Rich VCE students study Latin and receive bonus marks while their poor counterparts study food technology and their results are scaled down.

As thousands of students nervously wait for their VCE results to arrive on Monday, new research shows that a student's choice of VCE subjects is closely tied to their wealth.

VCE student Credit:JOE ARMAO

Victoria University adjunct professor Richard Teese said the scaling up and down of subjects was an "unintentional form of social engineering" that advantaged the rich and penalised the poor.

"The richer you are, the more likely you are to do subjects that are scaled up and the poorer you are the more likely you are to do subjects that are scaled down," he said.