Table of Contents
Definitions!
The Australian Tertiary Admission Index (ATAR)!
What is the ATAR?!
HSC Results!
What are HSC Results?!
Aggregates & ATAR!
3
4
5
7
8
9
How is my ATAR determined?!
10
What is Scaling?!
10
Why is Scaling Necessary?!
11
Relationship between Aggregates, Percentiles & an ATAR!
12
How to use Scaling to your Advantage!
13
English!
14
Maths!
16
Science!
18
Humanities!
20
Languages!
21
Subject Choices!
24
Choosing the right subjects!
25
How does subject combination affect my ATAR?!
26
How to achieve your ATAR goal!
27
Step 1!
28
Step 2!
29
Step 3!
30
General Advice!
What you should know!
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32
1
Conclusion & Additional Resources!
Additional Resources!
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2
Definitions
The Board (BOS)
In this report the Board or (BOS) refers to the NSW Board of Studies.
UAC?
UAC refers to the Universities Admissions Centre (NSW and ACT) Pty Ltd.
Board Developed Courses
English, mathematics, science and history will be mandatory. In addition to these four subjects, schools
will have the flexibility to offer a range of other subjects.
ATAR Courses
In this report ATAR courses are Board Developed courses for which there are examinations conducted
by the NSW Board of Studies that yield graded assessments. VET courses for which there are no
written examinations and Life Skills courses are not ATAR courses.
HSC Cohort
In this report HSC cohort refers to students who have completed at least one ATAR course in a particular year.
ATAR Cohort
In this report ATAR cohort is used to refer to those students who received a ATAR in a particular year.
The students may have accumulated courses over a five-year period.
Aggregate
An aggregate of scaled marks in 10 units of ATAR courses and is out of 500.
Scaled Mark
The standardised HSC mark or UAC score of an ATAR course.
HSC Mark
The average of your HSC exam and Assessment mark
Percentile
A student’s rank in an ATAR course. 90th percentile in an ATAR course is equivalent to a top 10% rank.
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What is the ATAR?
ATAR is an acronym for ‘Australian Tertiary Admission Index’ and is a number between 0.00 and 99.95
with increments of 0.05. It is a numerical measure of a student's overall academic achievement in the
NSW Higher School Certificate (HSC) in relation to that of other students, hence the ATAR is a rank
and NOT a mark.
ATAR
Australian Tertiary Admission Rank
Acronym
What is it?
What does it indicate?
Maximum Rank Attainable
information about how well you have performed OVERALL
against other students
Position/Rank in relation to Year 7 students they began
school with
99.95
(Top 0.05%)
Number of students in the top
ranking
45 – 50
Who provides it?
UAC
Why do we need an ATAR?
The ATAR allows Universities to compare students who have completed different combinations of HSC
courses. Universities use the ATAR either on its own or in conjunction with other selection criteria, to
rank and select school leavers for admission into university courses.
Who is eligible for an ATAR?
To be eligible for an ATAR you must satisfactorily complete at least 10 units of ATAR courses. These
ATAR courses must include at least:
• eight units from Category A courses1
• two units of English
• three ATAR courses of two units or greater and
• four subjects
How is an ATAR calculated?
A student's ATAR is a rank which is based on an aggregate of scaled marks in 10 units of ATAR
courses comprising of:
1
Category A courses refer to courses that have academic rigour and depth of knowledge providing an adequate
background for tertiary studies.
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• their best two (2) units of English
• their best eight (8) units from their remaining units, which can include up to two units of
Category B courses.
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How is my ATAR determined?
Process of ATAR determination
The following diagram shows the process of ATAR determination in chronological order.
What is Scaling?
Scaling is the process of ‘standardising’ raw marks [average of HSC exam mark and Assessment Mark]
provided by the BOS and estimating what these marks would have been if all courses had been
studied by all students. In scaling, UAC modifies the mean, the standard deviation and the maximum
mark in each course. Adjustments are then made to the marks of individual students to produce scaled
marks, which are the marks the students would have received if all courses had the same candidature.
At the end of this scaling process, different marks in different subjects are converted to a single UAC
score for every subject. Although scaled marks are generally different from the raw marks from which
they are derived, the ranking of students within a course is not changed.
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Humanities
Tip 4: If you choose to do a humanities subject, consider Economics over
Business Studies.
As shown in the table below, Economics is scaled better than other humanities courses. The table also
shows that Geography and Legal Studies students have to be in the top 10% [90th percentile] of
students to obtain scaled marks comparable to those obtained by the top 25% [75th percentile] of the
Economics students.
Tip 5: If you are good at Music, consider Music 2 or Music Extension over
Music 1.
If you do AMEB grades for a musical instrument, choose Music 2 or Music Extension. They both scale
better than Economics! Refer to the Humanities Course graphs below.
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Languages
Tip 6: If you are good at Languages, consider the Continuers course over
the Beginners course.
As shown in Table 7 below, Continuers is better scaled than beginners or Background Speakers. The
table also shows that Japanese Beginners and French Beginners students have to be in the top 10%
[90th percentile] of students to obtain scaled marks comparable to those obtained by the top 25% [75th
percentile] of Japanese Continuers and French Continuers students.
