VCE Maths Methods Exam 1 vs Exam 2: What's Different and How to Prepare

Maths Methods has two end-of-year exams, and in 2026 they're on back-to-back days: Exam 1 on Thursday 5 November (9:00 to 10:15 am) and Exam 2 on Friday 6 November (11:45 am to 2:00 pm). Same subject, very different papers. Exam 1 tests what you can do with a pen and nothing else. Exam 2 tests whether you can use technology to work through longer, less familiar problems. Preparing for both the same way is one of the easiest ways to leave marks on the table. Here's how they compare under the current study design (in place since 2023), and how to get ready for each.

Exam 1 vs Exam 2 at a glance

Exam 1 (technology-free)

• 15 minutes of reading, 1 hour of writing
• 40 marks of short-answer and extended-answer questions, all compulsory (in 2025, nine questions worth 2 to 7 marks each)
• 20 per cent of your study score
• No calculators, software or notes of any kind: just pens, pencils, highlighters, erasers, sharpeners and rulers
• Focus: the key concepts of the course and your ability to carry out the maths by hand

Exam 2 (technology-active)

• 15 minutes of reading, 2 hours of writing
• 80 marks. Section A is 20 multiple-choice questions worth 1 mark each. Section B is 60 marks of short-answer and extended-answer questions, including multi-stage questions that get more complex as they go (in 2025, four questions worth 13 to 19 marks each)
• 40 per cent of your study score
• An approved CAS calculator (or approved CAS software, if your school has VCAA approval), one scientific calculator, one bound reference, and protractors, set squares and aids for curve sketching
• Focus: interpreting, analysing and solving both routine and non-routine problems

Both exams come with the same formula sheet. Together they make up 60 per cent of your study score, and Exam 2 counts for twice as much as Exam 1. Both work out at about 1.5 minutes per mark, which makes a handy pacing check. In Exam 2, around 30 minutes on Section A leaves about 90 for Section B.

Rules that apply to both papers

• Exact answers by default. Where a numerical answer is required, an exact value must be given unless the question says otherwise.
• Show your working. In questions worth more than one mark, appropriate working must be shown. A bare answer can miss out on full marks even when it's right.
• No calculators in reading time. You can read the question book (and your bound reference in Exam 2), but you can't write anything or use a calculator until writing time starts.
• Know the formula sheet. It includes standard derivatives and antiderivatives, the product, quotient and chain rules, Newton's method, the trapezium rule, and probability and sample proportion formulas. It doesn't give you exact trig values, which the 2025 examiner's report reminds students are expected knowledge, and it doesn't list log or index laws. Those need to be automatic.

Exam 1: the technology-free paper

What it really tests. Fluency. Can you differentiate, antidifferentiate, solve, factorise and sketch accurately, by hand, under time pressure? It can draw on every area of study: functions, relations and graphs; algebra, number and structure; calculus; and data analysis, probability and statistics.

How to prepare

• Do a short technology-free set every day. Twenty minutes of mixed questions by hand, with your CAS out of reach. By-hand fluency fades quickly if you only ever practise with technology.
• Drill the arithmetic. The 2025 report noted arithmetic errors with fractions and dropped negative signs in otherwise sound working. Slow down on the simple steps.
• Nail your notation. Use the function names the question gives you and name derivatives properly, include the dx in integrals, and use brackets when applying the product and quotient rules.
• Sketch for someone else to read. Draw graphs dark enough to see (asymptotes included), label coordinates with round brackets, and respect any restricted domain.
• Treat "show that" questions as a chain. Every line has to follow from the last and lead to the given result. In 2025, checking the given answer by substitution wasn't enough.

Common Exam 1 mistakes (from the 2025 examiner's report)

• Writing more than one answer. Where multiple conflicting answers are given, full marks can't be awarded.
• Doing more than the question asks, like finding the equation of a tangent when only its gradient was needed. It costs time you don't have.
• Missing solutions to trig equations by not taking the period of the function into account.
• Giving a correct answer with no working on a multi-mark question.

