Which VCE Biology past paper do students score lowest on?

The 2021 Exam, averaging 68.8% across 8,774 marked attempts on AusGrader. The 2020 Exam is the highest on 75.7%.

Which VCE Biology dot points give the best return on revision time?

3.1.1.2 (1.5 marks at risk per 100), 4.2.1.1 (1.5 marks at risk per 100) and 4.1.2.2 (1.3 marks at risk per 100). Marks at risk combines a dot point's share of paper marks with the marks students drop on it, so it ranks by recoverable marks and not by score alone.

How many attempts is each VCE Biology figure based on?

60,355 marked attempts overall, with the per-row count shown in every table. Any cut below 50 attempts is withheld instead of published.

Do these averages show how the VCAA cohort performed?

No. They are AusGrader users' marked attempts, a self-selected group practising when they chose to and often without exam timing. They corroborate what VCAA publishes about this subject and do not replace it.

VCE Biology hardest topics

Across 60,355 marked attempts on AusGrader, VCE Biology students average 71.5% on questions taken from board external papers. The lowest average of any command verb is provide on 40.1%, and the verb that costs the most marks is explain, which carries 18.2% of the paper against 0.2% for provide. These are self-selected users practising when they chose to, not the VCAA cohort under exam conditions.

How to read these numbers

The figures are AusGrader users' marked attempts, not VCAA results. They corroborate what the board publishes about this subject and do not stand in for it.
Any cut with fewer than 50 attempts is withheld, which on this page is 2 dot points and 18 verbs. Every figure shown carries its attempt count.
Scores cover questions mapped to the VCE Biology study design from any board's external papers, which is why the sample is larger than the 7 VCAA papers alone. The paper table below is the exception and uses VCAA papers only.
Internal assessment and school-uploaded exams are excluded throughout, so these averages differ from the ones on VCE Biology performance stats, which count every attempt.

Score by past paper

Year	Exam	Average	Attempts
2025	Exam	73.2%	8,587
2025	Exam (NHT)	75.3%	86
2024	Exam	71.2%	9,407
2023	Exam	72.8%	9,189
2022	Exam	72.2%	9,505
2021	Exam	68.8%	8,774
2020	Exam	75.7%	8,718

The lowest average belongs to the 2021 Exam on 68.8% from 8,774 attempts, and the highest to the 2020 Exam on 75.7% from 8,718 attempts. A paper's average reflects both how hard it was and who chose to sit it, so treat the spread as a guide to which papers make demanding practice.

Score by question type

Question type	Average	Attempts
Extended response	47.8%	50
Short answer	68.1%	5,002
Multiple choice	72.4%	55,303

Score by unit

Unit	Average	Attempts
Unit 3: How do cells maintain life?	70.5%	25,243
Unit 4: How does life change and respond to challenges?	72.1%	37,021

An attempt counts once per unit, so a question assessed across two units appears in both rows and the column adds to slightly more than 60,355.

The priority list: heavy topics with low scores

Topic	Share of marks	Average	Attempts	Marks at risk
What is the role of nucleic acids and proteins in maintaining life?	25.2%	71.3%	14,682	7.2
How are species related over time?	22.0%	72.0%	12,398	6.2
How do organisms respond to pathogens?	20.0%	71.0%	16,739	5.8
How are biochemical pathways regulated?	16.5%	69.3%	10,852	5.1
How is scientific inquiry used to investigate cellular processes and/or biological change?	16.3%	74.9%	9,368	4.1

What is the role of nucleic acids and proteins in maintaining life? tops the list on 7.2 marks at risk per 100 paper marks, 1.1 ahead of How are species related over time?.

The same cut at subtopic level

Subtopic	Share of marks	Average	Attempts	Marks at risk
The relationship between nucleic acids and proteins	14.3%	68.6%	8,670	4.5
DNA manipulation techniques and applications	10.8%	75.3%	6,066	2.7
Genetic changes in a population over time	7.9%	69.8%	4,488	2.4
Acquiring immunity	7.3%	68.9%	6,027	2.3
Disease challenges and strategies	8.0%	72.2%	5,423	2.2
Investigation design	8.5%	74.5%	5,017	2.2
Photosynthesis as an example of biochemical pathways	7.6%	72.0%	5,432	2.1
Scientific evidence	7.4%	75.6%	5,035	1.8
Human change over time	6.0%	73.5%	1,892	1.6
Cellular respiration as an example of biochemical pathways	4.6%	67.1%	4,336	1.5
Changes in species over time	4.9%	71.3%	3,453	1.4
Regulation of biochemical pathways in photosynthesis and cellular respiration	4.3%	67.4%	3,551	1.4
Responding to antigens	4.8%	71.9%	7,366	1.4
Determining the relatedness of species	3.2%	75.8%	2,924	0.8
Science communication	0.4%	66.9%	235	0.1

