The Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) is a ranking system used in Australia to measure a student's academic performance relative to their peers in the same graduating year. It is a score between 0 and 99.95 and is used by universities and other higher education institutions to determine admission to undergraduate courses.
To be eligible for an ATAR, you need at least 10 units of ATAR courses, including three courses of 2 units or more and courses from at least four subjects. At least 2 units must be English. Most students take English Standard or English Advanced, and English Advanced students can add English Extension 1.
You can study more than 10 units, but only your best 10 count.
For HSC courses, NESA gives you an HSC mark, usually out of 100. It combines your school assessment and your HSC exam, and shows the standard you reached. For your ATAR, marks are then scaled so results can be compared fairly across courses. How much a mark moves depends on the course and the year.
Your best 2 units of English count, then your best 8 remaining units from any courses. A course can count in part, and any further units aren't used.
Your ATAR is based on your aggregate, which is out of 500. It adds the scaled marks from your best 2 units of English and your best 8 remaining units. Your aggregate is then ranked and converted to an ATAR.
It estimates a scaled mark for each HSC mark using the course statistics in UAC's 2025 scaling report, then adds your best 2 units of English and your best 8 remaining units. The total is converted to an ATAR using the aggregate figures in that report. UAC doesn't publish a mark-to-scaled-mark table and scaling changes every year, so treat the result as an estimate.
If you have more questions about ATAR, you should check out our blog where we cover everything you need to know. For one-on-one help, talk to our HSC tutors
