By Simon Phelan
Year 12 Coordinator, Penola Catholic College

In my opinion, the Study Design is one of the most important study aids a student can have throughout their VCE studies. I recommend having two copies of the Study Design for each subject you are studying. I provide these copies to my classes at the start of the year. The first copy is kept at school, in the folder my students have set aside for this subject. This way they can bring it to each class and refer to it when asked. The second copy is taken home and referred to as needed when completing homework or studying for a SAC or the examination.

How do you use the Study Design?

As we know, the Study Design contains a series of key knowledge dot points identifying the topics in each area of study. It is possible that each Unit will have a different number of areas of study and a different number of key knowledge points.

The Study Design also contains a list of key skills. This is a list of what you are expected to be able to do with the key knowledge that you have learnt. It comprises a series of command terms linked to the key knowledge.

As you progress through the course, annotate your copies of the Study Design.

• Tick or highlight each key knowledge point as they are taught and discussed in class.
• Colour-code each key knowledge point in terms of how confident you are in your understanding of each, using a ‘traffic light’ system.
• Use green highlighting for the key knowledge points you are confident about.
• Use red highlighting for the key knowledge points where your understanding is poor and further discussion or instruction is required.
• Use orange highlighting for the key knowledge points where you are unsure and may wish to revise or practise more before switching to green.

This system is a useful tool for preparation for each assessment task during the year, and can be used to focus your revision in the lead-up to the end-of-year examination.

The key knowledge points highlighted in red should receive more revision time than those highlighted in green.

How do we use the key skills in study and revision?

The starting point is to match the key skills to the key knowledge. Take the following examples from the Business Management Study Design:

Key knowledge

• types of businesses including sole traders, partnerships, private limited companies, public listed companies, social enterprises and government business enterprises
• business objectives including to make a profit, to increase market share, to improve efficiency, to improve effectiveness, to fulfil a market need, to fulfil a social need and to meet shareholder expectations

Key skills

• identify, define, describe and apply business management concepts and terms

To connect the key knowledge with the key skills, ask yourself questions such as:

• Can you define the different types of businesses?
• Can you describe each of the business objectives?

The different types of businesses and the objectives of a business are concepts and terms in Business Management that students need to know.

Another example from Business Management is:

Key knowledge

• key principles of the following theories of motivation: Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow), Goal Setting Theory (Locke and Latham) and the Four Drive Theory (Lawrence and Nohria)

Key skills

• identify, define, describe and apply business management concepts and terms
• interpret, discuss, compare and evaluate business information, theories and ideas

Students need to be able to describe these motivation theories as well as discuss, compare and evaluate them.

Hence it is important to not only know the key knowledge points but also be able to link them to the appropriate key skills. This will improve your ability to respond to questions in assessment tasks and the examination.