VCE Units 3 & 4 · Victoria

English as an Additional Language Scaling VCE 2026: Raw to Scaled

VCE English as an Additional Language scales down in Victoria. In the 2025 VTAC Scaling Report, EAL had a scaled mean of 27.3 and a raw study score of 30 scaled down to 27, with 35 scaling to 33. The curve flattens at the top: 40 stayed at 40, 45 rose to 46 and 50 stayed at 50.

What the 2025 VTAC report shows

Raw 30 → scaled 27

Study scores run 0–50, and VTAC's scaled study score can reach 55. This is the report's own conversion for a raw score of 30. It describes the 2025 cohort. Scaling is recalculated every year, so it is not a prediction of what your result will do.

You can't change the scaling. You can change the raw mark.

Scaling is decided by your cohort, after the exam, and nothing you do moves it. The raw mark is the only part of this you control — and the English as an Additional Language hub is 20 full-length model exams with mark-by-mark answer guides, revision notes, practice questions and flashcards, built for exactly that.

Preview English as an Additional Language free →VTAC ATAR calculator

The hub shows a sample revision note extract, one full exam question with its worked answer and the complete list of every exam and note title — no account needed to look around. Unlocking English as an Additional Language for life is $20 once, or $50 for any three subjects. See what's included →

What English as an Additional Language actually asks of you

Units 3 and 4 are assessed by School-assessed Coursework worth 25 per cent each and one end-of-year written examination worth 50 per cent. Unit 3 SAC marks are split 30 for an analytical response to a text, 20 for comprehension of an audio or audio visual text on the historical, cultural and/or social values behind the set text, 40 for a written text created for a stated audience, purpose and context, and 10 for roughly 250 words of annotations on your writing decisions. Unit 4 splits 40 for an analytical text response, 40 for an analysis of argument and language, and 20 for a three-to-five-minute point of view oral presentation. The examination is a 60-mark task book with 15 minutes reading time and 3 hours writing time: Section A an analytical response to one topic on one text from List 1 (20 marks), Section B one created written text — song, poetry and verse excluded — using the given title, at least one unseen stimulus and one Framework of Ideas (20 marks), and Section C an analysis of argument, written and spoken language, and visuals in unseen persuasive material (20 marks). Each section is worth exactly one-third. Since 2024 there is no listening section in the examination and no multiple choice anywhere in it. You may take an English and/or bilingual printed dictionary into the room; no electronic device is permitted.

The English as an Additional Language exam is Tuesday 27 October 2026, 9:00 am. Source: VCE timetable.

The 8 areas of study you are examined on

From the VCE English and English as an Additional Language (EAL) Study Design (Units 3 and 4, 2024–2027).

