Part 4: How to Maximise Your VCE ATAR

Strategies for maximising your ATAR

Now that you understand how it’s calculated, let’s look at some effective strategies from former Matrix graduates to maximise your VCE study score and achieve your best ATAR.

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1. Define and visualise your academic goals

Set yourself goals so you know what the finish line looks like. This is important in helping you find the shortest path to get there.

Matrix graduate Sally Kim wrote her goal of a 99.95 ATAR on a poster and stuck it in front of her desk in Year 11 so she could see it every day for the next 2 years. Visualising it every day helped her stay focused on her goals.

Sally suggests posting your ATAR goal on your bedroom dorm, computer screen, phone lock screen, bathroom mirror, or anywhere you’ll be forced to see your goal every day. 

It’s important to visualise your goals to maintain focus and motivation.

2. Understand how your subjects are scaled and how they affect your ATAR

Since different scaling is applied to different VCE studies, your ATAR will be slightly affected by your subject combination.

Case study

The table below shows the ATAR breakdown for a student scoring in the top 15% (scoring 38 or more) for a Humanities-oriented subject combination. Let’s compare two different subject combinations with the same percentiles. 

The table below shows the ATAR calculation for a student scoring in the top 15% (scoring 38 or more) for a Maths & Science-oriented subject combination.

Insights

• A student with a subject combination of Maths and Science is awarded a higher ATAR than another student with the same raw study scores, but with a subject combination of Humanities. 
• Students who study Humanities subject will need to get higher raw study scores in order to receive the same scaled marks as a student who choose Maths and Science subjects.

Download your VCE Subject Scaling Guide. Ace your VCE!

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Discover expert VCE scaling tips and strategies
to boost your score! 

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3. Remember that your English VCE score must be counted towards your ATAR

To do well in the VCE, you have to ace your English study.

English is the only compulsory VCE study and therefore will be counted towards the calculation of your aggregate and ATAR regardless of how low your scaled score is.

To make things more complicated, the scaling of English depends on the study you choose. English usually scales down while English Literature and English Language scale up. 

English is very different to Mathematics and Science, in that it’s time intensive:

• You have to read multiple texts
• You’ll need to read these texts multiple times to analyse them, unpack their meaning, and understand how the authors have represented their ideas. There’s no short-cutting this process – you’ll have to read them several times!
• You need to make in-depth study notes
• You need to write practice essays, speeches, and creatives.

To study for English, you need to plan well in advance. You can’t put off English until just before your assessment tasks and exams – it wouldn’t be enough time to prepare.

Successful English students read ahead, make notes as they go, and develop a habit of writing practice essays, creative writing, and doing past papers throughout the year. They understand studying English takes a lot of intentional time.

Here is a process all Matrix English students learn and follow for studying VCE English:

4. Establish a system to measure and track your progress in a timely manner

Is this you?

Matthew spent quite a bit of time and effort studying, only to be disappointed after seeing his first graded assessment. Neither Matthew nor his parents were pleased. His parents urged him to study even harder, and Matthew committed to six months of intense preparation until the final exams. When the results came in, he was surprised to see he had improved only slightly. Another year of hard work seemed wasted. 

John and his parents blamed his ineffective study habits…

What do you think went wrong?

While poor study methods could be part of the issue, the core problem was Matthew’s failure to realise his progress or issues quickly enough. 

Doing the same thing the same way produces the same results.

If he had tracked his performance closely he could have addressed his challenges much earlier and fixed his study methods.

So what should you do?

Imagine a coffee shop owner who reviews their sales performance regularly by noting how many stacks of takeaway cups have been reduced off the shelf. Each stack has 20 cups, so it’s easy to gauge how well sales are.

What system do you use to monitor your study process daily, weekly, monthly or each term? Just like the coffee shop owner, you need a system for tracking your academic performance regularly. At Matrix, we track our students’ progress through weekly quizzes that are marked and ranked. 

5. Be disciplined

Many students struggle with being disciplined and organised. 

Being disciplined means getting things done on time–every time!

You’ll have a greater chance of getting things done by using simple to-do lists. Use a notebook, diary, or whiteboard to list your tasks and visualise your priorities. 

One Matrix student used Post-It notes on her mirror to know which tasks she needed to prioritise. This created a sense of urgency and made it easier for her to complete things on time.