How the ATAR system works for budding tertiary students

An ATAR is a number measuring a student’s academic performance in comparison to every other final year student in the country.

An Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) helps universities determine which students get admission to their courses.

Following the completion of secondary education, most year 12 students will receive an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank, better known as ATAR, a key figure that helps universities determine which students get admission to their courses.

An ATAR is a number between 0.00 and 99.95 measuring a student’s academic performance in comparison to every other final year student in the country, with some universities having minimum ATAR requirements to gain admission to the institution or for a specific course.

The University Admissions Centre emphasises that the ATAR is indicative of rank rather than a score, meaning if a student is awarded a 70.00 (the average ATAR), that translates to the student being at the top 30 percentile of their age group.

While all states use the ATAR system, with Queensland only transitioning recently from the Overall Position, the way students’ ATARs are calculated differs across the states and territories. But they usually require a minimum number of subjects to be taken.

In NSW, for example, the ATAR is determined by an aggregate of scaled marks in 10 units of approved courses comprising the best two units of English and best eight of other units.