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. ANU has the fourth highest undergraduate admission standards in Australia. With a score of 80.00, you're in a strong position and have plenty of options.
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. This rank provides an easy method of comparison for institutions when selecting students for course entry.
It's based on overall HSC results and is designed to be a predictor of your first-year performance at university. 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.
Excluding the 8 or 9 courses that have an extremely high ATAR requirement, an ATAR of around 85-95 enables you to do pretty much all the courses that are available at University. This contributes greatly to your freedom of choice when deciding what to study.
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).
An ATAR of 100 is impossible
Because the ATAR is a rank (not a percentage or mark) and it's measured in increments of 0.05 the highest ATAR you could get is 99.95.
Approximately 500 students will get a 99 ATAR in states like Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. Approximately 100 students score a 99 every year in Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania, while approximately 40 students achieve this in the ACT.
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. The lowest automatically reported rank is 30.00, with ranks below 30.00 being reported as 'less than 30'. Find out more about how ATARs are calculated.
The highest ATAR that you can achieve is 99.95, which effectively means that a student ranked better than 99.95% of students in their cohort. 3. What is the average ATAR score? The average ATAR is usually around 70.00.
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.
In NSW in 2020, the minimum aggregate required to score an ATAR of 90 or above was approximately 370, corresponding to an average scaled score of 37 per unit across 10 units.
VCE students receive their ATAR results
Teia and Gemima Herft were among 50,000 Victorian students who woke up at 7am to learn about their well deserved scores. "It feels like Christmas morning, it's very exciting," Teia said. After 13 long years of schooling, 39 students achieved the highest possible rank of 99.95.
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. The median ATAR was 70.15 this year, slightly higher than in 2019.
An ATAR score of 70 out of 100, for example, means you are in the top 30 percent for academic achievement in your cohort. Only 30 percent of people around your age completed secondary education and achieved better grades.
The ATAR is not a score, it's a rank. If a student gets an ATAR of 80, this doesn't mean they averaged 80%. It means they are 20% from the top of their age group.
Many unis have arts, science and business courses, which can be entered with an ATAR of 70 or less. Common degrees that have an ATAR of 70 or less are: Bachelor of Business (with various majors) Bachelor of Science (with various majors)
However, because some students don't go on to receive an ATAR (they leave school early), the average ATAR usually ends up being around 70 instead. What is the lowest ATAR score? While ATARs are all between 0 and 99.95, the lowest rank that actually gets reported is 30.
The elusive 99.95 ATAR is something a lot of people strive for but few achieve.
There is no 'Pass' or 'Fail' ATAR and the ATAR is intended to be used as a measure for tertiary study selection only.
In fact, a study of students at Victoria University showed many low-ATAR students achieved high marks in their first year, particularly when they were appropriately supported by the university to succeed.
What is the ATAR for Medicine in NSW and Canberra? For students wishing to study medicine in New South Wales, they will need to achieve an ATAR above 90 and in most cases in the mid-90s or even higher.
Ravenswood student Maria Yang is one of the 48 students in NSW who has received the perfect ATAR of 99.95 in 2022.
Parramatta High student Ved Khanolkar said his mum and dad were “left speechless” after he scored an ATAR of 99.5.
Finally, the scaled scores are added together (as described below) to generate an aggregate, which is judged against the aggregates of all other students in the state on a bell curve, producing the ATAR ranking.