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2026 QCE Modern History 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 General exam was 48 raw marks and worth 25% of the subject result. Q3 and Q4 made up 33/48 marks, or 68.75% of the paper.
I've gone through last year's report and guide. This is about how to answer source questions, not a prediction that Vietnam War content will repeat.
For 2026, the prescribed external topics are migration from Asia to Australia in the 1960s–1990s, or the reasons for the end of the Soviet Union in the 1980s–1990s. Prepare your school's selected topic. The examples below come from the 2025 General Vietnam War paper.
QCAA doesn't give written-question averages. These are marking requirements, not a ranking of how badly the cohort answered each question.
Q1: Explain a relationship using both sources
6 marks.
Where an answer loses marks: Describing Australia's involvement without explaining its relationship with the USA, or only using one source.
What you needed: Explain the relationship through forward defence. Use evidence from Source 1 and Source 2, with relevant terms from both placed in historical context. The explanation and evidence carried 3 marks; the terms and context carried another 3.
Q2: Compare the views, not just the accounts
9 marks.
Where an answer loses marks: Summarising the historians and Zaat separately without judging how far their views agree.
What you needed: Compare their views on veterans' personal challenges and military challenges using well-chosen evidence from Source 3. Each comparison carried 3 marks. Relevant terminology and historical context made up the remaining 3. Answer the extent of agreement directly, including any limits.
Q3: Usefulness needs a reason
15 marks.
Where an answer loses marks: Calling a source useful because it is primary, or dismissing it because it is biased, without explaining what it helps establish.
What you needed: Judge Sources 4, 5 and 6 separately. For each, use a specific piece of evidence and explain its usefulness for the question. Those judgments carried 3 marks per source. Historical context and purposeful paragraph organisation carried another 3 each. A source's perspective can be useful evidence even when it has limitations.
Q4: Build an argument across the sources
18 marks.
Where an answer loses marks: Writing four disconnected summaries or claiming the sources agree without showing how.
What you needed: Answer the question with an argument, then combine evidence from Sources 7–10 to develop it. The rubric allocated 4 marks to the argument and 5 to combining evidence from all four sources. Using three could reach 4/5 in that criterion, not the maximum.
Explain the extent to which two sources corroborate the argument, worth another 3 marks. Contextual terminology and clear organisation account for the remaining 6. Show what the evidence establishes together; don't leave the marker to connect it for you.
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 Modern History hub and past papers and marking guides alongside this.
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