The questions VTAC is most often asked is, “what is a good ATAR”? As the people responsible for calculating the ATAR, we certainly have the answer. But before that, let’s get a few things straight.
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ATAR stands for Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank, so it is a rank – not a score. It is represented as a number between 0 and 99.95 in intervals of 0.05, with 99.95 being the highest rank.
Because the ATAR is a rank, there is no pass or fail ATAR. Everyone who receives an ATAR has successfully passed the VCE. The ATAR simply demonstrates each student’s achievement in relation to all other students in the Year 12 age group. For example, someone receiving an ATAR of 55 has performed better than 55 per cent of the Year 12 age group for that year.
The ATAR was developed on behalf of all universities as a numerical tool for assessing students for university courses. Because of the way the ATAR is calculated, institutions can ensure that a 30 in one study is equivalent to a 30 in another study, therefore eliminating any subjective decisions about how difficult one study is compared to another.
The ATAR was never developed as a measure of success. In its pure state, it was simply another tool in the kit to be used if required for selection.
Every year, institutions review their selection practices to determine which criteria should be used to ensure the most suitable applicants are accepted into their courses. The decision on what these tools are is completely at their own institutional discretion.
For some courses it’s a combination of ATAR and other criteria; for other courses it’s about a student’s performance in their prerequisite studies, satisfying the VCE, or performance in interviews, folio presentations and the like.
In addition to these criteria, instituitons take other factors into consideration and apply adjustments to your selection. These adjustments vary and may include your performance in your VCE studies, where you live or go to school, whether you attend an under-represented school, come from a non-English speaking background, have experienced difficulties while at school and more.
With lots of interest at the moment in the use of the ATAR, it’s worth taking stock of how it’s currently used.
For 2019 alone, of the 1,497 undergraduate courses listed for application through VTAC:
- 40.8% do not use the ATAR as any part of their selection
- 10.4% use only the ATAR
- 48.8% use the ATAR and other selection tools such as those listed above
You may be asking, if the ATAR is simply a tool, why all the hype? Well that’s easy. Marketing. It is much harder for marketers to quantify the performance of students in their interviews, presentations and auditions – whereas the ATAR is a rank that starts at 0.05 and goes all the way to 99.95.
So, what is a good ATAR?
Well that depends, on what you intend to study, how realistic you are about your capabilities, what courses you’re looking to apply for and whether the ATAR is even a factor in your selection.
Because contrary to all the hype, your ATAR does not define you as a person. does not determine your future capabilities and is not a measure of your worth. It’s one of the many selection tools available to instituitons, nothing more, nothing less.
When you get your ATAR on Friday, take a breath and don’t limit yourself to one course or one dream. Check out all your options because success isn’t a number or rank. It’s about not giving up and working towards your dream.
ATARs will be released today. To access your ATAR you must register first at resultsandatar.vic.edu.au
Catherine Wills, is Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC) Director
*Still to come on The Courier on Friday evening – The Duxes of Ballarat, 2018
