IB or VCE: How to Decide

The International Baccalaureate, an international organisation, sets the rules for the IB Diploma. The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) sets them for the VCE.

How you're assessed. Both combine school work and external assessment. Written exams at the end are the main part in most IB subjects; the VCE mix varies by subject.

How much you choose. In the IB, you choose which subjects to take at higher level. The VCE leaves choice beyond English, including vocational education and training (VET), which teaches skills for work.

The IB is one program you take as a whole. A higher level subject goes into more depth than a standard level one, so a useful starting point for your higher level subjects is the ones you enjoy most, or ones a university course you're considering asks for.

The core is the part with no VCE equivalent. In theory of knowledge, you explore how we know what we know, through an essay and an exhibition. The extended essay is a research essay on a question you choose, marked externally. Creativity, activity, service, usually called CAS, is a set of activities across those three areas. It carries no points, but you need to complete it to receive the diploma.

The VCE is built subject by subject, and only Units 3 and 4 earn a study score, the result used for university. Our guide to choosing your VCE subjects goes through how to weigh up which ones to take.

In the IB, your diploma score adds up your six subjects plus up to three points from theory of knowledge and the extended essay together.

In the VCE, SACs, short for school-assessed coursework, are the tests, essays and reports you do at school, and they count alongside the end-of-year exams. Your study score then shows how you went compared with everyone doing that subject in the same year.

In the IB, your six subjects are spread across set subject groups, which usually means languages, a humanities subject, a science and maths among them. Either way, your school decides which subjects it runs in each program, and at which IB level, and the subject lists from the information evening show what's on offer.

For the VCE, VTAC scales your study scores to allow for how hard it is to score highly against the students taking each subject. Our guide to study scores, scaling and the ATAR follows one student's results all the way through.

With the two programs side by side, the choice usually comes down to how you like to work and what you might study after school. You can bring these questions to school:

• Would you enjoy the core's research essay, theory of knowledge and CAS alongside your subjects?
• How much do exams count in the subjects you're considering in each program?
• Is there a mix of subjects you have in mind, and can you take it in each program at your school?
• Do any courses you're interested in have prerequisites, and how would you meet them in each program?

You don't have to answer these on your own. Your careers adviser can help with the course and prerequisite questions, and your school's IB coordinator and VCE coordinator can tell you how the timetable works in their program and whether there are extra costs. For subject help once you've started, you can ask your teacher about school support, and our IB tutoring and VCE tutoring pages explain how TMJ can help.

Your own preferences matter here, and you can take your time with them before your school's deadline.

Is the IB harder than the VCE?

There's no official ranking of one as harder.

Will an IB result give me a higher or lower ATAR?

There's no way to know in advance. VTAC builds the Notional ATAR from “student data gathered from across all states in Australia” so that IB students can be considered alongside VCE students. Your own result depends on how you go in the program you choose.

How do my IB results reach VTAC?

Your IB coordinator asks the IB to release them. VTAC says students without that request won't have a Notional ATAR calculated or receive an offer through VTAC.

Do IB students sit the GAT?

Yes, if you want a Notional ATAR. VCAA says final-year IB Diploma students who want one calculated sit both sections of the General Achievement Test (GAT), the test of general knowledge and skills that VCE students sit in Year 12. Your IB coordinator can tell you the date and how your school runs it.

Can I switch from the IB to the VCE after starting?

It depends on your school, because a switch means fitting you into VCE subjects and units partway through. Your IB and VCE coordinators can tell you whether it's possible and how late it can happen, which is useful to know before you choose.

We checked these official sources on 6 November 2026.