How your ATAR is calculated.

Start with the definition

The Australian Tertiary Admission Rank is a number between 0.00 and 99.95, reported in steps of 0.05. It shows where a student sits relative to everyone in their age group — usually defined as people aged 16 to 20 — in the year they finish Year 12.

An ATAR of 90.00 means you performed as well as, or better than, 90 per cent of that age group. It does not mean you scored 90 per cent in your subjects. The highest possible ATAR is 99.95, because you cannot rank above 100 per cent of the group.

Who calculates it

Each state and territory runs its own calculation, but all ATARs are nationally comparable. An ATAR of 85.00 in Queensland means the same thing as an ATAR of 85.00 in Victoria.

Your marks become scaled marks

Your reported school marks cannot simply be added together. A 90 in one course is not the same achievement as a 90 in another, because the students taking each course are different. Scaling puts every course on a common scale so that subject choice neither helps nor hurts you.

UAC describes the idea with currencies: marks in different courses are like dollars and pounds. Scaling is the exchange rate. The result is a scaled mark, and scaled marks — not your HSC marks — are what get added together.

For most courses, the scaled mark is lower than the reported mark. That is normal. Courses taken by stronger cohorts produce lower scaled marks because a high mark is harder to earn in that group.

Scaled marks become an aggregate

Each state adds a specific set of scaled marks to produce an aggregate. In New South Wales, that is your best 2 units of English plus your best 8 units from your remaining courses: 10 units in total. In Victoria, it is your best English study, your next best three studies, and 10% of a fifth and sixth.

This is why the same marks can produce a different ATAR in different states. The marks are similar; the counting rules are not.

The aggregate becomes a percentile

Once every student has an aggregate, they are placed in order. Each aggregate is converted to a percentile, and that percentile is adjusted for the proportion of the age group who are ATAR eligible. That last step is called the participation rate.

In 2025, the combined ACT and NSW participation rate was 56.6 per cent. Because the ATAR cohort is a subset of the age group, an ATAR of 70.00 corresponds to the top 30 per cent of all young people, not the top 30 per cent of ATAR students.

A high ATAR is a position, not a promise of a place. Course cut-offs are set by demand each year, and universities apply prerequisites and adjustment factors on top of the rank.

ATAR, selection rank and adjustment factors

Your ATAR is the starting point. Universities may add adjustment factors for equity, subject choices, location or elite sport, producing a selection rank. Subject adjustment points are usually applied to the aggregate, not the ATAR. A course’s published “lowest selection rank” is the rank of the last applicant offered a place in a previous round — it is not a fixed cut-off.

What the ATAR does not do

• It does not measure creativity, leadership, work experience or motivation.
• It does not guarantee entry to a course, even above a previous cut-off.
• It does not expire, although institutions may limit how long they accept it.
• It is not the only pathway. Enabling programs, VET qualifications, portfolios and prior study all provide alternatives.

Where to check your own result

Your official ATAR comes from the admissions centre in your state. Use the calculator here to estimate and to understand the moving parts, then confirm everything with your school and the relevant authority.