Victorian Certificate of Education

VCE studies are assessed both internally (in school) and externally (through the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA). During units 1/2 all assessment is internal, while in units 3/4 assessment is conducted both internally and externally.[10]

VCE Vocational Major units are only assessed internally.[11]

Internal assessment is conducted via "school assessed coursework" (SACs) and "school assessed tasks" (SATs).

"School assessed coursework" (SACs) are the primary avenue of internal assessment, with assessment in every VCE study consisting of at least one SAC.[10] SACs are tasks that are written by the school and must be done primarily in class time; they can include essays, reports, tests, and case studies. Some studies in the visual arts and technology areas are also assessed via "school assessed tasks" (SATs). SATs are generally practical tasks that are examined in school. Both SACs and SATs are scaled by VCAA against external assessment; this is to eliminate any cheating or variances in task difficulty.

External assessment is conducted in the form of examinations set by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority for units 3/4 studies. As of 2013, only the General Achievement Test (GAT) will be examined in June, with all subjects now only having one external assessment with the exceptions of mathematics subjects, LOTE studies, which consist of both a written and oral external test, performance studies, which consist of both a written external test and a performance, and Extended Investigations, which consist of an oral presentation and a Critical Thinking Test. All examinations except the Critical Thinking Test for Extended Investigation and the GAT are held in late October and most of November.

Subjects in the LOTE field (languages other than English) are also assessed in the form of oral examinations. Subjects in the Dance, Drama/Theatre Studies and Music fields, as well as Extended Investigations, are assessed by a performance for a VCAA panel of examiners as part of their external assessment. All performance-based external assessments (Oral Examinations and Music Performances) are typically held in early October.

The GAT is an essential part of VCE external assessment. It provides the basis for a quality assurance check on the marking of examinations, and for deriving an indicative study score if the student misses the external assessment with a valid reason. All students who are enrolled in a VCE units 3/4 study are required to some or all of the GAT, including students completing the VCE Vocational Major.[12]

The normal distribution graph of VCE study scores. Note: Students can only achieve a study score of no more than 50.

Students will be eligible for a study score of between 0 and 50 if they have completed at least two Graded Assessments, and have satisfactorily completed both units 3/4 of a VCE study. Study scores are calculated by VCAA, and indicate a student's performance in relation to all other students who undertook that study.

Study scores are calculated by combining the standardised scores for each Graded Assessment with specific percentages, then ranked against all students in the subject according to a normal distribution, where the mean is 30 and the standard deviation is 7, with most study scores falling between 23 and 37. For studies with many enrolments (1000 or more), a study score of 40 or more places a student in the top 9% of all students in that subject.[13]

If a student is ill or affected by other personal circumstances during an external assessment, and whose result is unlikely to be a fair or accurate demonstration of their learning or achievement, they may apply for a derived examination score (DES). Long-term illness or other ongoing conditions that have been present over the year are not eligible for a DES. Students will need to supply independent evidence to apply for a DES, and will be examined case by case by VCAA. The derived score is calculated statistically from the student’s other assessments, including school-based assessments, GAT scores, other external assessment scores (if available) and grades provided by the school.[14]

Scaling is the process that adjusts VCE study scores into ATAR subject scores. The Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC) adjusts all VCE study scores to equalise results between studies with stronger cohorts, and those with weaker ones. Contrary to common perception, scaling is not based on the difficulty of the subject, as each study score is in fact a ranking. The score adjustment ensures that in those subjects where it is easier to overtake the cohort, the score is adjusted downwards, while in subjects where it is difficult to score highly, it is moved upwards. This makes sure obtaining the average score in one study required the same level of achievement as every other study.[15]

Mathematics subjects and language subjects have additional scaling rules. In mathematics subjects (General Mathematics, Mathematical Methods and Specialist Mathematics), all three studies are scaled against each other in addition to being scaled against all other studies, then the higher of the two scaling scores will then be used. This is due to mathematics having a distinct hierarchy of studies with varying difficulties, so students studying the harder subjects will not be disadvantaged by the level of difficulty. In LOTE (Languages Other Than English) subjects, study scores are adjusted by adding up to five to the initial scaled study score average. This adjustment is different for each subject and score, and decreases as the study score moves away from 30.[16]

