5 Things You Should Know About Scaling

Why scale? Scaling ensures that it is equally easy to attain a high ATAR regardless of the combination of studies a student undertakes. So don’t get stuck with subjects you don’t like. Pick subjects that you are good at regardless of the scaling.

Scaling works on a bell curve with the majority sitting in the middle of the curve and decreases as you move away from the middle. A student with a VCE Study Score of 30 is in the middle of the cohort, or has performed better than about half of all students. A student with a VCE Study Score of 40 has performed better than about 91% of all students who did that study.

The study scores are adjusted so that the overall level of scores in that study matches the scores obtained by the same group of students in all of their studies.
For example, in Economics in 2006 the average VCE Study Score was 30, but the students averaged 32 for all their studies. This shows that the students who did Economics in 2006 were of above average strength in their other studies. Therefore the scaling process adjusted the Study Scores upwards
so that the average ATAR Subject Score for Economics was set at 32.

Scaling is calculated each year and can change year by year. To view a guide of all subjects, go to: http://www.vtac.edu.au/pdf/scaling_report_2014.pdf

Scaling over 50? LOTE have special provisions due to government incentives and maths is scaled to take into account the different difficulty levels. This means that some LOTEs and Specialist Maths can scale over 50.

In the end, if you do your best, you will be rewarded.

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