Not sure how the VCE scaling report affects your study scores and ATAR?
Understanding subject scaling is essential if you want to make smart VCE subject choices and maximise your results.
In this guide, we’ll break down exactly what the VCE scaling report is, how scaling works, and how it impacts your final scores, so you can plan with confidence.
Let’s dive in!
Can I calculate my potential study Score?
Why does scaling matter?
What is a VCE study score?
How does VCE scaling work?
VCE Scaling Report for 2022
VCE Scaling Report for 2023
VCE Scaling Report for 2024
Why you shouldn’t worry about scaling
How should you choose your subjects?
Can I calculate my potential study score?
Yes! By using VCAA’s past graded assessments, which provide the grade distributions of each VCE subject, you can project what grade you will need for each study score.
Wondering what your study score could look like? Punch in your Unit 3, 4 and exam marks into our Study Score Calculator and find out instantly.
Whether you want to see what exam grade you need for a 40 or what average you need for a 35+, our calculator can help you see how you’re tracking!
Find out what you need for your dream study score now!
Why does scaling matter?
Scaling matters because it gives every Year 12 student a fair and equitable shot. It makes sure students are rewarded for their efforts rather than punished.
There are many misconceptions about VCE scaling — and, for good reason, it’s pretty complicated!
Let’s deconstruct VCE scaling into the simplest terms.
What is scaling?
Scaling isn’t how “hard” the subject is. Rather, it’s the level of competition to achieve a high mark in that subject, as well as the overall performance of the subject’s students.
The more competition the subject has, the higher the study score scales upwards.
For example, there is much more competition in Latin because it’s extremely difficult to get a high mark!
If fewer Year 12 students are getting a raw study score of 30 in Specialist Maths (the second-best scaling subject in 2024!) than in Business Management, this means Specialist Maths is the more competitive subject.
With this logic, getting one of the top spots for Business Management would be roughly the same as the top 10% for Specialist Math.
Why do we need to scale?
At first, scaling seems unfair — you could be putting in the same hours of studying in Specialist Mathematics as you do in Business Management.
But, the purpose of scaling is so that VCAA can accurately and equitably calculate your performance compared to the rest of the Year 12 cohort in Victoria!
VCAA uses a lot of data and statistics to determine how raw study scores should be scaled down or up.
Once you have a sum of all your marks and aggregates, everything is much simpler for University applications. Instead of punching in your study scores, you only have to provide your ATAR!
What is a VCE study score?
Your “raw” study score is a ranking of how well you performed in a certain subject. The scale goes from 0-50, with a mean of 30.
The easiest way to understand what your study score is by visualising a bell curve:
Students with a raw study score of 30 will sit at the centre of the bell curve — this is where the majority of Year 12 students will sit on a subject.
How much will my study score be affected by scaling?
Your study score will be most affected by scaling the closer you are to the centre of the bell curve.
Conversely, if you have one of the top or bottom study scores in a subject, your study score will be less affected by scaling.
How does VCE scaling work?
After you complete Units 3 & 4 of a VCE subject, you will receive a subject score.
These scores indicate your performance relative to the cohort of students attempting the units. A subject score of 30 places you right in the middle of the cohort, while a subject score of 45 means that you’ve outperformed 98% of the cohort!
These subject scores do not account for the fact that certain units attract better-performing cohorts. For example, only being in the top 50% of Specialist Maths students still makes you pretty smart!
To account for this, these subject scores are scaled by the other subjects’ scores that the cohort achieves, which helps us get a better idea of how difficult the competition is in each subject.
So, VCE subject scaling accounts for the varying levels of competition in each subject!
Which VCE subjects scale up the most?
See how the best scaling subjects have changed over the years!
Which VCE subjects scale down the most?
See how the worst scaling subjects have changed over the years!
VCE Scaling Report for 2022
This section provides information from belowVCAA’s 2022 VCE Scaling Report.
