Literature

Official curriculum and assessment

To start VCE Literature revision, open the 2025 Written examination paper. Use the official resources below to choose a task, attempt it independently and check your response against the available assessment guidance. The practice sequence below explains how to turn that review into a focused next attempt. Confirm the paper’s course and syllabus year before using it.

• 2025 Written examination paper (PDF)
• 2025 Written examination marking guidance (Word document)
• 2024 Written examination paper (PDF)
• 2024 Written examination marking guidance (Word document)
• 2023 Written examination paper (PDF)
• 2023 Written examination marking guidance (Word document)
• 2017 Written examination (PDF)
• 2017 official assessment report (PDF)

Editorial guidance prepared 3 November 2026.

How to practise this subject

These practice suggestions are editorial guidance from Australian Study Resources.

1. Open the 2023 Section A, Q1. Task focus — Short-answer task asking students to explain why a given set passage matters to the meaning or development of the whole text. Attempt it before consulting the marking guidance, then identify the evidence or working that supports your answer.
2. Open the 2023 Section B, Section B. Task focus — Single sustained essay building an interpretation of a chosen text by closely analysing two or more of three provided set passages and linking that analysis back to the text as a whole. Attempt it before consulting the marking guidance, then identify the evidence or working that supports your answer.
3. Open the 2017 Written examination, Section A. Task focus — Single extended essay arguing a position on a set proposition about one chosen text, informed by a nominated literary perspective, drawing on the whole text rather than a set passage. Attempt it before consulting the marking guidance, then identify the evidence or working that supports your answer.
4. Record the specific point you missed, write a corrected response, and attempt another question that requires the same skill. Check older material against your current course before reusing it.