Checking out the updated FAQs for VCE Mathematics
Are you a "facks" or "eff-ay-queues" kind of person?
The frequently asked questions (FAQs) for VCE Mathematics were updated on 20 February 2026, so let’s take a look at what they say now. I’ll be skipping over a few.
FAQs that apply to all
Is Units 1 and 2 content assessable in Units 3 and 4 examinations?
Yes. Assumed knowledge and skills for VCE Foundation Mathematics Units 3 and 4 are contained in VCE Foundation Mathematics Units 1 and 2 and may be drawn on as applicable. Similarly, content from the Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0 Mathematics may also be drawn on as applicable.
Yes. Assumed knowledge and skills for VCE General Mathematics Units 3 and 4 are contained in VCE General Mathematics Units 1 and 2 and may be drawn on as applicable. Similarly, content from the Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0 Mathematics may also be drawn on as applicable.
Assumed knowledge and skills for VCE Mathematical Methods Units 3 and 4 are contained in Units 1 and 2 and may be drawn on as applicable. Similarly, content from the Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0 Mathematics may also be drawn on as applicable.
Not included for Specialist, which seems odd that they didn’t round it out, but Specialist is a little bit more explicit about requirements. It’s still not a specific list though which isn’t that helpful.
The thing that actually bothers me though is the broad reference to the VC2.0 for F–10, especially for Foundation and General. There is a lot included in Levels 9–10 that those subjects don’t touch with a 10-ft pole. Yes, they as “as applicable”, but surely the VCAA could short list a set of curriculum descriptions that are not necessarily pre-requisites given there is a lot of reteaching of F–10 content but are relevant to going on to study these subjects. For example, Foundation and General students don’t really need to be able to work with algebraic fractions or solve adfected quadratic equations (i.e., the ones where x is there as well as x2).1
Can a student write in pencil on the examination?
It is recommended that students write responses in blue or black pen. This is to ensure clear and legible responses, especially for those examinations that are scanned and delivered to assessors through the computer-based marking system. Pencils may be used provided that they are dark lead (such as a 2B pencil); however, when writing, please ensure that the response is not smudged.
I’m sure that there was definitely a push a while ago for using pen specifically and not pencil at all, but they walked it back. Asking students to sketch graphs in pen only on a high-stakes exam is a recipe for disaster.
On a related note, the VCAA have often said in exam reports
Students should avoid deleting work without providing an alternative solution.
Some students had crossed out a solution without replacing it. In several such cases, the crossed out work was partly correct. However, deleted work cannot be assessed at all.
Any work or answer that had been crossed out was not assessed, unless the crossing out was negated by a written instruction such as ‘Please ignore the crossing out’ or ‘Please mark this after all’.
The danger of using pencil is the habit to completely erase working and answers too quickly or at all. Sure, small adjustments as you go or refining the sketch of a graph are one thing, but when you’ve realised that several lines are wrong a better suggestion is to
stop working on the incorrect working out
start again from a point that is correct
finish the corrected answer
then cross out (simple line through it not scribbling it out) the incorrect working.
This way if students change their mind later that they were right the first time there’s less “ignore this crossing out”. A simple line through is advised so that the working is still legible if they need to reverse the crossing out and to not waste time erasing or scribbling out to the point of illegibility. A crossing out the incorrect working after completing the corrected working means if this is a rush in the last minute of the exam, if they don’t finish their corrected working then they still have their other working that can be assessed.
Can a student write outside the lines on the examination? What happens when they run out of space?
The instructions on the examinations state ‘Answer all questions in the spaces provided’. This is usually the lined space directly below the question. If a student requires more space for their response, they should clearly indicate to the assessor where the extra working can be found.
Just saying, they could update the instructions on the exams to say this. Something like: “Answer all questions in the spaces provided or otherwise clearly indicate where the working or extra working can be found.”
Foundation Mathematics
Link to VCE Foundation Mathematics FAQs (docx)
Is Pythagoras’ theorem assumed knowledge?
