General Mathematics · 2006–2025 · every published VCAA paper
921 questions where half the state or fewer earned full marks.
Twenty years of VCAA Further Mathematics and General Mathematics examinations, ranked by VCAA's own published percentages. Each one carries the examiner's commentary and the question as it was printed.
Questions graded2,179
Separators (≤50%)921
Of every question set42%
Question images2,179
Exam years20
921 separators by severity band
Brutal under 10%Severe 10–24%Hard 25–39%Tricky 40–50%
A separator is a question where the percentage earning full marks is 50 or less — the question the middle of the cohort did not get out. For multiple choice, the percentage who chose the correct option. The band names are this site's, not VCAA's.
Where the marks are lost · separator share by area
Data analysis
32%
Recursion and financial modelling
49%
Matrices
43%
Networks and decision mathematics
44%
Geometry and measurement retired
43%
Geometry and trigonometry retired
50%
Graphs and relations retired
42%
Number patterns and applications retired
46%
Business-related mathematics retired
58%
Retired modules are shown for completeness — no longer examinable, still the best practice stock for the topics that survived.
Year by year · separator share of that paper
200678 questions
45%
200793 questions
47%
200893 questions
48%
200993 questions
40%
201093 questions
44%
201186 questions
42%
201292 questions
47%
2013101 questions
49%
2014106 questions
46%
201599 questions
35%
2016130 questions
38%
2017128 questions
38%
2018132 questions
36%
2019134 questions
37%
2020170 questions
38%
2021133 questions
55%
2022134 questions
43%
202396 questions
46%
202496 questions
39%
202592 questions
38%
The twelve hardest questions ever set
by share of the state with full marks| Question | Topic | Worth | Full marks | Band | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 Exam 2 Q3d | Networks and decision mathematics | 1m | 2% | Brutal | |
| 2018 Exam 2 Q3e | Data analysis | 2m | 2% | Brutal | |
| 2024 Exam 2 Q2b | Data analysis | 1m | 3% | Brutal | |
| 2019 Exam 2 Q3e | Networks and decision mathematics | 2m | 3% | Brutal | |
| 2013 Exam 2 Q3a-3bii | Networks and decision mathematics | 4m | 3% | Brutal | |
| 2011 Exam 2 Q2a+2b+2c+2d | Graphs and relations | 6m | 3% | Brutal | |
| 2008 Exam 2 Q1+2 | Networks and decision mathematics | 6m | 3% | Brutal | |
| 2015 Exam 2 Q2di-3b | Number patterns and applications | 7m | 4% | Brutal | |
| 2014 Exam 2 Q1di-1eii | Graphs and relations | 5m | 4% | Brutal | |
| 2014 Exam 2 Q3a+3b | Matrices | 3m | 4% | Brutal | |
| 2013 Exam 2 Q5a+5b | Number patterns and applications | 3m | 4% | Brutal | |
| 2007 Exam 2 Q4 | Geometry and trigonometry | 3m | 4% | Brutal |
Open the full table to see any of them with its question image.
The areas of study
what each one asks, every year- Data analysisDistributions, boxplots, association, least squares, residuals, transformations, time series.176 separators / 544 questions
- Recursion and financial modellingRecurrence relations, depreciation, compound interest, loans, annuities, amortisation.95 separators / 194 questions
- MatricesOrder and elements, products, inverses, transition matrices, steady state, Leslie matrices.140 separators / 327 questions
- Networks and decision mathematicsGraph terminology, Euler, spanning trees, flow, allocation, project networks, crashing.144 separators / 329 questions
How to use this
- Work the separator table filtered to your weakest area, hardest-first. These are the questions that decide a study score. Opening a row shows the question and how the state went; the answer stays hidden until you ask for it, so attempt it before you reveal it.
- Read the exam craft page before you write another practice paper. More marks are lost to rounding, to not showing working, and to answering a question VCAA did not ask than to not knowing the mathematics.
- Learn the wording bank. VCAA reuses the same sentence frames year after year, and for the big ones the examiner reports prescribe the answer almost word for word.
- Read anatomy of a separator and new separator ideas.
- Use the NHT list for extra practice once you have run out of November papers.