Heya
,
I'm in year 12 doing SACE (no longer doing VCE), and basically there's four types of English. English, EAL, literary studies and Essential English. The ''normal English'' was previously known as ''English Studies''. There is no exam but there are 8 assignments. 7 of them weigh 10% and the last one, which is a comparative analysis, weighs 30%. EAL is basically for people who have been in Australia for a short period of time (I think for about 6 years) and for International students. Its very similar to English. I think it is just a little easier to get a better mark in.
You're right, spec scales very well.
I'm not sure about the exact scaling for psych and legal, but I'm guessing psych scales better because it is more content heavy than legal and ''harder'' subjects tend to scale better.
I hope that helps.