Yes, the assumed knowledge and skills for VCE Foundation Mathematics includes the content specified in the Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0 Mathematics, which mentions Pythagoras’ theorem at Levels 8, 9 and 10.
Are trigonometric ratios assumed knowledge?
Student should be familiar with the basic trigonometric ratios for the purpose of calculating length in simple practical scenarios.
So General Mathematics goes to the effort of explicitly including these in its study design, but Foundation gets away with
“calculate and interpret length, area, surface area, volume, capacity and duration for a range of personal, societal or workplace measurement problems with use of estimation, rounding and approximation strategies”
“use triangles and other polygons to solve problems”,
enlargement and reduction, and similarity?
I wouldn’t exactly call them “formulas for calculating length, area, surface area, volume and capacity” either.
That’s poor. That should be a minor update to the study design for clarity, not hidden away in the FAQs.
What is the extent to which students need to engage with mean and standard deviations? Are formulas required?
Students need to understand that data and distributions may be described in terms of their central tendency (mean) and spread (standard deviation). Complicated calculations or formulas are not expected.
Unlike the General study which includes the formula, the Foundation study does not. Making teachers read between the lines isn’t great. This should be stated in the study design, especially given that Foundation uses a scientific not a CAS calculator.
What types of data displays are students expected to know?
Students are expected to know all the types covered in the Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0 Mathematics, including box plots, stem-and-leaf plots, dot plots and histograms, as well as the contemporary types listed in the study design for VCE Foundation Mathematics, including pictograms, bubble, Mekko, radar, sunburst, heat map and stacked area charts.
Again, General Mathematics goes to the effort of listing these. And Foundation does list the contemporary types. So why are these left broadly as “diagrams, charts, tables and graphs”. Again, this should be a minor update to the study design for clarity.
To what extent are interval estimates and confidence intervals present in VCE Foundation Mathematics?
Interval estimates are only present to the extent of students being able to suggest reasonable upper and lower values from which a number may have been drawn. There is no expectation that students engage with or compute approximate confidence intervals.
I’m surprised that was frequent enough of a question to clarify, especially where interval estimates are only mentioned in the Algebra area of study under estimations and approximations and not with the Data analysis area of study. But it removes a potential misunderstanding, so sure.
General Mathematics
Link to VCE General Mathematics FAQs (docx)
Do students still need to be able to use simultaneous equations in two variables?
Students do not need to solve simultaneous equations through the generation of an inverse matrix or matrix approaches; however, they should be familiar with concepts expected by Level 10 of the Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0 Mathematics.
So, did they forget to remove “inverse matrices and their applications including solving a system of simultaneous linear equations” (emphasis added) from Unit 1? There’s no reference in the key knowledge and skills apart from “use matrix sums, difference, products and powers and inverses to model and solve practical problems”. If so, update the study design accordingly!
Are students required to know how to calculate the sample standard deviation ‘by hand’?
Students should be able to ‘answer statistical questions’, as specified in the study design. Students should have a working knowledge of the standard deviation formula and be able to explain what the individual variables in the rule represent, and answer relevant statistical questions (for example, ‘How does the value of the standard deviation vary as n increases?’).
Firstly, they don’t actually answer the question asked. Secondly, taking the implied “no”, I’m not sure how they’re expecting students to build that understanding of how the formula behaves without any by hand calculations. Guess we need to include more data sets that draw attention to these, because working that out from the formula when summation notation is not really taught or understood for General is going to be shallow learning, if any, at best.
Are cyclical trends still an expected feature of time series?
Students are only expected to be familiar with the qualitative features of time-series plots listed in the study design including trend (long-term direction), seasonality (systematic, calendar-related movements) and irregular fluctuations (unsystematic, short-term fluctuations), possible outliers and their sources (including one-off real-world events), and signs of structural change such as a discontinuity in the time series.
I’ve been banging this drum and will continue to. And now I can point people somewhere from the VCAA that says it for me. This is the kind of thing that the FAQ is good for clarifying. Could they state in the study design “cyclical trends not required”? Yes. Do I expect that the VCAA will start being more explicit about what is not in the study design when writing the study design? No.