The same cut at dot-point level

Dot point	Content	Share of marks	Average	Attempts	Marks at risk
3.1.1.2	the genetic code as a universal triplet code that is degenerate and the steps in gene expression, including transcription, RNA processing in eukaryotic cells and translation by ribosomes	3.5%	58.0%	2,540	1.5
4.2.1.1	causes of changing allele frequencies in a population’s gene pool, including environmental selection pressures, genetic drift and gene flow; and mutations as the source of new alleles	4.2%	65.2%	2,579	1.5
4.1.2.2	the characteristics and roles of the components of the adaptive immune response against both extracellular and intracellular threats, including the actions of B lymphocytes and their antibodies, helper T and cytotoxic T cells	4.3%	69.7%	3,667	1.3
4.3.2.2	ways of organising, analysing and evaluating primary data to identify patterns and relationships including sources of error and uncertainty	4.5%	75.6%	3,837	1.1
3.2.2.2	the role of Rubisco in photosynthesis, including adaptations of C3, C4 and CAM plants to maximise the efficiency of photosynthesis	2.7%	61.0%	362	1.1
3.1.1.4	the basic elements of gene regulation: prokaryotic trp operon as a simplified example of a regulatory process	2.7%	63.4%	764	1.0
3.1.2.3	amplification of DNA using polymerase chain reaction and the use of gel electrophoresis in sorting DNA fragments, including the interpretation of gel runs for DNA profiling	3.3%	70.3%	2,646	1.0
4.3.1.2	characteristics of the selected scientific methodology and method, and appropriateness of the use of independent, dependent and controlled variables in the selected scientific investigation	3.7%	76.3%	2,570	0.9
4.1.3.2	scientific and social strategies employed to identify and control the spread of pathogens, including identification of the pathogen and host, modes of transmission and measures to control transmission	2.7%	68.7%	2,780	0.8
3.2.3.1	the main inputs, outputs and locations of glycolysis, Krebs Cycle and electron transport chain including ATP yield (details of biochemical pathway mechanisms are not required)	2.1%	63.3%	2,637	0.8
3.2.2.1	inputs, outputs and locations of the light dependent and light independent stages of photosynthesis in C3 plants (details of biochemical pathway mechanisms are not required)	2.6%	71.2%	3,362	0.8
4.2.2.1	changes in species over geological time as evidenced from the fossil record: faunal (fossil) succession, index and transitional fossils, relative and absolute dating of fossils	2.6%	71.0%	2,759	0.8
3.1.1.6	proteins as a diverse group of molecules that collectively make an organism’s proteome, including enzymes as catalysts in biochemical pathways	2.2%	67.3%	1,377	0.7
4.1.1.2	the innate immune response including the steps in an inflammatory response and the characteristics and roles of macrophages, neutrophils, dendritic cells, eosinophils, natural killer cells, mast cells, complement proteins and interferons	2.4%	70.7%	3,808	0.7
3.1.2.4	the use of recombinant plasmids as vectors to transform bacterial cells as demonstrated by the production of human insulin	2.2%	69.3%	690	0.7
4.1.2.3	the difference between natural and artificial immunity and active and passive strategies for acquiring immunity	1.8%	63.2%	1,145	0.7
4.2.2.2	evidence of speciation as a consequence of isolation and genetic divergence, including Galapagos finches as an example of allopatric speciation and Howea palms on Lord Howe Island as an example of sympatric speciation	2.3%	72.2%	694	0.6
3.1.1.7	the role of rough endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus and associated vesicles in the export of proteins from a cell via the protein secretory pathway	2.3%	73.3%	1,292	0.6
3.2.2.3	the factors that affect the rate of photosynthesis: light availability, water availability, temperature and carbon dioxide concentration	2.4%	75.3%	2,212	0.6
4.2.4.3	the human fossil record as an example of a classification scheme that is open to differing interpretations that are contested, refined or replaced when challenged by new evidence, including evidence for interbreeding between Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis and evidence of new putative Homo species	2.2%	75.5%	425	0.5

Which command verbs cost the most marks

Verb	Share of marks	Average	Attempts	Marks at risk
explain	18.2%	66.6%	1,118	6.1
describe	10.1%	66.0%	675	3.4
outline	7.1%	64.0%	538	2.6
justify	8.1%	72.2%	450	2.3
identify	6.3%	67.9%	571	2.0
state	5.7%	78.2%	429	1.2
compare	2.3%	51.1%	95	1.1
name	2.1%	70.4%	176	0.6
provide	0.2%	40.1%	60	0.1

Provide has the lowest average on the page at 40.1%, and it is not where the marks go. Explain averages 66.6% but carries 18.2% of the paper against 0.2%, so it puts 6.1 marks per 100 at risk against 0.1. Each verb above is practised in the VCE Biology question bank, where the marking criteria show what VCAA expects the answer to do.

What this does not measure

Where to practise

Work the priority list from the top: What is the role of nucleic acids and proteins in maintaining life? and How are species related over time? first, then the dot points above. Each topic page holds real VCAA questions with marking criteria attached. For what the papers actually cover, read VCE Biology most tested topics.

Syllabus and assessment material referenced in this guide is reproduced by permission, © VCAA. See our VCAA licensing notice. The VCAA does not endorse or make any warranties regarding this study resource. VCE® is a registered trademark of the VCAA.