VCE past exams: where the official VCAA papers and examination reports are for every study, which years match the current study design (Biology from 2022, Psychology and Methods from 2023, Chemistry, Physics and English from 2024), what the reports give you, the NHT papers, how to use them from Term 1 to the exam, and a printable paper tracker

Every VCE past examination is free on the VCAA's website, with the examination report that tells you what the state scored on each question, and most Year 12 students still work from a commercial book of someone else's questions. The official papers are the only ones written by the examiners who will write this year's, and the reports are the only published marking. This page is a map: which years belong to the current study design for each of the main studies, what the earlier years are still good for, what the specifications, sample papers, formula sheets and NHT papers add, how to use the papers across the year, and a printable tracker so every paper done is recorded with its mark and its lesson.

Download the VCE past paper map and tracker (PDF) (the years under the current study design for twelve studies, what each document is for, the four-pass method and the marking rules, and a 24-paper tracker; two pages, free).

What the VCAA publishes for every study

The index page is Examination specifications, past examinations and external assessment reports on vcaa.vic.edu.au, with one page per study. Each study page has four kinds of document:

Plus, for the sciences and mathematics, the sheet that is given in the exam: the Chemistry data book (2026 version 2, February 2026), the Physics formula sheet (February 2026), and the Mathematical Methods formula sheets for Examinations 1 and 2 (August 2024). Learn what is on them in Term 1 and never memorise what they give.

Which years match the current study design

From the VCAA's study pages, read on 25 October 2026. "Current" means the years the VCAA lists under examinations relating to the current study design; "previous" means the years it lists with the note that they are not necessarily a guide to the current examination.

Three things to read off the table:

• Chemistry, Physics and English have only two November papers under the current design. Add the NHT papers (two for each science) and the sample examination, and that is five full papers. Then go to the previous-design papers: the 2017 to 2023 Chemistry and Physics papers are on the same core content (equilibrium, redox, organic, fields, motion, light and matter) with some topics moved or dropped, and the examination reports still teach the marking. Use them by topic, not as timed papers, and check the examination specifications for anything that is no longer assessed.
• Biology, Psychology and the mathematics studies have three or four full years, which with the NHT papers is enough for a timed paper a fortnight from Term 2.
• The mathematics studies have two examinations, and Examination 1 for Methods and Specialist is technology-free (one hour); Examination 2 (two hours) assumes the approved technology. Practise them as different exams: the first is by-hand algebra and calculus under time, the second is modelling with the calculator.

How to use the papers from Term 1 to the exam

The four-pass method, the same one we use for the HSC:

1. Pass one, Term 1, by topic. After each area of study is taught, do that area's questions from three previous-design papers, untimed, with the report open after each question. The aim is to learn how marks are earned: where a 3-mark question needs three distinct points, where a calculation needs the unit, where "explain" means a mechanism and not a description.
2. Pass two, Term 2, the current-design papers, untimed. One a fortnight, the whole paper, marked to the report with the state mean beside each question. Record the questions below the state mean in the tracker; those are the work for the week.
3. Pass three, Term 3, timed. The current-design papers again (a paper done in Term 2 is new again by Term 3), the NHT papers, and the sample examination, under exam time with the data book or formula sheet only. Mark strictly; a method mark is not earned by a method the examiner cannot follow.
4. Pass four, the fortnight before the exam. The two most recent November papers, timed, on the exam's day of the week at the exam's hour, then the examination report read in full, including the assessors' comments on the written questions. Nothing new in the last week; the paper the student has done twice is the one that predicts the exam.

Marking rules that cost marks every year, from the examination reports' comments: a unit missing or wrong on a numerical answer; significant figures that ignore the data; a multiple-choice question left blank (there is no penalty for a wrong answer); "describe" answered as "explain" and the reverse; in the sciences, an answer that names the right concept and does not apply it to the scenario in the question; in English, an essay that does not answer the exact prompt; in mathematics, a final answer without the working on a question worth more than one mark, and an Examination 1 answer that relies on a calculator result the student cannot show.

How we teach VCE exam preparation

One tutor, one student, online in Melbourne's after-school hours, and every paper in this table marked by the tutor to the examination report, with the state mean beside each question, so the student sees exactly where they are above and below the state. From Term 2 the student sits a full paper a fortnight; the lesson is the questions below the mean, nothing else. The first 30-minute class is free; send the study list and the last SAC on WhatsApp or the contact page. What the score is made of is on VCE study score explained, the study designs on VCE science study designs, the NSW equivalent on HSC past papers, and the city page is Melbourne.

Download the VCE past paper map and tracker (PDF)

Source: the VCAA's Examination specifications, past examinations and external assessment reports pages for each study (vcaa.vic.edu.au), read on 25 October 2026; the study designs for the examination weightings and durations. The VCAA adds each November's paper and report early in the following year.

Questions parents ask

See how we teach this, 1-on-1 online →