How Should AI Be Used for VCE English?

AI can genuinely help you in VCE English. It can explain a difficult quote, test your understanding of a theme, generate practice prompts, give feedback on a paragraph, or show you where your contention goes fuzzy. Used well, using AI for VCE English can make your study faster and much more efficient. But there is a line every student needs to understand, because it decides whether AI helps you or quietly sabotages you. That line pertains to the fact that if the AI thinks for you, it is not preparing you for the exam. On exam day, there is no chatbot. There is only the prompt, the text, the clock, and your own ability to think.

AI helped me score a raw 50 in English, and I have watched AI help students enormously over the past three years, and I have watched it hollow students out. The whole difference is in how they use it.

The bad use:

The temptation is obvious. Paste in the prompt, ask for a full essay, and copy the structure, the quotes, the vocabulary and the analysis. Maybe you tweak a few lines. It feels productive, because at the end you are holding a polished piece of writing.

The problem is that you have not built the skill that produced it. When the exam comes, you may still not be able to:

• unpack an unseen prompt

• write three coherent topic sentences

• choose relevant evidence on your own

• explain how a quote actually proves the topic sentence

• write under time pressure

• adapt when the prompt is not the one you rehearsed

A perfect AI essay creates a dangerous illusion of preparation because you feel ready when you are not!

The good use: shorten the feedback loop

Used properly, AI does not replace your thinking. It speeds up the loop between doing the work and finding out what is wrong with it. Instead of “write this essay for me,” ask things like:

• “Is my contention clear and specific?”

• “Which part of this paragraph is retelling rather than analysis?”

• “Have I explained this quote before I link it to the prompt?”

• “Give me three prompts on this theme, but do not give me the plans.”

• “Test me on these quotes one at a time.”

• “Here is my paragraph. Name one recurring issue I should fix next time.”

Every one of those keeps you responsible for the intellectual work. The AI becomes almost like a coach.

The rule that fixes everything:

Here is the simplest rule I give students. Attempt first. Ask for help second.

Before you open any AI, spend ten minutes forming your own plan. Write a contention. Draft your topic sentences. List the evidence you might use. Have a real go at the paragraph. Then bring it to the AI to challenge, refine or diagnose.

That order is the whole game. It forces you to practise recall, judgement and argument-building, which are the exact skills the exam assesses. Ask first, and you practise copying. Attempt first, and you practise thinking.

The hidden trap: memorising the AI’s language

A quieter danger is copying the AI’s phrasing until your writing goes stiff and unnatural. Students start using words they cannot explain, writing sentences they would never produce on their own, and memorising whole paragraphs that only fit one prompt.

VCE English rewards a genuine response to the question in front of you, not a pre-written answer forced awkwardly onto it. Use AI examples to notice techniques and possibilities, never as a script to reproduce word for word. Your own voice as a writer and a student matters!

Ask yourself: does it make you a better writer?

This is the measure that matters. Good AI use should leave you needing less help over time, not more. You should get faster at planning, sharper at choosing evidence, clearer in your explanations, and more confident when a prompt surprises you.

If your AI use leaves you unable to write without it, it is working against you. If it helps you see what to improve, practise that skill, and eventually do it on your own, it is doing exactly what a good study tool should do. That's why I build our own tools around growing a student’s thinking rather than handing over answers. The point of English was never to produce the best essay an AI can write. It is to become the student who can write a strong essay when the AI is not there.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use ChatGPT or AI for VCE English? Yes, for studying. It is great for feedback, testing your understanding, generating practice prompts, and explaining tricky ideas. Just don't use it to write the work you submit, and don't let it do the thinking you need to do yourself in the exam.

Is using AI cheating in VCE? Using AI to produce work you then hand in as your own is a breach of VCAA’s authentication rules and counts as academic misconduct. Using AI to help you learn, practise and get feedback on your own writing is completely fine. The line is simply whether the words and the thinking you submit are actually yours.

What is the best way to use AI to study English? Attempt the task yourself first, then use AI to diagnose and refine it. Ask it to check your contention, spot where you are retelling instead of analysing, test you on quotes, or name one recurring mistake to fix. Keep yourself doing the hard part.

If you want feedback that builds the skill rather than just fixing the essay, that is exactly what we do in small groups at Tutors Melbourne, where a real tutor works through your writing with you and shows you the one thing to fix next. Your first lesson is free.

With love, as always, Yahav, Tutors Melbourne