Your rank is based on how you went compared to other Year 12 students. So even if your test scores are lower than you'd hoped, if you're still ranked in the top 20% of students, then you'll receive an ATAR of 80. As long as you try your best with what you have, chances are, you'll do better than you expect.
For most people, a good ATAR score is 80.00.
Eighty is the minimum ATAR for entry into most programs at the Australian National University.
17 per cent of students received an ATAR of 90.00 or above, 33.9 per cent received an ATAR of at least 80.00 and 50.3 per cent at least 70.00.
Your ATAR is a rank, not a percentage
If you're disappointed when you receive your ATAR, try to remember that you're not looking at a percentage. An ATAR is a rank given in increments of 0.05 between 0.0 and 99.95, meaning that a score of 75 puts you in the top 25 per cent of your state.
The ATAR is a rank, not a mark. It is a number between 0 and 99.95 with increments of 0.05. It allows us to compare the overall achievement of students who have completed thousands of different combinations of HSC courses. An ATAR of 80.00 places you in the top 20% of your age cohort.
An ATAR score of 80+ is generally considered 'good' and an ATAR of 90+ is generally considered 'great'. Students who score ATARs of 95+ often put in countless hours of study, work consistently throughout the year, and get extra help through private tutoring.
3. What is the average ATAR score? The average ATAR is usually around 70.00.
What is the lowest ATAR score? While ATARs are all between 0 and 99.95, the lowest rank that actually gets reported is 30.
In NSW in 2020, the aggregate required for an 85 ATAR was just above 340. This corresponds to an average scaled score per unit of 34 across 10 units (including two English units).
The reality is that most students arrive at university with an ATAR of less than 90. It is a rank, and therefore only some students will get 90 and above. The ATAR shows a student's achievement in relation to other students. It's also not a complete sign of "success".
The average ATAR usually sits at around 70.00. Why is this? Although an ATAR of 70 places a student in the top 70% of year 12 students overall, it only places them in the top 50% of students who get an ATAR (since certain students will not finish their year 12 studies).
Is 80% an "A" in Australian High Schools? In high schools throughout Australia, a grade of "B" (Good) is awarded for attaining a minimum score of 80%. To receive an "A" grade (Excellent), students must score 85% or higher in any given subject, course, or assignment.
So, an ATAR of 85 doesn't mean you got an 85% in your exams – it means that you outperformed 85% of the rest of the student population for that year. Tip: A good way to think about the ATAR is to think about a leaderboard in a competitive video game.
While it sounds great to get a 99+ ATAR, you need to find the perfect balance between achieving a good ATAR and creating options for yourself in terms of scholarships and early entry. You can do this best by aiming for that sweet spot of 85-95 ATAR.
An ATAR of 100 is impossible
An ATAR of 80.00 indicates that you sit in the top 20% of your cohort and so on. In order to get a rank of 100 you'd have to have beaten 100 per cent of your cohort…… including yourself.
You haven't faced a year of schooling like this before – so some tips on how to get a good ATAR might be just what you need to face the challenges ahead. Luckily, we've got advice from 12 graduates who received a UQ Vice-Chancellor's Scholarship in 2022 by getting an ATAR of 99.90 or 99.95.
A Quick Word On ATAR Scaling
Based on historical data, Chemistry and Physics scale slightly higher than Biology while Economics scales better than Legal Studies and Business Studies. Ancient History tends to scale down compared to Modern History.
Rank, not a score
So an ATAR of 70 doesn't mean you got 70 percent – it means that you're in the top 30 percent of your year group.
Students who didn't receive the ATAR they needed can enrol in a number of open enrolment subjects available across a range of study areas—all available to start without entry requirements. Once you've completed these, you can use your passing grades to meet entry requirements for a full degree down the track.
Ravenswood student Maria Yang is one of the 48 students in NSW who has received the perfect ATAR of 99.95 in 2022. She could not believe it when she saw she had been given the highest rank possible this morning.
Ethan Tan, 15, became the youngest student ever to get the highest possible ATAR of 99.95 on Friday. The Cranbrook student is one of only 46 students across the state to have achieved the top ATAR this year, and has his sights set on Cambridge or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for next year.
The ATAR is an estimate of the percentage of the population that you outperformed. So if you receive an ATAR of 60, it means you performed better than 60% of students that year. The ATAR is a number from 0 and 99.95 in intervals of 0.05. The highest rank is 99.95, the next highest 99.90, and so on.
As the ATAR is a percentile, a 99.95 ATAR means that you are in the top 0.05% of your state. Likewise, an ATAR of 99 means that you are in the top 1% of your state. Generally an ATAR of 99+ is considered as competitive for entry into Medicine (dependent on performances in the UCAT and Interviews).
High schools are often ranked compared to other high schools in the state, according to students' achievement in the HSC. Your school's ranking does not affect your ATAR - your ATAR is based on a combination of your scaled marks in your best 10 units.
Universities use the ATAR to help them make decisions around admissions to their courses. The ATAR score helps students and course administrators feel confident that they'll be academically able to meet the demands of higher study. ATAR is only one part of getting into a chosen course of study.