Worst Teacher!!
Hi,
I'm wondering what is your teacher's name??? It's just I absolutely had the worst food tech teacher - and believe me I am still scared ( If you want to feel better I will tell you my story....) The point is though I was ranked 5 th in the state ( not bad considering my childminder said I would fail) last year for Food Tech ( in the last HSC term I was finally removed from my food tech child-minder meet professor umbridge or "fat bitch" ( if you ever have read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoneix) and allowed to learn independently. I'm sure she's most probably told the whole school, that reason why I went so good is due to her ( my real HSC food tech teacher left half-way through the HSC)
In response to your questions here is my advice, it worked for me without a Teacher for 2 terms.......I know this doesn't exactly answer your question but if you do this there is no reason why you can't come top ten in the state.....
If you haven't got The Excel book, buy a copy ... It has NEARLY every thing you need to know ( and is really small compared to say a biology or business studies tect book - it took me barely an hour to read the whole book.) I wouldn't recommend learning from it solely though as in food tech you NEED to have EXAMPLES otherwise you will get halve marks rather than full
Second get a copy of the syllabus ( the indepth one --- can't remember whether the indepth one is in Excel book) any way its available at board of studies.nsw.edu.au ( I know its annoying when people tell you to look at the syllabus and you feel like it offers no real answers...the point is to use it as guide so you know what you should be learning)
It should be noted that both ( meaning the Jacaranda) textbooks do not have that anything on Gender issues - however this was in last years HS ( so nearly 90% certain it won't be in this years exam) Recommend business studies textbooks - just apply the info gained to the food industry/ offer food industry examples ie The fact that the jobsin the food retail sector ie Coles - jobs tend to be dominated by females especially the amount of females in managerial positions ( it is rare or non-existent to have more females than males in managerial positions - I think there are only 1-5% ( finished HSC no need to remember statistics or numbers) of women overall in Australia who hold managerial positions)
Thirdly I really recommend a copy of the Standards Packages ( I strongly recommend the 2002 ( if you can't afford the 2001), it has exemplar 20/20 examples and is a goldmine for examples) Most of your above questions have been in past HSC papers( AND it has plently of ESSAY QUESTIONS... band 5/6 etc are great - ), and these CDS not only offer correct answers they offer great examples. Ask your food tech teacher ( if she's really as terrible as mine, she'll pretend she didn't hear you) so you might want to go to the head of the faculty or you can buy them at board of studies web site ( trust me they saved my live due to the examples) ......(on an annoying note my food tech childminder just gave my class the 2002 HSC as our Yearly HSC exam ( she couldn't be bothered buying or cutting/pasting or writing an exam, which is basically or she ever did apart from telling us we were going to fail - however she did harp on and on about how hard it was for her to write the exam and how we should be greatful -obviously she really didn't believe that any of us studied)
In summary the most important thing in Food Tech second to knowing the syllabus is being able to have examples....
from a previous post last year.......................Its been nearly a year so forgive me....
AFI
This is the easiest of all food tech topics. You should pick a company that offers relevant examples to the rest of the food tech companies. Mc Donalds ( multi-national) is a great example - think salad plus - a product innovation designed to combat lost of market share (thus improve profitability) to places such as Subway ( second largest franchier now) which offered healthier options. The Salads Plus menu can be used for Reasons for Food product development and Health Issues - also for the Nutrition option
Macdonalds has also taken a huge campaign to promote the business as green ( visit a store - they should still have brochures on their recent green efforts (Even has its own reduce, reuse and recycle section)about how the litres of fat produced from each restaurant is recycled into soap and cattlefeed. Or about how the business has installed controlled water taps to reduce wastage and energy-saving lights.
The laws are really important to know in the 2004 HSC, as they are the only section not to be covered to indepth. Look out for the environmental laws, and trade practices the Excel Food Tech book has great dot points on each law - just remember the main points and then expand. More important be able to relate them to specific businesses.
FM
In studying a product you should choose everyday necessities as these have the most readily available info eg think Milk- line extensions include reduced-fat, skim, iron-enriched, calcium-enriched, omega-3 enriched ( great for examples in FPD and Nutrition also) or bread eg tip-top up
Another good option is canned foods eg canned pears. Information on the canning process is readily available ( eg Excel textbook) - foremost knowing a canned product will mean you can talk about the processes and packaging easily. If you have a food tech teacher ask if they can find you a sheet on Golden Circle Carrots it has all the QC and processes. Another idea is Yakult the website has extensive information on everything - and you can use this for nutrition eg active non-nutrients. A note to milk is the dairy-corporation of Australia in order to promote milk produces a large amount of resources check your library for there publications it has everything from production eg ( AFI) all the food products from milk ( eg yoghurt and there production) its effects on the environment ( eg cows producing methane) and social and economic effects ( eg imports and exports) also marketing eg Is your man getting enough campaign
Food Product Development
The hardest topic in terms of developing a product. Developing a line-extension of Sara Lee Bites may be more fun, and interesting to do, but it will in all likely hood limit your ability to use your knowledge from FPD in other areas of the topic and course ( I took the fun product road, and lended learning milk, just before the exam, however if taking the product is great for Steps in Food Product Development). Eg developing of a bread enriched with omega-3's, vitamin E . Crucially in product development if done well ,you should be able to change your product's name in an exam to a real product eg above product development could be changed to the product Tip Top Up which is Omega-3 fortified bread line-extension by Tip Top.
Just remember examples you need EXAMPLES for everything - the standards package 2002 has a great FPD essay ( exemplar) if you can't be bothered to think of some. And Product Tests , this is part of your syllabus outcomes and has been in every exam so far -
Nutrition
Two things crucial - the knowledge learned hear should be applied to Food product Development topic eg Gluten-free breads have been developed due to people suffering Coeliacs disease. Milk-intolerances have led to lactose-free milk. The immense impact of people suffering from heart-disease has called for products to be lower in fat ( especially saturated fat) , salt, cholesterol and fibre eg Arnotts Snack Right.
New things to learn will include FIGAC ( acronyms really help !!!) Food Industry, Private Agencies, Community groups, Individuals, Governments. However, you should have examples from previous topics eg Food Industry eg Food Service and Catering Macdonalds
To conclude Food Tech is a really enjoyable and easy subject. You don't need a food tech teacher ( Although you might want to consider being removed from her childminding sessions) Just examples, and examples which you can interlate to the whole course are absolutely fab
It really cuts down your work, you can learn the whole course in a month or week.
Goodluck!!!!!!!!!
Sirius.