Unit 1, AOS 1 — Reading and exploring texts (not examinable, foundational)
Unit 1 starts with personal connection rather than formal analysis. You read or view one set text, or extracts from it, and work on inferential reading: what a text implies about character, setting, plot, point of view and voice rather than what it states. The area of study asks you to notice how vocabulary, text structures and language features build meaning on more than one level, and to compare the cultural, social and historical values embedded in the text with your own. Class and small-group discussion is treated as a skill in its own right — testing an idea aloud before committing it to paper — and your writing moves from personal response towards formal essay structures with metalanguage and textual evidence.
In the exam: School-assessed only. The EAL outcome wording is deliberately lighter than the English wording: you identify selected vocabulary, text structures, language features and ideas rather than analyse all of them. The set text here must be a different text type from the one you study in Unit 2.
Where marks go missing: Treating Unit 1 as the year where quotes do not matter yet. The habit of pinning a claim to a specific word or shot is the single skill that Section A rewards two years later, and students who never build it write plot summary under exam pressure.
Unit 1, AOS 2 — Crafting texts (not examinable, foundational)
This is where the Section B skill set begins. You read three mentor texts in depth — short stories, speeches or monologues with transcripts, essays, podcasts with transcripts, poetry or songs, feature articles, memoir or biography, whole or in extract — and study them as models of how writing actually works, not as content to be summarised. From there you write your own texts for a stated purpose, a situated context including mode, and a specific audience, experimenting with vocabulary, text structures and language features, and applying standard or non-standard conventions where they suit the piece, including colloquial and idiomatic language. You then explain the decisions you made.
In the exam: School-assessed only. No idea from the Unit 3 Framework of Ideas may be studied in Unit 1, and no List 2 mentor text aligned with a Framework idea may be used here — Unit 1 crafting is deliberately kept separate from the examinable Framework work.
Where marks go missing: Writing for no one. A piece with no nameable audience and no stated purpose has nothing to be judged against, and the same vagueness in the examination is what separates a mid Section B script from a high one.
Unit 2, AOS 1 — Reading and exploring texts (not examinable, foundational)
Unit 2 takes the Unit 1 reading skills and pushes them towards analysis. You study one set text of a different text type from Unit 1, this time reading for how vocabulary, text structures, language features and conventions work together to construct meaning, and for how historical context and social and cultural values shape the way different readers understand the same text. The writing goal is explicit: respond to a set topic, apply metalanguage accurately, integrate evidence rather than bolt it on, and organise the whole thing as a formal essay that can be reviewed and edited.
In the exam: School-assessed only. The EAL outcome asks you to identify and develop analysis of how meaning is constructed, where English students are asked to explore and analyse it.
Where marks go missing: Answering the text instead of the topic. Unit 2 is where 'respond to a set topic' first appears as a key skill, and the students who skip it write the same prepared essay every time — the exact behaviour the 2024 and 2025 examination reports flag as a low-scoring habit in Section A.
Unit 2, AOS 2 — Exploring argument (not examinable, foundational)
Here you meet the Section C material for the first time, through a contemporary local or national issue. You read, view and listen to persuasive texts and break each one down into contention, sequence of arguments, supporting evidence and persuasive strategies, then examine the language and visuals and state the intended effect on the audience. Audio and audio visual texts are handled explicitly through intonation, volume, pace, pausing and stress. Practice runs through note taking, summaries and short-answer questions before formal analytical writing, and the unit closes with you building your own point of view text for oral presentation.
In the exam: School-assessed only, but this is the direct rehearsal for Unit 4 AOS 2 and Section C of the examination. The oral presentation strand introduced here is also assessed at school in Unit 4 and never on the paper.
Where marks go missing: Collecting techniques. Listing rhetorical questions, inclusive language and statistics is the behaviour the examination reports name as low-scoring: identifying devices without saying which argument they serve and what the intended audience is meant to feel or accept.
Unit 3, AOS 1 — Reading and responding to texts (examinable, Part 1)
You study one text from the annual VCE English and EAL Text List, of a different text type from your Unit 4 text, and read it critically: the dynamics of the text, characters' motivations, tensions in relationships, the function of settings, the complexities of plot and the role of point of view, alongside its ideas, concerns and conflicts. Historical context and social and cultural values are studied as things that position readers differently, not as background trivia. Sustained analytical writing is the output — metalanguage used accurately, evidence integrated, organisational structure controlled. EAL students additionally complete a listening task that frames the text's historical, cultural and/or social values through an interview, podcast episode, lecture or presentation.
In the exam: Part 1 of this outcome is examinable and supplies Section A. Part 2, the listening comprehension task, is School-assessed Coursework only and worth 20 of the Unit 3 marks, assessed through short-answer responses or note form summaries. Section A gives two topics for each of the 20 List 1 texts; you answer one topic on one text. Topics come in three shapes — a proposition followed by 'Discuss.', 'Do you agree?' or 'To what extent do you agree?'; a quotation plus a proposition; or a direct question opening with 'How does ...?'.
Where marks go missing: Answering one word of the topic. The 2025 report names this as the most common low-scoring feature — a High Ground response that discusses the results of revenge but never the extent to which revenge is a form of justice. The second trap is writing in the style of a review, or reproducing a SAC essay that ignores the topic you actually chose.
Unit 3, AOS 2 — Creating texts (examinable)
You study three mentor texts aligned with one idea from the Framework of Ideas — writing about country, writing about protest, writing about personal journeys, or writing about play — from List 2 of the annual text list, and use them to learn how effective, cohesive writing is put together. You then create your own texts with a clear purpose: to explain, to express, to reflect or to argue. Purpose, context including mode, and audience shape every choice of voice, vocabulary, text structure and language feature. Drafting, feedback and refinement are part of the outcome, and you comment on your own authorial decisions in roughly 250 words of annotations.
In the exam: Examinable, and it supplies Section B. In the examination you get four Frameworks, each with a set title and three unseen stimuli — in 2025 these were 'Origins' for country, 'Small Acts, Big Wins' for protest, 'Changing Direction' for personal journeys and 'Life is a Game' for play. You must use the title, draw a relevant idea from at least one stimulus, and connect meaningfully to the Framework. Mentor texts do not need to be referenced in the examination. Song, poetry and verse are excluded. Framework choice is heavily lopsided in practice: 57 per cent of 2025 students wrote on personal journeys and 28 per cent on protest.
Where marks go missing: Walking in with a memorised piece and bending the title onto it. Both examination reports say so directly, and the marks show it — the stimulus exists to generate ideas, so quoting it or underlining where you touched it earns nothing. The other giveaway is a piece that recounts a sequence of events with no discernible purpose.
Unit 4, AOS 1 — Reading and responding to texts (examinable)
A second text, a different text type from your Unit 3 one, read with a sharper focus on what is implied rather than stated. The area of study centres on explicit and implicit ideas, on how the values in a text are conveyed and how historical context and social and cultural values shape a reader's understanding, and on the impact of vocabulary, text structures and language features on meaning. The writing demand is a planned, edited analytical response of roughly 700 to 900 words that answers the set topic explicitly, sustains a line of argument and supports it with key evidence.
In the exam: Examinable. This outcome and Unit 3 AOS 1 Part 1 together supply Section A — you may write on either of your two texts, provided it appears on List 1 for that year. Unit 4 Outcome 1 is worth 40 School-assessed Coursework marks as a written analytical response.
Where marks go missing: Explaining authorial intent instead of interpreting the text. The 2025 report calls this out precisely: responses limited by focusing on what the author intended rather than building an interpretation that answers the topic, usually ending as an explanation of the effect of each example.
Unit 4, AOS 2 — Analysing argument (examinable, Part 2)
You analyse argument, language and visuals in texts debating a contemporary and significant national or international issue that has appeared in the media since 1 September of the previous year. Contention and supporting arguments are studied through sequence and structure, supporting evidence, language, and techniques and strategies; visuals are studied as things that support and augment argument. You examine how the context a text appears in and the identity of its author affect an audience's reaction, how effective persuasive texts rebut opposing views respectfully, and how print, digital, audio and audio visual texts differ — including intonation, volume, pace, pausing and stress in spoken material. You also build and deliver your own point of view text.
In the exam: Part 2 — the written analysis — is examinable and supplies Section C. Part 1, the point of view oral presentation, is School-assessed Coursework only, worth 20 marks, three to five minutes long, and never appears on the paper. Section C gives you background information plus unseen persuasive material and one task: write an analysis of the ways arguments, written and spoken language, and visuals are used to try to persuade the intended audience. In 2025 the material was a community newsletter article by a local resident proposing that a regional town replace its New Year's Eve fireworks with a projected lightshow.
Where marks go missing: Misreading the context and therefore the audience. In 2024 low-scoring responses identified the intended audience as local residents when the speaker was addressing gym members; in 2025 the high-scoring scripts were the ones that registered that the author shares the readers' affection for the tradition he wants changed. Annotate the background information before you write. And remember the specification: you are not required to evaluate whether the arguments succeed.

