Many students do not realise that the VCAA Study Design is the document that drives the curriculum. I have written some Summary Notes books for Further Mathematics, Mathematical Methods and Specialist Mathematics and I keep being asked: "What textbook does your book follow?"
The answer is "The Summary Notes books do not follow a textbook; they follow the VCAA Study Design." This brings me to you, the student. If you want to be up-to-date with the VCAA requirements, you have to start with the Study Design.
I am going to use the VCAA Study Design for Further Mathematics to show you how to study, revise, build up notes, write comprehensive and easy to follow concept maps.
Step 1 Download a copy of the VCAA Study Design.
Step 2 Grab 4 sheets of A4 paper or use a word document to complete this step.
Step 3 At the top of each sheet write the two topics in UNIT 3 - Core and the two modules in UNIT 4 - Applications (I am going to use the 4 modules here). It is always a good idea to colour-code the topics.
Step 4 Start filling up the sheets, one by one, with the Key knowledge and Key skills. This step requires time so just concentrate on one topic at a time.
Note Do not just copy the text from the study design; write each skill in your own words, make a diagram, draw a graph ... make it stand out.
Example
Let us start with "Investigating data distributions, including:
• review of types of data"
Remember to check the Outcomes as well. From Outcome 1,
"• types of data: categorical (nominal and ordinal) and numerical (discrete and continuous)"
Here are a couple of ideas of how to represent the types of data:
Drawing diagrams/graphs or adding pictures to your notes helps you revise and consolidate your knowledge just by glancing over the page. Even if you just flick through pages like this one it helps you reinforce the facts.
Do not just memorise these facts without understanding what they mean or represent. You should also leave a bit of space for other notes that you might find or think of later.
For example, postcodes (although look numerical) are categorical data.
Are you still a bit stuck?
Need some ideas of where to start or what to do next?
Just comment below and we will be happy to help :)