Study Score and Scaling
Study Scores (VCAA Videos)
Year 12 Results and Getting your ATAR (VTAC Article)
VCE Results and ATAR Login (VTAC)
VCAA Special Provision (VCAA)
Statement of Marks (VCAA)
Your SAC mark & ATAR (MathsMethods.com.au)
Scaling and the ATAR (VTAC Article)
Key Points:
ABC of Scaling (VTAC Article)
VCE Frequently Asked Questions (VCAA Article)
Key Points:
Statistical Moderation of VCE Coursework (VCAA Article)
Key Points:
There are two very weak students in my class. Will they drag down the marks of the others?
One student in my class performed very badly in the VCE examination. Will this drag down the marks of the others?
Last year I taught a really weak class and had to set them easy coursework assignments to keep them interested. At the end of the year, as a result of statistical moderation, their coursework marks were substantially decreased. Was I wrong to set easy assignments?
Is it true that statistical moderation is carried out separately for each class?
I am normally perceived as a “hard” marker. Will this disadvantage my students?
Year 12 Results and Getting your ATAR (VTAC Article)
VCE Results and ATAR Login (VTAC)
VCAA Special Provision (VCAA)
Statement of Marks (VCAA)
Your SAC mark & ATAR (MathsMethods.com.au)
Scaling and the ATAR (VTAC Article)
Key Points:
- In calculating study scores, the VCAA does not determine any measure of overall performance in the VCE, but rather the performance of each student in each individual study.
- The study score is not a score out of 50.
- It is a ranking or relative position which shows a student's performance compared with all other students who took that study in that year.
- A student with a 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 study score of 40 has performed better than about 91% of all students who did that study.
- Scaling adjusts the study scores in each study to take account of the strength of competition among students taking the study.
- The strength of competition in each study is measured by how well the students in that study performed in their other studies.
- The study scores are scaled so that the overall level of scores in that study matches the scores obtained by the same group of students in all of their other studies combined.
- Many students believe that to achieve their best possible ATAR they need to choose studies that are scaled up. This is not true and may even work against you. Every year there are many students who achieve high VTAC Scaled Study Scores for studies that have been scaled down, and achieve lower VTAC Scaled Study Scores for studies that have been scaled up.
- If you choose a study that you are not very good at simply because it will be scaled up, the study score you receive will be a lot lower than what you could expect in a study you are good at and that interests you.
- While your score will be scaled up, it is unlikely that your VTAC scaled study score would be any higher than if you had chosen a more suitable study, even one that is scaled down.
- The way to ensure that you achieve your best ATAR is to choose your studies according to what you are interested in; what you are good at; and what studies you need for future study.
- VCE Mathematics studies are designed to cater for students of differing abilities and interests. Specialist Mathematics is the most difficult, followed by Mathematical Methods (CAS) and then by Further Mathematics.
- To ensure that students undertaking the more difficult mathematics studies are not disadvantaged, all three mathematics studies are scaled against each other as well as being scaled against all other studies. The higher of the two resulting scales is used for each of the mathematics studies.
ABC of Scaling (VTAC Article)
VCE Frequently Asked Questions (VCAA Article)
Key Points:
- A study score shows how well you have performed in a study at Unit 3 and 4 level, compared to everybody else in Victoria who took that study. Study scores calculated by the VCAA will be used by the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC) to calculate the ATAR.
- The maximum study score is 50.
- Each year, and for every study, the mean study score is set at 30.
- A score of between 23 and 37 shows that you are in the middle range of students
- A score of 38 or more indicates that you are in the top 15%.
- For studies with large enrolments (1,000 or more):
- 2% of students will get a score on or above 45
- 9% of students will get a score on or above 40
- 26% of students will get a score on or above 35
- 53% of students will get a score on or above 30
- 78% of students will get a score on or above 25
- 93% of students will get a score on or above 20.
Statistical Moderation of VCE Coursework (VCAA Article)
Key Points:
- moderation procedure ensures that:
- the highest moderated score is made equal to the highest external score
- the median and quartiles of the moderated scores are made equal to the median and quartiles of the external scores.
- The moderation procedure aims to make the mean (average) of the moderated scores as close as possible to the mean of the external scores. The procedure is then applied to the school’s coursework score for each student to obtain their moderated coursework score.
- The moderation procedure is not influenced by students with anomalously low external performance, or by students who did very poorly on the school assessment but very well on the external assessment.
There are two very weak students in my class. Will they drag down the marks of the others?
- No. Research has shown that this is not the case provided that school-assessed coursework marks are a valid reflection of their level of achievement. It would be a mistake for you to give them ‘encouragement marks’ just to make them appear to catch up with others in the class.
One student in my class performed very badly in the VCE examination. Will this drag down the marks of the others?
- No. Analysis of case studies has shown that this is not the case. In a class of typical size there are some students who do a little better than expected and some who do a little worse; the effects on statistical moderation tend to cancel out.
- Students who perform significantly worse in the exam are omitted when the scales are aligned in statistical moderation.
Last year I taught a really weak class and had to set them easy coursework assignments to keep them interested. At the end of the year, as a result of statistical moderation, their coursework marks were substantially decreased. Was I wrong to set easy assignments?
- Keeping students engaged is essential for learning. However, you have to manage students’ expectations by explaining to them that moderation will align their marks with those of the rest of the State.
- More importantly, if your students are only exposed to relatively easy coursework they will not be adequately prepared for the rigour of the VCE examination.
Is it true that statistical moderation is carried out separately for each class?
- No. Statistical moderation is applied to moderation groups, i.e. all students in a given study at a school plus any partner schools. It is essential that all results for the moderation group are assessed on the same scale, i.e. they allow the students’ assessments to be ranked consistently across all classes. This ‘internal moderation’ must be done by schools before marks are entered through VASS.
I am normally perceived as a “hard” marker. Will this disadvantage my students?
- All things being equal, a hard marker will award lower marks than a generous marker.
- However, your school’s marking scale will have no permanent effect on students because it is replaced by the scale of the external scores during statistical moderation.
- It should be remembered that if there are two or more teachers of the same study at your school it is important that they are all equally hard markers.
