What is the ATAR?
5 min read · updated 2026-09-01
The ATAR is the rank Australian universities use to admit school leavers. It is not a score out of 100, it is a percentile position, and understanding that distinction changes how families plan senior school.
What the number means
ATAR runs from 0 to 99.95 in steps of 0.05. An ATAR of 80 means your child performed better than 80% of their age cohort, not that they scored 80%. It is calculated in each state from senior secondary results: the HSC in NSW, the VCE in Victoria, the QCE in Queensland and the WACE in Western Australia.
What a good ATAR looks like
It depends entirely on the course. Many university degrees admit from ATAR 70-80; competitive courses (medicine, law, engineering at top campuses) often expect 90-95+. The honest target comes from the course list, not from comparison with other parents at the school gate.
How tutoring supports the ATAR journey
Because the ATAR aggregates senior subject results across Years 11 and 12, steady weekly support in the highest-weight subjects builds the base that exam years draw on. Our tutors follow each state's senior syllabus (HSC, VCE, QCE, WACE) and use past papers from the very first session.
FAQs
Is an ATAR of 70 bad?＋
Not at all. 70 means better than 70% of the cohort and admits to many university degrees. Good is defined by the course your child wants, not by a universal number.
Do all students get an ATAR?＋
No. Only students who complete an ATAR-eligible pattern of senior subjects receive one, and many vocational pathways do not require it.
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