Top VCE Scaling Subjects for 2022
| Rank | Subject | 30 Scaled to |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latin | 46 |
| 2 | Hebrew | 45 |
| 3 | Specialist Mathematics | 42 |
| 4 | French | 41 |
| 5 | Korean Second Language | 40 |
| 6 | Chinese Second Language | 40 |
| 7 | German | 39 |
| 8 | Chinese Second Language Advanced | 38 |
| 9 | Indonesian Second Language | 38 |
| 10 | Japanese Second Language | 38 |
| 11 | Algorithmics | 37 |
| 12 | Italian | 37 |
| 13 | Russian | 36 |
| 14 | Hindi | 35 |
| 15 | Small LOTES | 35 |
| 16 | Spanish | 35 |
| 17 | Vietnamese Second Language | 35 |
Here are the changes from 2021’s best scaling subjects:
- Hebrew scales up by 15 instead of 11
- Korean Second Language scales up by 11 instead of 7
- Small LOTES, Spanish, Indonesian Second Language and Algorithmics enter the table
- Chinese First Language and Classical Greek both fall out of the table
Worst Scaling Subjects for VCE 2022
| Rank | Subject | 30 Scaled to |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Industry and Enterprise | 22 |
| 2 | Agricultural & Horticultural Studies | 23 |
| 3 | Food Studies | 23 |
| 4 | Product Design and Technology | 23 |
| 5 | Outdoor and Environmental Studies | 24 |
| 6 | Studio Arts | 25 |
| 7 | Systems Engineering | 25 |
| 8 | Business Management | 26 |
| 9 | Data Analytics | 26 |
| 10 | Health and Human Development | 26 |
| 11 | Karen | 26 |
| 12 | Persian | 26 |
| 13 | Visual Communication Design | 26 |
| 14 | Sociology | 26 |
| 15 | Media | 26 |
Below are the changes from 2021’s worst scaling subjects:
- Industry and Enterprise scales down by 8 instead of 6, becoming the worst scaling subject.
- Karen and Persian enter the table.
- Art and Chin Hakha leave the table.
VCE Scaling Report for 2023
All the data has been extracted from belowVCAA’s 2023 VCE Scaling Report.
Top VCE Scaling Subjects for 2023
| Rank | Subject | 30 Scaled to |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latin | 46 |
| 2 | Hebrew | 45 |
| 3 | Specialist Mathematics | 42 |
| 4 | French | 41 |
| 5 | Chinese Second Language | 41 |
| 6 | Korean Second Language | 40 |
| 7 | German | 39 |
| 8 | Chinese Second Language Advanced | 38 |
| 9 | Indonesian Second Language | 38 |
| 10 | Japanese Second Language | 38 |
| 11 | Algorithmics | 37 |
| 12 | Italian | 37 |
| 13 | Russian | 36 |
| 14 | Hindi | 35 |
| 15 | Small LOTES | 35 |
| 16 | Spanish | 35 |
| 17 | Vietnamese Second Language | 35 |
- There have been no changes in the top 15 Scaling subjects between 2022 and 2023!
Worst Scaling Subjects for VCE 2023
| Rank | Subject | 30 Scaled to |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Industry and Enterprise | 21 |
| 2 | Food Studies | 23 |
| 3 | Product Design and Technology | 23 |
| 4 | Agricultural & Horticultural Studies | 24 |
| 5 | Foundation Mathematics | 24 |
| 6 | Outdoor and Environmental Studies | 24 |
| 7 | Art Making | 25 |
| 8 | Systems Engineering | 25 |
| 9 | Business Management | 26 |
| 10 | Data Analytics | 26 |
| 11 | Health and Human Development | 26 |
| 12 | Texts and Traditions | 26 |
| 13 | Persian | 26 |
| 14 | Visual Communication Design | 26 |
| 15 | Sociology | 26 |
| 16 | Media | 26 |
The bottom 15 have changed in the following ways from 2022:
- Foundation Mathematics, Art Making and Texts and Traditions enter the bottom 15 after being introduced to the VCE curriculum.
- Karen and Studio Arts have exited the table
VCE Scaling Report for 2024
All the data has been extracted from VCAA’s 2024 VCE Scaling Report.
Top VCE Scaling Subjects for 2024
| Rank | Subject | 30 Scaled to |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latin | 46 |
| 2 | Specialist Mathematics | 43 |
| 3 | Hebrew | 42 |
| 4 | Chinese SL | 42 |
| 5 | French | 41 |
| 6 | German | 39 |
| 7 | Japanese SL | 38 |
| 8 | Indonesian SL | 38 |
| 9 | Algorithhmics | 38 |
| 10 | Vietnamese SL | 37 |
| 11 | Italian | 37 |
| 12 | Chinese LA | 37 |
| 13 | Hindi | 36 |
| 14 | Chinese LCS | 36 |
| 15 | Small lotes | 35 |
The top 15 has changed in the following ways from 2023:
- Classical Greek has dropped out of the top 15.
