Which VCE General Mathematics past paper do students score lowest on?

The 2024 Paper 1, averaging 60.5% across 7,468 marked attempts on AusGrader. The 2023 Paper 2 is the highest on 72.5%.

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

3.1.3.3 (2.8 marks at risk per 100), 3.1.1.5 (2.3 marks at risk per 100) and 3.2.3.3 (2.0 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 General Mathematics figure based on?

25,235 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 General Mathematics hardest topics

Across 25,235 marked attempts on AusGrader, VCE General Mathematics students average 63.2% on questions taken from board external papers. The lowest average of any command verb is calculate on 41.3%, and the verb that costs the most marks is determine, which carries 12.0% of the paper against 3.5% for calculate. 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 3 papers, 8 dot points and 28 verbs. Every figure shown carries its attempt count.
Scores cover questions mapped to the VCE General Mathematics study design from any board's external papers, which is why the sample is larger than the 9 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 General Mathematics performance stats, which count every attempt.

Score by past paper

Year	Paper	Average	Attempts
2025	Paper 1	70.3%	7,265
2025	Paper 2	65.1%	149
2024	Paper 1	60.5%	7,468
2024	Paper 2	65.7%	294
2023	Paper 1	61.6%	8,223
2023	Paper 2	72.5%	188

The lowest average belongs to the 2024 Paper 1 on 60.5% from 7,468 attempts, and the highest to the 2023 Paper 2 on 72.5% from 188 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
Short answer	54.8%	1,605
Multiple choice	64.2%	23,630

Score by unit

Unit	Average	Attempts
Unit 4: Matrices and Networks and decision mathematics	63.1%	9,561
Unit 3: Data analysis and Recursion and financial modelling	63.2%	15,674

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 25,235.

The priority list: heavy topics with low scores

Topic	Share of marks	Average	Attempts	Marks at risk
Data analysis, probability and statistics	40.0%	67.5%	9,850	13.0
Discrete mathematics	20.0%	56.2%	5,824	8.8
Networks and decision mathematics	20.0%	59.5%	4,834	8.1
Matrices	20.0%	67.1%	4,744	6.6

Data analysis, probability and statistics tops the list on 13.0 marks at risk per 100 paper marks, 4.2 ahead of Discrete mathematics.

The same cut at subtopic level

Subtopic	Share of marks	Average	Attempts	Marks at risk
Investigating and modelling linear associations	12.6%	61.6%	3,042	4.8
Investigating data distributions	15.3%	73.9%	3,847	4.0
Transition matrices	7.5%	51.9%	1,094	3.6
Matrices and their applications	12.5%	71.7%	3,654	3.5
Scheduling problems and critical path analysis	6.3%	49.5%	477	3.2
Reducing balance loans	7.4%	57.8%	1,438	3.1
Depreciation of assets	5.9%	57.8%	2,344	2.5
Investigating and modelling time series data	6.5%	65.2%	2,373	2.3
Investigating association between two variables	5.5%	66.1%	1,305	1.9
Annuities and perpetuities	3.7%	53.8%	759	1.7
Exploring and travelling problems	3.7%	61.6%	932	1.4
Graphs and networks	4.1%	65.5%	1,257	1.4
Compound interest investments and loans	2.6%	51.8%	1,065	1.3
Flow problems	2.2%	54.2%	678	1.0
Matching problems	1.7%	59.5%	851	0.7

