These stripe charts have been created using data from the annual VCAA Assessment Reports. They give a quick overview of the question difficulty in each exam paper: blue stripes represent questions students answered well, red stripes represent questions students found difficult. The width of each stripe represents the number of marks allocated to each question.
easy
hard
Students often expect the first few questions of an exam to be the easiest, and for more difficult questions to appear towards the end. Looking at the charts below, we do tend to see more blue towards the left and more red towards the right. However, there is often a bright red stripe somewhere in the middle, which shows us that the most difficult question is not always at the end. There are certain patterns and trends within each subject and each exam which you can explore using the stripe charts. You can click / tap on a stripe to see the assessment report statistics and a screenshot of the exam question.
One thing that is clear is that “exam technique” is vitally important for all students. To maximise your exam mark and study score you should aim to complete questions that are easiest for you first, and check them carefully before attempting more difficult questions. It is also important to remember that all students in the same cohort sit the same exam, and are marked relative to each other. If you are finding your exam difficult, you are probably not alone! Just stick to your game plan and try to get as many marks as you can!
Further Mathematics
Mathematical Methods
Specialist Mathematics
VCE Maths exam question content used by permission, © VCAA. The VCAA is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, this study resource. VCE® is a registered trademark of the VCAA. Past VCE exams and related content can be accessed at www.vcaa.vic.edu.au
Understand the VCAA Mathematics Study Design and see which topics have been most heavily assessed in recent VCE Mathematics exams.