VCE Vault

VCE Psychology past exams 2023–2025

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

2025 Exam

  • MC 1 (1 mark, class average 87%): Which neurochemical is released as children learn a new skill, and why. Lesson: Neurotransmitters and Neuromodulators, Neural Plasticity — Developmental and Adaptive
  • MC 2 (1 mark, class average 65%): Where the fine motor skill memory for a hands-on task is stored, and what type of memory it is. Lesson: Memory and the Brain — Explicit and Implicit Memory, Alzheimer’s Disease and Aphantasia
  • MC 3 (1 mark, class average 78%): The job of interneurons in a hand-withdrawal reflex. Lesson: Structure of the Nervous System
  • MC 4 (1 mark, class average 57%): Why a hand is pulled away from a cut so quickly. Lesson: Structure of the Nervous System
  • MC 5 (1 mark, class average 76%): Name the methodology of a study observing children in their kindergarten and a limitation. Lesson: Experimental Design
  • MC 6 (1 mark, class average 34%): Experimental design of a three-group chocolate study measured before and after. Lesson: Experimental Design
  • MC 7 (1 mark, class average 82%): Why gut microbiota was measured before the study started. Lesson: Experimental Design
  • MC 8 (1 mark, class average 35%): Which conclusions the chocolate study's graphs support. Lesson: Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions, Coping With Stress — Approach and Avoidance Strategies, Exercise and the Gut–Brain Axis
  • MC 9 (1 mark, class average 74%): Classify the data collected in the chocolate study. Lesson: Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions
  • MC 10 (1 mark, class average 77%): GAS stage and resistance level at the moment of a sudden fall. Lesson: Stress — Acute, Chronic and the GAS Model
  • MC 11 (1 mark, class average 59%): How mindfulness meditation could be linked to Selye's GAS model. Lesson: Stress — Acute, Chronic and the GAS Model, Coping With Stress — Approach and Avoidance Strategies, Exercise and the Gut–Brain Axis
  • MC 12 (1 mark, class average 62%): How adding mindfulness could fix a weakness of the GAS model. Lesson: Stress — Acute, Chronic and the GAS Model, Lazarus & Folkman — Cognitive Appraisal
  • MC 13 (1 mark, class average 36%): When calming music should be played so cows learn to stay calm around people. Lesson: Classical Conditioning
  • MC 14 (1 mark, class average 58%): Classify the music and the human after the cows have been conditioned. Lesson: Classical Conditioning
  • MC 15 (1 mark, class average 69%): Brain region most involved in learning a changed emotional response. Lesson: Memory and the Brain — Explicit and Implicit Memory, Alzheimer’s Disease and Aphantasia
  • MC 16 (1 mark, class average 83%): Why pupil dilation is a useful measure of stress. Lesson: Structure of the Nervous System, Stress — Acute, Chronic and the GAS Model
  • MC 17 (1 mark, class average 59%): Identify the antecedent and behaviour when students learn not to chew gum. Lesson: Operant Conditioning
  • MC 18 (1 mark, class average 50%): An Indigenous practice that could be used as a research method. Lesson: Mnemonics, Songlines and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ways of Knowing, Experimental Design
  • MC 19 (1 mark, class average 54%): Purpose of a literature review on diagnosing a sleep breathing problem in pregnancy. Lesson: Experimental Design
  • MC 20 (1 mark, class average 57%): A strength of rating-scale data and a limitation of the questionnaire. Lesson: Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions
  • MC 21 (1 mark, class average 68%): Which statements about lab sleep studies and home sleep monitors are correct. Lesson: Sleep — Stages and Purpose, Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions
  • MC 22 (1 mark, class average 28%): A behavioural sign of sleepiness after a short night. Lesson: Sleep Deprivation and Adolescent Sleep
  • MC 23 (1 mark, class average 71%): What it means that driving simulator data is valid. Lesson: Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions
  • MC 24 (1 mark, class average 55%): Best research question comparing full sleep deprivation and BAC on mood. Lesson: Sleep Deprivation and Adolescent Sleep
  • MC 25 (1 mark, class average 66%): Timing and dose of bright light therapy for Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder. Lesson: Circadian Rhythm and the Sleep-Wake Cycle, Sleep Deprivation and Adolescent Sleep
  • MC 26 (1 mark, class average 66%): How artificial lighting could improve residents' circadian rhythms. Lesson: Circadian Rhythm and the Sleep-Wake Cycle
