VCE Health and Human Development exam 2026Exam: Thu 5 Nov · VCAA timetable
Your VCE Health and Human Development exam:
When and how long
- Health and Human Development3.00 pm to 5.15 pm2 h plus 15 min reading time
VCAA: the reading period is included in the times shown, and each examination starts with a 15-minute reading period unless otherwise specified. Arrive at least 30 minutes before the start time. A few language exams run earlier in October.
Source: 2026 VCE examination timetable (VCAA), checked Wednesday 23 September 2026. Where a start time, reading time or duration isn't shown, the timetable doesn't publish it: check your personal timetable and the front of your paper.
Most-examined dot points
Dot points where we reproduce real past VCAA exam questions. This shows where real questions have landed, not how often each topic is examined.
- Health and wellbeing, illness and the five dimensions: dynamic and subjective conceptsReal VCE questions from 2022, 2023, 2025
- Biological, sociocultural (including commercial) and environmental factors behind variations in health statusReal VCE questions from 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
- Health status indicators: incidence, prevalence, DALY, HALE, mortality and self-assessed healthReal VCE questions from 2022, 2023, 2025
- Access to safe water, sanitation, poverty and discrimination as factors in global health status and human development for VCE Health and Human Development Unit 4 AoS 1Real VCE questions from 2023, 2024, 2025
- Evaluating Australia's health status with data and analysing variations between population groupsReal VCE questions from 2022, 2024, 2025
- Features of effective aid programs and how to evaluate them for VCE Health and Human Development Unit 4 AoS 2Real VCE questions from 2022, 2024, 2025
- Implications of global trends for health and human development for VCE Health and Human Development Unit 4 AoS 1Real VCE questions from 2022, 2024, 2025
- Individual and social action to promote health and human development for VCE Health and Human Development Unit 4 AoS 2Real VCE questions from 2023, 2024, 2025
Night-before and exam-morning checklists
The night before
- Check the start time of each exam; the 15-minute reading period is included in the timetable times.[2]
- Pack a transparent pencil case: pens, pencils, highlighters, erasers, sharpener and a ruler.[1]
- Pack your approved calculator and spare batteries (CAS only where allowed: General Maths, Methods Exam 2, Specialist Exam 2).[1]
- Still water in a clear plastic bottle, labels removed, no more than 1500 mL (it stays off your table).[1]
- Stop revising around 8 pm, set two alarms and sleep.[1]
Exam morning
- Eat a real breakfast.[1]
- Arrive at least 30 minutes before the start time.[2]
- If you are up to 30 minutes late you still get full writing time, but no reading time.[1]
- Leave phones, smart watches and fitness trackers outside the exam room.[1]
- In reading time: read and plan, but don't write or use your calculator.[1]
- You can't leave before 30 minutes of writing time or in the last 5 minutes.[1]
Exam-week survival kit: The last 7 days · The night before and exam morning · What to bring, and what's banned · How to use reading time · If you're sick or something goes wrong · Handling exam-week stress.
Last-week revision
- 2025 past paperWalkthrough, with a link to the official VCAA paper
- 2024 past paperWalkthrough, with a link to the official VCAA paper
- 2023 past paperWalkthrough, with a link to the official VCAA paper
- FlashcardsSpaced-repetition cards from the syllabus pages
Syllabus by module
- Unit 3: Australia's health in a globalised world - AoS 1 Understanding health and wellbeing7 dot points
- Unit 3: Australia's health in a globalised world - AoS 2 Promoting health in Australia9 dot points
- Unit 4: Health and human development in a global context - AoS 1 Global health and human development6 dot points
- Unit 4: Health and human development in a global context - AoS 2 Health and the Sustainable Development Goals8 dot points
VCE Health and Human Development cram sheet
Key formulas, definitions and facts copied from our Health and Human Development syllabus pages. One page when printed.
Unit 3: Australia's health in a globalised world - AoS 1 Understanding health and wellbeing
Life expectancy at birth, 2022-2024: 81.1 years for males and 85.1 years for females (ABS, released 11 November 2025). This was unchanged from 2021-2023, and 0.8 and 0.7 years higher than a decade earlier.
Blood pressure, not hypertension. Hypertension is a diagnosed condition; the factor is (high) blood pressure. Stated in both the 2024 examiners' report and the VCAA FAQ (February 2026).
Adults: 65.8 per cent overweight or obese: 34.0 per cent overweight and 31.7 per cent obese. Only 31.6 per cent were in the healthy weight range.
Burden. Tobacco use contributed 7.6 per cent of total burden of disease in 2024, second to overweight including obesity (8.3 per cent). It contributed the most of any risk factor to fatal burden (11.7 per cent of YLL) and 4.1 per cent of non-fatal burden (AIHW Australian Burden of Disease Study 2024).
Unit 3: Australia's health in a globalised world - AoS 2 Promoting health in Australia
4.3% of Australians aged 2+ usually ate enough vegetables in 2023 (children 2.1%, adults 4.8%).
Unit 4: Health and human development in a global context - AoS 1 Global health and human development
Water from an improved source (such as piped water, a protected well or a borehole) that is located on premises, available when needed, and free from faecal and priority chemical contamination. This is the WHO/UNICEF measure used for SDG target 6.1. "Basic" water is an improved source within a 30-minute round trip.
A healthy environment supports farming, fishing and tourism (economic) and safe water for communities (social).
The total income earned by a country's residents and businesses in a year (including income from overseas), divided by the population. It is an average, so it says nothing about how income is shared.
"Globally" or "in a global context" means you must refer to the impact on many people worldwide, not just one individual.
Unit 4: Health and human development in a global context - AoS 2 Health and the Sustainable Development Goals
"Promote, provide and protect" is the goal (with its three components). The six items in the table are the objectives. If a question asks for an objective, give one of the six. This single distinction was the most common error on the 2025 WHO question.