If a student does not intend to receive an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR), a 'satisfactory' result is all that is required to graduate with the VCE.

[10] SACs are tasks that are written by the school and must be done primarily in class time; they can include essays, reports, tests, and case studies.

Both SACs and SATs are scaled by VCAA against external assessment; this is to eliminate any cheating or variances in task difficulty.

All examinations except the Critical Thinking Test for Extended Investigation and the GAT are held in late October and most of November.

All performance-based external assessments (Oral Examinations and Music Performances) are typically held in early October.

It provides the basis for a quality assurance check on the marking of examinations, and for deriving an indicative study score if the student misses the external assessment with a valid reason.

[13] If a student is ill or affected by other personal circumstances during an external assessment, and whose result is unlikely to be a fair or accurate demonstration of their learning or achievement, they may apply for a derived examination score (DES).

Contrary to common perception, scaling is not based on the difficulty of the subject, as each study score is in fact a ranking.

Students must pass an English subject in order to qualify for an ATAR as well as the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE).

The 2011 English exam contained a column about tattoos attributed to "part-time journalist and blogger Helen Day", who wrote for the fictional "Street Beat" blog.

The VCAA and VTAC acted to contact affected students and their schools to reassure them regarding the accidental early results release.

Education Minister James Merlino ordered an investigation into the situation, which had compromised results that are normally closely guarded until the official release.

[35] The 2018 English exam included an article in which fictional writer Jonty Jenkins scathingly attacked a café franchise named "Calmer Coffee" opening in his local town, criticising its unfriendly staff and unwelcoming ambience that he described as "an assault on the senses".

After the exam completed, students discovered that a real "Calmer Cafe" existed in Aberfeldie, a suburb just north-west of Melbourne.

Within hours, the café received over 100 negative reviews on Google Maps from Year 12 students, bringing down its rating from nearly 5 stars to as low as 3.3.

A supplement (32.3) to the aforementioned submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry includes a detailed mathematical rebuttal of the VCAA's claims that the "questions did not present errors" (Herald-Sun 7 September 2023 page 7 "Maths exams don't add up").

An open letter to the Victorian Education Minister signed by nearly 70 University mathematicians states that these questions "are unacceptably flawed.

"[41] A report into the VCAA's VCE examination setting policies, processes and procedures (commissioned by the Education Minister Ben Carroll) by the former head of the NSW Education Standards Authority, Dr John Bennett, was handed to the Victorian government in March 2024 and made public on 23 March 2024.

[43] The Department of Education has not yet released the review by Deloitte, which is currently the subject of several Freedom of Information requests and appeals of a decision to refuse access.

One of the recommendations is that the VCAA work with mathematics and science academics when drafting and proofreading exams, to improve quality control before the tests end up on students' desks.

Four questions containing serious mathematical errors (which the VCAA had previously denied existed on multiple occasions) were redacted.

One of the errors was picked up after printing, with students instructed to amend the paper (replacing the letter "m" with the word "meters" in the phrase "m per second" that proceeded a mathematical formula).

[46] It was reported in The Herald Sun (7 November 2023 "Maths test fails add up - Latest mistake the 7th error in 2023") that the curves in the diagram for Section B Question 6 part (h) were not correctly labelled.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported that two high schools gave Chinese language students the wrong exam paper.

The ABC reported that "students affected have been asked to sign a confidentiality agreement to not share details of the exam before November 16.

However, several insiders with knowledge of the exam have confirmed that at least one of the essay questions and details of some listening exercises have already been leaked online and are being circulated on Reddit and Chinese social media sites."

The education minister, Ben Carroll, subsequently confirmed that six students were incorrectly given the SL exam.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported that some students also experienced problems with an audio component of the exam.

[52] Prior to 10 October,[53] the cover pages made available on the VCAA's examination materials webpage contained hidden text that revealed the contents of affected exams.

[54] On 17 November, when approached by the Sunday Herald Sun, VCAA stated they "sincerely [apologise] for these errors" and "are working to ensure every student is assessed fairly", although they have yet to issue an official apology.