The VCE Maths Methods Study Design changes about every four years. The current study design was originally intended for 2016 to 2018 but now has been extended to 2020.
You can see the latest VCE Maths study design below:
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/mathematics/MathematicsSD-2016.pdf
It’s important to know when the study design changes, especially if you are doing questions from previous year VCAA exams (as you should be).
VCE Maths Methods has had the same basic four topics for as long as time itself, namely:
1. Functions & Relations
2. Algebra (Logs, exponentials and sin, cos & tan)
3. Calculus (Differentiation, Integration and Velocity & Acceleration)
4. Probability (Basics probability, Discrete Random Variables and Continuous Random Variables)
The two biggest changes in recent history have been to Probability topic:
1. The introduction of Statistics (which is surprisingly similar the other Probability topics)
2. The removal of matrices stuff (a complicated topic called Markov Chains)
There are a few other changes as well, but these are the main ones.
In short:
If you are using materials made before 2016 (whether that be a textbook or Cambridge Checkpoints or whatever), you need to be aware of the above changes.
When going through VCAA exams (which are probably the best way to prepare yourself for the end of year exam), also you are made aware of these changes.