Are interval and ratio data types required for numerical data for Units 3 and 4?
Yes. The study design for VCE General Mathematics Units 3 and 4 assumes knowledge and skills from Units 1 and 2 of VCE General Mathematics.
This one bothers me. They went to the effort of including a dot point on reviewing types of data in Unit 3 and have the key knowledge point “types of data: categorical (nominal and ordinal) and numerical (discrete and continuous)” that explicitly does not include them. They have yet to assess interval and ratio data types on the exam, so I get the sneaking suspicion that it may decide to pop up on the exam this year because they’ve brought attention to it unless they backpedal. Feels like a “better safe than sorry” scenario.
Is it required to teach Dijkstra’s algorithm using table or non-table methods?
Students should at least be familiar with a method of employing the algorithm, whether that is tables, boxes at the vertices or by inspection. The purpose of the study design specification is not to prescribe one pedagogical approach or application of a mathematical method, but for students to seek the expected outcome for the problem utilising an appropriately selected method.
I feel like the tabular method already got taken behind the shed given its impracticality to draw up the table on the exam where there wasn’t generally the space to do so.
On a separate note, I feel like “not to prescribe one pedagogical approach” runs counter to how assessments are very focused on modelling, problem-solving, and inquiry.
Are students allowed to use mathematics knowledge from other mathematics courses to answer questions on a VCE General Mathematics examination?
Any valid mathematical technique may be used to solve questions on the examination where no particular method is required.
This should be plastered everywhere. I’m surprised this doesn’t explicitly mention the two methods for seasonal indices that I brought up last year and was noted in the assessment guide and report.
Mathematical Methods
Link to VCE Mathematical Methods FAQs (docx)
What calculations and interpretations of central measures and measures of spread are required key knowledge?
The study design explicitly identifies the mean, variance and standard deviation for all probability distributions. Percentiles, quartiles, interquartile range, median and mode are not formally required as part of the current study design; however, they may emerge through exploration of the content under the area of study.
Long way of saying “we’re going to ask questions where the probability is given, find one of the boundaries”—i.e., determine the percentile or quartile or median without saying those words.
Do students need to know linear transformations for a probability distribution?
Formal definition of linear transformation of a probability distribution is not required as part of the current study design. However, students should be aware of the effect of variation in the value(s) of parameter(s) used to define a probability distribution and properties of probability distributions and their graphs.
There is definitely a disconnect here for expectations and determining the variance, no? Students are expected2 to use both
for the variance, which you can’t prove without understanding the linear transformations. Otherwise, it’s just a hand wave “it works because it works”.
How are students expected to find and interpret a non-stationary point of inflection?
Students are expected to identify a graphical feature and determine the location of a non-stationary point of inflection of the graph of a function. They may find this point using the second derivative, other methods or through the use of technology as appropriate. A point of inflection should be viewed in the context of a maximum rate of increase or decrease (local maximum or minimum gradient). Consideration of concavity is not required.
👏🏻THE👏🏻SECOND👏🏻DERIVATIVE👏🏻IS👏🏻NOT👏🏻IN👏🏻THE👏🏻METHODS👏🏻COURSE👏🏻 It should not be expected that students use content outside of the study design. Yes, I know students are allowed to use any valid method, even if it’s not in the course as long as they address the question asked.3 But listing a method that is not in the course first here is a bad look.
Using CAS technology that has an inflection point finder? Sure. Don’t love it, but can get on board, just don’t go expecting exact coordinates.
The relationship to the maximum or minimum gradient (especially where the derivative is a quadratic function or sinusoid and they can be found with non-calculus methods)? Sure. Though you should probably put the explicit reference to this back in from the 2016 study design instead of having it as part of the optimisation problems (which is not clear given the otherwise lack of second derivative content).
But using the second derivative? That shouldn’t be the priority here. If you want students using it in Methods, move it to Methods like it is in the ACv8.4 and pretty much the rest of the country.
How should students describe transformations of a graph?
