Subject Expo

30th July 2014

VCE Course Selection – Advice 1. Breadth – maintain career options 2. Strengths – use your talents 3. Interests – motivation & determination are key 4. Research – careers and tertiary prerequisites 5. Sequential – build a solid foundation for Year 12 6. Ultimately, selections are your choice

Key Materials • SCHS VCE Handbook 2015 • Choice! VCE Studies and the ATAR • VICTER Tertiary Entry 2017 • Where to Now? A guide to VCE • ABC of Scaling • Courselink – www.vtac.edu.au

Tertiary Entrance • Apply through VTAC in 2016 • See VICTER 2017 for prerequisite studies and

selection procedures for all tertiary courses in Victoria in 2017

Subject Selection Procedure • All students have been told what subjects they can

accelerate in • Today they had an opportunity to find out more

about all subject areas • Year 10s have a course counselling appointment

next week • Subject selection forms are due on the 15th

August, paper based and electronically

The Structure of VCE at Suzanne Cory HS Year 10 Many students take 1 VCE subject either in school or externally along with their Year 10 course Year 11 Students must take 6 units in school • 6 Unit ½ studies • 5 unit ½ and 1 unit ¾ study • 4 unit ½ and 2 unit ¾ studies Students may choose to take additional units outside of school in addition to this Year 12 • Most students will take 5 unit ¾ studies • Some students will take only 4. This will be people who have 2 unit ¾

studies already or have external enrolments.

Satisfactory VCE Graduation Minimum Requirements

• Minimum 16 units satisfactory in total • At least 3 satisfactory units of an English from

the English Group • Three other satisfactory unit 3/4 studies

The ATAR • The score that universities look at. • Based on up to six VCE results. The results do not all have to be

from the one year. ATAR calculation: • Students best score in any one of the English studies plus • the scores of the next best three studies (which together with the

English make the ‘Primary Four’), plus • 10 % of the scores for any fifth and sixth study which students may

have completed (these are called increments). This will amount to a number between 0 and 210 (called the “Aggregate”). Students are then ranked on a scale from “Less than 30” through to “99.95”.

Restrictions on certain combinations of studies

counting toward an ATAR In each of the study areas of English, Mathematics, History,

Information Technology, LOTE (Languages other than English) and Music:

• At most, two results can contribute to the Primary Four • At most, three results can contribute to the ATAR, the third

being counted as a 10% increment for a fifth or sixth study

What is a VCE Study Score? • A “study score” is not really a score. It is a ranking

or relative position on a scale from 0-50, showing how well you performed in relation to all others who took that particular study in the same year.

• A student with a VCE Study Score of 30 is in the middle of the cohort, or has performed better than about half of all students.

• A student with a VCE Study Score of 40 has performed better than about 91% of all students who did that study.

Normal Distribution Mean = 30 Standard deviation = 7

What is a Study Score? The maximum study score for all subjects is 50. • 2% of students will get a score on or above 45 (i.e. If there

are 5000 students taking that study, only 100 will achieve above 45)

• 9% of students will get a score on or above 40 • 26% of students will get a score on or above 35 • 53% of students will get a score on or above 30 • 78% of students will get a score on or above 25 • 93% of students will get a score on or above 20. Study scores are used by the Victorian Tertiary Admissions

Centre (VTAC) to calculate the ATAR.

How is the Study Score Calculated? To calculate the study score, the VCAA combines the

standardised scores for each of your graded assessments (SACs and Exams).

Each graded assessment in a study contributes a

specific percentage, or weighting, to the final study score.

Once the scores have been standardised, weighted and

totalled your total score is compared with the scores of all other students in that study and then converted to a score out of 50.

What is Scaling and how is it used? • In calculating the VCE Study Score, the middle student in

any study will have a VCE Study Score of 30, regardless of how strong the other students were in the study and how difficult it was to achieve the middle ranking.

• Where the student competition in a study is higher, VCE Study Scores are adjusted or “scaled” upwards and vice versa

• So all VCE Study Scores are scaled by VTAC before they are used to calculate the ATAR.

• Scaling is calculated by looking at how well students of a particular study did (on average) in all of their other studies.

