Whether you are at the point of the year where you are starting to complete full VCE English practice exams, or you’re just beginning the course and want to see what you’re working towards, we’ve compiled a list of the VCE English past papers along with some study tips to help you!
We’re here to help break it down and help you prepare for it.
Let’s get started!
How can I ace the VCE English Exam?
What is on the VCE English Exam?
How can I study for VCE English?
Time Efficient ways to prepare for the exam
How to Use VCE English Past Papers
VCE English Past Papers
How can I ace the VCE English Exam?
It is extremely difficult to ace the VCE English Exam. There is no real ‘formula’ for getting a perfect score. In fact, you are probably better off just focusing on executing the exam to the best of your abilities.
However, there are some key factors that lead to success in the VCE English Exam:
- Study consistently: Engaging with material throughout the year will provide you with a thorough and strong knowledge of the content and skills required in the English exam.
- Practice under exam conditions: The VCE English Exam is extremely stressful. One of the best ways to mitigate that stress is to replicate the exam conditions and ‘rehearse’ for them.
- Take your SACs seriously: Your English SACs deliberately reflect hat you will do in the exam. If you prepare for the SACs properly, they can serve as foundation for your final exam.
What is on the VCE English Exam?
The VCE English Exam was updated in 2024 following the introduction of the new Study Design. The Exam now consists of the following three sections:
- Section A: Analytical Response to a Text
- Section B: Creating a Text
- Section C: Analysis of Argument and Language
Please note that from 2024 Section B of the exam has been changed from a ‘Comparative Analysis of Texts’ to ‘Creating a text’. Meaning that you will no longer need to know how to write Comparative Essays.
How can I study for VCE English?
1. Engaging with the Text
Firstly, you need to get to know what you are studying. This often means going beyond a simple read through.
No matter which texts you study, there will be a myriad of secondary resources available to expand your understanding. These include films, interviews, reviews, etc.
By making use of these extra materials you not only enhance your understanding of the text, but you will also pick up ideas and ways of interpreting the text.
Boost your chances of acing the end of year VCE English exam by using our top tips!
2. How to Effectively read the Text
When you are reading through your texts you will need to make note of certain parts for analysis in your essay. There are many ways to do this, so see what works for you!
You may like to use sticky tabs and colour code them based on the quote.
For example, if you are studying Wordsworth Poetry, you could use a colour to represent nature, and another colour to represent industrialism.
Or, you can use different colours to show the different literary techniques.
You may also like to create a document for quotes or interesting parts of the text which you add to as you read.
Tip: Make sure to include page numbers in your document so you can always go back to find them later!
3. How to Learn Quotes
Often a challenging component of preparing for VCE English assessments is memorising all the quotes you want to use. It’s a good idea to start familiarising yourself with your quotes well in advance of your assessments so that you’re not in a rush!
For some people, writing their quotes on flash cards and testing themselves on them over time is the best method to remember them. You can also get a friend or family member to use the cards to quiz you.
For others, physically writing the quotes over and over is the best way to get them in their minds.
Or, you may find that by writing essays using VCE English past papers you are able to learn your quotes based on the context of what you’re writing around them, or by the sentences you are using to analyse them.
If you are at the start of the year, test each method out and see what is most effective for you!
Time Efficient ways to prepare for the Exam
If you don’t have the time to complete a full practice essay from our VCE English past papers master list, or don’t feel confident enough with your material yet, try some of these other tasks to work up to it
1. Write the Introduction
By writing the introduction, you will have to include both a contention and signposting of your essay’s ideas, so this can be a very useful way to check your understanding of your texts and see how you respond to different topics without writing out the full essay.
2. Write a plan for a Topic
Similarly, choose a topic and plan out how you would tackle it in an essay. Write out the contention, topic sentence for each paragraph and which bits of evidence or quotes you would use.
Work smarter not harder by using our guide to writing STEEL paragraphs!
This can be a great technique if you want to test your ability to answer a wide array of essay topics, without spending the time of writing a full essay for each.
