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2026 SACE Tourism exam: What to learn from last year's mistakes
SACE Tourism is on Thursday 12 November at 1:30 pm.
I've gone through the 2025 examiner advice. The common issue was stopping at description when the question needed evidence, analysis or a justified recommendation.
Here are four things worth practising.
1. Question 1: Use the visitor data
Where students went wrong: Some described New Zealand and Malaysian visitors without specific comparisons or evidence.
What they should have done: Compare the groups directly and connect the data to tourism sectors or marketing decisions when asked.
My practice routine: put both groups in the same sentence using “whereas”. Add the relevant figures and explain why the difference matters for the decision. A statistic is evidence, not the whole answer.
2. Question 5: Assess benefits and costs
Where students went wrong: Weaker whale-shark-tourism answers considered only negatives, used too few sources or listed impacts without a judgement.
What they should have done: Weigh positive and negative effects using relevant sources, then reach a supported conclusion.
My revision check: separate economic, environmental and social effects in your plan. You do not need to weight them equally, but explain which matters most and why. Avoid choosing the conclusion before examining the evidence.
3. Question 6: Evaluate the sources themselves
Where students went wrong: This was the least successfully answered question. Some retold content instead of evaluating validity, bias and usefulness.
What they should have done: Examine each source's evidence and perspective, and explain how the sources corroborate or qualify each other.
My checklist: who produced it, what evidence is supplied, whose perspective is missing and what can it actually support? A personal account provides firsthand experience without necessarily representing all visitors. A formal-looking statistic still needs a credible basis. Explain the limitation precisely.
4. Question 7: Match recommendations to stakeholders
Where students went wrong: Some repeated recommendations, omitted evidence or confused the roles of government, businesses and tourists.
What they should have done: Give three distinct, justified strategies for the specified stakeholders.
My planning method: stakeholder → action → how it addresses the problem → evidence. Ask whether the stakeholder can implement it. A tourist can choose responsible behaviour; a regulatory requirement needs an authority capable of introducing and enforcing it.
Practise one comparison and one extended response under time pressure. Underline the explanation after every statistic or recommendation. If you cannot find it, that is where the answer needs work.
Source: 2025 SACE Tourism examiner advice. The revision routines are my suggestions.
Sorry guys, shameless plug, I gotta do this. I'm the founder of ATARMAXXING, so take a look at the SACE Tourism practice exams with answer guides if you want more source-based practice. You can preview the Tourism pack before buying. Write your response first, then check the evidence and reasoning you missed.
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