Why VCE Physics students lose marks by misusing their summary sheet
What the 2024 exam revealed about reliance, recall and real understanding The summary sheet problem no one wants to admit The A3 summary sheet is meant to support understanding. In the 2024 Physics exam, it often did the opposite. Many students clearly relied on their summary sheet as a substitute for thinking. When a question […]
Why VCE Physics students lose marks by rushing multi-part questions
What the 2024 exam revealed about sequencing, carry-over errors and time pressure Multi-part questions are designed to test control The 2024 Physics exam made heavy use of multi-part questions. On the surface, these look helpful. Earlier parts guide students toward later ones. Information is often shared. The physics unfolds step by step. In practice, this […]
Why VCE Physics students lose marks by treating explanations like English answers
What the 2024 exam showed about language, precision and unfinished reasoning When fluent writing disguises weak physics One of the more uncomfortable patterns that emerged from the 2024 Physics exam is that some of the most fluent responses were also some of the weakest. These answers read well. Sentences flowed. Terminology appeared accurate. The […]
Why graph questions quietly separate top Physics students from everyone else
What the 2024 exam revealed about how data is meant to be used Why graph questions look easier than they are Graph questions are often where students feel safest. There’s information on the page. Axes are labelled. Patterns look familiar. Compared to long calculations, they feel manageable. The 2024 Physics exam showed very clearly […]
Why VCE Physics students lose marks by misreading command words
What the 2024 exam showed about “calculate”, “determine”, “explain” and “justify” The problem students don’t realise they’re having One of the clearest themes running through the 2024 Physics exam was not weak physics, but weak task interpretation. Students often knew exactly what topic they were in. They recognised the content area immediately. And then they […]
The mistakes that cost marks in VCE Physics even when students “know the content”
What the 2024 examiner feedback revealed, question by question The pattern the 2024 exam exposed The 2024 paper made something very clear: a lot of marks were lost in places where students actually had the right topic in mind. The issue wasn’t “they didn’t learn it”. It was that they didn’t execute cleanly under exam […]
Why VCE Physics students lose marks by answering the question they wish they were asked
The recurring examiner frustration One of the quiet through-lines in the 2024 Physics examiner’s report is not about wrong formulas or weak maths. It is about misaligned answers. Students frequently demonstrate correct physics, but not the physics the question required. From an examiner’s perspective, this is one of the most frustrating outcomes. The understanding is […]
Why students lose marks in VCE Physics when they don’t show their working
Exam instructions matter — working is not optional One of the clearest and most repeated messages from the 2024 examiner’s report is about something surprisingly basic: students are still not showing enough working on multi-mark questions. When more than one mark is available, students must show how they arrived at their answer — not just […]
Why Physics explanations that sound right still lose marks
What the Physics course is actually asking students to do One of the clearest messages running through the Physics materials is that students are expected to reason physically, not narrate processes. This sounds obvious. Most students would say they are doing exactly that. In practice, many explanations describe what happens without ever explaining why it […]
Why Physics questions punish students who don’t state their assumptions
The assumption students don’t realise they’re making Every Physics question comes with assumptions built in. About direction. About what can be ignored. About what matters and what doesn’t. The problem is that many students make those assumptions silently. They think them through, apply them mentally, and then skip straight to the calculation. In VCE Physics, […]