What Is VCE? A Plain Guide for Families

The VCE is Victoria's senior secondary qualification, usually earned across Years 11 and 12. It's run by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA), the state body that sets what each VCE subject covers, writes the end-of-year exams and calculates results. Your child's school teaches the subjects and does most of the marking along the way.

Each VCE subject is split into four units, and a unit usually runs for one semester. Units 3 and 4, the later half, go together: your child takes them as a pair in the same year, which the booklet may call a Unit 3–4 sequence.

Year 12 written exams run in October and November, with results in December.

Some schools offer a Units 3 and 4 subject in Year 11, and VCAA allows that kind of mixed program. The booklet shows whether your child's school does.

To earn the VCE, your child needs to satisfactorily complete at least 16 units across their program. Under VCAA's minimum requirement, these must include four Units 3 and 4 pairs, one from the English group, plus another English group unit, such as Unit 1 or 2. Those units count towards the 16, not on top of them, so the rest of your child's program can come from any subject. The English group is the set of subjects that meet the English requirement: English; English as an Additional Language (EAL); English Language; Literature; and, at Units 1 and 2 only, Foundation English and Bridging EAL.

A unit is satisfactorily completed when your child's teacher decides they've shown what the unit sets out to teach, and the result is recorded as an S. It's a judgement made across all the work in the unit, separate from the marks on individual tests and essays. Our guide to starting Year 11 VCE, written for students, explains satisfactory (S) and not satisfactory (N) results.

How many subjects your child takes each year

VCAA doesn't set a minimum number of subjects for each year, so the number comes from your child's school, and the booklet can tell you how many it expects. Across both years, most students take 16 to 20 units.

Earning the VCE and getting an ATAR are two different things, and the booklet may mention both. The VCE is the certificate. The ATAR is a rank that many university courses use to choose between applicants, and it's built from study scores.

A study score is a result out of 50 for a Units 3 and 4 subject taken with scored assessment. It shows how they went compared with everyone in Victoria who took that subject in the same year, so it isn't a percentage.

VTAC, the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre, is the central body for university and TAFE applications in Victoria, TAFE being the state's public vocational colleges. It calculates your child's ATAR from their study scores, as a number between 0 and 99.95. To get one, your child needs a study score in an English group subject. Some courses also ask for particular VCE subjects, called prerequisites, so the booklet's choices can matter for what your child studies after school.

Our guide to study scores, scaling and the ATAR follows one student's results all the way from study scores to an ATAR, if you'd like the detail.

The two people at school worth knowing early are the VCE coordinator, the staff member who looks after VCE subjects and enrolments, and the careers adviser, who can help your child match subjects to courses they might want after school. Both are free to talk to, and the school office or the booklet itself can tell you how to reach them. A meeting is a good moment to bring anything particular to your child's past schooling, such as subjects they've already studied interstate or overseas.

For the choosing itself, our guide to choosing VCE subjects walks your child through weighing up what they enjoy, what they're good at and the subjects some courses require. It's written for students, so you might like to read it together.

Once Year 11 begins, a subject can feel unfamiliar for a while, especially if your child has come from a different curriculum. The subject teacher is the first person to ask about it. If your child still needs help, one-to-one tutoring is another option alongside school. Our VCE tutors follow your child's school program, at home or online, from Units 1 and 2 through to the exams, and you'll speak with the tutor before the first session.

For now, the booklet's choices are a starting point your child can build on, and you'll learn the rest of the system alongside them.

What if my child joins partway through the VCE?

Their earlier study can count. Students arriving from interstate or overseas may need credit for their previous studies to help reach the 16 units, and your child's school can apply for it on their behalf. VCAA's rules also allow a student whose credit equals a full Year 11 in another state or country to finish the certificate in a single year. The VCE coordinator is the person to ask what applies to your child.

Can my child take English as an Additional Language?

Possibly. EAL at Units 1 and 2 doesn't need an application, but Units 3 and 4 do. Eligibility depends mainly on residence and schooling: your child needs to have lived in Australia or another mainly English-speaking country for no more than seven years before 1 January of their Units 3 and 4 EAL year, and to have been taught mainly in English for less than seven years. Schools start checking before the VCE begins and need to see overseas school reports, so it's worth raising with the VCE coordinator early.

Can my child change subjects later?

It's possible. Your child can discuss a change with the VCE coordinator; the preparation some subjects recommend, specific eligibility rules and the school's timetable can affect the options.

What is the General Achievement Test?

It's a June test of general writing, numeracy and reasoning skills for students doing Units 3 and 4. VCAA uses it to check marking rather than counting it directly towards results.

What is the VCE Vocational Major?

It's a second way to complete the VCE, built around applied and work-related learning. The VCE Vocational Major (VCE VM) is designed to build readiness for work or further education and training, and its own subjects are assessed at school without study scores, so they don't count towards an ATAR. The school can tell you whether it offers it. Our guide to the VCE Vocational Major explains how it works.

Does an ATAR from the VCE count in other states?

Yes. Your child's ATAR is treated the same way across Australia; how to apply depends on the university.

We checked these official sources on 6 November 2026.