VCE Music past exams 2023–2025

Every question from the last three VCE Music exams, matched to the lesson that teaches it, with class averages from the examiners' reports and worked solutions. VCE Music (Year 12) lessons.

2025 Exam

• Q1a (4 marks, class average 57%): Describe how repetition and variation are used in a Central Australian hard rock song. Lesson: Elements of Music — The Vocabulary of Analysis, Composing and Arranging — Developing Ideas Into Finished Works, Writing About Music — Analysing How Composers and Performers Create Effect
• Q1b (4 marks, class average 60%): Explain how tone colour and texture create the style of the same rock recording. Lesson: Style and Context — How Genres Shape Musical Choices, Elements of Music — The Vocabulary of Analysis, Writing About Music — Analysing How Composers and Performers Create Effect
• Q2a (4 marks, class average 68%): Name two instruments or sound sources in the introduction of each of two versions of a song. Lesson: Elements of Music — The Vocabulary of Analysis, Writing About Music — Analysing How Composers and Performers Create Effect
• Q2b (8 marks, class average 54%): Discuss how articulation and rhythm create a different mood in each of two versions of a song. Lesson: Writing About Music — Analysing How Composers and Performers Create Effect, Elements of Music — The Vocabulary of Analysis, Performance — Program Design, Technique, Interpretation and Presentation
• Q3a (2 marks, class average 25%): Name two intervals played on the recording. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm
• Q3b (2 marks, class average 70%): Write an augmented 4th below a given F sharp and a perfect 5th above a given B flat. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm
• Q4a (2 marks, class average 70%): Circle which scale or mode was played, from five options, for two recordings. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm, Elements of Music — The Vocabulary of Analysis
• Q4b (2 marks, class average 55%): Name two more scales or modes heard on the recording, with no options given. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm, Elements of Music — The Vocabulary of Analysis
• Q5a (8 marks, class average 26%): Write the missing notes of a sung melody over given chords. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm, Music Exam Strategy — Aural, Written and Performance Examinations
• Q5b (1 mark, class average 15%): Choose the rhythmic feel of the same excerpt from four options. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm, Style and Context — How Genres Shape Musical Choices
• Q6 (4 marks, class average 38%): Name the quality of four root-position chords played on the recording. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm
• Q7 (3 marks, class average 57%): Fill three missing chords in a seven-bar excerpt that joins two common progressions. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm
• Q8 (4 marks, class average 65%): Spell four chords from their names, including the bass note. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm
• Q9 (4 marks, class average 50%): Order the hi-hat rhythm fragments heard in an eight-bar drum pattern built on 808 samples. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm, Music Exam Strategy — Aural, Written and Performance Examinations
• Q10 (8 marks, class average 56%): Transcribe the rhythm of a sung line across two bars of a band recording. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm, Music Exam Strategy — Aural, Written and Performance Examinations