Transformations in the plane should be described within the context of the plane and, to avoid ambiguity, dilations are a factor ‘parallel to an axis’ or ‘from an axis’, reflections ‘in an axis’ and translations of a magnitude ‘in the direction of an axis’. Matrix notation of transformations is not a requirement of the study design; however, matrices may be used to describe transformations.
Then why does the 2025 Exam 2 assessment guide and report both use: left/right and up/down for their translations? Don’t suddenly change the goal posts in the middle of the implementation of a study. Especially when left/right and up/down has been used in exam reports for years and accepted as an answer. Yes, that language is more accurate as the axis might not be for left/right and up/down, but that is generally how we see them for Methods: horizontally and vertically.
Are students expected to be familiar with the term ‘smooth’ to describe differentiability at a point?
VCE Mathematical Methods Unit 1 requires students to be familiar with an informal consideration of continuity and smoothness. Therefore, students should be familiar with, yet guided through, the consideration of the continuity and differentiability for functions (for example, a piece-wise function at its sub-function partition value/s).
One mention of “informal consideration of continuity and smoothness” in Unit 1 in the dot points not the key knowledge or skills and we have to deal with smoothness problems in the Unit 3&4 exams. Lovely.
Do students need to know about odd, even and absolute value functions?
Absolute value functions are not part of the study design. Prescribing functions as odd or even is not explicitly identified within the study design; however, their properties may be explored as an application of transformations in the plane.
But area of study 1 does mention symmetry as a key feature of the graphs of functions. So, take that as broad symmetry rather than specifics of odd and even functions and considering whether any of y = f(x), y = f(−x), and y = −f(x) are the same? I guess without functional relations, there’s less need to worry about it. Not that I can find references to odd/even functions on exams.
On absolute value functions, there’s only a few places that they’re useful in Methods. Firstly, as part of piecewise/hybrid functions which is doable without writing |x|. Secondly, for the antiderivative of the reciprocal function, which I suspect is more likely where the question arises given that the VCAA does include problems where the domain of the reciprocal function is the left-side of the vertical asymptote (or some subset of it). That should fall under using any valid method. So, if you want to spend Methods time teaching it to avoid that problem (that is solved in the Specialist study design) instead of reflecting the logarithmic function to fit the domain, you should be fine.
What are the necessary components for students to include when determining the rule and domain of an inverse function?
To find the inverse of function f, a valid algebraic process should be shown to determine the rule of f−1. The rule should be written as f−1 and the domain and range of f−1 stated accurately when required. Students are also required from Unit 1 onwards to be able to sketch the graph of the inverse function of a one-to-one function given its graph.
This isn’t addressing the actual question that came up.4 The VCAA had put an exam report out that suddenly changed the expectation of what was considered an acceptable method (and the provided method in past reports) for determining the inverse function. Suddenly y could not equal both f(x) and f−1(x) in the working out where a “swap x and y” occurred, which is ridiculous.
The answer to this question should have clearly stated that the method is acceptable and/or what else is considered “a valid algebraic process”, such as using the relationship f(f−1(x)) = x and solving for f−1(x), potentially with a substitution of y = f−1(x) to reduce the amount of f−1(x) to write. That is, you end up with f(y) = x.5
Is kinematics a required part of the study design?
The analysis of motion graphs, as a context and application of differentiation, is in the study design for VCE Mathematical Methods Unit 1 and therefore is part of the assumed knowledge for Units 3 and 4.
I’ll believe it when I see it on the exam. No, seriously. Find me a VCAA Methods exam question on kinematics since 2006.6 I’ll wait.7
Without the second derivative things quickly devolve into very dull questions that may as well be a different context or awkwardly trying to avoid forcing the need to take the derivative of a derivative (or multiple antiderivatives). That’s before them wanting to not double up between Physics and Methods/Specialist content too much.
Can students use CAS syntax to demonstrate appropriate working in school-based and external assessment tasks?
No. Students should use conventional mathematical notation in developing their responses. It should also be noted that the various calculators have different syntax and therefore CAS syntax is not considered to be standard.
