No, Year 11 Units 1 and 2 generally do not directly contribute marks to your ATAR score, which relies on Year 12 Units 3 and 4, but they are crucial as a foundation, provide essential credits for your Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE), and build the skills needed for Year 12 success. While Year 11 scores don't directly scale into your ATAR, strong performance is key to achieving the necessary "Satisfactory" (S) results for your QCE, which is a prerequisite for getting an ATAR at all.
Even though none of your actual Year 11 grades are counting towards your ATAR, that doesn't mean what you learn will be totally useless. In fact, your Year 11 classes provide fundamental knowledge for those all-important final Year 12 exams. You need to learn to walk before you run, or so they say.
In NSW, your ATAR is based on an aggregate of scaled marks in 10 units of HSC courses comprising your: best 2 units of English. best 8 units from your remaining units.
Yes, while SACs primarily take place in Year 12, they can also matter in Year 11, especially in subjects where students begin coursework early. While these SACs do not directly contribute to the ATAR, they are crucial for laying a strong foundation for Year 12 SACs.
The ATAR is a number between 0 and 99.95, and it's made up of the scaled study scores from your top four scoring subjects (including at least one English subject), plus 10% of your fifth and sixth subjects.
Yes, an ATAR of 90 means you are in the top 10% of your year level in Australia, indicating excellent performance that opens doors to many university courses, though highly competitive ones like Medicine or Law may need higher scores. The ATAR is a percentile rank, so a 90 means you performed better than 90% of your peers.
You get bonus ATAR points (called adjustment factors) for things like strong performance in specific Year 12 subjects relevant to your chosen uni course, living in a disadvantaged area, facing personal hardship (financial, health, family issues), or being an elite athlete/performer, all to boost your selection rank for university entry, with most universities offering adjustments for subject performance and equity factors.
One of the main reasons your Grade 11 results are important is that they are often used for conditional acceptance into universities or colleges. Most tertiary institutions begin accepting applications in the first half of your Grade 12 year.
Year 11 is regarded as more challenging because it introduces students to the senior curriculum for the first time. This year is critical in laying the academic groundwork for Year 12, and students are expected to adapt to higher academic standards.
Subjects that typically scale down your ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank) are often those with broader student cohorts or less numerical emphasis, such as Foundation Mathematics, Health & Human Development, Business Management, Psychology, and some Arts/Humanities subjects, while higher-level Maths/Sciences often scale up, but performance is key, and subjects you excel in should be prioritized.
A 75% is usually a B or C, depending on the grading scale, often falling into a B- or C+ range in US systems (around 70-79%) but can sometimes be a solid B or even an A in some international or specific Australian scales where higher scores are harder to get. It's a strong pass, but its letter grade varies by institution, often sitting at the cusp of B/C or B+/C+.
In the 2025 NSW HSC, 53 students achieved the perfect ATAR of 99.95, including notable students like Jaden Gargya (Sydney Grammar), Jio Yim & Emma Zhang (PLC), James Mao, Murphy Xi, & Nicholas Chen (The King's School), and Rahul Desai (Baulkham Hills High), with James Ruse Agricultural High School producing the most top scorers (9). While many individual names were highlighted in media, the full list isn't centralized, but key performers and schools were celebrated for their extraordinary efforts in the top 0.05% of candidates.
They're kind of a big deal. These are the first block of exams where you'll be examined on every subject in a span of two weeks! Now you might be thinking: “Year 11 Exams don't matter, they don't actually count for anything”. HOWEVER, these exams are going to set your foundations for Year 12.
Getting a 70 ATAR is surprisingly achievable, as it's around the median for students who complete Year 12 (not 50), meaning you only need to be in the top 30% of your cohort, not get 70%. You generally need roughly average scaled study scores of about 30 across your best subjects, which often translates to consistent B+ or around 60-70% on internal assessments (SACs) and exams, though scaling and subject choice play a big role.
A 98 ATAR is an excellent score, and it is certainly high enough to apply for medicine at most universities in Australia and New Zealand.
Do Year 11 Subjects Count Towards Your ATAR? No, your ATAR is based entirely upon your performance in your Year 12 studies, unless you decide to take a Year 12 subject early. Much of the content you learn in Year 11 serves as 'assumed knowledge' for the following year, so it is still good to be across everything!
Mathematics is the subject students fear the most - be it 9th, 10th or 11th. Usually, it is fear that makes mathematics a complex subject for students.
The STEM strand is considered the most academically demanding SHS track because of: Higher-level math (Calculus, Statistics)
An 89.5 is usually a high B+ or a low A-, but it often rounds up to an A (90+) depending on the specific grading scale and if the instructor rounds up, so it's right on the cusp between a solid B and an A. Always check the syllabus for the exact cutoffs, but expect a strong B+ or a potential A if rounding occurs.
Performing very well in 3 A levels, securing outstanding predicted grades at the end of the first year of A level study is much more important. A*AA is nearly always better than AAAA at getting into top Uni courses. It is much harder to get AAAA than A*AA. Do the maths, as they say!
A 70% is often a B or a C, depending heavily on the grading system, but in many US systems it's a low C or C-, while in Australia, 70-74% is typically a Distinction (D), and 60-69% is a Credit (C). It's crucial to check your specific school or country's scale, as 70% can range from a solid pass to a high B or low Distinction.
Subjects that scale up for ATAR typically include advanced mathematics (like Specialist Maths, Maths Methods), sciences (Chemistry, Physics), and certain languages (Latin, French, Chinese SL), because students choosing these subjects often perform strongly overall, leading to adjusted scores that better reflect their high achievement, not just difficulty. High-scaling subjects reward top students, while lower-scaling subjects like Business Management often see a dip, though strong raw scores in any subject always matter most for your ATAR.
An ATAR of 80 is not extremely rare but is a very respectable achievement, placing you in the top 20% of your Year 12 age group, meaning you performed better than 80% of your peers nationally. While the median ATAR is around 70, achieving an 80 is difficult and requires strong performance, though it's considered achievable with consistent effort, unlike very high ATARs (90+) which are much rarer.
A very small number of students achieve the perfect 99.95 ATAR each year, typically ranging from the low 40s to low 50s across Australia, with specific numbers varying by state and cohort size (e.g., 53 in NSW/ACT 2025, 42 in Victoria 2025, 37 in Queensland 2025). This top rank signifies performance in the top 0.05% of the age group, making it exceptionally rare.