2024 Exam

• Q1a (4 marks, class average 57%): Describe how a quartet turns a 1990s rock song into contemporary jazz. Lesson: Style and Context — How Genres Shape Musical Choices, Writing About Music — Analysing How Composers and Performers Create Effect, Elements of Music — The Vocabulary of Analysis
• Q1b (4 marks, class average 55%): Discuss how sound sources and articulation create the character of the same jazz recording. Lesson: Elements of Music — The Vocabulary of Analysis, Writing About Music — Analysing How Composers and Performers Create Effect
• Q2 (12 marks, class average 48%): Compare how a 1981 Australian hit and a 2023 Yolŋu surf rock cover use three elements to create character. Lesson: Writing About Music — Analysing How Composers and Performers Create Effect, Elements of Music — The Vocabulary of Analysis, Performance — Program Design, Technique, Interpretation and Presentation
• Q3a (2 marks, class average 55%): Name two intervals played on the recording. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm
• Q3b (2 marks, class average 65%): Name two intervals shown on a DAW grid and staff. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm
• Q4a (2 marks, class average 70%): Circle which scale or mode was played, from five options, for two recordings. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm, Elements of Music — The Vocabulary of Analysis
• Q4b (2 marks, class average 50%): Name two more scales or modes heard on the recording, with no options given. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm, Elements of Music — The Vocabulary of Analysis
• Q5 (8 marks, class average 54%): Write the missing notes of a swung jazz trumpet line over E♭7 and B♭7. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm, Music Exam Strategy — Aural, Written and Performance Examinations
• Q6 (4 marks, class average 50%): Name the quality of four root-position chords played on the recording. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm
• Q7 (2 marks, class average 60%): Find two missing chords in a common pop progression after a vi–IV lead-in. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm
• Q8 (4 marks, class average 68%): Spell four chords from their names, including the bass note. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm
• Q9 (2 marks, class average 80%): Choose the rhythmic feel the drummer plays in two excerpts. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm, Style and Context — How Genres Shape Musical Choices
• Q10 (4 marks, class average 63%): Pick which of six 12/8 rhythm fragments fill four gaps in an eight-bar pattern. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm, Music Exam Strategy — Aural, Written and Performance Examinations
• Q11 (8 marks, class average 48%): Transcribe the rhythm of a sung melody in the missing beats of an electro-pop track. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm, Music Exam Strategy — Aural, Written and Performance Examinations

2023 Exam

• Q1a (1 mark, class average 98%): Pick the style of a recording from four options. Lesson: Style and Context — How Genres Shape Musical Choices, Elements of Music — The Vocabulary of Analysis
• Q1b (3 marks, class average 63%): Describe how the performers bring out the features of the style. Lesson: Style and Context — How Genres Shape Musical Choices, Writing About Music — Analysing How Composers and Performers Create Effect, Elements of Music — The Vocabulary of Analysis
• Q1c (4 marks, class average 60%): Discuss how tone colour and texture create the character of the recording. Lesson: Elements of Music — The Vocabulary of Analysis, Writing About Music — Analysing How Composers and Performers Create Effect
• Q2 (12 marks, class average 57%): Compare how two versions of the same pop song use three elements to create character. Lesson: Writing About Music — Analysing How Composers and Performers Create Effect, Elements of Music — The Vocabulary of Analysis, Performance — Program Design, Technique, Interpretation and Presentation
• Q3a (2 marks, class average 55%): Name two intervals played on the recording. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm
• Q3b (2 marks, class average 55%): Name two intervals shown in notation and on a DAW grid. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm
• Q4a (2 marks, class average 60%): Circle which scale or mode was played, from five options, for two recordings. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm, Elements of Music — The Vocabulary of Analysis
• Q4b (2 marks, class average 70%): Name two more scales or modes heard on the recording, with no options given. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm, Elements of Music — The Vocabulary of Analysis
• Q5 (8 marks, class average 36%): Write the missing notes of an electric guitar line over G, D and Em chords. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm, Music Exam Strategy — Aural, Written and Performance Examinations
• Q6 (4 marks, class average 48%): Name the quality of four root-position chords played on the recording. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm
• Q7 (2 marks, class average 25%): Find the two middle chords of a common four-chord progression that starts and ends on I. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm
• Q8 (4 marks, class average 63%): Spell four chords from their names, including the bass note. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm
• Q9 (4 marks, class average 65%): Put four given rhythm fragments in the order heard in a 6/8 excerpt. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm, Music Exam Strategy — Aural, Written and Performance Examinations
• Q10 (2 marks, class average 50%): Choose the rhythmic feel of two drum-kit excerpts from four options. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm, Style and Context — How Genres Shape Musical Choices
• Q11 (8 marks, class average 51%): Transcribe the rhythm of a trumpet melody in two bars of a band recording. Lesson: Aural Skills — Intervals, Chords, Progressions and Rhythm, Music Exam Strategy — Aural, Written and Performance Examinations