Part 2: How SACs and the ATAR work together

In the VCE, your SACs and study scores are key to your success. These scores reflect how well you perform in a subject compared to other students and play a big part in shaping your ATAR. Your study score is a mix of your SAC results and final VCE exam marks, which are then adjusted based on how tough the subject is.

Understanding how SACs and study scores affect your final ATAR is crucial for planning your path to university. This article will help you grasp how it all works and what you can do to boost your scores.

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SACs and Study Scores

Each VCE subject produces a study score, which reflects how well you have performed compared to your peers across Victoria. This study score is made up of both your SAC results and VCE exam marks.

The contribution of your SACs to the overall study score differs by subject:

• VCE English: SACs make up 50% of the study score (25% from Unit 3 and 25% from Unit 4). The final, external VCE exam contributes the other 50%.
• Mathematical Methods and Further Mathematics: SACs account for 34%, while the VCE exam contributes 66%.
• Science subjects (Biology, Chemistry, Physics): SACs contribute 40% of your final study score, with external exams making up the remaining 60%.

Study scores and scaling

Once your study score is calculated, it goes through a process called scaling. This means the score is adjusted up or down based on how “difficult” the subject is and how other students across Victoria performed in that subject. The goal of scaling is to ensure fairness by accounting for variations in the challenge level of different subjects.

Here’s how it works:

• More difficult subjects, like Maths Methods and Specialist Maths, are usually scaled up. This means if you do well in these subjects, your study score may increase to reflect the subject’s complexity and the high performance of its students.
• Less challenging subjects, like Business Management or Health and Human Development, often get scaled down. This happens when students across the state tend to perform well, or the subject is considered less demanding.

Why is scaling important?

The purpose of scaling is to make sure that no student is unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged based on their subject choices. It ensures that students who take harder subjects aren’t penalised, and students who choose easier subjects don’t gain an unfair boost.

Ultimately, scaling helps provide a level playing field when calculating your final ATAR, ensuring results are a fair comparison across all subjects.

Example:
Michael took Specialist Maths, a subject known for scaling up due to its difficulty and strong student cohort. He scored 35/50 in his SACs and 34/50 in the final exam.

Though these results were solid, the scaling process boosted his study score to 38, significantly raising his ATAR. The scaling effect played a crucial role in elevating Michael’s overall position, demonstrating the importance of strategic subject choices.

To learn more in-depth about how ATAR and Scaling work, read our Beginner’s Guide to ATAR & Scaling.

Calculating the ATAR

Once your scaled study scores from the VCE are calculated, they are then used to determine your final ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank). The ATAR is a system that compares students’ overall performance across VCE subjects. It is calculated using the best four scaled study scores, which must include English, plus 10% of the next two best subjects.

Here’s how the ATAR is calculated:

• Best four subjects: These include English and the next three highest-scoring subjects.
• 10% contribution: If applicable, your next two highest-scoring subjects contribute 10% of their scores each to the final ATAR.

You will need a strong performance in both SACs and VCE exams to achieve a high ATAR. The highest possible ATAR score is 99.95, which means those who scored this are in the top 0.05% of the state.

Example:

For example, Rachel excelled in her SACs and VCE exams across multiple subjects. She achieved the following scaled study scores:

• English: 45
• Chemistry: 43
• Maths Methods: 42
• Biology: 41
• Psychology: 38
• Further Mathematics: 36

Her best four subjects (including English) contributed directly to her ATAR. She also took Psychology and Further Mathematics, where she scored 38 and 36, respectively. Since she took more than four subjects, 10% of these additional scores (3.8 and 3.6) were added to her total, resulting in an impressive ATAR of 98.50.

In contrast, Daniel performed well in his SACs but struggled in his exams. His scaled study scores were:

• Physics: 35
• Maths Methods: 33
• English: 32
• Further Mathematics: 30
• Business Management: 29
• Chemistry: 28

Despite his solid SAC performance, his weaker exam results lowered his overall study scores. With the 10% contributions from his extra subjects, his final ATAR came out to 85.00, showing how exam performance can significantly impact overall results.

Want to set yourself up for VCE success?

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