You’d want to use our master list of VCE English past papers to do this!
3. Write Analysis sentences for your Quotes
You can also prepare for your essays by planning how you are going to analyse each of your quotes, regardless of the essay topic.
Not only will this help you learn your quotes, but it will also ensure that you are analysing literary techniques throughout your essay, rather than just analysing the plot.
Find out everything you need to know about writing a VCE English text response.
4. Annotate the Articles for Argument Analysis
Find a practice argument analysis piece, or even take an article from the news, and give yourself 10-15 minutes to annotate and analyse it. Think about how you would break it up and plan out how you would write the essay.
Want to learn more on argument analysis pieces? Check out our guide to writing a VCE Argument Analysis!
5. Practice Essays
When you do get around to starting practice essays, you want to make sure that you make the most of them, as writing an essay can be time consuming and require a lot of focus.
Getting in the zone
Firstly, do them properly! Take the time to sit down and focus on writing. If you don’t feel as though you’re ready to tackle a full essay yet, then complete some other preparation tasks instead to make better use of your time and come back to the essay another time.
Note: It’s a good idea to begin your practice essays without timed conditions and with access to your notes to build up your confidence and ensure you include your best writing in your essay.
Practicing under assessment conditions
When you feel ready, writing under assessment conditions will give you the best indication of what you’ll be capable of doing on the assessment day.
You may discover that you can’t write quite as much — which is okay! It is better to know this in advance because you can then decide on what is most important for you to include and focus on writing them well.
Getting feedback
Finally, when it comes to getting feedback on full essays it may be hard for your teachers to correct multiple essays from every student in the lead up to the assessment. Try to give your teacher a practice essay early (more than a few days before!) so that you have time to receive feedback and apply it to your following practices.
You may also like to self-correct by grabbing a bunch of highlighters and assigning each colour an essay component. For example, pink for topic sentences, blue for linking to the topic, green for analysis of literary devices, etc. This way you can ensure you’ve included all the necessary parts of the essay.
And you can always enlist the help of your friends and peers, read each other’s essays and offer insight! This is also a great way to be exposed to different interpretations of the same text and broaden your ideas.
Why your past papers are so important and worth putting in the effort!
6. Practice Creative Pieces
You can prepare for the ‘Crafting texts’ component in many ways, most of which consist of simply engaging with your Framework.
This may include:
- Dedicating study sessions to coming up with new ways to explore your Framework.
- Reading additional texts that relate to your Framework.
- Practicing the exploration of your Framework through different forms of creative writing.
How to Use VCE English Past Papers
The new VCE English Study Design in 2024 means you only have one full practice exam available from VCAA. The other VCAA English Exams have the comparative essay section which is not applicable to you.
The other exams can be used for preparation tasks (for example, planning essay outlines in your head on the night before your exam). There are many different essay topics and argument analysis pieces across the years which you can use for study.
Please don’t practice the comparative sections (Section B) in the Past Papers related to the previous study design, you will not be examined or tested on it anymore.
VCE English Past Papers
Sample Paper related to the current VCE English Study Design
| Year | VCE English Past Paper | Assessment Criteria and Expected Qualities |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 Sample | Sample VCE English Exam | VCAA Assessment Criteria and Expected Qualities Report |
Past Papers related to previous VCE English Study Designs
On the hunt for other VCE past exams?
We’ve got you covered! Check out the lists we’ve made for the subjects below:
Unsure about how the Framework of Ideas section of the exam works? Read our Ultimate Guide to the VCE English Framework of Ideas!
Are you looking for some extra help with preparing for your VCE English exam?
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Narisha Ford is an avid student who loves all things from studying the immune system, to analysing poetry, and learning how to differentiate logarithms. She graduated in 2021 with a 99+ ATAR and is thrilled to be a part of the AOS Content Writing team to support students through their VCE journey. She hopes to one day work in the international security field, but is still figuring everything in life out!
