Why memorised examples were not enough in the 2025 VCE English Language essay
June 2026 The 2025 VCE English Language essay section sent a clear message: contemporary examples matter, but memorised examples are not enough. Section C required students to write a sustained expository response to one of three prompts. Each prompt asked students to engage with contemporary Australian language use, refer to at least two subsystems, and […]
Why metalanguage precision mattered so much in the 2025 VCE English Language exam
June 2026 The 2025 VCE English Language exam made one thing very clear: metalanguage only helps when it is exact. Students often think of metalanguage as a way to make their writing sound more sophisticated. In English Language, that is the wrong way to approach it. Metalanguage is not there to decorate a response. It […]
What high-scoring analytical commentaries did differently in the 2025 VCE English Language exam
June 2026 The 2025 VCE English Language analytical commentary was built around a powerful spoken text: Professor Kelvin Kong’s acceptance speech at the NAIDOC Awards. The text was rich. It gave students opportunities to discuss identity, register, tenor, audience, cultural context, humour, advocacy, gratitude, face needs and spoken discourse. It also created a major challenge. […]
What the 2025 VCE English Language exam revealed about high-scoring responses
June 2026 The 2025 VCE English Language exam rewarded control. Not the most memorised examples. Not the most terminology. Not the longest responses. The strongest students were those who could make precise decisions under pressure: which feature to analyse, which line range to use, which metalanguage actually fit the task, and how to connect linguistic […]