VCE ATAR Calculator 2026: Estimate Your ATAR From Study Scores

What to type in

Enter your study score for each Unit 3 and 4 study, the number out of 50 that the VCAA gives you for that study. Do not enter a SAC percentage or an exam mark. If you do not have study scores yet, use the score you are realistically aiming for, then change it as your results come in.

• You need a study score in at least one English study: English, English as an Additional Language, English Language or Literature.
• You need at least four study scores in total. Up to six count.
• VCE VET studies with a study score can be added from the list. Small languages use VTAC's shared "small LOTE" scaling.

Not sure what a study score is or how it is worked out? Read what a study score is. No study scores yet? Estimate them from your expected place in the state with the VCE study score calculator.

How your VCE ATAR is worked out

The Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC) builds your ATAR in three steps.

1. Scaling. Every study score is converted to a scaled study score. Scaling adjusts for how strong the students in each study were, so a 35 in one study can be worth more or less than a 35 in another.
2. The aggregate. VTAC adds your highest scaled English score, your next three highest scaled scores, and 10% of your fifth and sixth scaled scores. These are called the primary four and the increments.
3. The ATAR. VTAC ranks every aggregate in the state and converts it to a rank between 0 and 99.95.

Because only 10% of your fifth and sixth studies count, the primary four do most of the work. A strong sixth study adds up to about 5 points to the aggregate.

Worked example

A student with these 2025 study scores:

Aggregate: 28 + 41 + 39 + 31 + 2.8 + 2.8 = 144.60. In the 2025 VTAC table, an aggregate of 144.45 was the lowest for an ATAR of 85.00 and 146.36 the lowest for 86.00, so this student's estimate is 85.05. Notice that Methods and Chemistry scaled up while English and Psychology scaled down.

Aggregate needed for common ATARs in 2025

These are the lowest scaled aggregates that received each ATAR in 2025, from VTAC's official table.

The full table, every ATAR from 30.00 to 99.95, is on the VCE scaling 2025 page together with the scaled score for every study.

Which studies scaled up in 2025

In VTAC's 2025 report, a study score of 35 scaled to:

• 48 in Specialist Mathematics, 50 in Latin, 45 in French and Chinese Second Language
• 41 in Mathematical Methods, 39 in Chemistry, 38 in English Language
• 37 in Physics and Economics, 36 in Biology and Accounting
• 33 in English, 34 in Psychology and Legal Studies, 32 in Business Management

Scaling reflects how strong each study's students were across all their studies, not how hard the study is. A high score in a study you are good at usually beats a low score in a study that scales well. How much Methods scales up explains this with real numbers.

Why your real ATAR may differ

• Scaling changes every year. This calculator uses 2025 scaling. The 2026 numbers are released with results.
• Rounding. VTAC publishes scaled scores rounded to whole numbers at seven points, and the calculator joins those points with straight lines. VTAC itself works to two decimal places.
• Counting limits. VTAC limits how some combinations of English and Mathematics studies can count in the primary four. The calculator does not check these.
• Your inputs. SAC rankings and exam results can move a study score a long way. Use realistic scores.

We compare calculators side by side, including what each one gets right and wrong, in the most accurate ATAR calculator. What the Monash, Deakin, La Trobe, RMIT and Swinburne tools do, and which scaling year each uses, is covered in university ATAR calculators.

VCE results in numbers (2025)

VTAC reported a record 49,310 ATARs for Victorian students in 2025. Forty-two students received the top ATAR of 99.95, and the average ATAR was 69.48. The average is near 70 rather than 50 because the ATAR ranks you against everyone your age, including people who left school before Year 12. See the average ATAR for every state.

What one study score can change

Using the worked example above (an estimate of 85.05), here is what happens when one thing changes. Each row is a calculator result on VTAC's 2025 tables.

Three things stand out. Five extra study score points in English are worth as much as five in Methods here, because English always counts in full. A big jump in a fifth study can lift it into the primary four, which is why Psychology at 40 moves the estimate by about 4 points. And the fifth and sixth studies are not throwaways: in this range each one is worth about 1.5 ATAR points.

Same study score in every study

For a student taking English, Mathematical Methods, Chemistry, Biology, Psychology and Legal Studies with the same study score in all six, the 2025 tables give:

A different mix of studies gives a different result, because each study scales differently. Use the calculator with your own studies.

Common mistakes with VCE ATAR calculators

• Entering a SAC or exam percentage. The calculator needs study scores out of 50. A SAC average of 80% is not a study score of 40. The study score calculator helps you estimate one.
• Entering scaled scores. The calculator scales for you. Typing a scaled score scales it a second time.
• Leaving out studies five and six. They count at 10% each and can add several aggregate points.
• Choosing studies only for scaling. A 40 in a study that scales down usually beats a 28 in one that scales up. See how ATAR scaling works.
• Comparing with older years. Scaling and the aggregate table change every year, so an ATAR from 2023 tells you little about 2026.

Results day 2026 in Victoria

VTAC releases ATARs on Thursday 10 December 2026. Times and every other state are on ATAR release dates 2026. When your results arrive:

1. Put your real study scores into this calculator. If your official ATAR is a little different, the gap is 2026 scaling, which VTAC publishes after results.
2. Compare your ATAR with the courses on your preference list. What ATAR do I need explains guaranteed ATARs and lowest selection ranks.
3. If you are just below a course, check whether adjustment factors or SEAS could lift your selection rank. See ATAR equity schemes explained.
4. Reorder your VTAC preferences before the change of preference deadline VTAC publishes.

Want a target instead?

If you know the ATAR you need, the reverse ATAR calculator works backwards and shows the study scores you would need in your studies.

How accurate is this VCE calculator?

The last step is exact for 2025. VTAC publishes a full aggregate to ATAR table, and the calculator reads it directly: the worked example's aggregate of 144.60 falls between the published cut-offs for 85.00 (144.45) and 86.00 (146.36), exactly as the table says. The scaling step is close but not exact, because VTAC publishes scaled scores rounded to whole numbers at study scores of 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50, and the calculator joins those points. That rounding can move an aggregate by a fraction of a point.

The bigger unknowns are outside any calculator: how 2026 students perform, which changes scaling, and how accurate your own study score estimates are. A realistic margin before results is two to three ATAR points either way.

VCE ATAR terms

Study score

A score from 0 to 50 for one Unit 3 and 4 study, issued by the VCAA. It shows your rank in that study across the state.

Scaled study score

Your study score after VTAC adjusts it for the strength of the students in that study. This is what goes into the aggregate.

Primary four

Your best scaled English plus your next three best scaled studies. They count in full.

Increments

10% of your fifth and sixth scaled studies, added on top of the primary four.

ATAR aggregate

The total of the primary four and the increments. VTAC ranks it to produce your ATAR.

VCAA and VTAC

The VCAA runs the VCE and issues study scores. VTAC scales them and calculates the ATAR.