Five siblings in the Eeso family have already made it through year 12 and on to RMIT University.
This week, the three youngest siblings, triplets Savio, Saviya and Simon Eeso, will begin their VCE exams together, intending to continue the family legacy.
The 18-year-old triplets from Elevation Secondary College in Craigieburn are among thousands of students who will sit the marathon VCE English exam on Tuesday, kicking off the exam period for most year 12s around the state.
Saviya said that despite feeling nervous about English, which wasn’t her strongest subject, she was mostly looking forward to life after high school.
“I’m pretty excited,” she said.
More than 47,000 students are expected to sit the VCE English exam, while more than 3100 will take the English as an additional language exam, both from 9am.
Students undertaking oral language exams and performance exams began their test period at the start of the month, but most students start with the compulsory English exam.
The Eeso family, which has 10 members, migrated to Australia from Iraq via Jordan when the triplets were nine years old. All five of the triplets’ older siblings have furthered their studies at RMIT, something the three youngest also want to do.
“Everyone’s finished and gone to uni,” Simon said. “We have to keep it up.”
English exams will take place at 584 locations on Tuesday.
The largest group, 968 eligible students, will come together at Bendigo Senior Secondary College. The smallest, with just three students, will sit their exam at Goroke P-12 College in the Wimmera region.
More than 880 international and Victorian students will sit exams overseas throughout the exam period, with VCE exams running in 17 countries.
The triplets’ father, Duraid, spent most of 2026 running his businesses from Iraq, which meant their mother, Lamyaa, managed alone the stress of having three children in year 12.
Lamyaa said she was happy and proud that all her children would soon have finished high school.
The triplets were among 144 year 12s at Elevation in 2026. The government school opened in 2020.
Elevation students sitting the English and English as an additional language exams studied 1950 film classic Sunset Boulevard and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, a 1962 psychological horror novel by author Shirley Jackson.
Saviya said she hoped to study pharmacy at RMIT next year, like two of her older siblings.
“I want a vacation first though,” she said.
Simon said he planned to study property and finance or pharmacy at RMIT.
Despite the stress of year 12, he said it had been one of the best years of his schooling.
“We’ve been having fun and studying as a group,” Simon said. “Everyone is supportive of one another.”
Savio will be the last triplet to finish, when he sits the physics exam on November 12. He hopes to study electrical or civil engineering at RMIT.
Students in Victoria can complete either the VCE, including the VCE Vocational Major (VCE VM), or the Victorian Pathways Certificate. Students can undertake Vocational Education and Training programs as part of these certificates.
Students who undertake higher-level maths and a language can receive an additional form of recognition, the VCE Baccalaureate.
In addition, a small proportion of students choose to complete the International Baccalaureate, a globally recognised educational qualification.
The majority of students will undertake the VCE each year, choosing from 97 subjects in 2026.
The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, which oversees delivery and exam assessment, employs more than 700 people to write, check and analyse exam papers.
The large-scale operation has previously been marred by controversy, prompting a review into the state’s school exam authority.
In 2024, questions on 65 of the test papers were accidentally made public before the VCE exams and errors were identified in the 2022 maths exam and 2023 maths and chemistry exams.
In 2025, some English students received a question that was nearly identical to one on practice tests provided by a popular tuition company.
Education Minister Gabrielle Williams thanked all the school staff and families who had supported this year’s VCE cohort.
“Congratulations to every Victorian student reaching this important milestone,” she said.
The Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre will scale each VCE study score to calculate students’ ATARs ahead of their publication on December 10.
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