By Alex Crowe
Almost every student who achieved the perfect ATAR of 99.95 in last year’s VCE chose year 12 mathematics.
Data released by the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre shows that of the 39 students who were given a top ATAR, almost all did mathematical methods and specialist mathematics, while 30 enrolled in chemistry.
Former Trinity Grammar School student Michael Fan recently moved to the US to study liberal arts at Princeton University.
English contributed to the ATAR score of 23 of Victoria’s highest achievers, followed by physics with 20 students and Latin with 12 students.
Students who achieved an ATAR of 99.95 studied 29 different subjects in 2023, including several subjects typically viewed as less academically rigorous.
Religion and society, music, and psychology were among the subjects top scorers selected in 2023, as were Vietnamese, Italian, German and Chinese language subjects.
Up to six VCE subjects can contribute to an ATAR, with VTAC automatically selecting the highest possible combination for each student.
Scaling adjusts scores based on the level of competition within each subject, that is: how difficult it is to achieve the median score.
VTAC chief executive Teresa Tjia said the best way for students to maximise their ATAR was to choose subjects they were interested in and good at.
“VTAC’s scaling process means you will not be advantaged or disadvantaged by your choice of VCE
subjects, so follow your interests and strengths when choosing what to study,” she said.
“I congratulate all 45,239 students who received an ATAR last year, including the 39 students who achieved the highest rank of 99.95.”
In 2023 in Victoria, 283 students studied a combination of English, biology, health and human development, general mathematics and psychology – making it the most popular subject combination.
The average ATAR for any combination of subjects was 69.41.
Michael Fan, who achieved the perfect ATAR of 99.95, studied English, specialist mathematics, German, mathematics methods, physics and a university subject in year 12.
Fan recently left Australia to study liberal arts at Princeton University, one of the US’s eight Ivy League institutions.
“At school, the careers counsellor made it a point to not choose subjects because they scale,” he said. “I was fortunate that the subjects that I was good at and I enjoyed did happen to scale well.”
Fan, a former school captain at Trinity Grammar School, said he did not spend year 12 focused only on his VCE result.
“Year 12 is the year of highs ... you go to formal, you’ve got 18ths on. I really tried to make the most of it,” he said.
“I tried to approach it as if there wasn’t anything I had to achieve. I just needed to do my best, and that’s what I did.”
Tim O’Leary, is the director of Educational Data Talks, a company that works with schools to interpret data – including test results.
He said schools should advise students to choose subjects that best suit their career path.
“Students need to understand where they want to go, what the prerequisites are, and what’s going to best serve them on their pathway,” he said.
O’Leary said selecting subjects that scaled up was not always a recipe for success.
“If you’re a weak student, it’s not necessarily beneficial to do a subject like mathematical methods, because you’re going into a much stronger cohort and despite scaling you may not do as well,” he said.
“The formula for success is more about the motivation and work ethic students bring to their studies.”
To receive an ATAR, students must study at least 10 units in year 12 including at least two units of English. Most individual VCE subjects count for two units of study, with extension and smaller subjects counting for one unit.
Students who achieved an ATAR of 99.95 undertook between five and seven subjects in year 12 in 2023. The average number of units undertaken by these students was 12.2, with 34 of these 39 students selecting either 12 or 14 units.
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