrific, your first two terrible answers would be marked and the rest would be ignored.

If you choose more than one option in a multiple choice question, you get no marks.

Pay very careful attention to the stems or verbs in questions: they are not chosen at random. Learn the difference between these question stems:

• outline - give a broad, brief summary without much detail
• list - give the names of.  That's ALL!  Don't describe, don't explain, don't give examples.  Just give their names.
• sketch/draw - draw a picture!
• explain - provide reasons for something
• justify - defend your decision about something with good reasons
• recommend - choose the best option from a set of possibilities (if based on a case study, make sure your recommendation is appropriate to that particular case!)
• describe - give a detailed account of something
• analyse - critically discuss the component parts of something

etc.  Look at previous exams to see what sorts of stems are used in questions, and check the examiners' reports to see what the examiners thought about students' answers to those questions.

Plan your time. The number of marks for each question is given to you. Give each question the time appropriate for how many marks it is worth (about 1.3 minutes per mark). Writing half a page for one mark is foolish.

The length of each answer, and the amount of detail you should go into, are suggested by the number of lines provided in the exam book. Examiners have complained in the past that students do not explain things in enough detail.

The examiners reported on the 2000 exam: "Generally, students should be urged to write longer responses when asked in a question to ‘explain’ or ‘justify’. Many students did not provide enough detail to obtain full marks. For example, students would be expected to provide more than a one-sentence response to a question worth 4 marks that warranted an explanation or justification."

DURING WRITING TIME

On the front cover of the exam book, fill in your student number in digits and words, for example...

Keep an eye on the clock. Ration your time strictly according to the value of the questions. The ITA exam, for example, has 90 marks and you have 120 minutes: allocate about 1.3 minutes per question. You might find the multiple choice are quicker to answer because there's no writing. You might allocate 1 minute to each of the multiple choices (spending the time to very carefully read the question and options... they can be quite tricky!) . This will leave 100 minutes for the remaining 70 marks: about 1.4 minutes per mark (e.g. a 3 mark question would deserve 4.2 minutes)

IN ALL QUESTIONS: Read each question at least twice before answering it. Look for key words like data, information, criterion, method.  Let them raise red warning flags in your head.

1. Part A - Multiple Choice Section

The first section of the exam is multiple choice, to be completed on mark sense cards. Make sure you have a grey-lead pencil!

Look for the MOST CORRECT answer. Don't settle for the FIRST one that COULD be right... there might be a more correct answer later. e.g.

What data type is "4 August 2004" - <A> Text,<B> Alphanumeric, <C> Numeric, <D> Date/Time?

If you chose "Alphanumeric" you would be technically correct, but the better, more precise answer is Date/Time. You would not get a mark for choosing <B>.

Multiple choice questions are famous for "distractor" options that suck in stupid and careless people, or those who don't read carefully. Often, options will be VERY similar and need some thought to tell the right from the wrong. In multiple choice, the time saved answering the question should be invested in READING the question more carefully. Don't answer on impulse - a question that looks easy can be deceptively tricky if you consider it properly!

2. Part B - Short Answer Section

• Read the questions carefully, looking for key words like "List", "Describe", "Justify" and make sure you do what you're asked to do.
• Look for important words like how many examples to provide, "and" / "or" because some questions are complex. Set your answer out in a table if it helps you. e.g. "Describe the benefits and disadvantages of the new hardware and software" means 4 things to talk about. Set it out in a table with columns "benefits" and "disadvantages" and rows "hardware" and "software".
• Think out what the MOST important thing is you have to say - DO NOT START WRITING until you've worked this out. Put down your most important point first, then the next most important etc. Don't waste writing time on trivial or arguable points.
• Put down points even if they seem bloody obvious. Don't say "Hmmm, OBVIOUSLY (this point) applies, but that's TOO obvious - I'll have to think of something more difficult". Sometimes, the bloody obvious is exactly the right answer.
• Get to the point and stay on the point. When you've finished, stop writing and move on. Just writing words does NOT get marks - only relevant words count.
• If asked for a number of things, only provide that number of things: writing fewer loses marks; giving more is a waste of time: the examiners will only read the number of items they asked for. i.e. if asked for 3 examples and you give 6, but your first 3 are useless and the last 3 are perfect, only the first useless 3 will be marked.
• Pay special attention to words you tend to confuse, e.g. effectiveness and efficiency. Data and info. Acquisition and input. If you don't read the question properly, everything you write could be a complete waste of time.
• Jot down key points of your answer in point form before writing it out, especially if you have to choose which options you should discuss.
• Write LEGIBLY (so your writing can be read)
• Write in PLAIN ENGLISH, not some cone-headed, SMS-befuddled version of our mother-tongue. Use short sentences and make every word count. Do NOT try to impress the marker with fancy expression or talking like a lawyer in court - you'll just screw things up and sound like an idiot. Say what you need to say QUICKLY and CLEARLY. Get out of there and go on to the next question.