  • MC 27 (1 mark, class average 37%): A correct statement about shift work and circadian rhythm sleep disorders. Lesson: Circadian Rhythm and the Sleep-Wake Cycle
  • MC 28 (1 mark, class average 24%): The least useful sleep hygiene tip for night shift workers. Lesson: Sleep Deprivation and Adolescent Sleep
  • MC 29 (1 mark, class average 43%): A true statement about the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Lesson: Circadian Rhythm and the Sleep-Wake Cycle
  • MC 30 (1 mark, class average 60%): Why community consultation improved an Aboriginal SEWB program. Lesson: Mental Wellbeing — SEWB and Cultural Determinants
  • MC 31 (1 mark, class average 59%): Why the SEWB program was run in several communities. Lesson: Sampling, Generalisability and External Validity, Mental Wellbeing — SEWB and Cultural Determinants
  • MC 32 (1 mark, class average 61%): How the program's development reflected cultural determinants of wellbeing. Lesson: Mental Wellbeing — SEWB and Cultural Determinants
  • MC 33 (1 mark, class average 15%): What a strong correlation does and doesn't let you conclude. Lesson: Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions, Mental Wellbeing — SEWB and Cultural Determinants
  • MC 34 (1 mark, class average 88%): The difference between stress and anxiety. Lesson: Biopsychosocial Model of Mental Wellbeing
  • MC 35 (1 mark, class average 67%): Why a line graph suits social interactions recorded over ten outings. Lesson: Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions
  • MC 36 (1 mark, class average 78%): Biological, psychological and social benefits of a dog-walking program. Lesson: Biopsychosocial Model of Mental Wellbeing
  • MC 37 (1 mark, class average 88%): How internal and external factors might interact in a dog-walking study. Lesson: Biopsychosocial Model of Mental Wellbeing
  • MC 38 (1 mark, class average 88%): What fear ratings in a systematic desensitisation hierarchy represent. Lesson: Specific Phobia — 4P Model, Cognitive-Behavioural Strategies for Resilience
  • MC 39 (1 mark, class average 75%): A factor that could lead to a phobia of magpies. Lesson: Specific Phobia — 4P Model, Classical Conditioning
  • MC 40 (1 mark, class average 64%): Using the multi-store model to explain how fear is reduced at each step. Lesson: Memory — Atkinson-Shiffrin Multi-Store Model, Specific Phobia — 4P Model
  • Q1a.i (2 marks, class average 85%): A conscious and an unconscious response to being very hot. Lesson: Structure of the Nervous System
  • Q1a.ii (2 marks, class average 40%): Roles of a CNS and a PNS subdivision in an automatic response to heat. Lesson: Structure of the Nervous System
  • Q1b (2 marks, class average 40%): Two contrasts between neurotransmitters and neuromodulators. Lesson: Neurotransmitters and Neuromodulators
  • Q2a (1 mark, class average 50%): One role of gut microbiota. Lesson: Coping With Stress — Approach and Avoidance Strategies, Exercise and the Gut–Brain Axis
  • Q2b (2 marks, class average 50%): Why Alzheimer's disease makes it hard to retrieve autobiographical memories. Lesson: Memory and the Brain — Explicit and Implicit Memory, Alzheimer’s Disease and Aphantasia
  • Q2c.i (3 marks, class average 17%): Why a correlational study is more ethical than an experiment on antibiotics and Alzheimer's. Lesson: Experimental Design, Ethics in Psychological Research
  • Q2c.ii (1 mark, class average 7%): The population a correlational antibiotic and Alzheimer's sample should come from. Lesson: Sampling, Generalisability and External Validity
  • Q2d (2 marks, class average 45%): How brain scans could track the progression of Alzheimer's disease. Lesson: Memory and the Brain — Explicit and Implicit Memory, Alzheimer’s Disease and Aphantasia
  • Q3a (2 marks, class average 45%): Two limitations of a student's circular model of the adult sleep cycle. Lesson: Sleep — Stages and Purpose
  • Q3b (4 marks, class average 45%): Using one physiological measure to support parts of the sleep cycle model. Lesson: Sleep — Stages and Purpose
  • Q3c (2 marks, class average 45%): Two reasons sleep counts as an altered state of consciousness. Lesson: Sleep — Stages and Purpose
  • Q3d (2 marks, class average 60%): Two changes to make the adult sleep cycle model fit an infant. Lesson: Sleep — Stages and Purpose
  • Q4a (2 marks, class average 50%): The social protective factor in a fact sheet about helping someone with a phobia. Lesson: Specific Phobia — 4P Model, Biopsychosocial Model of Mental Wellbeing
  • Q4b (2 marks, class average 55%): The social factor targeted by encouraging someone to seek help. Lesson: Specific Phobia — 4P Model