Full English as an Additional Language study-design guide →

How scaling works in Victoria

In Victoria, VCAA gives you a raw study score out of 50 for each study. VTAC then scales it. Scaling looks at how students in that study performed across all their other studies: if a study's cohort tends to do well elsewhere, the study is treated as more competitive and its scores are adjusted upward, and if the cohort tends to do less well elsewhere, scores are adjusted downward. The result is a scaled study score between 0 and 55. VTAC then builds your aggregate from an English study, which is compulsory, plus your three next-highest scaled scores, plus 10 per cent of a fifth and sixth scaled score. Aggregates are ranked across the state and converted to an ATAR. Scaling is recalculated every year, so it is never fixed.

Source: official VTAC scaling report (PDF). Last checked 2026-08-18.

What scaling is not

Scaling is not a difficulty rating and it is not a bonus. It compares how the students in one subject performed across every other subject they took, so a subject scales down because of its cohort, not because of the paper. The consequence is practical: you cannot scale your way out of a weak result. The only lever you control is the raw mark, and the fastest way to move that is full-length timed practice against the real exam format.

VCE English as an Additional Language practice exams VTAC ATAR calculator

Questions

Does VCE English as an Additional Language scale up or down?

In the 2025 VTAC Scaling Report, EAL had a scaled mean of 27.3 and a raw study score of 30 scaled down to 27, with 35 scaling to 33. The curve flattens at the top: 40 stayed at 40, 45 rose to 46 and 50 stayed at 50.

How does subject scaling work in Victoria?

Should I choose English as an Additional Language because of how it scales?

Scaling adjusts a whole cohort, not one student, so choosing a subject you will struggle in because it scales up is usually a worse trade than doing well in one that scales down. Check the prerequisites for the course you want first, then your interest and workload, and treat scaling as a tie-breaker. Scaling is also recalculated every year, so the figures in any report describe a past cohort rather than the year you are sitting.