4. Planning your Senior Studies Pathway
Pathways
The first choice that needs to be made in planning your senior studies pathway is which certificate best suits your career pathway.
Victorian Certificate of Education
The VCE offers a traditional academic pathway to tertiary study, as well as opportunities for work, career and personal enrichment. This certificate can be achieved with or without a Study Score. A Study Score allows students to receive an ATAR, which affords them the opportunity to attend university. Students who choose to do an unscored VCE will receive a certificate which is required for some careers that don't require a university degree.
Vocational Major (VM)
The VM will give students greater choice and flexibility to pursue their strengths and interests and develop the skills and capabilities needed to succeed in further education, work and life.
It prepares students to move into apprenticeships, traineeships, further education and training, university (via non-ATAR pathways) or directly into the workforce.
The purpose of the VM is to provide students with the best opportunity to achieve their personal goals and aspirations in a rapidly changing world by:
- equipping them with the skills, knowledge, values and capabilities to be active and informed citizens, lifelong learners and confident and creative individuals; and
- empowering them to make informed decisions about the next stages of their lives through real life workplace experiences.
Vocational Education and Training (VET)
VET is education and training that focuses on providing skills and preparing students for the workforce. A VET study is mandatory for the successful completion of VM and optional for VCE. VET programs can lead to further study, either in the VET sector (where students can gain credit for their VET certificate) or university, since results from most VET programs can be included in the calculation of an ATAR score. VET studies can contribute towards the completion of senior secondary certificates, either the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) or the Vocational Major (VM).
Tertiary Study
Each tertiary institution has specific entry requirements which are outlined in their documentation. Links to these documents are provided in the Careers Planning page.
To be eligible to apply for courses, you need to meet:
- minimum tertiary entrance requirements
- institutional entrance requirements
- course requirements including prerequisites
Meeting these requirements does not guarantee you an offer because you will be competing with other eligible applicants.
ATAR
An ATAR is not a score out of 100 but a rank which shows how a student has performed in relation to all other students who met the requirements for that specific year. VTAC uses VCE results issued by the VCAA to calculate the ATAR.
The ATAR is developed from an aggregate produced by adding:
- VTAC scaled study score in one of English: English Language, Literature or English as an Additional Language (EAL)
- The next three best VTAC scaled study scores permissible*; and
- 10% of the fifth and sixth permissible scores that are available.
*Permitted subjects – there are a few limitations you need to know here. For example, whilst you can complete three Mathematics studies in Year 12, only two of them can be counted in the 'best four'.
To learn how the ATAR is calculated, click here. Follow the links to find out what studies can and cannot be included.
To understand how VCE Subject Scaling works in the ATAR watch the video below or view this guide.