The same cut at dot-point level

Dot point	Content	Share of marks	Average	Attempts	Marks at risk
3.1.3.3	interpretation of the slope and intercepts of the least squares line in the context of the situation being modelled, including use of the rule of the fitted line to make predictions being aware of the limitations of extrapolation; use of the coefficient of determination, $r^2$ , to assess the strength of the association in terms of explained variation; use of residual analysis to check quality of fit	6.2%	55.2%	1,145	2.8
3.1.1.5	summary of the distributions of numerical variables; the five-number summary and boxplots (including the use of the lower fence ( $Q_1 - 1.5 \times IQR$ ) and upper fence ( $Q_3 + 1.5 \times IQR$ ) to identify and display possible outliers); the sample mean and standard deviation and their use in comparing data distributions in terms of centre and spread	7.3%	69.2%	1,684	2.3
3.2.3.3	use of technology with financial modelling functionality to solve problems involving reducing balance loans, such as repaying a personal loan or a mortgage, including the impact of a change in interest rate on repayment amount, time to repay the loan, total interest paid and the total cost of the loan	4.1%	50.4%	929	2.0
4.1.1.1	matrix arithmetic: the order of a matrix, types of matrices (row, column, square, diagonal, symmetric, triangular, zero, binary and identity), the transpose of a matrix, and elementary matrix operations (sum, difference, multiplication of a scalar, product and power)	5.8%	75.8%	1,523	1.4
4.1.2.3	use of transition diagrams, their associated transition matrices and state matrices to model the transitions between states in discrete dynamical situations and their application to model and analyse practical situations such as the modelling and analysis of an insect population comprising eggs, juveniles and adults	2.4%	43.1%	433	1.4
3.1.4.4	seasonal adjustment including the use and interpretation of seasonal indices and their calculation using seasonal and yearly means	2.6%	50.0%	749	1.3
4.2.1.1	the concepts, conventions and terminology of graphs including planar graphs and Euler’s rule, and directed (digraphs) and networks	3.0%	65.5%	1,207	1.0
3.1.3.1	least squares line of best fit $y = a + bx$ , where $x$ represents the explanatory variable, and $y$ represents the response variable; the determination of the coefficients $a$ and $b$ using technology, and the formulas $b = r\frac{s_y}{s_x}$ and $a = \bar{y} - b\bar{x}$	2.6%	61.8%	1,051	1.0
4.1.2.4	use of the matrix recurrence relation $S_0$ = initial state matrix, $S_{n+1} = TS_n + B$ to extend modelling to populations that include culling and restocking	1.4%	36.2%	217	0.9
4.2.2.3	Hamiltonian paths and cycles: properties and applications	2.1%	57.4%	448	0.9
3.2.1.3	use of the rules for the future value of an asset after $n$ depreciation periods for flat rate, unit cost and reducing balance depreciation and their application	2.3%	62.3%	904	0.9
3.2.1.2	use of a recurrence relation to model and compare (numerically and graphically) flat rate, unit cost and reducing balance depreciation of the value of an asset with time, including the use of a recurrence relation to determine the depreciating value of an asset after $n$ depreciation periods for the initial sequence	2.2%	62.0%	901	0.8
3.1.3.2	modelling linear association between two numerical variables, including the identification of the explanatory and response variables; use of the least squares method to fit a linear model to the data	2.3%	64.2%	643	0.8
4.2.7.1	construction of an activity network from a precedence table (or equivalent) including the use of dummy activities where necessary	1.5%	46.3%	413	0.8
3.2.3.1	use of a first-order linear recurrence relation to model and analyse (numerically and graphically) the amortisation of a reducing balance loan, including the use of a recurrence relation to determine the value of the loan or investment after $n$ payments for an initial sequence from first principles	2.1%	63.1%	488	0.8
4.1.1.5	communication and dominance matrices and their use in analysing communication systems and ranking players in round-robin tournaments	2.5%	69.7%	852	0.8
4.2.4.2	solution of small-scale network flow problems by inspection and the use of the ‘maximum-flow minimum-cut’ theorem to aid the solution of larger scale problems	1.7%	57.6%	658	0.7
3.2.1.1	use of a first-order linear recurrence relation of the form: $u_0 = a,\ u_{n+1} = Ru_n + d$ where $a$ , $R$ and $d$ are constants to generate the terms of a sequence	1.4%	50.3%	812	0.7
4.1.2.1	use of the matrix recurrence relation: $S_0$ = initial state matrix, $S_{n+1} = TS_n$ or $S_{n+1} = LS_n$ where $T$ is a transition matrix, $L$ is a Leslie matrix, and $S_n$ is a column state matrix, to generate a sequence of state matrices (assuming the next state only relies on the current state)	3.0%	77.0%	448	0.7
3.2.4.1	use of a first-order linear recurrence relation to model and analyse (numerically and graphically) the amortisation of an annuity, including the use of a recurrence relation to determine the value of the annuity after $n$ payments for an initial sequence from first principles	1.2%	42.3%	259	0.7

Which command verbs cost the most marks

Verb	Share of marks	Average	Attempts	Marks at risk
determine	12.0%	45.9%	366	6.5
calculate	3.5%	41.3%	178	2.0
write	4.6%	73.0%	96	1.2
explain	2.8%	64.0%	61	1.0
identify	1.7%	57.5%	87	0.7
state	1.5%	63.0%	93	0.6

Calculate has the lowest average on the page at 41.3%, and it is not where the marks go. Determine averages 45.9% but carries 12.0% of the paper against 3.5%, so it puts 6.5 marks per 100 at risk against 2.0. Each verb above is practised in the VCE General Mathematics 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: Data analysis, probability and statistics and Discrete mathematics 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 General Mathematics 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.