Exam 2: the technology-active paper

What it really tests. Problem-solving with technology: long, multi-part questions in context, where later parts build on earlier ones, plus 20 multiple-choice questions that reward quick, accurate work.

How to prepare

• Make your CAS automatic. Defining functions, solving equations and systems, derivatives and integrals, probability distributions, intersections and graph features should take seconds. You can use the full functions of an approved CAS, and its memory doesn't have to be cleared before the exam.
• Build a bound reference you can actually use. Organise it for finding things fast: an index, worked examples of common question types, CAS steps for your model, and a list of your own common errors. It must be A4 or smaller when closed and permanently bound. Ring binders, plastic sleeves, fold-outs, removable tabs and sticky notes aren't allowed, but you can annotate it, colour-code it, fold pages and firmly glue, tape or staple in extra material.
• Practise multiple choice as its own skill. Marks aren't deducted for wrong answers, so never leave one blank. Aim to finish Section A in about 30 minutes.
• Keep your algebra for "show that" questions. When a question asks you to show a result, examiners want the algebraic steps. In 2025, some students mixed CAS output with algebra and couldn't get full marks.
• Use given results. If you can't do a "show that" part, take the result as given and use it to keep going with the next part.

Common Exam 2 mistakes (from the 2025 examiner's report)

• Giving an approximate answer when an exact one was required, or an exact answer when the question asked for two decimal places.
• Rounding incorrectly.
• Typing the wrong values into the CAS. Check what you entered against the question.
• Grinding through by hand something the CAS could do quickly, and making errors along the way.
• Stopping one step short, like finding the variance but not going on to the standard deviation.
• Drawing lines freehand. Use a ruler.

How to use reading time

Exam 1: Fifteen minutes is generous for a one-hour paper. Read every question, decide the order you'll tackle them in, think through your approach to the longest questions, and spot any "show that" parts.

Exam 2: You can't touch your CAS, but you can read the paper and flip through your bound reference. One approach is to spend most of reading time on Section B, where the questions are long and wordy, and leave the multiple choice for writing time. Whatever you choose, rehearse it in your timed papers so it's automatic on the day.

Your plan from now to 5 November

Weeks 1 and 2 (to about 18 October): find and fix

• Sit one Exam 1 and one Exam 2 from 2023 to 2025 under timed conditions. VCAA lists these as the exams for the current study design, and the past exams guide covers how to get the most from them.
• Mark them against VCAA's assessment guides and sort every lost mark by type: arithmetic, notation, CAS, method or misreading.
• Drill your top two or three weakness types, and keep your daily technology-free set going.
• Add to your bound reference whenever you find a gap.

Week 3 (about 19 to 26 October): paired papers

• Do an Exam 1 one day and an Exam 2 the next, to rehearse the real back-to-back schedule. VCAA's past Northern Hemisphere Timetable (NHT) papers make good extra practice once you've used the main ones.
• English is on 27 October, so keep some time for it this week too.

Week 4 (27 October to 4 November): sharpen and taper

• Do one or two more pairs at the real start times: 9:00 am for Exam 1 and 11:45 am for Exam 2.
• Redo every question you've got wrong in practice, without looking at the solution first.
• Finalise your bound reference and check both calculators. You're responsible for your own spare batteries, and portable chargers aren't allowed in the exam room.
• Ease off in the last two days. See what to do the night before.

Between the two exams: don't spend the afternoon of 5 November replaying Exam 1. Do a short CAS warm-up, flick through your bound reference, pack both calculators, and get to bed early. If you freeze on a question in either paper, here's what to do if you blank in an exam.

The bottom line

Methods Exam 1 and Exam 2 test different skills. Exam 1 is 40 marks in an hour with no technology, and it rewards fast, accurate by-hand work and clean setting out. Exam 2 is 80 marks in two hours with your CAS and bound reference, and it rewards technology fluency, careful reading and giving answers in exactly the form each question asks for. Prepare for each on its own terms, practise them as a pair, and let your mistakes decide what you study next. For the bigger picture, see how to study for Maths Methods.