I know that when I read answers, I say "Thank DOG!" when someone nails the main point in the first few words - the rest is often a good example or some elaboration on the main point. In my head, they immediately get full marks with those first few words, and will only lose marks if they go on to say something DUMB.

If you strike a question that makes you think "WHAT THE...??", settle down and try to think it through calmly. If you still can't work it out, try to say something relevant. If you find the question vague or ambiguous, you may need to explain your interpretation. e.g. on last year's exam, the term "end date" in Question 9c was very confusing to some people. You could have said, "If 'end date' means the date of the final milestone, there will be a XX day delay", or "If 'end date' means the last possible day of work, there will be XX delay." Let the examiners know what you're thinking and your explanation may at least get partial marks.

Some case studies offer very little information for you to use to make decisions and recommendations.  This is where saying something like "If they had 'X' then I'd recommend Option A because ... otherwise I'd recommend Option B because ..."

By the way, "letting the examiners know what you're thinking" does not include comments like, "I'm tired and I had a bad year and my teacher was horrible to me so can I pass please?"

Do not copy out or repeat the question! Just answer it!

If you are asked, "Give two reasons why email attachments should be limited in size" do not say, "Email attachments should be limited in size because blah blah blah..."

Only the words after "because" will earn marks!

If necessary, use headings to identify what portion of a question you are answering. e.g. If asked

What economic and technological benefits might the organisation aim for?

You might say:

Economic: blah blah blah

Technological: blah blah blah

Note that most of the time, the examiners provide separate labelled spaces for answering each section of a multipart question.

Just because you got an elephant stamp and a warm smile from your grade 4 teacher because you always answered in full sentences does not mean you should do it in the IT exam.

Yes - I actually DO own a real rubber elephant stamp... anyway...

GET STRAIGHT TO THE ANSWER ... don't repeat the question!

If you start running out of time, answer in point form. Saying something about each question is better than saying nothing.

If you have absolutely NO CLUE what an answer is, you'd be better off skipping it than hoping that a random answer might magically hit the spot.  It's probably a waste of writing time.  Go on to a question you are more confident with. Come back to it if inspiration strikes you later.

Be aware that the questions start off short and easy and get more valuable and bigger as the paper goes on. Don't run out of time before you reach the "big mark" questions.

Take a deep breath and relax. Avoid freaking out and doing something silly.

Figure 1: Doing Something Silly

If you come across a word you're unfamiliar with, try working it out logically by the context of the question. e.g. "manipulation" is a synonym for "processing". "Folder" is the same as "directory". A question on health and safety that uses the acronym "OH&S" is probably "something Health and Safety". (It's "occupational" in case you were wondering.) Use common sense!

As soon as reading time finishes, you might want to jot down things you know you have trouble memorising e.g. the info processing cycle stages. Once jotted down, you won't have to keep them in memory them while formulating complex answers to questions.

AFTER THE EXAM

Good Luck!

But remember, getting an A+ is not luck: it's a whole year of preparation and study.

If these notes have helped, let me know.

If they didn't help, let me know what you needed.

And yes, if you want, you may name your children after me.

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Last modified: 10 November, 2007 2:00 PM