What Is the VCE? How the Victorian Certificate of Education Works (VCAA)
The VCE is Victoria's senior secondary certificate, normally completed over two years. To get it you complete at least 16 units, including three English group units and three other Unit 3-4 sequences. Units 1 and 2 are marked satisfactory or not, and Units 3 and 4 are assessed by your school and by VCAA exams, which produce the study scores VTAC turns into an ATAR.
This guide describes the VCE Administrative Handbook 2026 (version 1.1), which applies to the 2026 cohort, and the VTAC ATAR and Scaling Guide 2026. For past VCE exams and marked questions, start from VCE past exams (VCAA).
What is the VCE?
The VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education) is accredited by the VRQA and run by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA). VCAA describes it as the highest Victorian qualification delivered by schools.
Students have two options: the VCE, or the VCE Vocational Major (VCE VM). The VCE includes studies with school-based and external assessment that can give a study score towards an ATAR. The VCE VM is a vocational and applied learning program whose studies are school-assessed, give no study score and cannot count toward an ATAR.
Each subject is called a study, and each study is made up of four units: Units 1 and 2 (usually Year 11) and Units 3 and 4 (usually Year 12). Each unit is a semester long and involves at least 50 hours of scheduled classroom instruction, plus up to 50 hours of self-directed learning.
How many units do you need to complete the VCE?
The minimum is satisfactory completion of 16 units. They must include:
- three units from the English group, including a Unit 3-4 sequence, and
- three Unit 3-4 sequences, which can include further sequences from the English group.
Most students take 16 to 20 units across two years. The VCE is normally completed over two years, but students can accumulate units over any number of years, and a program can mix Units 1 and 2 studies into the final year or Unit 3-4 sequences into the first.
At Units 3 and 4, the English group is English, EAL, Literature and English Language. English and EAL count as equivalent studies, so only one of them can count at each unit level.
What is the difference between Units 1 and 2 and Units 3 and 4?
| Units 1 and 2 | Units 3 and 4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Usual year level | Year 11 | Year 12 |
| Entry | No prerequisites for Units 1, 2 and 3 | Unit 3 must be completed satisfactorily before Unit 4 |
| Taken as | Separately or as a pair | A sequence, in the one academic year. You cannot enrol in Unit 4 only |
| Result | S or N for each unit | S or N for each unit, plus graded assessments that feed a study score |
| Study score | None | Yes, in scored studies |
How is the VCE assessed?
There are two separate ideas here, and they are easy to run together.
Satisfactory completion (S or N). For every unit, your teacher judges whether you have shown the outcomes in the study design. The judgement is holistic, covers your set work and assessment tasks, and must not rest on one school-based assessment. You get an N if your work does not show the outcomes, you miss a school deadline, your work cannot be authenticated, or you seriously breach VCAA or school rules. If you get an N for an outcome you must be given the chance to redeem it, and that work does not need to be done under test conditions. You cannot resubmit a task to improve an earlier score.
Levels of achievement (graded assessments). In Units 3 and 4 each scored study has three graded assessments, and at least one is external. They are some mix of school-assessed coursework (SACs), school-assessed tasks (SATs), externally assessed tasks and exams. The split differs by study: in most the exam is worth about half the study score, and in some it is worth more or less. The full list is in VCAA's assessment summary, and the study score guide shows the common patterns.
Your level of achievement does not decide whether you pass a unit, and passing a unit does not give you a score. A student can earn an S without ever producing a study score.
Who does what: your school, VCAA and VTAC?
| Body | What it handles |
|---|---|
| Your school | Teaches the units, marks your SACs and SATs, decides S or N, and checks that work is your own |
| VCAA | Sets and marks the exams, statistically moderates SAC scores, calculates study scores, and reports your results |
| VTAC | Scales study scores across studies, builds the aggregate and calculates the ATAR |
Moderation and scaling are different things done by different bodies. VCAA's statistical moderation aligns your school's SAC scores in one study with how the same group did on the exam. VTAC's scaling adjusts study scores between studies for the ATAR. The SACs guide covers school-based assessment and the study scores guide covers moderation in full.
What are SACs, SATs and the GAT?
