Achieving the HSC is different from getting a driver’s licence or an ATAR. You do not receive a simple ‘pass’ or ‘fail’, nor do you get a single rank or mark for all courses.

Child Studies explores the broad range of social, environmental, genetic and cultural factors that influence prenatal development and a child’s sense of wellbeing and belonging between 0 and 8 years of age.

Band 5 = 80 – 89 marks. Band 4 = 70 – 79 marks. Band 3 = 60 – 69 marks.

For a 2 unit course, Band 6 indicates the highest level of performance and the minimum standard expected is 50.

• Band 6 = 90 – 100 marks.
• Band 5 = 80 – 89 marks.
• Band 4 = 70 – 79 marks.
• Band 3 = 60 – 69 marks.
• Band 2 = 50 – 59 marks.
• Band 1 = 0 – 49 marks.

The median ATAR is usually around 70.00. To achieve a higher ATAR, you’ll need to get HSC marks of around 80 in all your courses. Fred received an HSC mark of 70 in each course, while Laura received an HSC mark of 80 in each course.

In 2010 the Australasian Conference of Tertiary Admission Centres, of which UAC is a member, agreed that a common name for this measure would be adopted: the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR)….ATAR/OP comparison table.

About 50% of students scored an ATAR of least 70. This year, 48 students – 15 girls and 33 boys – received the highest possible ATAR of 99.95. The overall median ATAR was 70.15, but boys fell slightly short at 68.7. The median ATAR for girls was 71.3.

In NSW, you have to study at least eight ATAR “units”, of which six have to be what are called Category A, plus two units of English. Category A units are defined as having “academic rigour” and a “depth of knowledge” required for tertiary studies.

ATAR stands for Australian Tertiary Admission Rank and it is the rank used by universities across Australia to help them select Year 12 students for entry into their courses. In Queensland they use the Overall Position (OP).

So both of the stats are correct – to get an ATAR of 80 you need to beat 80% of the graduating population, which means beating 66.5% of the people who receive an ATAR. As for getting an ATAR of 80 – its not impossible. The ATAR is a number from 0 and 99.95 in intervals of 0.05.

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.

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’.

Why it’s impossible to get an ATAR of 100. Because the ATAR is a rank and not a score, and it’s measured in increments of 0.05 the highest ATAR you could get is 99.95.

And a low ATAR score doesn’t mean you’re slow and you’re going to have a disastrous future. An ATAR score of 60 doesn’t mean you got 60 per cent as a grade. It actually means you’re in the top 40 per cent of your year group. Similarly, an ATAR score of 90 means you’re placed in the top 10 per cent of your year.

For example the top ATAR mark of students who incorporated the following subjects into their final result were:

• Ancient History – 99.95.
• Entertainment Industry Exam – 95.65.
• Italian Beginners – 99.7.
• Legal Studies – 99.95.
• Mathematics General – 99.85.
• PDH&PE – 99.85.

Typically, hardest courses to gain admission ( high ATAR ) are: (in no specific order)

• Actuarial Science studies.
• Aerospace Engineering ( this has limited job opportunities in Australian Economy )
• Aeronautical Engineering ( this has limited job opportunities in Australian Economy )

Do my year 11 marks count? Towards your ATAR? Nope. Your ATAR is a combination of your marks from the HSC exams and your assessment marks from year 12 only.

Most students do at least 3 hours of study per day. Conscientious students will do at least 3 hours study per evening. This means that students will need to do between 15 and 18 hours of study each week!

That said, to get an ATAR of 90 you must score in the top 5%, so that might be enough to answer your question. It SHOULD be “hard”, for it to be worth anything anyway. As for choosing subjects, choose what you enjoy, as you’ll then be prepared to put in the required effort to do your best and maximise your score.