  • Q4c (3 marks, class average 37%): Using three stages of observational learning to explain how avoidance is learnt. Lesson: Observational Learning, Specific Phobia — 4P Model
  • Q4d.i (2 marks, class average 60%): How catastrophic thinking feeds a specific phobia. Lesson: Specific Phobia — 4P Model
  • Q4d.ii (1 mark, class average 66%): Another cognitive bias that keeps a phobia going. Lesson: Specific Phobia — 4P Model
  • Q4e (1 mark, class average 86%): The operant consequence in praising any progress. Lesson: Operant Conditioning
  • Q5a (1 mark, class average 86%): Distinguish acute and chronic stress. Lesson: Stress — Acute, Chronic and the GAS Model
  • Q5b (1 mark, class average 57%): What it means that cortisol release follows a circadian rhythm. Lesson: Circadian Rhythm and the Sleep-Wake Cycle, Stress — Acute, Chronic and the GAS Model
  • Q5c (2 marks, class average 35%): How a service animal could support veterans' wellbeing by building resilience. Lesson: Mental Wellbeing — SEWB and Cultural Determinants, Cognitive-Behavioural Strategies for Resilience
  • Q5d (2 marks, class average 65%): A strength and a limitation for validity of collecting saliva in a lab. Lesson: Sampling, Generalisability and External Validity, Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions
  • Q5e (2 marks, class average 45%): Which behaviourist approach trains a dog to detect stress, with justification. Lesson: Operant Conditioning
  • Q6a (1 mark, class average 79%): A recommendation about caffeine from the runners' sleep data. Lesson: Sleep Deprivation and Adolescent Sleep
  • Q6b (2 marks, class average 65%): Which fruit serving size gave the most precise sleep scores, and why. Lesson: Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions
  • Q6c (2 marks, class average 45%): An affective and a cognitive effect of poor sleep on running performance. Lesson: Sleep Deprivation and Adolescent Sleep
  • Q6d (3 marks, class average 57%): Using meal timing as a zeitgeber to improve runners' sleep–wake patterns. Lesson: Circadian Rhythm and the Sleep-Wake Cycle, Sleep Deprivation and Adolescent Sleep
  • Q6e (3 marks, class average 67%): Predict how using devices before bed would change a sleep quality score. Lesson: Circadian Rhythm and the Sleep-Wake Cycle, Sleep Deprivation and Adolescent Sleep
  • Q7a (3 marks, class average 70%): Write a hypothesis for a study on knowing the stress model and appraisal severity. Lesson: Experimental Design, Lazarus & Folkman — Cognitive Appraisal
  • Q7b (1 mark, class average 61%): The primary appraisal of someone who sees a hard task as good for them. Lesson: Lazarus & Folkman — Cognitive Appraisal
  • Q7c (2 marks, class average 35%): Decide whether hiding the experiment's real aim breaks ethical guidelines. Lesson: Ethics in Psychological Research
  • Q7d.i (1 mark, class average 19%): A benefit of the between-subjects design for this particular experiment. Lesson: Experimental Design
  • Q7d.ii (3 marks, class average 50%): How a within-subjects design could test the same aim. Lesson: Experimental Design
  • Q8 (5 marks, class average 50%): How LTP and LTD together reshape neural connections as a child gets better at gripping a pencil. Lesson: Neural Plasticity — Developmental and Adaptive
  • Q9 (10 marks, class average 48%): Extended response: compare the method of loci with songlines, and judge both for someone with aphantasia. Lesson: Mnemonics, Songlines and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ways of Knowing, Memory and the Brain — Explicit and Implicit Memory, Alzheimer’s Disease and Aphantasia

2024 Exam

  • MC 1 (1 mark, class average 61%): Identify a chemical that spreads through a large space and lowers the excitability of many neurons. Lesson: Neurotransmitters and Neuromodulators
  • MC 2 (1 mark, class average 27%): The most accurate statement about how neural information is passed on. Lesson: Neurotransmitters and Neuromodulators
  • MC 3 (1 mark, class average 87%): Which division of the nervous system increases blood flow to the face under stress. Lesson: Structure of the Nervous System, Stress — Acute, Chronic and the GAS Model
  • MC 4 (1 mark, class average 71%): What better lie detection from a few face areas tells us about the stress response. Lesson: Structure of the Nervous System
  • MC 5 (1 mark, class average 69%): Where the GAS and the fight-flight-freeze response overlap. Lesson: Stress — Acute, Chronic and the GAS Model
  • MC 6 (1 mark, class average 65%): How the exhaustion stage of the GAS could explain burnout. Lesson: Stress — Acute, Chronic and the GAS Model
  • MC 7 (1 mark, class average 50%): Why a literature review found common burnout trends across many studies. Lesson: Stress — Acute, Chronic and the GAS Model