A SAC is a set of school-assessed coursework tasks in Units 3 and 4. Your school scores each component, VCAA adds the scores into one total, and that total is statistically moderated against the exam scores. A SAT is a school-assessed task set by VCAA, used in a small number of practical studies, and rated against VCAA criteria.
All VCE studies have at least one external assessment, normally an exam. Exams are set by VCAA-appointed panels and marked independently by VCAA assessors, with an additional assessor if marks differ. See the VCE exam timetable for dates and the exam preparation guide for how to plan backwards from them. The command terms guide explains the words exam questions use.
The General Achievement Test (GAT) is a separate test. VCAA says it measures general knowledge and skills in maths, science, technology, humanities, the arts and social sciences, and that there is no need to study for it. If you are enrolled in a VCE Unit 3-4 sequence you are expected to sit Sections A and B. Its results are used to check that assessments have been marked fairly, and in a few studies as part of moderation.
How does the VCE become an ATAR?
VTAC calculates the ATAR, not VCAA. To get one you need study scores in at least four permissible Unit 3-4 studies, and one must be from the English group. Your aggregate is your scaled English-group score plus your next three highest scaled scores (the primary four), plus up to two increments, normally 10% of a fifth and sixth scaled score. At most six results count.
So English is always one of your primary four. A study score runs from 0 to 50 with an average of 30, and VTAC scales it before it enters the aggregate. For the full chain, see how a VCE study score is calculated and the VCE results guide.
What is the VCE Baccalaureate?
The VCE Baccalaureate is extra recognition, not part of the base award. It needs satisfactory completion of the VCE plus a study score in each of these:
- English, Literature or English Language of at least 30, or EAL of at least 33
- Mathematical Methods or Specialist Mathematics
- a VCE language
- at least two other Unit 3-4 sequences
What students get wrong about how the VCE works
Frequently asked questions
How many units do you need to complete the VCE?
16. VCAA's minimum is satisfactory completion of 16 units, including three English group units with at least one Unit 3-4 English group sequence, and three other Unit 3-4 sequences. Most students take 16 to 20 units over two years.
Do Year 11 results count towards the ATAR?
Units 1 and 2 results do not. They are reported as S (satisfactory) or N (not satisfactory) and produce no study score. Study scores, and so the ATAR, come from Unit 3-4 graded assessments, so a Unit 3-4 sequence taken in Year 11 can count.
Do you have to study English to get an ATAR?
Yes. VTAC requires a scored Unit 3-4 sequence from the English group (English, EAL, Literature or English Language), and that English group score always counts in the primary four of your aggregate.
What is the difference between the VCE and the VCE Vocational Major?
The VCE includes studies with school-based and external assessment that can give a study score towards an ATAR. The VCE Vocational Major (VM) is a vocational and applied learning program whose studies are school-assessed, give no study score and cannot count toward an ATAR.
Who does what in the VCE: my school, VCAA or VTAC?
Your school teaches the units, marks your SACs and decides whether you get an S or an N. VCAA sets and marks the exams, moderates SAC scores and calculates study scores. VTAC scales study scores and calculates the ATAR.
Sources
- VCE Administrative Handbook 2026, VCAA, August 2026, About the VCE; Eligibility for the award; Assessment; Score aggregation. Version 1.1. About the VCE, program components, minimum requirements, satisfactory completion, the VCE Baccalaureate, SACs and authentication, and external assessment.
- VCE and VET assessment summary, VCAA, 2026. Three graded assessments per Units 3 and 4 sequence, and how the split varies by study.
- Score aggregation, VCAA, 2026. Study score scale and statistical moderation.
- General Achievement Test 2026: Information for students, VCAA, April 2026, pp. 2-3. Who sits the GAT and what it covers.
- VTAC ATAR and Scaling Guide 2026, VTAC, August 2026. ATAR eligibility, the primary four and increments, for students completing Year 12 in 2026.
Syllabus and assessment material referenced in this guide is reproduced by permission, © VCAA. See our VCAA licensing notice. The VCAA does not endorse or make any warranties regarding this study resource. VCE® is a registered trademark of the VCAA.