- Chinese LCS, a new VCE subject, enters the top 15.
Worst Scaling Subjects for VCE 2024
| Rank | Subject | 30 Scaled to |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Foundation Mathematics | 20 |
| 2 | Industry and Enterprise | 21 |
| 3 | Karen | 23 |
| 4 | Food Studies | 23 |
| 5 | Agricultural & Horticultural Studies | 24 |
| 6 | Outdoor and Environmental Studies | 24 |
| 7 | Product Design and Technologies | 24 |
| 8 | Art Making and Exhibiting | 25 |
| 9 | Khmer | 25 |
| 10 | Data Analytics | 26 |
| 11 | Health and Human Development | 26 |
| 12 | Media | 26 |
| 13 | Sociology | 26 |
| 14 | Systems Engineering | 26 |
| 15 | Visual Communication Design | 26 |
The bottom 15 have changed in the following ways from 2023:
- Business Management, Art, Persian and Texts and Traditions have all left the table.
- Khmer, a new VCE subject, enters the table.
What’s the key takeaway?
Subject scaling was unpredictable in the past, due to drastic curriculum adjustments that were required during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we are seeing the scaling of subjects begin to stabilise and only change when a subject is added or removed.
Additionally, choosing subjects from the top 15 won’t guarantee a top ATAR. If you’re not a Latin enthusiast, then don’t take it!
Tip: If you have zero knowledge and zero interest in learning a specific language subject, it’s not a great idea to take it — instead, take a subject you’ll enjoy spending time on, even when it stresses you out.
Why You Shouldn’t Worry about Scaling
You can probably tell by now that choosing your subjects based on scaling is a bad idea. Year-to-year scaling can change significantly based on the performance of different cohorts of students.
While there are some subjects that generally have high scaling, these also tend to be difficult subjects, such as Latin and Specialist Maths.
Remember that in each subject, you are competing with the other students, so choosing a higher-scaling subject also means stiffer competition, which may hurt your ATAR.
The only surefire way to get a great ATAR is to choose subjects that you are passionate about and skilled in! Remember that a 45 in Theatre Studies scales to 45!
Completing a VCE subject is a lot of hard work, forcing yourself through a subject you aren’t talented at or passionate about is only going to cause burnout.
How should you choose your subjects?
With scaling out of the way, you may be wondering: how do I choose my VCE subjects?
I would recommend that you consider the following:
What do I enjoy?
This should be the most obvious: VCE is arduous, and choosing a subject that you are passionate about will improve your motivation and hopefully allow you to even enjoy your VCE.
Since you’ll probably be doing 5 Unit 3 and 4 sequences, make sure to choose at least one subject purely out of passion, as the 5th subject contributes significantly less to your overall ATAR.
What am I good at?
Once again this should be pretty straightforward.
Achieving a strong ATAR result relies on strong academic performance, so choosing subjects you can perform in is important.
Make sure that you’re not choosing subjects just based on scaling, though, as these subjects also have stronger competition.
What is useful?
Here’s the point where you really get to think about your future:
- What kind of career do I want?
- What skills will I need for that career? For University?
- Which subjects can broaden my horizons and make me a more well rounded person?
These are all important questions to ask when choosing a subject.
Are you looking for some extra help with choosing and studying for your VCE subjects?
We have an incredible team of VCE tutors and mentors (who can provide tutoring in Melbourne)!
We can help you master your VCE subject study designs and ace your upcoming VCE assessments with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home or online!
Still concerned about how tutoring will affect your ATAR outcome? Why not check with one of our expert tutors? We offer VCE tutors in Glen Waverley!
We’ve supported over 8,000 students over the last 11 years, and on average our students score mark improvements of over 20%!
To find out more and get started with an inspirational VCE tutor and mentor, get in touch today or give us a ring on 1300 267 888!
Scott McColl is a content writer with Art of Smart and a Civil Engineering student at Monash University. In between working and studying, Scott enjoys playing music and working on programming projects.
