Exam preparation

Prepare Effectively
Schedule regular revision if there is a long time between the exam and the end of classes.

Practice, practice, practice!
Students should practice writing responses in the examination booklets that have been provided below and are linked at the bottom of this page.
These responses should be forwarded to your teacher as you go so that you continue to improve with regular feedback.
Practice writing responses in the associated time limitations – generally 1 minute per mark.

The high marks are in the detail and the greater context of your artistic knowledge coming into your responses.

Have a clear understanding of the structure of the examination.
Section A – approximately 75%
Responding to artworks you have not seen before.
Some questions will focus solely on the artwork and some will include information that must be referenced in your response.
Section B – approximately 25%
Writing about artists and their creative practices that you have studied through the year.

There are extended comparative responses on both sections of the exam paper.

Determine which section is best for you to start with. Section A or Section B
You may decide to do Section B larger questions first as this require memory of facts, names, titles and dates.

Use your reading time well! 
Use your reading time to study the unseen artworks very carefully and start mentally preparing what you will write (i.e key points of comparison, language to use for elements/principles etc).
Write down a few dot points after reading time. This can be done on the blank section of the page for that question.
There will be spare lined paper at the back of the exam paper if your written responses extend beyond the available space.

Check out the allocation for marks.
If there are 90 marks for a 90-minute exam then it is one mark per minute.
The sample has 80 marks so just over 1 mark per minute.

Answer all questions! 
Even a few dot points can get you marks.

Examination sample papers, Examiners reports and sample responses.

Read previous VCAA Art Exam papers and samples.

Analyse the VCAA Examiners reports to determine where others went well and went wrong.

Other practice exam documents with multiple exam samples in them include:
TSSM Art Creative Practice sample examinations and responses
Target Learning Art Creative Practice sample examinations and responses