The Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre has revealed 7% of students in the state are failing numeracy, as the latest Atar results indicate a series of Victorian Certificate of Education leaks made little impact on overall scores.
A record 47,461 VCE students will receive their Atars on Thursday morning – 4.7% more than 2023, when 45,239 students were scored an Atar.
Forty-one students achieved the highest possible rank of 99.95, up from 39 last year. Of those, 33 were male and just eight were female.
The average Atar was 69.52, a slight increase from 2023 (69.41).
Females performed slightly higher than average than males (70.42 compared with 68.48), while the median score for Gender X, which includes other gender identities, was 69.94.
This year’s exams were plagued by controversy, including the accidental publication of sample cover pages that contained hidden text in seemingly blank sections.
The fallout led to the resignation of the chief executive of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, Kylie White, and the appointment of an independent panel to ensure no students would be given an unfair advantage by the publication of “cheat sheets”.
The Victorian government initially floated taking marks off VCE students found to use de facto exams but the results – released at 7am – show little difference in outcomes from previous years.
The chief executive of Vtac, Teresa Tjia, congratulated all 61,998 students who had completed year 12, including those studying a vocational major or choosing not to sit VCE exams.
About 8,250 students (13%) graduated with a VCE vocational major – gaining experience in vocational, education and training industries – and more than 1,100 received the Victorian pathways certificate which offers a bridge to future studies or entry into the workforce.
“Your dedication, perseverance, and hard work have brought you to this moment, and VTAC wishes you every success in the exciting journey ahead,” Tjia said.
“The results you have received today are only part of the story. Throughout your schooling, you’ve developed skills, overcome challenges, and nurtured strengths that will serve you well in future study and beyond.
“Take pride in these accomplishments and keep developing your unique capabilities.”
The VCE completion rate was 97.4% in 2024, virtually identical to 2023.
About 22,700 (8.8%) of students received study scores of 40 or higher, while 688 received the maximum study score of 50 (0.3%). About 3,160 students will be awarded the VCE baccalaureate.
General achievement test results, released alongside Atars, showed students performed highly in reading and writing but were lagging behind in numeracy.
The general achievement test examines the general knowledge of students to ensure VCE assessments meet the Victorian literacy and numeracy standards expected at a year 12 level.
About 95% of students were meeting reading standards, it showed, and 98% were meeting standards in writing. But 7% were failing to meet numeracy standards, representing a slight increase on previous years.
The most popular combination of VCE subjects – chosen by 350 students – was English, biology, health and human development, general mathematics and psychology.
The deputy premier and minister for education, Ben Carroll, congratulated every student for their achievements and encouraged them to become “lifelong learners”.
“You should be proud of everything you’ve already achieved as you move to the next exciting step, whether it be further study, training, the workforce or a gap year,” he said.
“Our Victorian students become lifelong learners with endless possibilities ahead of them.”
VCE graduates have until Saturday to update their course preferences before initial tertiary offers are released on 23 December.