  • MC 8 (1 mark, class average 88%): A way to reduce the stigma that stops medical workers seeking help. Lesson: Specific Phobia — 4P Model
  • MC 9 (1 mark, class average 75%): An ethical guideline and the data type for a happiness questionnaire. Lesson: Ethics in Psychological Research, Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions
  • MC 10 (1 mark, class average 54%): Which conclusions a coaching study's design supports. Lesson: Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions, Experimental Design
  • MC 11 (1 mark, class average 84%): What cognitive behavioural coaching would involve. Lesson: Cognitive-Behavioural Strategies for Resilience
  • MC 12 (1 mark, class average 71%): How coaching could help people reach goals, using Lazarus and Folkman's model. Lesson: Lazarus & Folkman — Cognitive Appraisal
  • MC 13 (1 mark, class average 55%): Which statements about coping and stress are correct. Lesson: Coping With Stress — Approach and Avoidance Strategies, Exercise and the Gut–Brain Axis, Stress — Acute, Chronic and the GAS Model
  • MC 14 (1 mark, class average 95%): The best example of positive reinforcement for staying on task. Lesson: Operant Conditioning
  • MC 15 (1 mark, class average 55%): Why after-school detention doesn't work for losing focus in class. Lesson: Operant Conditioning
  • MC 16 (1 mark, class average 81%): How more positive interactions between students could improve wellbeing. Lesson: Biopsychosocial Model of Mental Wellbeing
  • MC 17 (1 mark, class average 19%): Why shift workers should be given sleep hygiene information. Lesson: Sleep Deprivation and Adolescent Sleep, Circadian Rhythm and the Sleep-Wake Cycle
  • MC 18 (1 mark, class average 76%): A sensible sleep hygiene tip for someone who can't fall asleep. Lesson: Sleep Deprivation and Adolescent Sleep
  • MC 19 (1 mark, class average 59%): What an event memory involves, according to the multi-store model. Lesson: Memory — Atkinson-Shiffrin Multi-Store Model
  • MC 20 (1 mark, class average 81%): Why a dog remembered where food was years later. Lesson: Memory and the Brain — Explicit and Implicit Memory, Alzheimer’s Disease and Aphantasia
  • MC 21 (1 mark, class average 47%): Brain region and memory type behind an owner's memory of their dog's behaviour. Lesson: Memory and the Brain — Explicit and Implicit Memory, Alzheimer’s Disease and Aphantasia
  • MC 22 (1 mark, class average 55%): Purpose of repeating a dog memory study with more owners and a clearer questionnaire. Lesson: Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions, Sampling, Generalisability and External Validity
  • MC 23 (1 mark, class average 42%): How the healthy food promotion model was created. Lesson: Experimental Design
  • MC 24 (1 mark, class average 85%): Apply operant and classical conditioning to promoting healthy food to children. Lesson: Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning
  • MC 25 (1 mark, class average 51%): Likely driving results for mothers of infants with sleep problems. Lesson: Sleep Deprivation and Adolescent Sleep
  • MC 26 (1 mark, class average 72%): Compare cognition after 20 hours awake with a legal BAC. Lesson: Sleep Deprivation and Adolescent Sleep
  • MC 27 (1 mark, class average 62%): Read a dot plot of sleep stage times in two conditions. Lesson: Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions
  • MC 28 (1 mark, class average 54%): Effect of snoozing on the last 30 minutes of sleep. Lesson: Sleep — Stages and Purpose, Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions
  • MC 29 (1 mark, class average 87%): Roles of cognitive tests, self-reports and EEG in a sleep study. Lesson: Sleep — Stages and Purpose
  • MC 30 (1 mark, class average 69%): What would give a fuller picture of how snoozing affects daytime functioning. Lesson: Sleep Deprivation and Adolescent Sleep
  • MC 31 (1 mark, class average 92%): Why room temperature counts as a zeitgeber. Lesson: Circadian Rhythm and the Sleep-Wake Cycle
  • MC 32 (1 mark, class average 31%): Predict results for a cooler room from a temperature and sleepiness table. Lesson: Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions, Sleep Deprivation and Adolescent Sleep
  • MC 33 (1 mark, class average 44%): One part of the two-factor theory of phobias. Lesson: Specific Phobia — 4P Model
  • MC 34 (1 mark, class average 59%): Apply both behaviourist approaches to how a phobia develops. Lesson: Specific Phobia — 4P Model, Operant Conditioning
  • MC 35 (1 mark, class average 45%): Why systematic desensitisation works for a specific phobia. Lesson: Specific Phobia — 4P Model, Cognitive-Behavioural Strategies for Resilience
