The Separator Archive

Mathematical Methods · 2006–2025 · every VCAA paper with a published result

779

questions where half the state or fewer earned full marks — of 1,504 that were graded. Every cell below is one of them, in the order it was asked; every column is one paper. The darker the cell, the fewer got it right.

779 of 1,504 · the hardest is 2011 Exam 2 Section B Q4f at 1% · hover a cell, click to open it

Questions graded1,504
Separators (≤50%)779
Of every question set52%
Under 10%77
Papers40
Exam years20

The twelve hardest questions ever set

N° is the catalogue number: N°0001 is the hardest question VCAA has published in this subject
  1. N°00012011 Exam 2 Section B Q4f1%Calculus · 2 marks
  2. N°00022019 Exam 1 Q8c1%Functions, relations and graphs · 2 marks
  3. N°00032021 Exam 1 Q9ci1%Functions, relations and graphs · 2 marks
  4. N°00042013 Exam 2 Section B Q4diii2%Functions, relations and graphs · 2 marks
  5. N°00052016 Exam 2 Section B Q4fii2%Algebra, number and structure · 2 marks
  6. N°00062017 Exam 2 Section B Q2h2%Functions, relations and graphs · 2 marks
  7. N°00072017 Exam 2 Section B Q4h2%Functions, relations and graphs · 2 marks
  8. N°00082017 Exam 2 Section B Q4iii2%Functions, relations and graphs · 1 mark
  9. N°00092020 Exam 2 Section B Q5h2%Functions, relations and graphs · 1 mark
  10. N°00102021 Exam 2 Section B Q2f2%Calculus · 4 marks
  11. N°00112021 Exam 2 Section B Q4h2%Data analysis, probability and statistics · 2 marks
  12. N°00122021 Exam 2 Section B Q5g2%Functions, relations and graphs · 1 mark

The whole index

Year by year

separator share of each paper
200673 questions
41%
200771 questions
63%
200859 questions
56%
200966 questions
50%
201070 questions
49%
201172 questions
56%
201274 questions
49%
201371 questions
62%
201476 questions
58%
201577 questions
47%
201675 questions
51%
201778 questions
55%
201880 questions
51%
201983 questions
46%
202081 questions
56%
202179 questions
54%
202279 questions
43%
202379 questions
54%
202483 questions
53%
202578 questions
45%

The areas of study

what each one asks, every year

How to use this

  1. Open the wall. Drag the scale at the bottom to your line — 25%, say — and what stays is the shape of the questions the state could not do. Click any cell for the question as it was printed and how the state went; the answer stays hidden until you ask for it, so attempt it first.
  2. Collect the ones you want and export them: two PDFs, questions and solutions, numbered together.
  3. Read exam craft 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.
  4. 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.
  5. Read anatomy of a separator and new separator ideas.
  6. Use the NHT list for extra practice once you have run out of November papers.