Drama ATAR Course Year 12 Syllabus (for teaching from 2026)
Units 3 and 4 are assessed through school-based tasks (Performance/production 30%, Practical examination 20%, Written examination 20%, Response 30% of the school mark) and an ATAR course examination with a practical (performance) component and a written component. The practical examination is 15 minutes: Monologue 1 - Candidate's choice (45%), Monologue 2 from the Set monologue list (35%) and an Improvisation (20%); it is not modelled here. The written examination has 10 minutes reading time and 2 hours 30 minutes working time. Section One - Short answer: analysis and interpretation of a drama text (2 compulsory questions on a short unseen script excerpt in a separate Text booklet, each in a named role, 60 minutes, 40 marks, 40% of the written exam). Section Two - Extended answer: Australian drama and World drama (five 20-mark questions, each in a role; write two answers, one on your Australian set text and one on your World set text, using the same question or two different ones; 90 minutes, 40 marks, 60% of the written exam). Raw marks have moved (40/34 in 2023, 29/36 in 2024, 40/40 in 2025 and on the 2026 cover) but the 40/60 weighting has stayed fixed since 2023. Only pens, pencils (including coloured), sharpener, correction fluid/tape, eraser, ruler and highlighters are permitted.
Past papers on this subject span more than one syllabus. Papers written under an older one still work as practice, but the units and content areas they test have changed — the index labels every paper with the syllabus it was set under.
Year 12 syllabus for teaching from 2026 (v15, minor changes; same written design as 2023-2025) · 2026–2026Year 12 syllabus, written examination at Section One 40% / Section Two 60% (examined 2023-2025) · 2023–2025Earlier written examination design: Section One 60% / Section Two 40% with one Section Two answer (2021-2022 papers in this pack) · 2021–2022
The units and content areas, one by one
Each area below lists the concepts named in the syllabus, what the SCSA exam asks of them, and the mistake that most often costs marks.
- Elements of drama, voice and movement (Units 3 and 4)
- Drama processes: vision, rehearsal and improvisation (Units 3 and 4)
- Context, character values, form and style (Units 3 and 4)
- Theatre approaches (Unit 3 and Unit 4 lists)
- Spaces of performance and theatre design (Units 3 and 4)
- Section One: the unseen drama text
- Section Two: Australian and World set texts
Area 1 of 7
Elements of drama, voice and movement (Units 3 and 4)
Fifteen elements of drama - character, role, relationships, situation, voice, movement, focus, tension, space, time, language, symbol, audience, mood and atmosphere - with ten named aspects of voice and nine of movement. Questions name one aspect precisely (tone, articulation, projection, inflection; weight, pace, gesture, proxemics, stillness, energy) and expect you to manipulate it for a stated purpose.
What the exam asks
The 2025 paper asked a director to use one aspect of voice to show the relationship between two characters in one scene, and a different movement aspect in each of four scenes to chart the central character's changing motivation; Section Two asked actors about articulation, tone, gesture and projection. The 2024 paper asked for rehearsal of the movement aspect weight and manipulation of tone, stillness, inflection and energy.
Where marks go missing
Naming a different aspect from the one in the question, or describing a whole performance instead of the named scene. Each answer needs the aspect, exactly how it is manipulated, the line or moment, and the effect on dramatic meaning or the audience.
Area 2 of 7
Drama processes: vision, rehearsal and improvisation (Units 3 and 4)
The director's vision informs rehearsal, blocking and performance choices; themes and issues are understood (Unit 3) and interpreted (Unit 4); improvisation is used in rehearsal and performance.
What the exam asks
Director questions recur every year: a rehearsal activity for movement (2023, 2024), a rehearsal process to explore relationships (2024), one rehearsal activity to realise a vision for a teenage audience (2025).
Where marks go missing
Confusing 'in rehearsal' with 'in performance' - the 2025 report found rehearsal-based answers consistently weaker. A rehearsal answer names an activity, explains how it runs with the actors and what it discovers; a performance answer describes what the audience sees and hears.
Area 3 of 7
Context, character values, form and style (Units 3 and 4)
Historical, social and cultural context; character values; point of view to shape audience perspective and impact; form (Realism including Naturalism, or Non-realism and its sub-forms) and style (representational, presentational or a combination).
What the exam asks
2025 Section Two asked designers to explain a set text's context and use design to enhance it, actors to explain a character's key value, and designers to highlight form and style in a site-specific space; 2023 asked actors to use voice to show a character's context.
Where marks go missing
Mixing up form and style - reports from 2023 to 2025 repeat that candidates call Realism a style or presentational a form. Form is how the text is written; style is how it is performed or produced.
