How to prep for the Community and Family Studies HSC exam

Left your Community and Family Studies prep until the last minute? A leading CAFS teacher has revealed how one of her students topped NSW last year, and what to do right now if you haven’t studied.

One of the state’s leading Community and Family Studies Teachers has revealed the tips she shared with her class ahead of the HSC.

Fairvale High teacher Caterina Malki’s advice last year led to one of her students topping the entire state in the subject.
But she also has a method for less studious pupils who may have left their study to the last minute.

WHAT TO DO IN THE FINAL HOURS BEFORE THE EXAM

Of all subjects, knowing and being able to memorise the dot points of the syllabus is a key factor in Community and Family Studies of all HSC subjects.

Fairvale High Community and Family Studies teacher Caterina Malki. Source: Supplied

Students need to memorise it and make sure they familiarise themselves with all points of the syllabus.

If they have difficulty memorising everything they need to employ methods like remembering acronyms to capture all elements of a particular topic.

So in a topic like wellbeing within the CAFS syllabus, they should try and remember acronyms which summarise different factors of that topic.

For example, they must remember the SPEECs acronym.

SPEECS stands for S for Social P is for physical E is for emotional and the second E is for Economic, C is for cultural and S is for Spiritual.

EXAM STRATEGY

When students begin the exam they will receive five minutes reading time and Ms Malki said students should attempt the multiple choice questions first.

HSC exams can be a stressful time if students don’t know the best way to tackle exams.

Ms Malki always tells them in the five minutes reading time to look at the short answer questions first and look at the question for the option that we studied in class. Don’t even think about looking at the other options that your class did not study. And then when it is actually time to complete the exam, start with the multiple choice questions. Multiple choice questions can give you keywords that you can use in the short answer or long response questions.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

Obviously I think they need to read the question carefully. There’s usually one or two relevant answers to the question and the other two are not really the obvious ones.

We find with CAFS beginning questions are the easiest ones, and as you get towards the end, it becomes a little bit more complicated.

She said her student who got 100 per cent in the subject had done every single past paper they could get their hands on and checked their answers against their study notes at the beginning until the student could develop the confidence that they are getting 100 per cent.

Careful planning can go a long way to staying calm under the pressure of exams.

HSC VERBS

Students need to have knowledge of the HSC verbs which come up in the questions and have a precise understanding of what they are asking for.

A common mistake not answering the question correctly. For that reason I think it’s always important to define the terms used in the question. So if it asks about a questionnaire, define what a questionnaire is.

SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS

Think about the response before you start to write anything down. I think what’s important is there’s an amount of lines there and they have to really stick within that limit and get straight to the point.

She said in longer short answer questions worth four marks, you have to use relevant examples. So if it was a question asking about support options for working parents, you need to identify support networks whether or not they are formal or informal — which are in the syllabus.

Sarting with multiple choice questions could give you hints for written questions later on.

LONGER RESPONSE QUESTIONS

Section 1 is worth 75 marks and section 2 is worth 25 marks.

She said time should not be an issue for most students and there was usually ample time to finish the exam but students needed to be judicious with their time.

In the longer response questions, she said students must employ the PEEL structure.

That means they need to identify the factors in the syllabus the question is asking for and then employ that in their response.

That means paragraphs should each have one element of PEEL which stands for

PEEL stands for Point- example-example-linking back.

That means you have a topic sentence exploring that point or elaborate on that point.

And then the other E’s examples that provide evidence to support your point and then L is linking it back to the topic sentence at the beginning again.

Therefore you need to know the top points of the syllabus and for an elective like wellbeing, write each of those social factors. So as long as you’ve mentioned those social factors in the syllabus.

25 Marker

One 25 mark question from last year’s exam was “Analyse the impact of social factors on individuals and their pattern of work. But this question will depend on what topic the students class elected to study.

The exam is basically written in relation to the syllabus. And so if my student would have mentioned all the social factors, she got 100% in the HSC.

If you’re not one of these students that enjoy studying, you really need to know the dot points of the syllabus. And you can also employ your general knowledge from everyday life and in that regard use your own examples from life experiences.

As long as students use examples within their responses and they know those points in the syllabus, then they should do well in the HSC.

NOTE: The Daily Telegraph does not reserve any responsibility for whether HSC students study (or not) for their CAFS exam.