  • MC 36 (1 mark, class average 88%): What two survey items about bouncing back from hard times measure. Lesson: Cognitive-Behavioural Strategies for Resilience, Mental Wellbeing — SEWB and Cultural Determinants
  • MC 37 (1 mark, class average 61%): Why the university wellbeing survey is a correlational study. Lesson: Experimental Design
  • MC 38 (1 mark, class average 74%): Why rating scales suit measuring mental wellbeing. Lesson: Biopsychosocial Model of Mental Wellbeing
  • MC 39 (1 mark): When the survey data could support a biopsychosocial approach to wellbeing. Lesson: Biopsychosocial Model of Mental Wellbeing
  • MC 40 (1 mark, class average 72%): Biological difference in amygdala activity with and without a phobia. Lesson: Specific Phobia — 4P Model, Neurotransmitters and Neuromodulators
  • Q1a (3 marks, class average 50%): How the basal ganglia and neocortex work together when learning to brush teeth. Lesson: Memory and the Brain — Explicit and Implicit Memory, Alzheimer’s Disease and Aphantasia
  • Q1b (2 marks, class average 40%): Use the multi-store model to explain how a bathroom poster helps a child learn. Lesson: Memory — Atkinson-Shiffrin Multi-Store Model, Mnemonics, Songlines and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ways of Knowing
  • Q1c (3 marks, class average 57%): Role of episodic and semantic memory in imagining teaching a child to brush. Lesson: Memory and the Brain — Explicit and Implicit Memory, Alzheimer’s Disease and Aphantasia
  • Q1d (2 marks, class average 40%): Role of LTP in the retention stage of observational learning in the scenario. Lesson: Neural Plasticity — Developmental and Adaptive, Observational Learning
  • Q2a (4 marks, class average 43%): Two roles of the vagus nerve in the gut–brain axis, and how case studies could explore it. Lesson: Coping With Stress — Approach and Avoidance Strategies, Exercise and the Gut–Brain Axis, Experimental Design
  • Q2b (3 marks, class average 40%): Why good nutrition is a biological protective factor for mental wellbeing. Lesson: Coping With Stress — Approach and Avoidance Strategies, Exercise and the Gut–Brain Axis, Biopsychosocial Model of Mental Wellbeing
  • Q3 (5 marks, class average 54%): Compare bright light therapy for DSPS and ASPD, and explain why it works. Lesson: Circadian Rhythm and the Sleep-Wake Cycle, Sleep Deprivation and Adolescent Sleep
  • Q4a (1 mark, class average 81%): The main excitatory neurotransmitter. Lesson: Neurotransmitters and Neuromodulators
  • Q4b (2 marks, class average 25%): A role of the somatic nervous system and of the spinal cord in a reflex triggered in the leg. Lesson: Structure of the Nervous System
  • Q4c (2 marks, class average 45%): Describe and interpret the reflex results for injured and uninjured ankles. Lesson: Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions, Structure of the Nervous System
  • Q4d (3 marks, class average 17%): How random sampling could give a representative sample in the ankle study. Lesson: Sampling, Generalisability and External Validity
  • Q4e (2 marks, class average 25%): Benefit of using a height-adjusted index for measurement error. Lesson: Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions
  • Q5a (1 mark, class average 90%): Distinguish internal and external stressors. Lesson: Stress — Acute, Chronic and the GAS Model
  • Q5b.i (1 mark, class average 83%): A survey question to measure primary appraisal. Lesson: Lazarus & Folkman — Cognitive Appraisal
  • Q5b.ii (1 mark, class average 75%): A survey question to measure secondary appraisal. Lesson: Lazarus & Folkman — Cognitive Appraisal
  • Q5c (3 marks, class average 27%): Why coping flexibility didn't explain the mood change after mindfulness. Lesson: Coping With Stress — Approach and Avoidance Strategies, Exercise and the Gut–Brain Axis
  • Q5d (2 marks, class average 60%): How the researchers could carry out debriefing. Lesson: Ethics in Psychological Research
  • Q5e (2 marks, class average 55%): How sleep deprivation could affect the mindfulness study's results, and one fix. Lesson: Sleep Deprivation and Adolescent Sleep, Experimental Design
  • Q6a (2 marks, class average 60%): The two independent variables in a blink conditioning experiment. Lesson: Experimental Design, Classical Conditioning
  • Q6b (2 marks, class average 55%): Neutral stimulus and unconditioned response in the blink experiment. Lesson: Classical Conditioning
  • Q6c (1 mark, class average 30%): What shows that conditioning has happened in the blink experiment. Lesson: Classical Conditioning
