Is there a hack to achieving a 99.95 ATAR? VCE scoring and subject scaling explained

Pressure is on for VCE students with finals exams just around the corner — but how will their studies be scored? From SAC marks to scaling, here’s everything you need to know about the ATAR.

Stress is kicking in for students across the state as they edge nearer to their final VCE exams, set to begin in just over a month.

Whether you’re in year 12 yourself or a parent to a near-graduate, you’re likely feeling the pressure of impending results and wondering: Is the goal ATAR achievable? Will scaling tank my scores? And the big one: Can I still get into university?

Understanding the way an ATAR is scored can give you a more realistic idea of your likely achievements – especially now more school assessments have been completed – and how well you’ll need to score on your exam to guarantee university acceptance.

Pressure is on for students now just over a month out from the commencement of VCE exams. Picture: Supplied

What is an ATAR?

The Australian Tertiary Admission Rank, ATAR, is a ranking system – it is not a score.

The ATAR simply compares all year 12 students to each other so universities can easily tell which students are most competitive and suited to tertiary courses.

A 70 ATAR means a student has outperformed 70 per cent of their cohort.

The highest ATAR a student can achieve is a 99.95, meaning they are in the top 0.05 per cent of the state.

There’s no pass or fail ATAR – if you get an ATAR, you’ve passed the VCE. Some tertiary courses will, however, have a minimum ATAR needed for their courses.

VCE exams begin in October. Picture: David Caird

How is the ATAR calculated?

Raw scores

VCE students generally complete between four and six subjects across year 11 and 12. For each of these subjects, students are required to complete school assessed coursework (SACs) and an exam.

These scores are used to rank each subject cohort against each other on a bell curve. Students are then given their ‘raw score’ for each subject – between 0 and 50.

Most students will get the median score of 30, meaning they’ve performed better than half of their cohort.

Students that get a 40 are in the top nine per cent of the state, and a 45 the top two per cent.

Students are given a score between 0 and 50 for each subject, measured on a bell curve. The average student will achieve a raw score of 30.

Scaled scores

Next step is scaling, where a raw score gets boosted or pulled down depending on how competitive a subject is.

Let’s take a look at Chemistry for example. VCAA will first give Chemistry students their raw score. The average student, just like in all subjects, gets a raw 30.

Then VTAC takes a look at how well Chemistry students did in all their other subjects and they find that these students averaged a 35 raw score across in everything else they studied.

This means that these students had to work harder to achieve an average 30 score in Chemistry than they did in others.

So to be fair, VTAC boosts the average 30 study score up by 5, to reflect the other average marks.

This means every student, no matter their interests and subject selection, should be able to work at the same rate of effort to achieve an average mark at the end of the day.

Subjects are scaled depending on how competitive the cohort is. Picture: Getty

Can I still get a good ATAR if my subjects scale down?

The better you perform in a subject, the less it gets affected by scaling.

In Business Management for example, a raw score of 30 was last year scaled down by four to a 26. But a raw score of 40 was only scaled down by two to a 38.

Do my subjects scale down?

Use this interactive table to search how subjects were scaled last year. Remember the median score for every subject is a 30.

How do my scaled scores turn into my ATAR?

A student’s scaled scores are lined up from their very best to their very worst. The top four subject scores are added together, plus 10 per cent from the bottom one or two.

Here’s the catch – an English subject must be included as a top four subject no matter how poorly a student scores in it.

This number forms the aggregate score, which students will also be able to see in their final results.

Aggregate scores usually range from 0 to about 210.

The top 0.05 percentile of aggregate scores get a 99.95 ATAR, the next down 99.90 and so on.

In 2023, an aggregate of 155.08 achieved a 90 ATAR.

Students are ranked against each other, with only the top 0.05 percentile achieving a perfect ATAR. Picture: Mark Stewart

Why doesn’t my teacher just boost my SAC scores for a better ATAR?

Your SAC scores don’t get taken just as is. The system must be fair across the board for all students.

A class’ SAC scores get compared with its exam scores, and sometimes GAT scores for a standardised measurement.

SAC scores are pulled up or down or left the same depending on how similarly a teacher marked assessments to the exam markers.

If SACs were marked too generously, scores will be pulled down.

School based assessments are moderated to ensure scoring is fair across the board. Picture: David Caird

Is there a secret to achieving a good ATAR?

Contrary to popular belief, it’s not about choosing subjects that scale up.

Do the subjects you love and feel confident in, and you’re more likely to study, outperform your classmates and lock in better results.

VCE exams commence on October 7, with all students set to take their English exam on October 29.