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 write the final number or statement.
This isn’t busywork. It’s evidence.
Showing your working is how you communicate understanding. Without it, examiners have nothing to credit when you’ve only written a conclusion.
Pencil responses cost marks no one talks about
The examiner’s report specifically notes that assessors are reading scanned images of student papers, not the original handwriting, and that many responses in Section B were written faintly in pencil.
This matters for two reasons.
First, when a response is hard to read, marks can be lost simply because the assessor can’t interpret it clearly. Second, it reinforces a deeper problem: students often treat written reasoning as an afterthought rather than a priority.
In Physics, clarity matters. Your working should be visible, legible, and intentional.
Working is where marks are awarded
A lot of students find a correct answer through reasoning in their head but don’t put enough of that on the page.
The report emphasises that marks are awarded for demonstration of understanding, identified by steps in the working.
That means:
- writing down your physical principles
- stating which equation you are using
- showing how you rearrange it
- demonstrating how substitutions lead to an intermediate step
- linking each step to the next
When any of these steps are missing, the examiner cannot award full marks — even if the final answer looks plausible.
Examples from the 2024 paper
While the report doesn’t give full student responses, it does make it clear where marks were lost. Students had correct ideas but failed to articulate the reasoning that connects them to a conclusion.
In questions worth multiple marks, many students simply wrote down their final result without the underpinning calculation or justification. In other cases, students wrote partial steps but left the crucial reasoning out — for example, a formula with values substituted but no explanation of why that formula applied.
In both scenarios, the understanding was there in their minds but not on paper — and that is where marks were lost.
Why explanations are essential even for numerical answers
Physics is not just about numbers. It’s about cause and effect. It’s about reasoning from physical principles to a quantitative outcome.
When a student merely states a final value — say “9.8 m/s²” or “2.5 J” — without showing how that figure was derived, examiners cannot infer the student’s understanding. In multi-mark questions, the final number is only part of the answer. The real assessment is in the rationale.
If the examiner cannot see the chain of reasoning, it cannot be credited.
What happens when justifications are missing
The examiner’s report gives a clear example relevant to many Physics questions: where students were asked to choose between two options and justify their choice, simply naming the correct option was treated as a guess if no reasoning was given.
This is an important lesson. In Physics, a correct label or answer without justification is like a conclusion without a reason.
It’s not enough.
Why showing working helps you, not just the examiner
There’s another reason to practice detailed working that doesn’t appear in reports but becomes obvious in practice: your working protects your marks.
If the final answer is wrong, working can still earn marks for correct reasoning earlier in the chain. If you make a simple arithmetic error but your physics is strong, the examiner can award method marks. If you skip the working entirely, there’s nothing to mark.
Good working is not just a requirement — it’s insurance.
A practical self-check
Before you write a final answer:
- Have I written down why I chose this equation?
- Have I shown how I rearranged it?
- Have I explained which physical principle applies?
- Have I linked each step with a brief explanation, not just numbers?
- Is my working legible and in ink?
If any of these are “no”, you are likely giving the examiner less than they need to award full marks.
What this means for preparation
Practise answering past and sample questions with working that explains every step.
Don’t write what you think the examiner knows you did. Write what they can see on the page.
This is especially true in Section B, where extended reasoning carries weight and working must be visible for the marks to be awarded.
Working with ATAR STAR
ATAR STAR prepares students to show their thinking in a way that aligns with how VCE Physics is actually marked.
We focus on teaching students not just what to calculate but how and why to show each step. Students learn how to present their work clearly, justify their method, and communicate their understanding with confidence.
This approach is particularly valuable for capable students whose working is correct in their head but not visible on the page — and who see consistent marks lost where they least expect it.
If your Physics answers feel strong but your marks don’t reflect it, the issue is rarely knowledge. It is how that knowledge is expressed — and that is exactly where ATAR STAR helps students refine their execution.