Area 4 of 7
Theatre approaches (Unit 3 and Unit 4 lists)
Two approaches are researched and/or applied across Units 3 and 4: one from the Unit 3 list (Bogart and Landau, Uta Hagen, Robert Cohen, David Mamet, Knebel and Carnicke, Laban) and one from the Unit 4 list (Artaud, Frantic Assembly, Berkoff, Lecoq, Grotowski, Complicité), covering background, ideology and application.
What the exam asks
2024 asked an actor to use one practitioner-based physical approach to show a character's age in two scenes, and a director to use a practitioner/company approach and one of its conventions; 2025 asked an actor to use a practitioner approach to develop gesture.
Where marks go missing
Dropping a practitioner's name without a specific convention. Markers want the convention (for example a Viewpoints exercise or a chair-duet sequence), how it is run, and what it does for this character in this scene.
Area 5 of 7
Spaces of performance and theatre design (Units 3 and 4)
Performer-audience interaction in theatre and site-specific spaces, promenade theatre and transitions; design language (principles of balance, contrast, emphasis, repetition, scale/proportion; elements of line, shape, texture, colour, and for sound direction, duration, tone, volume) applied in a chosen designer role with relevant technologies.
What the exam asks
Stage-space and site-specific questions appear every year (2025 Q1(a) and Q5; 2024 Q4; 2023 Q3). Principles of design are named in the question: contrast (2025), balance (2024), scale/proportion and repetition (2023).
Where marks go missing
Using a principle and an element interchangeably, or drawing a diagram with bare labels. The 2025 report says simple labels are not enough: annotate why each choice supports meaning.
Area 6 of 7
Section One: the unseen drama text
A short unseen script excerpt with contextual information, character list and setting. Two compulsory questions in named roles, with parts tied to specific scenes; designer questions let you pick costume, lighting, set or sound.
What the exam asks
2025: designer stage space and scene-by-scene design choices (16) plus director voice and movement work (24). 2024: director (14) and actor (15). 2023: designer with two annotated diagrams (24) and director movement (16).
Where marks go missing
Repeating the same choice across scene sub-parts (the 2025 key gives only 1 mark for a repeat) and making general comments with no direct reference to the scene.
Area 7 of 7
Section Two: Australian and World set texts
One Australian and one World play from the 2026 Set text list, studied for elements of drama, form and style, the selected approach, context, and design language and technologies. Five role-based questions; write two answers, one on each text.
What the exam asks
Every question has four parts moving from an explanation about the text to rehearsal or performance or design choices in a key scene or section, finishing with a diagram or a specific choice. 2025 parts were 4/6/6/4.
Where marks go missing
Writing an introduction or plot summary - the reports from 2023, 2024 and 2025 all say to start with the first part. Give only the question number, role, title and playwright.
Common questions
Does this hub cover the practical (performance) examination?
No. The Drama ATAR course examination has a practical component (two monologues and an improvisation) and a written component. A text hub cannot rehearse or mark a performance, so every practice paper here models the written examination only. Use the SCSA practical examination requirements and your teacher for the practical.
How is the written paper structured in 2026?
Ten minutes reading and two and a half hours working. Section One: two compulsory short-answer questions on an unseen drama text, 40 marks, 40% of the written exam, about 60 minutes. Section Two: write two extended answers from five 20-mark questions, one on your Australian set text and one on your World set text, 40 marks, 60%, about 90 minutes.
Can I answer the same Section Two question for both texts?
Yes. The paper allows one question for both your Australian and World texts, or one question for each. Many candidates in 2025 chose two different questions because some questions suited one text better.
Which set texts can I use?
Only texts on the 2026 Set text list: one Australian and one World play. The 2026 list removes I'm With Her and Mnemonic, which were printed on the 2025 paper, and adds Thornton Wilder's Our Town. Check with your teacher that your texts match the current list.
Why do the practice papers use scripts I have never seen?
Section One is always an unseen published script, and the real Text booklets are copyright. The hub writes original script extracts in a range of forms and styles so you practise the same skill: reading quickly, picking a role and justifying scene-specific choices.
How do I show a diagram in an online answer?
In the real exam you draw and annotate it by hand. In the hub, sample answers describe the diagram and list its annotations in words. Practise drawing it on paper: a ground plan, costume rendering, lighting plot, sound cue table or blocking map, with each annotation explaining why.
Do raw marks always add to 80?
No. Raw marks have changed: 74 in 2023, 65 in 2024 and 80 in 2025 and on the 2026 cover. The 40/60 weighting between Section One and Section Two stays fixed. This hub uses the 2026 cover.