December 10, 2025 — 9:01pm
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Tens of thousands of Victorian school leavers will receive their VCE results and university admission ATAR scores on Thursday morning, ending weeks of anxious waiting.
Among the 49,000 students to receive ATARS along with their results at 7am will be 42 who have scored a perfect rank of 99.95, according to the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC), which said a record number of students would receive an ATAR this year.
On the most eagerly anticipated day of the education calendar, more than 15,300 students will receive at least one VCE study score of 40 or higher and 664 students will secure at least one maximum study score of 50, another record.
Thursday’s numbers will also show a growing number of Victorian students pursuing tertiary study options. Three per cent more applications for courses have been received this year compared to last.
Iris Zavros Phillips, who leaves Kew’s Preshil private school this year, will be among more than 65,500 students to receive their VCE results on Thursday and among the first five Preshil students to receive VCE results in six years.
When Iris joined Preshil as a year 5 student in 2019, the school had just dropped VCE and switched to the International Baccalaureate.
Iris Zavros Phillips, 18, will receive her VCE results today and has already secured an offer from College of the Arts Australia.Justin McManus
Preshil, Australia’s oldest progressive school, reintroduced VCE this year after a review found the lack of options for final exams was sending too many students from year 10 at Preshil towards other schools.
The reintroduction follows the school introducing the VCE (Vocational Major) last year.
Aaron Mackinnon, who started as principal at Preshil in May last year, conducted a wide review to combat the sliding enrolments and bring the budget back into the black.
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While always a minnow in the independent sector, Preshil was shrinking. Enrolments had nosedived from 256 in 2019 to just 205 in 2024, rising to 223 this year. The school ended last year $2.1 million in the red.
“That was one of the reasons we conducted the review. Students were getting to year 10 and then leaving,” Mackinnon said.
Iris, who has ADHD and dyslexia, switched to the VCE this year because the structure of the curriculum appealed to her more than the IB’s broader, concept-driven approach.
The move allowed her to use her visual arts ability to build a portfolio of work which helped secure a provisional spot in a bachelor of interior design course at the College of the Arts Australia, a private college in Fitzroy.
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“I love Preshil, it works very well for me, but I would have struggled with the IB. I know my results will be much better with VCE,” the 18-year-old said.
More than 65,500 students completed their VCE this year. Fifteen per cent, or nearly 10,000, of them finished school with a VCE vocational major.
VCAT said on Wednesday that the average ATAR for the VCE class of 2025 is 69.48, consistent with the 69.52 average ATAR in 2024.
Also released on Thursday are VCE study scores and other outcomes for students who do not receive an ATAR, including those studying the VCE Vocational Major or electing not to sit VCE exams. All these students can apply for further study through VTAC. Certificate and diploma courses are most accessible to those without scored results.
VCE results and ATARs are available here from 7am on Thursday for students who registered to access their results online.
VCE graduates applying for tertiary study can update their course preferences via their VTAC
account after receiving their results, and should confirm or change preferences by noon on Saturday.
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Bridie Smith is an education reporter at The Age. A former desk editor, she has also reported on science and consumer affairs.Connect via Twitter, Facebook or email.
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