Scaling in Mathematics • VCE mathematics studies are designed to cater for

students of differing abilities and interests. Specialist Mathematics is the most difficult, followed by Mathematical Methods (CAS) and then by Further Mathematics.

• To ensure that students undertaking the more difficult

mathematics studies are not disadvantaged, the three mathematics are compared with each other and scaled as necessary.

Scaling in Maths Studies in 2011 (as an example)

20 25 30 35 40 45 50

Further Maths

18 23 28 33 38 44 50

Maths Method

24 30 35 40 44 48 50

Specialist Maths

29 36 42 47 51 53 55

Scaling in LOTE • As a result of government policy to encourage

the study of LOTE, each LOTE is adjusted up by adding five to the initial Subject Score mean.

• In addition to those five added, LOTEs are subject to scaling.

• However, you should only select to study a LOTE if you have proven strength in this area.

Choosing Subjects Based on Scaling Alone Does Not Work

• To achieve your best possible ATAR students do NOT need to choose studies that are scaled up. It may actually decrease their ATAR to choose a study that they are not very good at simply because it will be scaled up.

• Key question: Will my VCE Study Score be any higher for a highly scaled subject than a less scaled study?

• Students will achieve your best ATAR by choosing a course of studies by strengths, interests and future study prerequisites.

Do not choose studies based on scaling alone Example 1. ATAR calculation (Year 12) VCE 3/4 Study Study Score Scaled Score Contribution

Literature 22 22.47 22.47

Biology 29 29.13 29.13

Chemistry 25 28.93 28.93

LOTE: French 17 26.49 26.49

Maths Methods 20 24.77 2.47

Aggregate 109.4

ATAR 55.05

Do not choose studies based on scaling alone Example 2. ATAR calculation (Year 12) VCE 3/4 Study Study Score Scaled Score Contribution

English 36 34.77 34.77

Media 38 34.98 34.98

Geography 35 34.61 34.61

Health & HD 38 34.58 34.58

Further Maths 31 28.82 2.88

Studio Arts 32 27.27 2.72

Aggregate 144.5

ATAR 81.10

English Group Options • English • English Language • Literature • English as a Second Language (eligibility = less than 7 years in total

as a resident in predominantly English speaking country or language of school instruction) Unit 3 and 4 only

You may choose from any of those English studies, subject to eligibility, as part of your compulsory English study.

You may study more than one English. No more than two English will be allowed in the primary four

studies.

English Group • English (e.g. text response / interpretation, issue analysis,

writing genres and features) • English Language (specifically linguistics – analysis of

spoken and written English) • Literature (specifically exploring literary texts, critical and

creative responses) • ESL- (e.g. text response / interpretation, issue analysis,

writing genres and features) unit ¾ only. Subject to eligibility requirements.

Which English study is “hardest”?

Choosing an English Subject • Your English teacher will recommend an

English to you on your subject selection form • It is possible to take Unit ½ Literature or

English Language and then change to English Unit ¾

• The opposite is very very hard and most people would not succeed if they try this

2011 Scaling comparison in the English Group

20 25 30 35 40 45 50

English 17 22 28 34 39 45 50

Literature 20 36 31 36 41 46 50

English Language

20 25 31 37 42 46 50

ESL 16 22 28 34 41 46 50

Taking a Unit 3/4 without Unit 1/2 • It is possible to do this in some studies (note they

are more difficult than taking any Unit 1/2) • You are likely to be in a class with people who

have taken the unit ½ subject • It is possible also to change from Unit 1 in one

Study in semester 1 to Unit 2 in another study in semester 2 – depends on timetable constraints and class size. It is not possible to change a unit 3 to a different unit 4.

• It is very important to take studies in sequence to build a strong foundation.

