VCE Honour Roll 2022: Top Students, Schools & Scores

When VCE results drop each December, one list draws more attention than any other: the honour roll, a record of students who pushed past the 40-point mark in their study scores. In 2022, nearly all of those top performers came from a surprisingly small set of schools — and understanding how that list works matters more than most year-12 students realize. This guide walks through the honour roll’s mechanics, the standout schools, and what the numbers actually mean for anyone parsing Victoria’s results.

Publication Date: 13 Dec 2022 · Criteria: 40+ study scores · Key Source: The Age · Archive Available: quppa.net · School Rankings: bettereducation.com.au

The following table summarises core parameters for the 2022 VCE honour roll.

What is the VCE honour roll?

The VCE honour roll is an annual list published in December that celebrates students who achieved study scores of 40 or above — a threshold that signals exceptional performance. In 2022, The Age carried the honour roll alongside detailed breakdowns by school, subject, and region.

Definition and purpose

A study score of 40 or more puts a student in the top 9% of the state, according to Cluey Learning. The honour roll exists to publicly recognise that achievement, giving families, educators, and future students a window into which schools are consistently producing high-calibre results.

Relation to study scores

Study scores range from 0 to 50 and are scaled relative to each subject’s cohort. A raw score of 40 might translate differently depending on the subject, but the honour roll captures anyone who crossed that threshold regardless of which subject they sat. Better Education provides a searchable database of 2022 high scorers for those who want to dig into specific names or subjects.

How is the VCE honour roll determined?

The criteria are straightforward: any VCE student who records a study score of 40 or above qualifies for the honour roll. No application process exists — the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) generates the list automatically from exam results.

Criteria for inclusion

A study score of 40+ is the sole criterion. Schools and students do not apply or self-nominate. The list is compiled by the State Government of Victoria and published through its official channels, though major newspapers like The Age typically reproduce it for broader readership.

Role of Premier’s VCE Awards

Separate from the general honour roll, the Premier’s VCE Awards recognise the Top All-Round Achievers — students who scored 46 or above in at least five studies. In 2022, 23 students received this distinction. VET scored studies also count toward this award, making it accessible to students in vocational pathways alongside traditional academic streams.

What is the average ATAR in Victoria in 2022?

The average ATAR in Victoria hovers around the mid-50s to low-60s across the state, though precise figures vary by year and reporting source. The honour roll sits at the far end of that distribution, capturing only the students who cleared the 40+ study score bar.

Breakdown of 2022 results

VCE results are published annually by the Victorian government via the VCAA. The honour roll represents the top tier — students who achieved 40+ in one or more subjects. Below that, the vast majority of students receive lower ATARs that reflect a broader range of performance levels.

Comparison to high achievers

Alphington Grammar School provides a useful middle-tier benchmark: 51% of its 2022 cohort achieved an ATAR over 80, placing them in the top 20% of the state, and 82% received an ATAR over 70. These figures illustrate how far above average the honour roll cohort sits.

Which school got the highest ATAR in Victoria?

Ranking schools by the percentage of their VCE students achieving 40+ study scores reveals a clear picture of which institutions are driving top-end performance in 2022.

Top schools list

Ballarat Clarendon College took the top position in 2022 rankings with 32.5% of its study scores hitting 40 or above. Bialik College ranked 3rd with 32.6%, while Haileybury Girls College recorded the highest percentage among the top 10 at 37.2%. These figures come from Matrix Education’s analysis of the top 150 schools.

40+ scores by school

The numbers reveal patterns worth noting. Haileybury College had 516 VCE students yet still ranked 6th with 29.2% of scores at 40+. Scotch College, with 459 students, ranked 24th at 20.9%. Balwyn High School, one of Victoria’s largest public schools with 622 VCE students, sat at 67th with 16.2%. Matrix Education tracks these percentages as the primary ranking metric.

The implication: parents comparing schools should look beyond percentage rankings to absolute numbers of high achievers, especially when evaluating larger public schools against smaller private institutions.

How many kids get 99.95 ATAR vic?

The 99.95 ATAR — the maximum possible — is achieved by a tiny handful of students each year. In 2022, the exact count of perfect scorers was not published in the honour roll, making precise numbers difficult to confirm from public sources.

Top ATAR distribution

The honour roll does not break down scores to the individual ATAR level, instead listing students by subject-level study scores. ATARs are calculated separately and reflect a student’s aggregate performance across all VCE subjects. The Premier’s VCE Awards provide the most granular official recognition, acknowledging the 23 Top All-Round Achievers who scored 46+ across at least five subjects.

Perfect scorers

While the honour roll lists all 40+ study scores, the subset of students with a 99.95 ATAR represents a narrower group. The Quppa study score archive allows users to search historical data by school, year, and subject, though individual ATARs of perfect scorers are not always publicly listed. Families seeking this level of detail typically need to contact schools directly or monitor The Age’s annual coverage.

The pattern: study scores and ATARs measure different things — the honour roll captures subject-level excellence, while the 99.95 requires sustained aggregate performance across the full VCE program.

What this means: readers should treat the confirmed facts as reliable anchors while treating the unclear questions as open research gaps that future data releases may resolve.

The honour roll tells a story of concentration: a small number of schools generate a disproportionate share of Victoria’s top study scores. For prospective students and their families, the implication is direct — choosing a school with a strong 40+ track record significantly raises the odds of appearing on that December list, but it also means competing against peers who have already cleared a high bar. Schools like Ballarat Clarendon College and Haileybury Girls College have built systems that produce that result year after year, a pattern that is unlikely to shift dramatically without structural changes to how VCE is taught or assessed.

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