When you start VCE, it is easy to get confused with all the terminology. Before we start discussing the more complex points of scaling, bell curves and ATAR score calculation, we will start by defining the basic terms and organisational bodies that make up the VCE.
VCE stands for the Victorian Certificate of Education. Basically, VCE is the name given to the final two years of high school, after which you are qualified to apply for University courses. The two years of the VCE are divided into four semesters, called “Units 1, 2, 3 and 4”. However, it is only Units 3 and 4 that contribute to your ATAR.
Students can do between 4 and 6 subjects in units 3 and 4 without special consideration. The average is 5 subjects.
VCAA (Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority) is the body that regulates SACs, exams and coursework: they are the body that you’ll need to understand if you want to get the most from VCE marks wise. VCAA calculates your individual subject scores and then your ATAR.
VTAC (Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre) is the middle man between you and University. Essentially what VTAC does is communicate student information to Universities, who choose their students and tell VTAC, who tell you. VTAC is important, but we’ll discuss this later.
The ATAR is the score that your receive once your complete your VCE. It is used by Universities to decide which students they will make offers to. The ATAR made up of all your marks for Units 3 and 4 subjects. Your mark for English, your marks for your next three-highest scoring subjects, then 10% of the rest of the subjects you completed Units 3 and 4 for. In other words: English + 3 highest scoring subjects + 10% for each other subject you did = your ATAR. (Much more on this later).
Each subject you complete gets two marks. The first is the raw score. This score is given between 0 and 50 and is made up of your SAC and exam marks. When assigning raw scores, VCAA follows the logic of the ‘bell curve’ – for those of you not familiar with the ‘bell curve’ it's essentially a mathematical concept that is used to ensure that the highest scores are ALWAYS high and the lowest are always low, and most people end up getting an average score – of 30 out of 50. According to the bell curve:
From this, we can see that a raw score of 30 is average, a score of 40 is impressive, and a score over 45 is excellent.
The second score you will receive is the scaled score. When it comes to calculating your ATAR, the scaled score is what matters. Scaling is when VCAA determine subject X was harder than subject Y, so subject X’s students deserve extra marks, and subject Y’s should score lower. Every subject is scaled. You can see a full breakdown of how each VCE subject was scaled by clicking here and opening the document called "Scaling Report".
You will notice that it is not just the subject that affects how the extent to which your mark is scaled; it also depends on what mark is acquired. You’ll lose more marks the lower you score, and gain more the higher you score. Let’s examine a few examples.
There are two things you can take from this. Firstly, a good score in a difficult subject (such as a language other than English) will count for more than a good score in an easier subject. Secondly, the better you perform, the less likely it is that your score will be significantly scaled down. This is why if you are doing a subject like Psychology, which gets scaled down, it is important that you work extra hard to secure a high score.
The next thing you need to know is how these individual scores get turned into an ATAR score. Once the VCAA have all of your scaled scores, they find your ATAR Aggregate Score. This is found by adding:
The ATAR Aggregate is then used to rank all students. The final ATAR score is an indication of the students rank within their year. For example, a score of 97 indicates that the student has performed better than 97% of students. ATAR scores are given in intervals of 0.05, and the highest possible score is 99.95.
In order to examine how different factors can influence ATAR scores, let’s have a look at some examples.
Sample 1
1. English 30, scales to 28
2. Chemistry 30, scales to 35
3. Mathematical Methods 30, scales to 37
4. Economics 30, scales to 32
5. Australian History 30, scales to 27
6. Japanese 30, scales to 40
ATAR: 81.90
This student did 6 subjects, so 1 was completed in Year 11. With all average scores (remember, 53% of students will get 30 or more), the ATAR’s above 80.
Sample 2
1. English 35, scales to 34
2. Chemistry 35, scales to 40
3. Mathematical Methods 35, scales to 41
4. Economics 35, scales to 37
5. Australian History 35, scales to 33
6. Japanese 35, scales to 44
ATAR: 92.25
This student put in enough effort to get 5 marks extra per subject. This results in a significant increase in the ATAR of over 10 points. Even a small jump above the average will have a significant impact on your ATAR score.
Tip 1: Don’t neglect English.
English will be one of your top 4 subjects; this is unavoidable. A poor score in English can have a devastating impact on your ATAR score. If you’re currently struggling in English, or even if your scores are average, it is important that you make it your top priority to improve before exam time. Doing something as simple as doing an extra practice essay each week, writing out a list of important quotes or relearning the best way to structure a text response can give you a well-needed advantage.
Tip 2: There is no such thing as an ‘easy’ subject.
Sometimes I hear students say things like “I’m doing Psychology because it’s an easy subject, so I’ll get a good score.” Surely by now you can tell some of the flaws in this statement. Firstly, if a subject is easy, then everyone else in the state will find it easy too. It’s not about how well you do; it’s about how much better/worse you do than everyone else. Secondly, the supposedly “easy” subjects are likely to be scaled down. If you are doing one of these subjects, don’t sit back and think that a good study score will fall into your lap. You have to work extra hard to make sure you achieve the highest marks, and ensure that your final score is scaled down by as little as possible.
Tip 3: Play to your strengths, average your weaknesses.
If you are much better at certain subjects, use that strength, putting in extra effort to get a 45 is a fantastic strategy to excel. Working absolutely impossibly hard to move from a 30 to a 35 really isn’t worth it when the same effort can improve your mark in another subject much more.
Tip 4: Use the VCAA website.
All assessments that you’ll have to complete in every subject is available on the VCAA website, with examples of high scoring responses, and the criteria you’ll be marked on. Knowing these things means it will be easier to study and easier to do well.
Tip 5: Study smart.
Know what you’re being assessed on. You are not expected to be great writers, scientists, or mathematicians, but demonstrate that you can complete certain tasks in certain ways. If you know what you’re supposed to do, what the examiners want more of (available in the examiner’s report on the VCAA website) and the format of your assessment all you need to do study with the intention of improving along those guidelines.
Replicate the tasks that you will be asked to do, and get them marked by teachers or tutors. There’s no point wasting time and effort working on tasks or skills you’re not assessed on, when you’re studying.
Once you have received your ATAR, the next step is to make sure you have gotten into a University of your choice. This is usually as simple as getting the right score, but there are some things you can do to improve your chances.
Special Access Entry Scheme:
SAES is a scheme that Universities use to lower the minimum requirements for entry into certain courses, we’ll go into a bit of detail about that later, but there are several relevant categories that you might fall into, making entry into University easier, by lowering standards of entry.
These concessions, as well as conditions, vary slightly from University to University. What constitutes an under-represented school at RMIT might not be under-represented at Monash.
However, SAES can drastically improve your chances of getting accepted into a University if you are worried about your marks. For example, Melbourne University accepts all SAES applicants with a 78 or higher ATAR, so if you’re applying for a course with a minimum requirement of 85, but have a 78, you’re in. Biomedicine and Commerce require 88, instead of 78, however.
Choosing an University:
Many students often have their heart set on particular Universities, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but it is important that your choice of University is well informed and based on your own personal needs.
Look into each University. A degree is a degree no matter where it come from, and often, once you leave University it’s quite unimportant where you attended. Often certain Universities offer more than they first seem to. Deakin and LaTrobe are rarely talked about, but are making significant strides in improving their quality and genuinely becoming fantastic places to learn.
Keep your options open, know what your options are and think about what you can do to make University entry easier and things become smoother and more comfortable.
Click here to book a free assessment and find out how we can help you get through VCE with flying colours.