QCS test top performer shares his secrets as students prepare

Thousands of Queensland Year 12 students will sit the QCS test for the final time this week, with one past top student sharing his secrets to success.

FOR the final time, tens of thousands of Year 12 students will sit the Queensland Core Skills test this week before the state adopts the new ATAR system from 2020.

Schools have been busy preparing their students for the crucial test, with practice tests and extra tutoring sessions.

The QCS test has long been an essential, nerve-wracking and at times controversial part of Year 12 in the state, but after this year will be scrapped as part of the new Queensland Certificate of Education system which Year 11 students began this year.

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Over the course of tomorrow and Wednesday about 30,000 Year 12 students will complete a writing task, a short response test and two multiple choice tests assessing common curriculum skills, including a sound knowledge of Year 10 maths.

How they score as a cohort within their school will then be used for scaling by the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority, and contribute to determining OP scores.

Former Brisbane Grammar School student Stuart Moss recorded the highest score of about 28,000 students across the state who sat the QCS test in 2017.

Former Brisbane Grammar School student Stuart Moss was the No.1 student the year he sat the QCS test. Pic: Richard Walker

The remarkable achievement means Mr Moss, now studying a double degree in Law and Commerce at the University of Queensland, knows better than almost anyone how to achieve the best result possible.

He said he prepared by sitting past test papers and answers, as well as looking at marking guides to get a sense of what the examiners will be looking for.

Before the test, he said the group at Brisbane Grammar School approached it with a “sporting mentality”, and doing the school war cry as a group before the test began.

“We managed to build up a culture and a spirit that QCS was something that we should all take seriously and something that should be enjoyed as a cohort, rather than just be hated as another test,” he said.

“Our group cohort all worked together to support each other and prepare for the test. It’s a culmination of your years through high school moving through as a cohort, this is one of the big things that defines the year level once you get to Year 12 once you get to QCS.”

STUART’S TIPS FOR QCS SUCCESS

*Get prepared by looking at past test papers and marking guides

*Lean on your classmates and try working in groups

*Be sure to get a good night’s sleep

*Eat a nutritional breakfast

*Change your mindset, and approach at it as something positive

*Try and relax, and remember to just do your best