Assessment and exam practice.

Try this with Drama

1. Check the task format, time limit and permitted materials with your school.
2. Start with one timed section or task and record where you spent the most time.
3. Review errors before attempting another section. Separate missing knowledge from timing problems.

View Drama resources on ATARMAXXING ↗

Practice paper focus areas

• Exam 1 — Section I (core): how Australian plays position the audience as complicit through direct address and confession; Q2 Voice of Women: women's resistance to social roles; Q3 Approaches to Acting: biomechanics and the expressive body; Q4 Verbatim: consent and testimony; Q5 Black Comedy: status games and menace
• Exam 2 — Section I (core): how domestic and home spaces are staged to expose tensions within Australian families and communities; Q2 Voice of Women: power and economic independence; Q3 Approaches to Acting: the 'holy actor' and via negativa; Q4 Verbatim: the editing of testimony; Q5 Black Comedy: satire of political extremism
• Exam 3 — Section I (core): how humour is used to carry serious social concerns to an Australian audience; Q2 Voice of Women: motherhood and choice; Q3 Approaches to Acting: ensemble composition; Q4 Verbatim: community ownership of stories; Q5 Black Comedy: comedy of manners turned dark
• Exam 4 — Section I (core): how outsider characters are staged to question who belongs in Australian society; Q2 Voice of Women: female friendship and rivalry; Q3 Approaches to Acting: training as a philosophy of theatre; Q4 Verbatim: authenticity and the actor's portrayal of real people; Q5 Black Comedy: race, identity and comedy
• Exam 5 — Section I (core): how non-linear time and memory are staged to reshape an audience's view of the past; Q2 Voice of Women: satire of gender norms; Q3 Approaches to Acting: presence and audience engagement; Q4 Verbatim: silence and the unsayable; Q5 Black Comedy: taboo subjects and catharsis
• Exam 6 — Section I (core): how symbols and recurring stage images carry meaning in Australian plays; Q2 Voice of Women: staging of the female body; Q3 Approaches to Acting: the actor's relationship with space and time; Q4 Verbatim: the theatricality of the interview; Q5 Black Comedy: the comic treatment of violence
• Exam 7 — Section I (core): how performance style serves the political purpose of Australian plays; Q2 Voice of Women: the voice of marginalised women; Q3 Approaches to Acting: rhythm and tempo in training; Q4 Verbatim: multiple perspectives on one event; Q5 Black Comedy: family as a site of cruelty
• Exam 8 — Section I (core): how Australian voices, vernacular and silence are used to reveal character and power; Q2 Voice of Women: comparison of contexts; Q3 Approaches to Acting: the neutral mask and play; Q4 Verbatim: verbatim as advocacy; Q5 Black Comedy: the line between laughter and offence
• Exam 9 — Section I (core): how directors could reinterpret Australian plays for a present-day audience; Q2 Voice of Women: women's resistance to social roles; Q3 Approaches to Acting: biomechanics and the expressive body; Q4 Verbatim: consent and testimony; Q5 Black Comedy: status games and menace
• Exam 10 — Section I (core): how power struggles between characters are staged to provoke audience judgement; Q2 Voice of Women: power and economic independence; Q3 Approaches to Acting: the 'holy actor' and via negativa; Q4 Verbatim: the editing of testimony; Q5 Black Comedy: satire of political extremism
• Exam 11 — Section I (core): how Australian plays stage cultural identity and belonging for diverse audiences; Q2 Voice of Women: motherhood and choice; Q3 Approaches to Acting: ensemble composition; Q4 Verbatim: community ownership of stories; Q5 Black Comedy: comedy of manners turned dark
• Exam 12 — Section I (core): how lighting, sound and design could shape the atmosphere and meaning of key moments; Q2 Voice of Women: female friendship and rivalry; Q3 Approaches to Acting: training as a philosophy of theatre; Q4 Verbatim: authenticity and the actor's portrayal of real people; Q5 Black Comedy: race, identity and comedy
• Exam 13 — Section I (core): how the actor's body and physicality communicate ideas in Australian plays; Q2 Voice of Women: satire of gender norms; Q3 Approaches to Acting: presence and audience engagement; Q4 Verbatim: silence and the unsayable; Q5 Black Comedy: taboo subjects and catharsis
• Exam 14 — Section I (core): how tension and climactic moments are built to leave a lasting impact on audiences; Q2 Voice of Women: staging of the female body; Q3 Approaches to Acting: the actor's relationship with space and time; Q4 Verbatim: the theatricality of the interview; Q5 Black Comedy: the comic treatment of violence
• Exam 15 — Section I (core): how Australian plays move between realism and non-realism to challenge audiences; Q2 Voice of Women: the voice of marginalised women; Q3 Approaches to Acting: rhythm and tempo in training; Q4 Verbatim: multiple perspectives on one event; Q5 Black Comedy: family as a site of cruelty
• Exam 16 — Section I (core): how discomfort is deliberately created for audiences of Australian plays; Q2 Voice of Women: comparison of contexts; Q3 Approaches to Acting: the neutral mask and play; Q4 Verbatim: verbatim as advocacy; Q5 Black Comedy: the line between laughter and offence
• Exam 17 — Section I (core): how the actor-audience relationship and stage configuration shape meaning; Q2 Voice of Women: women's resistance to social roles; Q3 Approaches to Acting: biomechanics and the expressive body; Q4 Verbatim: consent and testimony; Q5 Black Comedy: status games and menace
• Exam 18 — Section I (core): how characters' struggles for agency are staged in Australian plays; Q2 Voice of Women: power and economic independence; Q3 Approaches to Acting: the 'holy actor' and via negativa; Q4 Verbatim: the editing of testimony; Q5 Black Comedy: satire of political extremism
• Exam 19 — Section I (core): how ensemble, transformation and multiple roles are used in Australian plays; Q2 Voice of Women: motherhood and choice; Q3 Approaches to Acting: ensemble composition; Q4 Verbatim: community ownership of stories; Q5 Black Comedy: comedy of manners turned dark
• Exam 20 — Section I (core): how the gap between a play's original context and today's audience creates meaning; Q2 Voice of Women: female friendship and rivalry; Q3 Approaches to Acting: training as a philosophy of theatre; Q4 Verbatim: authenticity and the actor's portrayal of real people; Q5 Black Comedy: race, identity and comedy