ATAR - Australian Tertiary Admission Rank Eligibility and Prerequisites Questions and Answers — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which of the following is a mandatory requirement for a student in New South Wales to be eligible for an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR)?
- Completion of a Vocational Education and Training (VET) qualification.
- Satisfactory completion of at least 10 units of HSC Board Developed courses, including 2 units of English. (Correct answer)
- Achieving a minimum raw score of 50 in all HSC subjects.
- Studying at least one mathematics subject.
Correct answer: Satisfactory completion of at least 10 units of HSC Board Developed courses, including 2 units of English.
To be eligible for an ATAR in NSW, a student must satisfactorily complete a minimum of 10 units of HSC Board Developed courses. A key component of this is the mandatory completion of at least 2 units of English.
Question 2: A student in Queensland is planning their senior secondary studies to ensure they are eligible for an ATAR. Which combination of subjects would meet the eligibility criteria?
- Three General subjects and two Applied subjects.
- Five Applied subjects at Units 3 and 4.
- Four General subjects (Units 3 and 4) and one completed VET qualification at Certificate III level or higher. (Correct answer)
- Four General subjects without a satisfactory completion of an English subject.
Correct answer: Four General subjects (Units 3 and 4) and one completed VET qualification at Certificate III level or higher.
In Queensland, one of the pathways to ATAR eligibility is completing four General subjects at Units 3 and 4, plus one Applied subject (Units 3 and 4) or a VET course at AQF Certificate III level or higher. Satisfactory completion of an English subject is also a requirement.
Question 3: In the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE), how are the fifth and sixth permissible subjects treated in the ATAR calculation?
- They are not included in the ATAR calculation at all.
- Their full scaled scores are added to the primary four subjects.
- Only the higher scoring of the two is added to the aggregate.
- 10% of their scaled study scores are added to the aggregate. (Correct answer)
Correct answer: 10% of their scaled study scores are added to the aggregate.
For Victorian students, the ATAR is calculated from the scaled study scores of the top four scoring subjects (including at least one English subject), plus 10% of the scaled scores from the fifth and sixth permissible subjects, if available.
Question 4: A student receives an ATAR of 85.00. What does this rank signify?
- The student achieved an average mark of 85% across their subjects.
- The student is in the bottom 15% of their age cohort.
- The student's performance places them in the top 15% of their age cohort. (Correct answer)
- The student scored 85 out of a possible 99.95 points.
Correct answer: The student's performance places them in the top 15% of their age cohort.
The ATAR is a percentile rank, not a score. An ATAR of 85.00 indicates that the student has performed better than 85% of their peers, placing them in the top 15% of all students in their age group for that year.
Question 5: A university admissions offer refers to a 'Selection Rank' that is higher than a student's ATAR. What is the most likely reason for this difference?
- The university made a calculation error.
- The student's raw scores were used instead of scaled scores.
- The student's ATAR was automatically rounded up to the nearest whole number.
- The student was eligible for adjustment factors. (Correct answer)
Correct answer: The student was eligible for adjustment factors.
A Selection Rank is the ATAR plus any adjustment factors. Universities may apply these factors based on criteria such as performance in specific HSC subjects, the location of the student's school, or eligibility for an Educational Access Scheme. These adjustments raise the student's rank for a particular course at a particular institution but do not change the ATAR itself.
Question 6: What is the primary purpose of subject scaling in the ATAR calculation process across all Australian states?
- To penalize students for choosing subjects perceived as less difficult.
- To ensure students are not advantaged or disadvantaged based on their subject choices. (Correct answer)
- To directly convert raw exam marks into a percentage score for university entry.
- To rank schools based on the collective performance of their students.
Correct answer: To ensure students are not advantaged or disadvantaged based on their subject choices.
Scaling is a statistical process used by all states to align student results from different courses onto a common scale. This ensures that a student's ATAR is a fair measure of their overall academic achievement, regardless of the specific combination of subjects they studied, by accounting for the varying levels of competition in different subjects.
ATAR - Australian Tertiary Admission Rank Eligibility and Prerequisites Questions and Answers
Which of the following is a mandatory requirement for a student in New South Wales to be eligible for an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR)?