Hey man, no worries.
Ok, step 1 you get your VCE result. Hope it is a good one! :p Then, go straight to the website below, which allows you to convert your ATAR into IB score. Obviously, this is the 2010 table, so it might change slightly in 2011.
http://www.vtac.edu.au/pdf/ib_notional_enter.pdf Step 2, After you have attained your IB score, for example sake, say a 36, you then check out the UCAS tariff table.
The tariff table is created to cater for international (Non-UK) and local students. If you don't want the explanation of why the tariff table is created, go ahead to this site to check out the tariff points of your IB score. For 36, you will be looking around 523 points.
http://www.ucas.com/students/ucas_tariff/tarifftables/ ***
The Tariff Table Explanation*
For international students, it allows the student to gain an idea of their A-level score, when applying for courses in unis abroad UK. For local students, the tariff points establish a sense of equivalency, allowing them more flexibility when applying for courses. For example, an IB score of 36 is equivalent to a tariff point of 523, which in A-level terms, is an A+ A+ A A, or A A A A E or A+ A+ A+ E E etccc (around low 500s) Note: To check the value of each grades, check out the last table.
Since the tariff table establish the value of the respective grades, local students would not be stifled by the amount of subjects they need to take in order to meet the entry requirements. They can hence choose to take on a wider range of subjects and score decently, or specialise on a few and do awesome in those subjects.
***
IB Diploma result UCAS Points (2010) A Level Equivalent
45 720 A*A*A*A*A*
40 611 A*A*A*A*D
36 523 A*A*AA
32 435 AAAD
28 348 AAB
24 260 BBD
A Level Grades Points Allocated
A* 140
A 120
B 100
C 80
D 60
E 40
While many unis have now accepted tariff points as means of calculating entry requirements, many more prestigious ones, such as University of Edinburgh, Cambridge, Oxford, londondoesn't seem to be warming up to the idea anytime soon. For instance, law in Edinburgh requires an A level result of AAA and an IB score of minimum 34. An IB Score of 34(479 points) would give you around AAAB and more, considerably more than what you would require if you do A-levels. Hence, the ATAR -> convert to IB-> convert to A-Levels only gives you a sense of equivalence or idea, so in no way are the unis enforced to take you in, given that they are also look at contextual factors, the subjects you do etccc
All in all, the UK universities are simply not accepting that their 'golden standard' the A-level is now dying, you just gotta do a google-search engine to find articles such as ' Teachers say that a monkey can be trained to pass the A-Levels,' so just take the Tarriff points as a guideline if you are an international student( VCE, HSC), since the many conversions(to IB then to A-Levels), as Eriny stated, seems to make the whole matter even more blunt.
Hope this helps in some way, mate!
Enjoy
Note: If you look at the tables I have provided closely enough, you ill see that IB and VCE outclass A-levels big time, no wonder they are sore. Just bear in mind, most academically selective unis in UK require around an ABB for engineering, accounting etccc, an AAA is truly excellent (only an Ib score of 29-30, atar of 81s and 85s), so technically, we shouldn't be afraid. Though the good unis would always impose both IB and A-Level Grade in their entry requirements , and the IB score (even when converted to A-Level grades through their own ' UCAS' way) is usually considerably higher than that of the A-Level, so sucks to be us internationals.
We can only convert as far as to IB scores I think, so in a sense, the tariff table is useless to us. Lets hope some other people may shed more light on this issue.