Extended Investigation • A new course in 2014, offered at SCHS for the

first time in 2015 • Designed specifically for students of higher ability • Students complete a research project on a topic

of their choice • Runs at unit ¾ only • Unit 3- Designing an extended investigation • Unit 4- presenting an extended investigation

Higher Education Studies (formerly Extension Studies)

• This a first year undergraduate tertiary study as part of Year 12 – counted as a sixth study

• Students may be invited to apply for this towards end of 2014 – normally requires VCE study score of 40 or more and excellent results in all other studies

Year 10 Pathways 1 & 2 Compulsory Electives

Year

10

Pa

thw

ay 1

Sem

1

English Math

Science Humanities LOTE HPE Sport

Tutorial 1

Elective 2

Elective

Sem

2

English Math

Science Humanities LOTE HPE Sport

Tutorial 3

Elective 4

Elective

Compulsory Electives

Year

10

Pa

thw

ay 2

Sem

1 English

Math

Science Humanities LOTE HPE Sport

Tutorial

VCE Elective

1 Elective

Sem

2 English

Math

Science Humanities LOTE HPE Sport

Tutorial VCE Elective 2

Elective

Year 10 Electives All Year 10 electives are for one semester only. Art, Design & Technology Electives—must take at least one of these:

• Architectural Environments • Digital Photography • Drama • Food Technology • Information Technology • Music • Robotics • Studio Arts

Year 10 Electives cont. • Literature • Health for Life • Sports Conditioning • International Relations • Philosophy • Environmental Science • Psychology

VCE studies offered in Year 10 All VCE electives run for the whole year (so students take both unit 1 and unit 2).

Subject Area VCE Study

Art, Design & Technology

VCE Information Technology Units 1 & 2 VCE Media Units 1 & 2

Humanities VCE Accounting Units 1 & 2 VCE Business Management Units 1 & 2 VCE Geography Units 1 & 2 VCE Legal Studies Units 1 & 2

LOTE VCE Chinese* (2nd Language & 2nd Language Advanced) 1 & 2

VCE French* Units 1 & 2 Health & PE VCE Health & Human Development Units 1 & 2

VCE Physical Education Units 1 & 2 Mathematics & Science

VCE Biology Units 1 & 2 VCE Environmental Science Units 1 & 2 VCE Mathematical Methods* Units 1 & 2 VCE Psychology Units 1 & 2

Year 10 Electives Students will only be approved for early entry to VCE if they have met the following achievement criteria:

• Achieving over 50% VG or EX in all subject areas. • Achieving at or above the expected AusVELS level in

English and Maths • Achieving above the expected AusVELS level in the

curriculum area they wish to accelerate in. • No more than one ‘non-submitted’ assessment task

across all subjects. • Attendance rate above 85% Criteria for early entry to one internal and one external VCE subject in year 10 is as above and includes:

• Achieving over 75% VG or EX in all subject areas

Our VCE Studies Our VCE offerings are based on: • Breadth of Studies: 33 studies are offered and

will be run, subject to numbers • Perceived strengths, needs and interests of

students • Staff strengths and VCE experience

VCE Determining which subjects will run

There are no set minimum numbers of students for a class to run at VCE. Whether a class can run or not depends on the resources available and the numbers of students in other classes running in the same ‘block’.

Example Block

Number of students

Subject A 20

Subject B 18

Subject C 25

Subject D 23

Subject E 16

Subject F 13

Subject G 25

Subject H 24

Subject I 17

Subject J 19

TOTAL 200 students

Example: Year 11 Blocks Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 Block 5 Block 6

BIO ACC ACC BIO34 CHEM BIO34

CHEM BIO CHEM CHEM ENG CHEM

ECON CHEM CHINES ENG ENG LG ENG

ENG ENG ECON GMA POLITIC FRENCH

ENG LG LEGAL ENG HHD34 GMS GMS

FOOD T LIT FRENCH IT 34 MM HHD

GMS MM GMA LIT PHYSIC HIST

HIST MM34 MM MM PSY34 LEG34

MM PHYSIC PE MM SYSTEM MM

PHYSIC PSY34 PSYCH PHYSIC VIS COM PSYCH

PSYCH

• Ms Kay Peddle– Acting Principal • Mr Stewart Milner – Assistant Principal • Ms Martha Goodridge-Kelly – VCE programs LT • Ms Chloe Baker– Careers Counsellor • Ms Cindy Sullivan – English & Humanities • Mr Jeff Kerry – Mathematics and Science • Mr Jason Portelli – Art, Design & Technology • Ms Chizuko Inoue – LOTE • Mr Daniel McDowell– Health & Physical

Education