What is the status of the set task in VCE English?
November 28, 2025 by Doug McCurry from BooBook Education
What is the status of the set task in the VCE English Exam?
The nature of the set tasks and the expectations of the markers are crucial in VCE English, as in most exams. The tasks and the expectations of the markers control the way and the extent to which students (and teachers) can prepare for the exam.
How would we best prepare students for VCE Section A questions?
October 26, 2025 by Doug McCurry from BooBook Education
How would we best prepare students for VCE Section A questions?
According to the Executive Examiner for VCE English, there are four kinds of Section A questions: propositional, quotation, direct and hybrid. We were originally told that there would be no questions about single characters in the new course, but that seems to have been extended into there being no named characters in questions. The author is resurrected in current questions, but characters are buried. It also seems that there are to be no references in questions to incidents, plot or setting. One wonders at the rationale for this peculiar approach to a text list that is 75% fiction.
Learning from testing
October 25, 2025 by Doug McCurry from BooBook Education
Learning from testing: testing for learning
While working on GAT preparation materials recently, I have been increasingly aware of the way a good test has educational potential, and that a good test is a way of examining thinking processes for teachers and students. There is reason for thinking that good test items can be used to teach students things.
Are the Section B exam tasks going to differ in 2025?
June 11, 2025 by Doug McCurry from BooBook Education
Are the Section B exam tasks going to differ in 2025?
The VCAA seems to be trying to improve communication about the mysteries of the examination process by adding a presentation by the Chief Assessor to the English assessment pages of the website.
What can we infer from the Section B examples in the exam report?
June 6, 2025 by Doug McCurry from BooBook Education
What can we infer from the Section B examples in the exam report?
It is praiseworthy that the exam report offered nine full examples of Section B responses.
