Assessment
General assessment advice
Advice on matters related to the administration of Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) assessment is published annually in the
VCE and VCAL Administrative Handbook. Updates to matters related to the administration of VCE assessment are published in the
VCAA Bulletin.
Teachers must refer to these publications for current advice.
The principles underpinning all VCE assessment practices are explained in
VCAA Principles and guidelines for the development and review of VCE Studies.
The procedures for managing VCE school-based assessment are explained in
Assessment advice for the VCE.
Specifications for the Critical Thinking Test and the two parts of Externally-assessed Task along with the corresponding examination reports can be accessed from the
VCE Extended Investigation examination webpage.
Graded Distributions for Graded Assessment can be accessed from the
Performance in senior secondary webpage
Excepting third-party elements, schools may use this resource in accordance with the
VCAA Educational Allowance (VCAA Copyright and Intellectual Property Policy).
Study specific advice
The criteria for the assessment of each outcome in Units 3 and 4 are mandated and are published in the
VCE Extended Investigation Study Design 2019–2023.
The performance descriptors for the assessment criteria in the Unit 3 School-assessed Coursework and the Unit 4 Externally-assessed Task are mandated and published on the
VCE Extended Investigation study page.
Satisfactory completion in Unit 3 and 4
In Units 3 and 4, satisfactory completion of Outcomes 1 and 2 is achieved through a combination of class work and the completion of each assessment task at a school-based level.
In Unit 3 Outcome 3, satisfactory completion is achieved through class work in the form of practical exercises in critical thinking.
All school-based tasks contribute to the ongoing authentication of student work prior to external assessment.
Scheduling of oral reports in Unit 3 Outcome 2
Unit 3 establishes many of the skills and knowledge drawn on in Unit 4 as the investigation comes to fruition. The oral report provides an opportunity for students to consolidate and test the focus and direction of their investigation prior to the next stage of data collection and analysis. While the scheduling of School-assessed Coursework is the school’s decision, a number of factors should be considered when determining the optimal assessment schedule. The timing of the oral report in Unit 3 will depend on how advanced the student cohort is in their investigations and needs to strike a balance between allowing enough time for the deep thinking that will underpin the oral report as well as the next phase of the investigation. All students in the school group must be assessed at the same point in the year. Staggering oral reports over an extended period of time will not provide students with a fair and transparent assessment process. Setting staged deadlines that all students must reach will assist with ensuring that all students are ready for their oral reports at the same time.
Conditions of assessment for this School-assessed Coursework task are on page 17 of the study design, including that an educated non-specialist panel of at least two members, including the supervising teacher, is convened. Members of the school panel may need training regarding the types of questions to ask students and the requirements of student work in this task. The Unit 3 Outcome 2: Oral report performance descriptors and the study design form the basis for panel training.
Externally-assessed Task
It is essential that students understand the differences between the assessment criteria for the two parts of the Externally-assessed Task – the written report and the oral presentation. The two parts of the Task draw on the same investigation’s content, but the criteria used in each part are different and the corresponding levels of performance describe different skills and knowledge. Teachers need to work with students to ensure that they understand the differing emphasis of the two parts of the Externally-assessed Task.
Close interrogation and consideration of the criteria and performance descriptors will assist students to achieve the best possible level of performance in both parts of the Task. Such interrogation can also clarify how it is possible for students to attain different levels of achievement in the two parts of the same Task.
Teachers need to provide guidance on the structure and conventions of the written report. Students should develop the report structure that best suits their investigation but all reports must meet the requirements listed on page 21 of the study design. No single report structure or referencing system is mandated. Different academic disciplines present different expectations regarding the conventions of writing and the presentation of research.
The use of footnotes and appendices should be discussed with students. It is important that these are used judiciously and appropriately, within existing academic conventions. They must not become a means of including additional information over and above the word count.