This should really be in the General Mathematics FAQs as I think it’s a bigger issue there. It is repeatedly stated in exam reports too. No, we don’t need to see “solve(3x + 1 = 5, x)” writing “3x + 1 = 5” is sufficient. It would be good if the VCAA followed their own advice though.8
Specialist Mathematics
Link to VCE Specialist Mathematics FAQs (docx)
To what extent should graph theory be explored in Units 3 and 4?
Graph theory is one of the topics listed that may be used for proof and logic under Area of Study 1.
That is so helpful. Thank you.
What skills are assumed knowledge and what other skills are required for graph sketching in Units 3 and 4?
All of the graph sketching skills listed in the study design for VCE Specialist Mathematics Units 1 and 2 as well as the study design for VCE Mathematical Methods Units 3 and 4 are assumed and applicable for VCE Specialist Mathematics Units 3 and 4. These skills include: identifying and determining axial intercepts; critical points (end points, stationary points and points of inflection); descriptions of concavity; asymptotic behaviour and equations of linear asymptotes; and transformations in the plane. The study design for VCE Specialist Mathematics Units 3 and 4 specifically mentions rational and simple quotient functions, and students are expected to sketch these with and without the use of technology. Other graphs listed in VCE Specialist Mathematics Units 1 and 2 (such as inverse and reciprocal circular functions, circles, hyperbolas and ellipses) are also required.
Good to see an acknowledgement of asymptotes being linear, even if that felt like a throwaway in the midst of a separate answer.
Couldn’t have left in the dot points on the graphs of inverse and reciprocal circular functions in Units 3&4 from the 2016 study design, could we? At least the rest is mentioned in one place or another. I also think removing the domains and ranges of the inverse functions from the formula sheet does not help this as students know need to know them by heart if they appear on exam 1 rather than having the reference available like they used to.
Are circular functions and trigonometric identities required for Units 3 and 4?
Trigonometric identities are specified in VCE Specialist Mathematics Unit 2 and are required key knowledge and key skills for VCE Specialist Mathematics Units 3 and 4.
Again, not really the question. They removed the big section from the previous study design on trigonometric identities and seemingly the questions that tested these specifically and not incidentally within other problems such as integration or parametric functions.
What is meant by polar form for complex numbers? What elements of complex numbers are required from Unit 2?
Polar form for complex numbers is modulus argument form: z = r cis(θ). All elements of VCE Specialist Mathematics Unit 2 complex numbers are required. Base e polar form is not required, but it may emerge through exploration of the topic.
You mean when the CAS inevitably spits it out, don’t you?
Can students use various forms to represent vectors?
Students may use conventional representations of vectors within their working; however, the study design for VCE Specialist Mathematics only lists ordered pairs and the orthogonal unit vectors i, j and k.
Good to confirm that column vectors are presumably fine to use for compactness and clarity between components. Downside is needing to swap between the notation in the question and a different notation.
Is the intersection of three planes required?
This study limits the intersection, distance, and angle between planes to two planes only.
Then what is “systems of equations with two and three variables and their geometric interpretation” doing in the key knowledge?
Can students use mathematical techniques not specifically listed in the study design?
Students may use valid and conventional techniques, such as the distance formula in analytic geometry9 or the tabular method for integration by parts,10 but they must address the requirements of the question.
Again, plaster this everywhere. Any. Valid. Method.
In fact, I think you’d make a good proportion of those students (that don’t also do Methods or Specialist) cry if you gave them those.
hah
Why the Methods FAQ doesn’t have the question on any valid method is beyond me. Feels very prudent for Methods.
Which for some reason I can no longer locate. So, it’s possible the VCAA edited the report it was in. If you know which one I’m talking to, point me back towards it and I’ll update the post.
Oh look, they swapped. Would you look at that.
That’s as far back that’s live on their website.
Actually, no I won’t, because I’ll be waiting forever.
They do this in the General assessment guides and reports occasionally.
I’m pretty sure they’re referencing