Year 12 psychology students left frustrated by VCE exam

Year 12 psychology students were left in tears over a difficult exam with some complaining it did not cover the full content of the course.

Year 12 students have been left frustrated by the psychology exam.

Year 12 psychology students were left in tears after a “dog question” stumped and upset many.

The exam, held on Halloween, contained a number of multiple-choice questions which students found baffling and difficult.

Students also felt the psychology exam didn’t cover the full content of the course and reflected less than half of the study design.

“Usually you get at least one question about everything,” one student told the Herald Sun.

“A lot of the questions were related to given scenarios and had to respond to that and the answer was usually within the question,” she said.

Similar criticisms have been made about the biology exam, which had a new study design this year, meaning students didn’t have any prior exams to use for preparation.

Many students also found the further maths 1 exam difficult on Friday afternoon, with students agonising over the answers to a number of key questions.

“The devil really came out to play in the psych and further exams,” one frustrated student said on social media.

@krammed_

L wording #fyp#vce#furthermaths#exams#school#australia#victoria

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On Monday’s psychology exam, one question about poodles and beagles caused much angst among students in the first days of their exam period.

Other psychology questions many found difficult were on eyewitness testimony and memory, stomach illness, dentists and the factors of a mentally healthy person.

After their exam on Monday – which was a day off for students at most schools – man psychology students were left frustrated.

“The VCAA gods put it on Halloween on purpose,” said one.

Students said they didn’t finish and that they had to guess many of the multiple-choice questions.

“Why were all the answers the same thing?” one student said.

Students reported that one question about systematic desensitisation had many answers which were the same.

However, those who correctly predicted the ten-marker question would be on sleep were happy.

@whoseunycelol

nah cuz actually beagles > poodles #vce#psychology#vcaa#exam#stress

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One student said: “I live in a flood impacted area tho (sic) so there’s a chance I’ll get a better derived score.”

With regard to further maths, students said they were left guessing many questions in order to finish.

“Should have done methods” said one.

There has also been much debate about the first core data analysis question about the description of a histogram as either “negatively skewed with a possible outlier” or “approximately symmetric with a possible outlier”.

Rion Ahl and Andrew Kroger from online tutoring service 50 Coach acknowledged that “parts of each exam this year may appear to be more difficult — for example Further maths Exam 1 and the Psychology multiple choice”.

But they said this “gives a greater chance for those who have worked hard to separate themselves and demonstrate their ability”.

“In the last few years VCAA exams are becoming structurally more difficult and as a result, students shouldn’t panic about a harder exam — everyone sits the same paper.

“There’s also a tradition of each year level suggesting their exam was the hardest one VCAA’s ever made, with the post-exam panic often artificially adding layers of difficulty in students eyes,” Mr Ahl and Mr Kroger said.

“If you’ve had a bad exam performance, remember that your final score depends heavily on only 4 of your subjects, your ‘top 4’. Refocus, turn your attention to your other subjects and make sure one bad performance doesn’t affect your broader score,” they said.