Instead of doing past VJC prelim to prepare for VJC prelim, we did the harder HCI, RI and NY prelim. She got A for VJC 2024 prelim (80-100 percentile)

So it is not compulsory to do past own school prelim. My TMJC student also got A in 2024 prelim by doing the harder HCI, RI and NY prelim in the same group tuition.