Course
Scaled Scaled
Number Maximum mean
mark
mark
P99
P90
P75
HSC
Mark
Scaled
mark
HSC
Mark
Scaled
mark
HSC
Mark
Scaled
mark
Biology
15,849
49.7
26.9
47.0
44.7
44.0
39.2
41.0
34.3
Chemistry
10,330
50.0
31.7
49.0
50.0
47.0
45.9
45.0
42.2
Physics
9,359
50.0
30.5
47.0
45.6
44.5
41.4
42.0
37.6
Senior
Science
4,901
43.8
19.5
47.5
40.3
44.0
32.8
41.5
27.1
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Choosing the right subjects
Students are advised to consider the following questions when selecting subjects for Year 11 & 12.
(1) Do I find the subject interesting and/or do I like the subject? For example, do I find science
subjects more interesting than humanities subjects?
(2) Do I understand clearly what the subject involves? For example, junior science is very
different to Chemistry, Physics and Biology.
(3) Is the subject a prerequisite for the university course that I hope to undertake? For
example, if I want to undertake a Medical course at University, then should I consider
studying both Chemistry and Biology?
(4) Do I understand the scaling of the subject? Subject selection should not depend on the
scaling of each subject alone. No matter how well a subject is scaled, if you do not
perform well in the subject then scaling does not help!
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How does subject combination affect my
ATAR?
ATARs for students scoring in the 90th percentile for different combinations of subjects are shown in the
tables below. A student with a subject combination of Maths and Science is awarded a higher ATAR
than another student with the subject combination of humanities subjects. This is despite both students
performing in the 90th percentile in their courses.
Humanities oriented subject combination
Maths & Science oriented subject
combination
Subject
HSC Mark Scaled Mark
Subject
Advanced English
88
83.6
Maths Ext. 1
94
92.8
Maths Ext. 2
93
95
Physics
88
Chemistry
89
HSC Mark
Scaled Mark
Standard English
76
56
Mathematics
92
83.4
Business Studies
87
75.4
82.6
Modern History
89
80.4
84.6
Biology
88
78
AGGREGATE 438.6 (/500)
ATAR
98.50
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AGGREGATE 373.2 (/500)
ATAR
26
91.10
What you should know
Know how each subject is scaled.
• Not all subjects are created equal and therefore not all subjects are scaled equally! This means
that subjects that are considered more “difficult” to score high marks are scaled higher
whereas subjects that are considered easier to score high marks will be scaled downwards.
• It is important to understand how scaling works so that you can make informed subject
selections, and study time allocations, coupled with your own academic strengths.
Ace English
• YOU MUST DO WELL IN ENGLISH. Since 2 units of English must count towards your ATAR
calculation, students who do well in English will get a top UAC Score or ATAR.
• In fact, in order to get a ATAR of 99.95, your English score needs to be at least 94/100
Study smart, not hard!
• Most students will find that there aren’t enough hours in a day or week to study all subjects
equally hard. One of the ways that you can overcome this barrier is by taking advantage of the
scaling system to place more efforts in subjects that rewards higher scaled marks
• For example, consider how scaled marks changes when a student’s ranking in Maths Ext 2
and Advanced English changes from 75th percentile to 90th percentile. In Maths Ext 2 the
student will gain an additional scaled mark of 2.6 whereas in Advanced English students gain an
additional scaled mark of 8.6. (Please refer to the scaling graphs of Mathematics and English).
• If you were in this situation, in which subject should you invest more time to study? Why?
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1. Case Study
Course
Overall Rank
Assessment Mark
English ADV
36/150
73
Maths Ext 2
25/60
70
Maths Ext 1
10/30
87
Physics
1/20
95
Chemistry
8/41
87
• The table below shows David’s overall rank and marks at his school.
• In which subject(s) do you think David should allocate more time for study?
a. In order to maximise his ATAR, he must allocate more time for study in English and
Chemistry. This is because Mathematics Ext 1 and 2 are scaled very highly and he
only needs to be in the top 20% and 25% respectively to achieve a mark equivalent to
the top 1% in other subjects.
b. Even if David dropped a few marks and rankings in mathematics, it would be much
better than dropping a few marks and rankings in English and/or Chemistry.
c. If David improves his marks and rankings in English and in Chemistry, it would have a
greater impact in scoring a higher aggregate and a higher ATAR. This is because
English and Chemistry are not scaled as well as Mathematics Ext 1 & 2 and therefore
he must secure a top mark in both subjects to achieve a higher aggregate and
therefore a higher ATAR.
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Additional Resources
This information and other free resources can be found on the Matrix Blog. The Matrix blog is updated
weekly with helpful articles on academic advice, study tips and educational news.
Here are links to some of our articles that you may find useful.
All About ATAR &
Scaling
http://www.matrix.edu.au/all-about-atar-scaling/
How to Achieve 99.95
http://www.matrix.edu.au/how-to-achieve-99-95-atar/
How to Write a Band 6
Essay
http://www.matrix.edu.au/how-to-write-a-band-6-essay/
What is UMAT?
http://www.matrix.edu.au/what-is-umat/
2012 University ATAR
Cut-offs
http://www.matrix.edu.au/2012-atar-cut-offs/
Top 5 Related Texts for
Belonging
http://www.matrix.edu.au/top-5-related-texts-for-belonging/
Emotional Intelligence
http://www.matrix.edu.au/emotional-intelligence/
How to Enter a
Selective School in
Year 8-12
http://www.matrix.edu.au/how-to-enter-a-selective-school-in-year-8-12/
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