The written examination wrapped up at 12.15pm and was the first of the final VCE assessments.

Emmanuel College year 12 coordinator and English teacher Megan Davies waited nervously for "pens down" to be announced at the Emmanuel Centre, where exams will be held during the five-week period.

Mrs Davies said students appeared to be excited but "very calm" before the three-hour exam, which was taken by more than 41,000 students across the state.

She said the school study hall was open until 6pm most nights, with 50 to 60 students there most evenings in the lead up to exams.

"I think they were all really prepared," she said.

"They also had three opportunities at taking a three-hour practice exam, which helped them to prepare for the mental and physical stamina needed to get through and finish those three essays in three hours."

School captain Joseph Mahony, 18, was one of the 166 Emmanuel College students who sat the exam on Wednesday.

He said the exam was "pretty alright" and it could have been a lot worse.

"When you first saw the questions you just had to think through it," he said.

Fellow student Hannah Crouch-Loveday, 18, said the exam was a lot better than she was expecting.

"That's probably my hardest exam so I'm happy to get that over and done with," she said.

Students studied Alfred Hitchcock's film Rear Window, Tom Wright's play Black Diggers and novels The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville and Fred D'Aguiar's The Longest Memory.

Joseph said he would now start preparing for his other subjects, including maths, accounting and Japanese.

Hannah has biology, further maths, French and chemistry exams looming.

Upon completion, the pair will travel to East Timor for 10 days for schoolies.

"It's a bit of an alternative schoolies trip where we will go over and teach some of the kids English," Hannah said.

"It's just a good experience to finish off year 12."

Hannah hopes to study physiotherapy at university, while Joseph is looking to study commerce.

"I hope I can get in because I think it would be pretty fun going to uni," Joseph said.

This year's top ten VCE subjects are English, further mathematics, psychology, mathematical methods, health and human development, biology, business management, physical education, legal studies and chemistry.

Across all subjects, 82,694 Victorian students will sit at least one examination by the time exams finish on November 20.

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