Parents

Resources for parents and carers helping their students prepare for university

Resources for parents and carers

Is your child in their final years of school and thinking about tertiary study?

We have plenty of resources to share with you on a range of topics, from selecting HSC subjects in Year 10 and deciding whether to drop a course in Year 11, to ATARs, accepting an offer to a tertiary course and more.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our digital newsletter for parents, the UAC Parent Update, for the latest information, deadlines and advice to support your child on their journey to university.

Top tip: To start their UAC application, Year 12 students need:

  • their NESA student number (if they don't know this, they should ask their school)
  • their UAC PIN (this was emailed to their school email address in April).

Once they have submitted their UAC application, they can then apply for the Schools Recommendation Scheme (for an early offer) and the Educational Access Scheme (if they've experienced a long-term educational disadvantage).

Key Year 12 resources

Early offer schemes for Year 12 students: key dates and process for all university early offer schemes

Changing preferences after you receive an offer: an explanation of how preferences and offers work

Course Compass: UAC's online tool to help students choose university courses

UAC Digital webinars: discussions between UAC and external experts on a range of topics, from the UAC application process to what you can expect from popular courses like Medicine and Teaching

Top tip: Before a student drops an HSC course at the end of Year 11, they should ask themselves three questions:

  1. Will I still be eligible for an ATAR?
  2. Is the course a prerequisite for a tertiary course I might want to study?
  3. Is the course assumed knowledge for a tertiary course I might want to study?

Key Year 11 resources

Subject Compass: UAC's online subject selection tool. It will tell you if a student's remaining subjects will keep them eligible for an ATAR

Year 11 Essentials [PDF]: advice on dropping courses and information about accelerating courses and Year 11 results

Top tip: Students need to choose courses that work for them in three main ways:

  1. They need to make them eligible to receive an ATAR (if they want to go to university).
  2. They need to be subjects they like, do well in and, therefore, give them the greatest chance of receiving the highest possible ATAR.
  3. They need to prepare them for the degree they are planning to study.

Key Year 10 resources

Subject Compass: UAC's online subject selection tool. It will tell you whether a student's subject choices will make them eligible for an ATAR.

Steps to Uni for Year 10 Students [PDF]

Top Tips for Choosing HSC Courses [PDF]

Top tip: The ATAR has only one purpose: it is a tool used by universities to help them select students for their courses. Universities use it because it has proven to be an excellent predictor of student success. Universities will often use other tools as well, such as interviews, portfolios and auditions. This year, ATARs will be released on 18 December.

Key ATAR resources

ATAR explained: what it is and how it's used

The Effectiveness and Limitations of the ATAR [PDF]

Preliminary Report on the Scaling of the 2023 NSW HSC [PDF]