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2026 QCE Legal Studies exam: What to learn from last year's mistakes
Hi all, in preparation for the upcoming exam, here's what to learn from last year's mistakes.
2025 exam median and average: not stated in QCAA's report.
The published marking guide totals 44 raw marks. The external assessment was worth 25% of the subject result. Q6 carried 25/44 marks, or 56.8% of the paper.
I've gone through the report and guide. The report's summary gives a different total, so the question allocations here follow the marking guide itself.
QCAA doesn't publish written-question averages. These sections explain where an answer misses the criteria, not how many students made each mistake. This covers the General paper.
Q1: Disability discrimination and human rights
4 marks.
Where an answer loses marks: Naming two rights without describing what protection looks like.
What you needed: Identify and describe two rights promoted by the Disability Discrimination Act. For education, explain protection from disability discrimination in enrolment or study. For employment, explain protection in matters such as recruitment or promotion. Each right needed both parts, worth two marks per right.
Q2: The media's role
4 marks.
Where an answer loses marks: Saying the media raises awareness twice in different words.
What you needed: Identify and describe its role, then explain two ways it protects or advocates for rights. Investigative reporting can expose a violation and inform the public. Continued scrutiny can also hold those responsible accountable and create pressure for change. Explain the different functions rather than naming two platforms.
Q3: ICERD
4 marks.
Where an answer loses marks: Saying the convention stops racism without explaining two features.
What you needed: One feature is special measures addressing disadvantage so a group can enjoy rights equally. Another is the obligations placed on states to prohibit racial discrimination and protect equal participation. Identify each feature and explain what it does. Merely expanding the acronym doesn't answer that.
Q6: Criminalising civil disobedience and the right to protest
25 marks: 14 for analysing and 11 for evaluating.
Where students needed more care: QCAA specifically recommends clearer legal alternatives. A general suggestion to educate people isn't automatically an alternative legal approach.
What you needed: Explain the issue's nature and scope, then analyse two viewpoints and their consequences using the stimulus. That section allocated 3 marks for the issue, 4 per viewpoint and 3 for evidence.
Then present two legal alternatives grounded in that analysis, justify a decision using legal criteria and discuss a plausible implication. Those allocations were 3 + 3 + 3 + 2. Specify what legal rule or approach would change and judge its effect on the rights at issue. A personal opinion about whether protesters are annoying doesn't meet those criteria.
For 2026, Unit 4 also includes the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Convention against Torture and the Age Discrimination Act. The 2025 paper does not cover every addition.
Use the 2025 report alongside official marking guide. 2026 syllabus changes.
Figures and criteria: QCAA. Explanations paraphrased from its materials, © State of Queensland (QCAA) 2025–2026, CC BY 4.0.
Use the Legal Studies hub and past papers and marking guides alongside this.
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