  • Q6d (3 marks, class average 43%): Predict which condition would give the fastest conditioning, and justify it. Lesson: Classical Conditioning
  • Q6e (2 marks, class average 40%): How a further study could check the reproducibility of the blink experiment. Lesson: Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions
  • Q7a (4 marks, class average 43%): Two differences between newborn and older adult sleep, with a reason for each. Lesson: Sleep — Stages and Purpose, Circadian Rhythm and the Sleep-Wake Cycle
  • Q7b.i (2 marks, class average 35%): Evaluate a claim about sleep changing across adulthood, using Extract 1. Lesson: Sleep — Stages and Purpose
  • Q7b.ii (2 marks, class average 30%): Evaluate a claim about what controls newborns' sleep–wake cycles, using Extract 2. Lesson: Circadian Rhythm and the Sleep-Wake Cycle
  • Q7c (3 marks, class average 13%): Graph the change from six to twelve months in infants sleeping long stretches. Lesson: Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions
  • Q8a (2 marks, class average 25%): The role of kinship in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing. Lesson: Mnemonics, Songlines and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ways of Knowing
  • Q8b (3 marks, class average 43%): Why sharing songlines is a cultural determinant, and how it protects SEWB. Lesson: Mental Wellbeing — SEWB and Cultural Determinants, Mnemonics, Songlines and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ways of Knowing
  • Q8c (2 marks, class average 45%): How kinship and family support the social and emotional wellbeing of First Nations peoples. Lesson: Mental Wellbeing — SEWB and Cultural Determinants
  • Q9 (10 marks, class average 44%): Extended response: use a model of the amygdala and synaptic plasticity to explain and evaluate CBT for phobia. Lesson: Cognitive-Behavioural Strategies for Resilience, Specific Phobia — 4P Model, Neural Plasticity — Developmental and Adaptive, Neurotransmitters and Neuromodulators

2023 Exam

  • MC 1 (1 mark, class average 40%): Which parts of the CNS lead in conscious responses, unconscious responses and spinal reflexes. Lesson: Structure of the Nervous System
  • MC 2 (1 mark, class average 89%): The action and a function of dopamine and of glutamate. Lesson: Neurotransmitters and Neuromodulators
  • MC 3 (1 mark, class average 38%): When a person is most likely to reach the exhaustion stage of the GAS. Lesson: Stress — Acute, Chronic and the GAS Model
  • MC 4 (1 mark, class average 87%): Correct descriptions of long-term potentiation and long-term depression. Lesson: Neural Plasticity — Developmental and Adaptive
  • MC 5 (1 mark, class average 71%): Dominant nervous system and response when nearly hit by a car, and afterwards. Lesson: Stress — Acute, Chronic and the GAS Model, Structure of the Nervous System
  • MC 6 (1 mark, class average 84%): Primary and secondary appraisal of an unsuccessful job interview. Lesson: Lazarus & Folkman — Cognitive Appraisal
  • MC 7 (1 mark, class average 39%): What imagining a future job interview relies on. Lesson: Memory and the Brain — Explicit and Implicit Memory, Alzheimer’s Disease and Aphantasia
  • MC 8 (1 mark, class average 78%): Interpret a table of mental health self-management strategies by type. Lesson: Biopsychosocial Model of Mental Wellbeing
  • MC 9 (1 mark, class average 51%): Best way to measure a campaign's impact on strategy use over time. Lesson: Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions
  • MC 10 (1 mark, class average 94%): What switching strategies when one isn't working shows. Lesson: Coping With Stress — Approach and Avoidance Strategies, Exercise and the Gut–Brain Axis
  • MC 11 (1 mark, class average 77%): A distinctive feature of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of learning. Lesson: Mnemonics, Songlines and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ways of Knowing
  • MC 12 (1 mark, class average 72%): When the retention stage works best, using the multi-store model. Lesson: Memory — Atkinson-Shiffrin Multi-Store Model, Observational Learning
  • MC 13 (1 mark, class average 81%): The two observational learning stages that matter most in the first lesson. Lesson: Observational Learning
  • MC 14 (1 mark, class average 64%): Brain regions and memory type for a mastered motor skill. Lesson: Memory and the Brain — Explicit and Implicit Memory, Alzheimer’s Disease and Aphantasia
  • MC 15 (1 mark, class average 78%): Likely result when people with aphantasia describe past and imagined events. Lesson: Memory and the Brain — Explicit and Implicit Memory, Alzheimer’s Disease and Aphantasia
