I’ve taken a break from studying for my last VCE exam to write this piece. Once I walk out of that exam room next Wednesday, I know that VCE will gradually begin to recede away into the distance. Before long I won’t remember the Wordsworth quotes, chemical formulae and sections of the Constitution that I spent two years cramming into my brain.

But right now, VCE still feels like my entire life. Most of my waking hours, for the past two years, have been spent working towards these five exams in November. And so those exams come to be imbued with a colossal significance that would be hard for anyone except a year 12 student to understand. We’re all trapped in the same bizarre, pressurised bubble; and yes, we’re aware that our ATARs aren’t the be-all and end-all, but we’re so emotionally invested and exhausted that it doesn’t seem that way right now.

VCE student Saria Ratnam prepares for her final exam amid embarrassing revelations that some students have accessed leaked questions.Credit: Joe Armao

That’s why, when I found out on Thursday that questions from at least 22 VCE exams had been leaked to some students due to a technical error, I wasn’t just shocked, but pretty devastated. The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority’s claims that no student will be disadvantaged feel, at best, hollow. If the compromised questions aren’t counted in our results, then that’s frustrating for everyone who........

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