Which topic carries the most marks in the VCE Health and Human Development external exam?

Promoting health in Australia carries 28.5% of the marks across the 6 VCAA papers from 2020 to 2025, ahead of Global health and human development on 24.1%.

How are marks split between question types in the VCE Health and Human Development exam?

Short answer carries 98.3% of the marks, measured across 6 papers and 590 marks from 2020 to 2025.

Has the topic balance changed in recent VCE Health and Human Development papers?

No. Comparing the 2020 to 2022 papers with the 2023 to 2025 papers, the largest movement in any topic's share was 2.8 percentage points, which is too small to plan revision around.

How many past papers is this VCE Health and Human Development analysis based on?

6 VCAA external papers from 2020 to 2025, covering 81 questions and 590 marks. 1.4% of those marks carry no dot-point mapping and sit outside the percentages.

VCE Health and Human Development most tested topics

Across the six VCAA Health and Human Development external papers from 2020 to 2025, Promoting health in Australia leads on 28.5% and Understanding health and wellbeing trails on 23.4%, with the rest between them. At dot-point level 4.1.15 and 4.1.7 carry 4.6% of paper marks each, and zero of the 60 dot points that the board assesses externally have not appeared in one of these papers. Every percentage below covers the 98.6% of marks that map to a study design dot point.

Computed from 6 VCAA Health and Human Development external papers, 2020 to 2025: 81 questions, 172 question parts and 590 marks.

Unit, topic and dot-point shares below are of the 582 marks that map to a dot point, so each of those tables adds to 100%. 155 of the 172 parts are assessed against more than one dot point, and their 545 marks are divided evenly between the dot points they cover.

What these papers are

Year	Exam	Questions	Marks
2025	Exam	13	90
2024	Exam	14	100
2023	Exam	13	100
2022	Exam	14	100
2021	Exam	14	100
2020	Exam	13	100

Marks by unit

Unit	Share of marks
Unit 3: Australia’s health in a globalised world	51.8%
Unit 4: Health and human development in a global context	48.2%

Marks by topic

Topic	Share of marks	Papers it appears in	Years
Promoting health in Australia	28.5%	6 of 6	6 of 6
Global health and human development	24.1%	6 of 6	6 of 6
Health and the Sustainable Development Goals	24.0%	6 of 6	6 of 6
Understanding health and wellbeing	23.4%	6 of 6	6 of 6

Marks by dot point

Dot-point numbers and wording are VCAA's own. Where a dot point is written as a list, its items run together here separated by semicolons.

Dot point	Content	Topic	Share of marks	Papers
4.1.15	analyse the implications for health and human development of particular global trends	Global health and human development	4.6%	6 of 6
4.1.7	implications for health and human development of global trends including: – climate change (rising sea levels, changing weather patterns and increasing number of extreme weather events) – conflict – mass migration – increased world trade (global distribution and marketing of tobacco products, e-cigarette products and processed foods) – tourism – digital technologies	Global health and human development	4.6%	6 of 6
3.1.1	concepts of health and wellbeing (physical, social, emotional, mental and spiritual dimensions), illness, and the dynamic and subjective nature of these concepts	Understanding health and wellbeing	3.9%	6 of 6
3.2.1	reasons for improvements in Australia’s health status since 1900, focusing on: – ‘old’ public health – the biomedical approach to health and improvements in medical technology – the concept of the social model of health and the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (not including the principles of the social model of health)	Promoting health in Australia	3.8%	6 of 6
3.2.8	explain how initiatives of ‘old’ public health and the social model of health, including those reflecting action areas of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, could lead to improved health outcomes	Promoting health in Australia	3.8%	5 of 6
3.2.15	analyse the role of Medicare, private health insurance, the PBS and the NDIS in promoting Australia’s health	Promoting health in Australia	3.6%	6 of 6
3.2.6	Australia’s health system, including Medicare, private health insurance, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), and its role in promoting health in terms of funding, sustainability, access and equity	Promoting health in Australia	3.6%	6 of 6
3.1.5	the contribution to Australia’s health status of: – smoking and vaping – alcohol – overweight and obesity – nutritional imbalance (under-consumption of fruit and vegetables, and dairy foods; high intake of fat, salt and sugar; low intake of fibre)	Understanding health and wellbeing	2.8%	5 of 6
4.2.17	evaluate the effectiveness of aid programs in promoting health and human development	Health and the Sustainable Development Goals	2.8%	6 of 6
3.1.4	biological, sociocultural and environmental factors that contribute to variations in health status between population groups	Understanding health and wellbeing	2.7%	6 of 6
3.1.11	describe how examples of biological, sociocultural and environmental factors can influence health outcomes	Understanding health and wellbeing	2.6%	6 of 6
3.1.7	describe the relationship between dimensions of health and wellbeing	Understanding health and wellbeing	2.5%	6 of 6
4.2.3	relationships between SDG 3 and SDGs 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 12	Health and the Sustainable Development Goals	2.3%	6 of 6
4.1.5	factors that contribute to similarities and differences in health status and human development: – access to safe water – sanitation – poverty – discrimination (race, religion, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity)	Global health and human development	2.2%	5 of 6
3.2.4	initiatives to promote healthy eating in Australia, including the Australian Dietary Guidelines, the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Guide to Healthy Eating	Promoting health in Australia	2.1%	5 of 6
4.2.6	the role of Australia’s aid program in supporting the achievement of the SDGs and the partnerships involved	Health and the Sustainable Development Goals	2.1%	5 of 6
3.1.12	analyse health information to explain how factors can contribute to variations in health status between population groups	Understanding health and wellbeing	2.0%	5 of 6
4.2.11	analyse the relationships between SDG 3 and other SDGs in promoting health and human development globally	Health and the Sustainable Development Goals	2.0%	5 of 6
4.2.7	features of effective aid programs	Health and the Sustainable Development Goals	1.9%	5 of 6
3.2.7	analyse data that shows improvements in health over time and draw conclusions about reasons for improvements	Promoting health in Australia	1.8%	4 of 6

These 20 dot points carry 57.7% of the paper marks between them. Another 40 assessed dot points share the rest, and 0 of the 60 externally assessable dot points have not been assessed in any of these 6 papers. Content that has not appeared is still examinable.

What has moved between papers

No topic's share moved by more than 3.0 percentage points between the 2020 to 2022 papers and the 2023 to 2025 papers. The largest movement was 2.8 points, which is inside the range two papers a year produce by chance, so nothing here is a trend to revise around.

How the papers are built

Short answer carries 98.3% of the marks across these 6 papers.

Question type	Share of marks	Marks	Parts
Short answer	98.3%	580	171

Verb	Share of marks	Marks	Parts
explain	30.0%	177	49
describe	23.4%	138	45
identify	16.1%	95	34
discuss	15.6%	92	16
analyse	13.2%	78	14
outline	11.4%	67	28
evaluate	1.9%	11	2
justify	1.9%	11	4

What these percentages do not tell you

Where to practise

Every topic above links to its own page of real VCAA questions with marking criteria and average scores attached: Promoting health in Australia, Global health and human development, Health and the Sustainable Development Goals and Understanding health and wellbeing. For the full question bank start at VCE Health and Human Development.

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.