  • MC 16 (1 mark, class average 52%): What aphantasia research suggests about autobiographical memory. Lesson: Memory and the Brain — Explicit and Implicit Memory, Alzheimer’s Disease and Aphantasia
  • MC 17 (1 mark, class average 59%): A shared difficulty for people with early Alzheimer's disease and people with aphantasia. Lesson: Memory and the Brain — Explicit and Implicit Memory, Alzheimer’s Disease and Aphantasia
  • MC 18 (1 mark, class average 29%): How to test the repeatability of an aphantasia study. Lesson: Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions
  • MC 19 (1 mark, class average 64%): An advantage and a limitation of acronyms. Lesson: Mnemonics, Songlines and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ways of Knowing
  • MC 20 (1 mark, class average 89%): What video monitoring and sleep diaries can each show about sleep. Lesson: Sleep — Stages and Purpose
  • MC 21 (1 mark, class average 38%): The most accurate statement about what regulates the sleep–wake cycle. Lesson: Circadian Rhythm and the Sleep-Wake Cycle
  • MC 22 (1 mark, class average 60%): A symptom of partial sleep deprivation from short daytime naps in DSPS, and its cause. Lesson: Circadian Rhythm and the Sleep-Wake Cycle, Sleep Deprivation and Adolescent Sleep
  • MC 23 (1 mark, class average 57%): A feature shared by DSPS and ASPD. Lesson: Circadian Rhythm and the Sleep-Wake Cycle
  • MC 24 (1 mark, class average 36%): Conclusion from graphs of NREM and REM cycle length in two- and six-year-olds. Lesson: Sleep — Stages and Purpose, Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions
  • MC 25 (1 mark, class average 35%): A limitation of the children's sleep study. Lesson: Sampling, Generalisability and External Validity
  • MC 26 (1 mark, class average 62%): How adolescents' sleep would compare with young children's. Lesson: Sleep Deprivation and Adolescent Sleep, Sleep — Stages and Purpose
  • MC 27 (1 mark, class average 53%): What it means for sleep studies that sleep is a psychological construct. Lesson: Sleep — Stages and Purpose
  • MC 28 (1 mark, class average 59%): What a control group for the theophylline rat study would receive. Lesson: Experimental Design
  • MC 29 (1 mark, class average 35%): A likely EEG finding when rats are given a stimulant. Lesson: Sleep — Stages and Purpose
  • MC 30 (1 mark, class average 40%): An improvement that would directly increase the theophylline study's validity. Lesson: Experimental Design, Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions
  • MC 31 (1 mark, class average 66%): Best explanation for higher beta waves and maths scores after morning bright light. Lesson: Sleep Deprivation and Adolescent Sleep, Circadian Rhythm and the Sleep-Wake Cycle
  • MC 32 (1 mark, class average 63%): Investigation methodology of the bright light therapy study with two groups. Lesson: Experimental Design
  • MC 33 (1 mark, class average 75%): An internal factor behind a mature-age student's wish to quit his degree. Lesson: Biopsychosocial Model of Mental Wellbeing
  • MC 34 (1 mark, class average 79%): Where the student sits on the wellbeing continuum when he quits. Lesson: Biopsychosocial Model of Mental Wellbeing
  • MC 35 (1 mark, class average 66%): A social protective factor that would build the student's resilience. Lesson: Biopsychosocial Model of Mental Wellbeing, Cognitive-Behavioural Strategies for Resilience
  • MC 36 (1 mark, class average 56%): Biological, psychological and social factors in a phobia of rocks. Lesson: Specific Phobia — 4P Model
  • MC 37 (1 mark, class average 54%): A correctly matched intervention and example for a phobia of rocks. Lesson: Specific Phobia — 4P Model, Cognitive-Behavioural Strategies for Resilience
  • MC 38 (1 mark, class average 70%): Where self-determination shows in the history of NAIDOC Week. Lesson: Mental Wellbeing — SEWB and Cultural Determinants
  • MC 39 (1 mark, class average 90%): The SEWB principle reflected in a "Heal Country" theme. Lesson: Mental Wellbeing — SEWB and Cultural Determinants
  • MC 40 (1 mark, class average 68%): What kind of connection NAIDOC Week represents. Lesson: Mental Wellbeing — SEWB and Cultural Determinants
  • Q1a (1 mark, class average 74%): One physiological response when a nervous performer walks on stage. Lesson: Stress — Acute, Chronic and the GAS Model, Structure of the Nervous System
  • Q1b (3 marks, class average 50%): Evaluate staying out late before a performance using context-specific effectiveness. Lesson: Coping With Stress — Approach and Avoidance Strategies, Exercise and the Gut–Brain Axis
