Schools that leak students' ATARs will be hit with tough new penalties following a series of breaches of top secret VCE results.
In the past some schools have released the results early to parents and used them for a marketing edge.
The state's admissions centre has warned principals that if they break the rules they will be barred from accessing ATARs ahead of students for up to five years.
They will also have to report the breach to the Australian Privacy Commissioner.
Victoria is the only state that releases ATARs to school career counsellors a day before they are distributed to students.
This allows the counsellors to plan what support they provide students who may want to rethink their career pathways after receiving disappointing or better than expected results.
But a small number of schools have exploited the situation for a "marketing edge", according to the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre.
"Unfortunately, some schools have used this early release of the ATAR as a marketing opportunity to promote their school and by doing so have breached the embargo and the terms and conditions of release," the Centre said in a confidential memo sent to Victorian school principals last week.
Schools have misused the embargoed results by asking students to turn up for a media interview the following morning.
The breaches highlight the extraordinary risks schools are prepared to take for a perceived competitive edge during the feeding frenzy of results day, where students' academic triumphs are promoted to the public.
Parents have also been notified of their children's ATARs before their general release.
But VTAC backed away from a proposal to publicly name and shame schools that violated the rules.
In its initial proposal put forward in February, VTAC said misbehaving schools would be forced to write apologies which would be published as a "banner advertisement" on major news outlets websites "at the expense of the school".
Instead, they will be barred from accessing the early ATAR files for between one and five years.
According to the document, most principals agreed with moves to strengthen the penalties for breaching the embargo.
And many principals said that there was no need to receive early access to the secretive files.
The Education Department had previously criticised VTAC's initial proposal, calling it "excessive".
But on Monday, a spokesman said the department welcomed the "more reasonable approach to the issue".
"(We) would welcome the opportunity to discuss these proposals with VTAC and ensure that any response is fair and balanced," he said.
All schools are expected to meet the rules, he said.
Exams for the most popular VCE subjects kick off this week, with more than 43,000 students to sit the English exam on Wednesday.
Results will be released to students from 7am on Monday, December 12.
henrietta.cook@fairfaxmedia.com.au