It is possible for students to complete an unscored VCE. Under this option, students complete the VCE course but do not sit final exams and are not given an ATAR. The number of students completing an unscored VCE has increased every year since 2015, with 8.3% of VCE students completing an unscored VCE in 2020.[21]

VCE studies refer to the various subjects available to students to contribute to their successful completion of the qualification. There are currently 128 VCE studies, ranging from diverse fields such as the humanities, science, technology and mathematics. Studies are also permitted to study one or more VCE VET programs, vocational education-based subjects which contribute to the completion of the VCE, whilst also resulting in a nationally recognised VET qualification.

Although a student may choose to study any VCE subject in theory, this is dependent on availability of the specified study at the student's school. Certain schools do not offer certain studies, and as a result, students may pick alternate ones, or choose to study a particular subject through an external institution such as Virtual School Victoria (formerly Distance Education Centre Victoria).

To be awarded the VCE, a student must successfully complete at least:

• 3 units of an English subject, with two of those being units 3 and 4
• Three additional Unit 3/4 sequences
• Pass with a satisfactory of at least 16 units out of the normal 20-24 units[22]

This therefore means that a student must study at least four subjects to be awarded the VCE. Selection of studies depends on other factors as well, such as prerequisites for university courses.

The following is a list of all VCE studies available:
† indicates that study is only available at 3/4 level, * indicates that study is only available at 1/2 level.

There are also University Extension studies available for high-achieving students. These subjects are carried out through multiple universities, including The University of Melbourne,[23] Swinburne University[24] and Deakin University.[25] Monash University formerly[26] offered extension subjects, but cancelled the program in 2019.

The 2011 English exam contained a column about tattoos attributed to "part-time journalist and blogger Helen Day", who wrote for the fictional "Street Beat" blog. The Age newspaper accused VCAA of plagiarism and breach of copyright as the column was very similar to an opinion piece featured in the newspaper's 23 September 2010 edition, written by Melbourne writer Helen Razer. The newspaper called the exam's column "clumsily edited".[27]

In 2012, the History: Revolutions exam was meant to include a picture of Nikolai Kochergin's artwork Storming the Winter Palace on 25th October 1917, depicting the events of the 1917 October Revolution in Russia. Instead, a doctored picture was used in the exam, in which a large robot had been edited in to the background of the scene. (Said robot was a Marauder from BattleTech, a science fiction setting in which a fictional 28th century general named 'Aleksandr Kerensky' like the nonfictional October Revolution leader played an important role during a pivotal coup and civil war.) A VCAA spokesperson admitted that the image was "sourced and acknowledged by the VCAA as coming from the Internet", and new internal guidelines were issued for using internet-sourced content in exams.[28][29] Of the 5,738 students that sat the exam, 2,379 chose the Russia section, of which 130 received an adjusted score.[30]

In 2016, a computer error allowed for 2075 students (approximately 2.5% of VCE candidates) to receive their ATAR score and VCE results five days earlier than they were supposed to be announced. External SMS provider for VCAA and the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC), Salmat Digital, created an error that enabled students to receive their results before the expected release date by texting VCAA.[31] Suzanne Connelly, a spokeswoman for VTAC and VCAA, apologised on behalf of all agencies involved.[32]

This sparked outrage from parents of students who did not receive their scores, considering it as "unfair".[33] Students who were able to receive their results also questioned its legitimacy and reliability. The VCAA and VTAC acted to contact affected students and their schools to reassure them regarding the accidental early results release. The release of the remaining 97.5% of results took place without further issue at the planned time. Education Minister James Merlino ordered an investigation into the situation, which had compromised results that are normally closely guarded until the official release.[34]

