How to improve in Skills tasks? (1 Viewer)

goodcat911

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I seem to always mess skills tasks up in exams. Depth studies and theory exams are fine because I usually know the content well enough but anyone have any tips on how to improve my performance for skills? Also would appreciate some data processing question bank if anyone has ๐Ÿฅบ
 

howcanibesmarter

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By skills here I'm assuming you mean calculation-based questions? And since you've mentioned depth study and theory exams I'm guessing its one of the three sciences, more likely bio by the looks of it. I can give you tips based on what I do for physics, so take this info with a grain of salt :)

Most calculation questions are built upon theory stuff. They are intended to assess your "knowledge and understanding", and how you are able to apply it in a problem where you are asked to implement formulas and such. These questions are actually not too hard to get your head wrapped around, it is more on how much you practice beforehand. If you purely focus on similar questions where you test these "skills", the solutions will typically come with ease. I'd say theory is actually the hardest bit since it is a lot of memorisation, and if you know your theory well, then once you get a feel for these "skills" questions (I'm still not completely sure what you mean by this) it should be a lot easier.

Also I'm not sure if you meant theory exams? Idk about bio but I'm pretty sure there isn't a test for chem and phys where they purely test theory content...Again these are pretty general, could you perhaps be more specific or give me a little bit more context :)
 

nsw..wollongong

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r these skills tests for something like geo? bc i know that they have internal tasks for theory vs skills exams
 

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By skills here I'm assuming you mean calculation-based questions? And since you've mentioned depth study and theory exams I'm guessing its one of the three sciences, more likely bio by the looks of it. I can give you tips based on what I do for physics, so take this info with a grain of salt :)

Most calculation questions are built upon theory stuff. They are intended to assess your "knowledge and understanding", and how you are able to apply it in a problem where you are asked to implement formulas and such. These questions are actually not too hard to get your head wrapped around, it is more on how much you practice beforehand. If you purely focus on similar questions where you test these "skills", the solutions will typically come with ease. I'd say theory is actually the hardest bit since it is a lot of memorisation, and if you know your theory well, then once you get a feel for these "skills" questions (I'm still not completely sure what you mean by this) it should be a lot easier.

Also I'm not sure if you meant theory exams? Idk about bio but I'm pretty sure there isn't a test for chem and phys where they purely test theory content...Again these are pretty general, could you perhaps be more specific or give me a little bit more context :)
r these skills tests for something like geo? bc i know that they have internal tasks for theory vs skills exams
He's talking about scientific skills in science.
Allat useless crap that we need to apply into exams for some reason. i.e. graphing using a pencil and determining if line or curve of best fit will work w/ the qn
 

scaryshark09

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those skills assessments are bs. we have one coming up for physics and you can't even prepare cause its just some random prac task that we find out about on the day :(
 

synthesisFR

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fr chem and phys skills tasks r disgusting ๐Ÿ’€
bio skills exams are just weird, asking u to dissect a cow's eye in 5 mins...
we dissected a cows eye (and kidney and heart but yeh) and then when my friend cut into it not very carefully all the black humor came out everywhere it was insane lmao.
 

howcanibesmarter

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He's talking about scientific skills in science.
Allat useless crap that we need to apply into exams for some reason. i.e. graphing using a pencil and determining if line or curve of best fit will work w/ the qn
ohhh working scientifically LOL
yea fax i agree cus i got 18/20 for theory/calcuations then dropped a fat 13/20 for my working scientifically thats a ggs right there
 

howcanibesmarter

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I think with working scientifically, these are just the main things

- just make sure you revise the validity, reliability, accuracy, etc (able to come up with methods to increase every, and be able to distinct from one another, i.e. how repeating data isn't increasing reliability, its only assessing it. you could have a high reliability -closeness of the values- but poor accuracy - far from the accepted values. )
- linearisation of data (this one's relativity simple if you take maths)
- dependant, independent, controlled variables etc should be pretty simple
- graphing line of best fit, labelling axis with correct units, removing outliers etc
- Using gradient to calculate stuff. Rearranging equations to fit in gradient etc

If you know and revised all of these, you should be set with most questions (this was kinda my list I looked at before I sat my trials and this got covered)
Might have missed some though cus this was just on the top of my head :)
 

nsw..wollongong

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I think with working scientifically, these are just the main things

- just make sure you revise the validity, reliability, accuracy, etc (able to come up with methods to increase every, and be able to distinct from one another, i.e. how repeating data isn't increasing reliability, its only assessing it. you could have a high reliability -closeness of the values- but poor accuracy - far from the accepted values. )
- linearisation of data (this one's relativity simple if you take maths)
- dependant, independent, controlled variables etc should be pretty simple
- graphing line of best fit, labelling axis with correct units, removing outliers etc
- Using gradient to calculate stuff. Rearranging equations to fit in gradient etc

If you know and revised all of these, you should be set with most questions (this was kinda my list I looked at before I sat my trials and this got covered)
Might have missed some though cus this was just on the top of my head :)
ooo yes and its always important to pinpoint the difference between accuracy and precision, and reliability and consistency.
with analysing graphs, u should talk about: strength, direction, trend, relationship, type.

do not, pls, do not graph with a pen. i got like 2 marks taken off bc i was too lazy to use a pencil (might just be my teachers tho)
 

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I think with working scientifically, these are just the main things

- just make sure you revise the validity, reliability, accuracy, etc (able to come up with methods to increase every, and be able to distinct from one another, i.e. how repeating data isn't increasing reliability, its only assessing it. you could have a high reliability -closeness of the values- but poor accuracy - far from the accepted values. )
- linearisation of data (this one's relativity simple if you take maths)
- dependant, independent, controlled variables etc should be pretty simple
- graphing line of best fit, labelling axis with correct units, removing outliers etc
- Using gradient to calculate stuff. Rearranging equations to fit in gradient etc

If you know and revised all of these, you should be set with most questions (this was kinda my list I looked at before I sat my trials and this got covered)
Might have missed some though cus this was just on the top of my head :)
probs shouldn't forget what curve of best fit is. I never knew it was a thing in science ngl.
 

maddog707

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I seem to always mess skills tasks up in exams. Depth studies and theory exams are fine because I usually know the content well enough but anyone have any tips on how to improve my performance for skills? Also would appreciate some data processing question bank if anyone has ๐Ÿฅบ
Honestly, I've found that people who do bad in these kinds of tests continue to do bad in Year 12 exams of a similar type. It's really hard to get into a correct mindset if you've been slacking off in your first couple years in high school. So if your total ineptitude has caused you to lack certain skills in this area, then I would say that you have very little hope unless you get your act together. First of all, don't post on random forums and instead find a study method to ace your bio hsc. Secondly, stop lamenting about your lack of skill on an online forum and focus on developing your own skills. Thirdly, if you can't do any of the first two, just accept your failure because you're getting a mystery mark. Now, consider all of the above. If you lack the skills to accomplish anything in the future, you should consider becoming a janitor or distributor of school resources like you have done in the past. Good luck with your bio hsc mowi, you'll need it.
 

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