  • Q1c (4 marks, class average 53%): Annotate a leg and spinal cord diagram to explain a reflex to stepping on a pin. Lesson: Structure of the Nervous System
  • Q2a (1 mark, class average 55%): One role of cortisol during chronic stress. Lesson: Stress — Acute, Chronic and the GAS Model
  • Q2b (3 marks, class average 33%): Use mindfulness meditation to explain falling hair cortisol over nine months. Lesson: Cognitive-Behavioural Strategies for Resilience, Coping With Stress — Approach and Avoidance Strategies, Exercise and the Gut–Brain Axis
  • Q2c (2 marks, class average 30%): Why mindfulness was a better IV than nutrition for this study. Lesson: Experimental Design
  • Q2d (2 marks, class average 75%): A limitation of stress questionnaires and how hair testing overcomes it. Lesson: Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions
  • Q3 (4 marks, class average 57%): Name the learning approach and outline three phases as birds learn to avoid predators. Lesson: Classical Conditioning
  • Q4a (2 marks, class average 50%): The IV and DV in the first stage of a cow toilet-training study. Lesson: Experimental Design, Operant Conditioning
  • Q4b (1 mark, class average 72%): Why the study used control cows. Lesson: Experimental Design
  • Q4c (4 marks, class average 57%): Use operant conditioning language to explain how cows learnt to use the pen. Lesson: Operant Conditioning
  • Q5 (5 marks, class average 44%): How songlines work as a mnemonic, including the role of one brain area. Lesson: Mnemonics, Songlines and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ways of Knowing, Memory and the Brain — Explicit and Implicit Memory, Alzheimer’s Disease and Aphantasia
  • Q6a (2 marks, class average 55%): Two typical features of the sleep–wake pattern of the Year 11 participants. Lesson: Sleep Deprivation and Adolescent Sleep, Sleep — Stages and Purpose
  • Q6b (4 marks, class average 50%): Conclusions about blue light and sleep from three groups' results. Lesson: Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions, Circadian Rhythm and the Sleep-Wake Cycle
  • Q6c (2 marks, class average 25%): How an EOG and an EMG could check that a sleep app identifies sleep stages correctly. Lesson: Sleep — Stages and Purpose
  • Q6d (3 marks, class average 57%): The zeitgeber in the phone study and its typical effect on sleep. Lesson: Circadian Rhythm and the Sleep-Wake Cycle
  • Q6e (1 mark, class average 57%): Why daytime phone use was included in the results table. Lesson: Experimental Design
  • Q7a (2 marks, class average 65%): The PNS subdivision behind a rising heart rate during a nightmare, with justification. Lesson: Structure of the Nervous System
  • Q7b (2 marks, class average 25%): How well Lazarus and Folkman's model explains heart rate rising in a nightmare. Lesson: Lazarus & Folkman — Cognitive Appraisal
  • Q7c (2 marks, class average 45%): Two features that make serotonin a neuromodulator. Lesson: Neurotransmitters and Neuromodulators
  • Q7d (5 marks, class average 48%): Describe and evaluate benzodiazepines for a bedroom phobia linked to nightmares. Lesson: Specific Phobia — 4P Model, Neurotransmitters and Neuromodulators
  • Q7e.i (1 mark, class average 71%): One cognitive effect of sleep deprivation for people with a nightmare disorder. Lesson: Sleep Deprivation and Adolescent Sleep
  • Q7e.ii (2 marks, class average 40%): How sleep loss makes catastrophic thinking worse, with an example. Lesson: Sleep Deprivation and Adolescent Sleep, Specific Phobia — 4P Model
  • Q8a (3 marks, class average 87%): Graph average wellbeing scores for regular and irregular travellers. Lesson: Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions
  • Q8b (3 marks, class average 63%): Compare wellbeing of regular and irregular travellers after a night in a hotel. Lesson: Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions
  • Q8c (2 marks, class average 45%): Classify the questionnaire data and give a strength of that data type. Lesson: Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions
  • Q8d.i (1 mark, class average 48%): The variable type controlled by excluding very fast questionnaire responses. Lesson: Experimental Design
  • Q8d.ii (1 mark, class average 67%): Impact on results of keeping very fast questionnaire responses. Lesson: Data Analysis and Evaluating Conclusions
  • Q8e (2 marks, class average 20%): Apply integrity to giving the questionnaire and reporting its results. Lesson: Ethics in Psychological Research
  • Q9 (10 marks, class average 53%): Extended response: analyse a psychobiotic diet study using gut microbiota and the gut–brain axis. Lesson: Coping With Stress — Approach and Avoidance Strategies, Exercise and the Gut–Brain Axis