The 2018 English exam included an article in which fictional writer Jonty Jenkins scathingly attacked a cafe franchise named "Calmer Coffee" opening in his local town, criticising its unfriendly staff and unwelcoming ambience that he described as "an assault on the senses". After the exam completed, students discovered that a real "Calmer Cafe" existed in Aberfeldie, a suburb just north-west of Melbourne. The cafe's manager, Elise Jenkins, shares the same surname as the exam question's fictional writer. Within hours, the cafe received over 100 negative reviews on Google Maps from Year 12 students, bringing down its rating from nearly 5 stars to as low as 3.3.[35][36] Google Maps temporarily removed the cafe from search results, and later reinstated it but kept reviews inaccessible. At the time, the cafe had 405 reviews.[37]

The next day, Tara Conron, owner of the cafe, told The Age she had hired a lawyer and would be pursuing legal action against VCAA for "uncanny" similarities between the exam and the actual cafe. Conron noted the identical surnames of Jenkins, stated that she employs someone with a "man bun", as does the employer in the exam article, and both the fictional and actual cafe "stand out" in their respective suburbs.[36]

A year later, it was reported that Conron was no longer pursuing legal action against VCAA, telling The Age that the cafe staff had placed the matter behind them, and saying "we’ve just loved to joke about it this year".[38]

On 11 November 2022 The Age newspaper published an article ("For some, this VCE maths exam didn't add up")[39] alleging errors on the 2022 Specialist Mathematics Exam 2 that included:

Section A Question 4: No correct answer (because the values of a and c can be any real number),

Section A Question 19: No correct answer (because confidence intervals are calculated for unknown population means, not for sample means),

Section B: Question 6 part (f) (the question cannot be answered because the relevant random variables are not stated to be independent).

The Examination Report published by the VCAA for this Exam makes no acknowledgement of these alleged errors. The answers used by the VCAA to mark this exam are not available to the public. It is reasonable to assume they are the same as the answers given in the Examination Report.

The alleged errors in this exam (as well as an alleged error in the marking scheme used for 2022 Specialist Mathematics Exam 1 Question 3 part (b)) form part of a public submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into the state of education in Victoria (Parliamentary Inquiry submission 32). The Herald Sun has reported on this submission (Herald-Sun 7 September 2023 front page and page 7 "Maths exams don't add up") (Mistake-riddled VCE exams robbing students) and it received further media coverage on Sky News Australia (VCE maths exams riddled with errors for decades, expert claims). A supplement (32.3) to the aforementioned submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry includes a detailed mathematical rebuttal of the VCAA's claims that the "questions did not present errors" (Herald-Sun 7 September 2023 page 7 "Maths exams don't add up").

The public submission (Parliamentary Inquiry) also alleges errors on many other VCE mathematics exams over a twenty year period (reported in the Herald-Sun 7 September 2023 front page and page 7 "Maths exams don't add up") (Mistake-riddled VCE exams robbing students)), including:

1. 2016 Mathematical Methods Exam 2 Section B Question 3 part (h) where a function is incorrectly claimed to be a probability density function (pdf). An amended Examination Report (2016 Mathematical Methods Exam 2 Report) acknowledges that the function was not a pdf but does not admit an error and does not explain why, contrary to the instruction in the exam question, "Answers that were correct to the nearest integer were accepted".

2. Northern Hemisphere Timetable 2021 Mathematical Methods Exam 2 Section A Question 8, for which there is no correct answer. The original Examination Report (no longer publicly available) stated Option D as the correct answer. This answer is deleted in an amended Examination Report (2021 Mathematical Methods Exam 2 Report). No answer is stated and no explanation is given for why no answer is stated. Question 4 from an official 2010 VCAA document (Mathematical Methods Sample Questions) contains the same error. It is reasonable to assume that this document is the source of the 2021 exam error. There is no evidence that the VCAA has ever alerted teachers to the error in this document.

Mathematician, educator and author Marty Ross has extensively documented and discussed many alleged VCE Mathematical Methods Exam errors and VCE Specialist Mathematics Exam errors.

On 8 September 2023 the Herald Sun newspaper published an article about colour blind students being given red-green scaled maps in the 2022 Geography Exam (Herald-Sun 8 September 2023 page 11 "Students see red ... or not") (Colour blind students forgotten in VCE Geography exam).