What parents need to know about the VCE cheat sheet scandal

How is the VCAA going to mark these exams? Will students be penalised for accessing the hidden questions? Here’s what parents need to know about the VCE cheat sheet scandal.

The head of Victoria’s VCE exams system abruptly resigned after thousands of students were given access to cheat sheets containing almost identical questions and case studies to those in their final exams.

Here’s what parents need to know about the VCE exams bungle.

How is the VCAA going to mark these exams?

It will check answers to the compromised questions for any anomalies to determine whether some students have performed better than expected.

Checks will also be made against the General Achievement Test – which is sat in the middle of the year to evaluate knowledge and skills – and scores on other assessments. The VCAA says this will hopefully stamp out the need for students to get a derived mark, which is what they would have received if they were sick or suffered an adverse event.

Will students be penalised for accessing the hidden questions?

No, students will not be accused of cheating, nor will students be made to resit their exams. The VCAA says students can be assured if they have accessed the inadvertent material on the cheat sheets, this will not be considered a breach of rules. But they have warned as a last resort some might have marks taken off if it’s found they had an unfair advantage.

Will students who did not access the leaked information be compensated?

These students won’t necessarily be compensated, but the VCAA says they won’t be “disadvantaged”. Education Minister Ben Carroll said they were putting “robust processes” in place to make sure no one was better or worse off because of the bungle.

VCAA chief executive Kylie White has resigned over the leaked questions. Picture: Supplied.

What is going to happen to the handful of exams that were “substantially” affected?

Among the subjects that have been “substantially” affected are business management and product design, where content worth 50 per cent of the marks was compromised because of the hidden text published on exam covers. The VCAA is going to look into this carefully to determine what to do, with no clear plans yet released.

Will students get their ATARs on time?

Mr Carroll said the aim was for results to be released on the planned date of December 12. But he couldn’t give a guarantee. “We will be very clear if we look like we do need more time, we will work towards making sure that all that information is distributed,” he said.

Mr Carroll has ordered a “root and branch” review of the VCAA. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake

What does this mean for university offers?

The VCAA is working with the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre and universities to see if adjustments need to be made to the ATAR release date or university offers. “We are working with all of our admissions, our universities, right across the board to make sure timelines everything goes as smoothly as possible,” Mr Carroll said. The first round of university offers are due to come out on December 23.

Will students who don’t get into the course be able to contest it?

If students disagree with their ATAR or study score, the VCAA will consider a VCE Examination Score Review Application. This application will need to be made on behalf of a student by a school principal and supported by the student’s subject teacher. It needs to be demonstrated that a clear error has occurred in the assessment of a question/s on a written examination. The fee to inspect examination response materials will be waived this year.

What changes will be made to prevent this happening next year?

Mr Carroll has ordered a “root and branch” review of the VCAA to “get to the bottom” of what has occurred and to ensure it won’t happen again next year. The review will examine the structure and operations of the VCAA and commence in 2025. An independent monitor will also be employed to work with and provide guidance to the VCAA. A new chief executive is also expected to be recruited.