Revamped English exam will test sibling rivalries as year 12s hit the books

There will be a healthy dose of sibling rivalry when students sit the marathon year 12 VCE English exam at Ivanhoe Grammar today.

Among the 45,783 Victorian students taking the first big test of the VCE exam season are six sets of twins at the school in Melbourne’s north-east.

Will Hanlon summed up the feeling of sharing the experience of the final year of school with his twin, Libby. “We’re both pretty driven – there’s a bit of friendly competition,” he said.

More than 89,000 students will sit at least one of the 111 VCE subjects with a written exam or 47 VCE language subjects in 2024.

Bendigo Senior Secondary College will host the largest year-12 cohort for the exams: 937 students. Balmoral K-12 Community College will host the smallest: three students.

While languages, music, theatre and dance exams have been held over the past fortnight, most VCE students’ exams kick off with English.

More than 2430 students will sit English as an additional language at one of the state’s 566 examination centres today.

VCE Vocational Major students are completing their end-of-year assessments as they prepare to complete their VCE studies.

The six sets of Ivanhoe Grammar School siblings – one was doing practice exams when this masthead visited – will make way for seven sets of twins in year 11 this year.

Emma and James Bowden agreed that being a twin was a help not a hindrance, and that sharing a womb didn’t mean sharing interests.

“I’m doing, business management, theatre, media and general maths and English,” James said.

“And I’m doing more science subjects,” Emma said. “In previous years if he’d been to a class and I hadn’t been he’d be able to tell me what happened.”

The siblings agreed there was double the anticipation ahead of Australian Tertiary Admission Rank results being released on December 12 and IB results coming out on December 15.

“I’m pretty confident that Will is going to do well,” said Libby Hanlon, who has opted to take the IB route.

“She definitely does more work than me, so I want her to do well. And I’m confident that she will,” Will said.

The English exam is worth 50 per cent of students’ total mark for the subject. Two assessments throughout the year make up the other 50 per cent.

The three-hour English exam, plus 15 minutes of reading time, consists of three sections: a written analytical response to a question about one of the year-12 selected readings, a written response to text provided on the day, and an analysis or an argument provided.

VCE English practice exam:

The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, which develops and administers exams, removed English’s comparative component for the first time this year.

La Trobe University secondary education lecturer Scarlet Luk said the VCE English study design had undergone a significant change, specifically the content in section B of the exam.

“It is always a bit nerve-racking when you are the guinea pig cohort,” she said.

Luk said that throughout the often stressful exam period students should focus on self-care, as cramming for exams late wouldn’t work.

“However, sleeping well will work wonders on the subconscious and in consolidating learning,” she said.

“Avoid toxic people who either flex about how little work they’ve done but still appear to do well or those who draw you into their orbit of anxiety and make you feel crappy.”

In addition to changes to English, VCAA made a number of administrative changes after mistakes were found on maths and chemistry exams in 2022 and 2023, and some students were given the wrong Chinese second language exam last year.

More than 70 university mathematicians wrote an open letter alleging major mathematical errors, which sparked an independent review of exam procedures.

This year, Monash University mathematicians have been involved in the quality-assurance processes for the 2024 VCE maths exams and the General Achievement Test.

From 2025, academics will also be on the panel that writes the maths exams.

Education Minister Ben Carroll congratulated students on finishing year 12 and thanked teachers, school staff and families for their support.

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