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  May 10, 2026 by Doug McCurry Using MCQ and SAQ for teaching and learning in VCE English - 1 I have discussed in an earlier blog the workload benefits for English teachers of using Multiple choice (MCQ) and short answer questions (SAQ), particularly for formative assessment. Having had a good deal of experience writing MCQ and SAQ I have become convinced of the potential heuristic value of good closed and semi-closed test items. I have argued in a previous blog that preparing for the GAT can be a valuable educational opportunity for students and teachers. This goes against the claim (implied by the VCAA) that you do not have to prepare for tests like the GAT, and that students (and teachers?) can just let it happen. As I described in a previous blog, I am currently working on the computer scoring of MCQ and SAQ with the hope of relieving to some extent the marking workload for English teachers. In this blog I want to discuss the test I am using in the trial in term of its pote...
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 May 10, 2026 by Doug McCurry  Using MCQ and SAQ for teaching and learning in VCE English - 2 Q and A for Section C of the 2025 English exam Below are 12 multiple choice and 10 short answer questions about the Section C text used in the English exam of 2025. You need to print and read a paper copy of the exam task which can be found at the VCAA website. https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/assessment/vce/examination-specifications-past-examinations-and-examination-reports/english The multiple choice questions are answered by clicking a hot button for the correct answer on the left of the option. The written questions should be answered in the space with the title ‘Long-answer text’. You will be able to see how much you have done as you go through the test. When they have finished and press the Submit button your results out of 12 for the multiple choice will be calculated for you to see. The short answer questions will be scored later and the multiple choice and short answer results se...
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Have you used Google Quizzes?

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October 20, 2023 by Doug McCurry  Without being too fussy, these quizzes give very good analysis and feedback on the performance of individuals and groups of students. Google Classroom is a popular electronic platform for teaching and learning.   I have only recently come across Forms, and I have been impressed by using it, especially for quizzes. If you have not used Google Forms for quizzes there are good reasons why you might want to use it. and what you could use it for.  Google Forms is a survey administration application included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite. The app allows users to create and edit surveys and quizzes online. The collected information can be automatically entered into a spreadsheet. Forms allows you to analyze quiz (or survey) responses using either the built-in analysis tools or by exporting responses to a new or existing Google Sheets spreadsheet that updates as new responses are received.  The built-in an...
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Can we learn anymore from another set of stellar Section B exam responses in 2025 than in 2024?

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  The Section B examples in the VCE English exam reports of 2024 and 2025 March 23, 2026 by Doug McCurry I claimed in a previous blog that there was little commentary in the report of 2024 about the difficult issues in preparing for this new and complicated task. I also claimed that we could learn little from the published examples that would have any meaning for two thirds of students. The same is true of the sixteen stellar responses offered in the report of 2025.  Offering the same sort of material and annotations again in 2025 provokes some more specific analysis. The 2025 report is an improvement on 2024 in offering the following comments on quality. These comments would seem to give priority to the set task and the Framework rather than the ‘linguistic features’ of text structure, language, vocabulary and voice. This suggests an appropriate emphasis on content in the assessment rather than form or language but the stellar examples (and the commentary on them) do not...
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Are the Section B exam tasks going to differ in 2025?

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  Are the Section B exam tasks going to differ in 2025? June 11, 2025 by Doug McCurry The VCAA seems to be trying to improve communication about the mysteries of the examination process by adding a presentation by the Chief Assessor to the English assessment pages of the website. Information is much needed by teachers and students on VCAA assessment processes, and one hopes to see more such information in the future. h ttps://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/assessment/vce/examination-specifications-past-examinations-and-examination-reports/english The most significant piece of information in the presentation is the following hint about a change in the format of the Section B task in 2025. It's tempting to assume that the format of the 2024 exam will be the format for future years, and it may be, but it's worth using the exam specifications when designing practise examination material for students. The exam specifications do not specify that there must be three pieces of stimulus materi...
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The challenges of the first VCAA English Section B exam task

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  T he challenges of the first VCAA English Section B exam task November 27, 2024 by Doug McCurry The puzzles of connection Section B of VCE English is designed so that there is a content for students to prepare and write about in the exam and for teachers to teach. The exam task is designed to mitigate preprepared and/or plagiarised responses. This task design poses many challenges to students and markers which I will examine on the basis of the first set of tasks presented in 2024. I will consider the following issues about exam responses. What is the relationship beteen the Framework, the title and the stimulus? How close is the relationship between the Framework, title and stimulus supposed to be in a student’s response? Can the title be taken to be the Framework? Is the title more important than the stimulus or vice versa? Can the title and stimulus be taken as the constraints without the content of the response relating to the Framework? What happens if the connect...
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Moderating with Moderation

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  Moderating with Moderation November 11, 2024 by Doug McCurry  What is under the school’s control? It was disturbing to read the concerns about the recent VATE Crafting/Creating Texts Survey Report. Great concerns were expressed about the increased workload of the new AoS that seemed to drown out the celebration of this change one would have expected. There is an increase in the number of SACs from one to two (with a reflective comment) for the new AoS, but it should be noted that the amount of teacher and student work involved is work largely up to the school. The terms and tenor of this SAC can be made bigger or smaller by the school. The conditions of the writing and the number of drafts (if any) for the two Section B tasks is under the control of the school. Replacing two texts as the examined substance of Section B with four brief mentor texts in the new AoS is certainly a reduction of work. The mentor texts can be dealt with very expeditiously, unlike the attentio...
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