Thirty three VCE students have tested positive to COVID-19 ahead of the General Achievement Test.

Some 8000 students from COVID-19 “hot spot” postcodes were tested at the weekend ahead of the test.

The education minister said 33 of those tests had come back positive.

“We may not have found these cases otherwise,” James Merlino said on Monday.

“So it goes a long way to helping us hold the GAT as safely as possible tomorrow.”

Those students who tested positive will not be able to sit the test on Tuesday.

“We’ll make arrangements for how they can sit their exams at a later stage,” Mr Merlino said.