Assessment and exam practice.

Try this with Investigating Science

1. Check the task format, time limit and permitted materials with your school.
2. Start with one timed section or task and record where you spent the most time.
3. Review errors before attempting another section. Separate missing knowledge from timing problems.

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Practice paper focus areas

• Exam 1 — Marshall and Warren's self-experiment and the linear method; Digital versus analogue thermometers at a weather station; Correlation and causation in a music-and-memory claim
• Exam 2 — Eratosthenes' measurement of Earth's circumference; Pressure-volume investigation with a data logger and line of best fit; Placebo-controlled trial of a sleep supplement
• Exam 3 — Von Helmont's willow tree and testing a previous conclusion; Random and systematic error in a reaction-rate experiment; Conflict of interest in beverage-industry research
• Exam 4 — Spencer and the microwave: chance observation to technology; Safety data sheet and risk assessment for a heated-gas experiment; The halo effect in a celebrity skincare campaign
• Exam 5 — Priestley's experiments with oxygen; Writing a valid method for a temperature and gas-volume investigation; The 1991 hormone replacement therapy study
• Exam 6 — Doppler effect investigation with phones and sound frequency; Speed and distance travelled: graphing and accuracy; Publish or perish and the volume of scientific papers
• Exam 7 — Ethics of an animal-behaviour field study; Sample size and selection in a survey of screen time; Numerology as pseudoscience
• Exam 8 — Validity and reliability of a seedling-watering investigation; Constructing a results table with correct units and precision; Double-blind design for a copper-bracelet pain claim
• Exam 9 — Structure and conventions of a peer-reviewed report; Data logger uncertainty and an implausible reading; Iridology and manipulation of scientific language
• Exam 10 — Choosing experimental testing, fieldwork, surveys or modelling; Aboriginal knowledge of native plants and bioharvesting; Manipulation of statistical data in a company graph
• Exam 11 — The Hawthorne effect in a classroom-lighting study; Comparing accuracy of two blood pressure monitors; Health claims on food packaging
• Exam 12 — Writing a hypothesis from field data on butterflies; Calibration error in a boiling-point measurement; Contemporary debate: climate reporting in the media
• Exam 13 — Marshall and Warren judged against the peer-reviewed literature of the time; Reaction time and measurement technology; Theory, hypothesis, belief and law in headlines
• Exam 14 — Planning a claim test: chocolate bar mass; Random versus systematic error and repeat trials; Societal influences on remedies for health conditions
• Exam 15 — Depth-study report evaluation: diet cola and mints; Line of best fit and identifying an outlier; Pons and Fleischmann's cold fusion announcement
• Exam 16 — Justifying materials, cost, risk and time frame in an investigation; Earthquake-resistant buildings and Newton's laws; Hoax papers: Smolyanitsky and Spears
• Exam 17 — Working individually or collaboratively; Mercury versus digital thermometers and safety; Evidence-based versus emotive product efficacy claims
• Exam 18 — Non-linear method in modern research; Measuring speed with light gates versus stopwatches; Control groups and sample bias in a supplement study
• Exam 19 — Investigating a scientist who falsified results; Reliability across repeated digital measurements; Correlation versus causation in a sugar and hyperactivity claim
• Exam 20 — Writing a method to test a sports-drink claim; Graphing temperature and reaction time with correct axes; Media portrayal of a vaccine debate