ATAR

Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank

It's worth remembering that the ATAR won't reflect all the skills and experience you have. It also won't define your future.

If you don't intend to go on to university study after school, then you don't need to be too concerned about the ATAR. Its usefulness is in ranking students for entry to university courses. If you do intend to go on to university after school, an ATAR isn't the only option. Each institution offers a variety of pathways to gain entry to their courses.

Many students and parents often ask what subjects they should study to get a good ATAR? It has been proven time and time again that the best ATARs are achieved when students study the subjects that interest them the most. There is no point trying to study chemistry when your first love is cooking and hospitality.

What is a TAS?

What is an ATAR?

A Tertiary Admissions Subject (TAS) is a SACE Stage 2 subject that has been approved by the universities and TAFE SA as providing suitable preparation for tertiary studies.

Almost all SACE subjects are recognised Tertiary Admissions Subjects, but there are some that aren’t recognised, and so can’t be used towards your ATAR:

An Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR) is issued by SATAC and used by universities to select students for courses. It measures a student’s overall achievement compared with all students nationally and ranges from 0 to 99.95.

The score is calculated from the student's 90-credit, Stage 2 results and is used by universities to select students for courses.

How the ATAR is calculated

Raw Score

SACE results cannot be used directly in the selection process for university or TAFE SA courses. A mathematical process called scaling must first be used to ensure that results obtained in different subjects can be directly compared. The results must also be converted to numerical values to allow a university aggregate to be calculated.

This fact sheet explains how the raw score is calculated by looking at an example subject, Information Technology.

satac-fact-sheet_sacentcet_rawscore.pdf

Scaling

Your achievement in each of your SACE Stage 2 subjects is expressed as a grade in the range A+ to E-, and behind these grades are results for each of the assessment types of each subject. To create scaled scores for the subjects that you attempt using these results, two things need to happen:

these results need to be converted into a numeric equivalent (called a raw score); and
these numeric equivalents need to be made comparable through a process called scaling.

University Aggregate

Your university aggregate is calculated from 90 credits of study, which may include up to 20 credits of Recognised Studies.

The first 60 credits are the scaled scores from three 20 credit Tertiary Admissions Subjects (TAS). Normally 10 credit subjects do not count towards the first 60 credits but some 10 credit subjects, when studied in pairs, can substitute for a 20 credit subject.

The Flexible Option, or final 30 credits, is the best 30 credits of scaled scores from:

the scaled score of a 20 credit TAS
half the scaled score of one or more 20 credit TAS
the scaled score of one or more 10 credit TAS
scaled score equivalents for Recognised Studies to the value of 10 or the maximum of 20 credits.

Your university aggregate is the best possible score calculated from the above options, subject to the rules regarding precluded combinations and counting restrictions.

ATAR

The university aggregate is used to calculate a student’s ATAR. Institutions use the ATAR as a tool to compare the results and competitiveness of all students who have completed year 12.

How an ATAR is calculated

The group of students who may qualify for a university aggregate in 2020 is called the 2020 cohort.
For each university aggregate (in the range 0-90.0) obtained by the students in this cohort, the percentage of students who obtained that aggregate or better is calculated. This is known as calculating the percentile distribution.
Each university aggregate in the range 0-90.0 now has a corresponding percentile rank in the range 0-100. For example, if an aggregate of 78.0 or better out of 90.0 has been obtained by the top 10% of the cohort, the aggregate of 78.0 will correspond to a percentile rank of 90.0 (100 - 10).
To derive an ATAR from the university aggregate we need to look at where the students in the cohort sit compared to the entire population of students across Australia who are in the same age group.
The 2020 cohort may differ from that of other years in that it may represent a smaller or larger percentage of the population who are in the same age group.
The percentage from the given year is known as the participation rate. It is calculated using population statistics obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and measuring these against the size of the cohort.
The percentile rank is adjusted to take account of the participation rate and where the student sits relative to the entire population, and the result is the ATAR. For example, if a student has an ATAR of 95.00 it indicates that they have achieved as well as, or better than, 95% of the population. This process ensures the ATAR is comparable from year to year.
When the calculations are completed, a student’s relative position on the ATAR range is unchanged from the student’s relative position on the university aggregate range.

It is important to remember that the ATAR is a rank, not a score.

At the completion of Year 12, student's may receive a Tertiary Entrance Statement issued by SATAC. The statement is a document that informs you of the university aggregate and ATAR you have achieved. All this is done automatically by SATAC based on your SACE results.

Selection Rank

SATAC uses 'selection rank', not ATAR, when describing entry ranks for courses. This is because the rank used to create the merit order for offers may include more than the ATAR.

For example, a selection rank might include adjustments from the Universities Equity Scheme or the Universities Language, Literacy and Mathematics Scheme, or a combination of ATAR plus results from auditions, interviews or other criteria.

Selection ranks determine how 'competitive' you are relative to other applicants for the same course.

Your selection rank may be different to your ATAR, therefore it is important to log into your SATAC application to check the selection rank for each of your preferences.

A List of Selection Ranks

The SATAC guide contains a comprehensive list of selection ranks for every course offered by SATAC. The list provides information about the SATAC codes, course programs, mode of delivery, location of delivery, duration of the courses, attendance status, prerequisites, assumed knowledge, deferability, lowest selection ranks and guaranteed entries.

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