When to start VCE past exams (and how to use them) for Year 12 in 2027
Start using past exam questions as soon as you've learned a topic in Unit 3, one area of study at a time. Save full, timed papers for the last stretch before the written exams, which run from 26 October to 17 November 2027. The official source is VCAA: past exams, examination specifications and external assessment reports. Use papers from your study's current study design first, because VCAA warns that older ones aren't necessarily a guide to the current exam.
Where do official VCE past exams live?
VCAA publishes, for each study:
- Examination specifications: the format, conditions, content and approved materials for the exam. Read these first.
- Sample examinations for new or revised study designs, showing the types of question that might appear.
- Past examinations for current and previous study designs.
- External assessment reports: how students performed, what examiners were looking for, and common errors. Some reports include answers. For some studies (such as Mathematical Methods) VCAA also publishes an assessment guide.
On this site, the past papers hub links to VCAA's originals for several studies, for example English 2025, Mathematical Methods 2025 and exam 2, Chemistry 2025, Biology 2025, Physics 2025 and Psychology 2025. Each study's exam page, such as English exam or Specialist Mathematics exam, summarises the format.
Which years should I use?
Check the heading on VCAA's page for your study. It splits papers into "Examinations relating to the current study design" and "Examinations relating to previous study designs". For example:
| Study | Current study design papers start from |
|---|---|
| Mathematical Methods (and the other VCE Mathematics studies) | 2023 |
| English | 2024 |
VCAA's own note on older papers: with a new study design, they "are not necessarily a guide to the current VCE examination". They can still be useful for individual questions on topics that haven't changed, but check each question against your current key knowledge. VCAA also notes that Northern Hemisphere Timetable exams are no longer offered, but their past papers can still be used for practice.
A timeline for 2027
| When | How to use past exams |
|---|---|
| Summer 2026 to 2027 | Read the examination specifications for each study. No full papers yet |
| Term 1 to Term 3 | After each topic, do the matching questions from 3 or 4 recent papers, untimed at first, then timed |
| Before each SAC | Use relevant exam questions as practice where they match the SAC's outcome |
| Term 3 and early Term 4 | Full papers under exam conditions, then mark and review each one |
| Last weeks before your exam | The most recent current-design papers, fully timed; re-do questions you got wrong |
Written exams in 2027 run from Tuesday 26 October to Wednesday 17 November. Performance and Languages oral exams run from 4 to 31 October. The day-by-day timetable is to be announced by VCAA.
How to use external assessment reports
The reports are the closest thing to hearing from the examiners.
- Do the question first. Don't read the report until you've attempted it.
- Mark against the report. Note where marks were given and what was missing.
- Track repeated comments. If the report says students lost marks for not using the command term, not showing working or not linking to the question, add that to a checklist you use every time.
- Rewrite one answer. Improving a weak answer is often worth more than starting a new paper.
For essay-based studies, VCE English: mark it yourself shows how to self-assess. For maths, see Methods exam strategy; for physics, the Units 3 and 4 exam structure.
Doing paper after paper without marking them properly. A timed paper with a careful review teaches you more than three papers you only glanced at.
Copyright and practice exams from elsewhere
VCE exams are copyright material owned by VCAA and can contain third-party material. VCAA publishes them as revision materials and says your use must comply with the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Download them from VCAA rather than sharing copies around.
Schools and commercial providers also write practice exams. They can be useful for volume, but they aren't official, and their marking may not match VCAA's.
Where to go next
Sources & how we know this
- Examination specifications, past examinations and external assessment reports — Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) (2026)
- Mathematical Methods: past examinations and reports — Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) (2026)
- English: past examinations and reports — Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) (2026)
- Future examination periods (2027) — Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) (2026)
Last updated: 2026-09-28. Rules change. For the official source see VCAA.