What is the ATAR?
Tertiary institutions in Australia have found that a selection rank based on a student’s overall academic achievement is the best single predictor of success for most tertiary courses.
The ATAR allows the comparison of students who have completed different combinations of HSC courses. The ATAR is calculated solely for use by institutions, either on its own or in conjunction with other selection criteria, to rank and select school leavers for admission to tertiary courses. Read cut-offs for more information.
Other criteria such as a portfolio, interview, audition, questionnaire or test may also be taken into account in conjunction with the ATAR for certain courses. Additional selection criteria can be found in the course descriptions available through the course search.
The ATAR is a number (not a mark) that indicates a student’s position in relation to their Year 7 cohort, including students who did not complete Year 12. An ATAR of 80.00, for example, indicates that students with that ATAR have performed in the HSC better than 80 per cent of their Year 7 cohort, had all these Year 7 students completed Year 12 and been eligible for an ATAR. The ATAR is reported as a number between 0.00 and 99.95 with increments of 0.05.
Calculation of the ATAR is the responsibility of the Technical Committee on Scaling on behalf of the NSW Vice-Chancellors’ Committee. Students who indicate on their HSC entry forms that they wish to be notified of their ATAR will receive an ATAR Advice Notice from UAC. ATARs are also made available to institutions for selection purposes.
