Alright, your last SAC is coming up, finally there is light at the end of the tunnel. Um, before the journey into the longer, darker and scarier tunnel which is the final exam but let’s get to that later. I’ve got some tips here to help you nail that last SAC and possibly (hopefully!!) boost your Study Score in the end!!
Depending on how long your SACS are you need to practice finishing one in time. The Legal exam is a very close call when it comes to timing and most schools structure SACS in the same way in order for you to practice.
Time every single answer. Please. You have about 1.5 minutes per mark the way your exam is set up and I would aim for that in your SAC as well, regardless of how much time you have. This way you finish your SAC early if your teachers are generous with time and have time to look over your answers (and catch all those nasty spelling errors!!) So set a timer every time you do a practice question or if you’re completing an entire SAC and nail those answers in time.
Okay, this is a very very weird tip but I thought I would share. To improve the speed of your handwriting use a heavy pen when you’re practicing your answers and then when it comes to the actual SAC/Exam, use a super light pen. Because your hand would be getting used to the weight, you’ll end up writing faster!
Next tip: avoid mistakes you’ve made before. Look over your past SACS to see where you lost marks. Did you not evaluate something properly? Go ahead and do a few similar questions! If you lost a mark because you missed out on key points, make sure you’ve got all the information you need by identifying areas you’re not so sure about and do a bunch of practice questions on those!! If you haven’t got your past SACS, please ask your teacher for them, they are super handy to have especially when it comes to exam prep.
Another way I like to do this is to make a mistakes table. It kind of looks like this:
When you record your mistakes down in a table, you are way less likely to make them again. I only did this when it came to my exams but it would have been so beneficial if I did it throughout the year too.
A great way to understand what you need to focus on is the traffic light activity, our teacher made us do this last year and it was so helpful in the end. Copy and paste all the relevant dot points for your SAC into a word document and go ahead and highlight everything you’re super sure about in green. If you can properly explain this to someone else, safe to mark it green. For dot points you’re not so sure about but you still have a brief understanding on, highlight them in orange. And lastly, everything you’re sitting there thinking ‘I know nothing oh my god’ at becomes red. Don’t stress if you have a lot of red, I did too!! At least you know where to start now.
Lastly, don’t stress too much! Here’s a little secret: I got a 76% on my last SAC and I still ended up getting the Study Score I wanted. So just breathe and work through everything in little chunks. Ask for help when you need it, use your teachers!! They are truly the best resource you have!! Good luck, you guys are all going to smash it!!