ATAR Understanding help (1 Viewer)

[KingKong^]

So I am a current year 11 student. My HSC subjects are standard English, advanced maths, biology, chemistry, PDHPE and studies of religion. I'm trying to understand how the ATAR is calculated based on my HSC results. My goal is to achieve a 95+ minimum if I want to get into medicine, 99+ would be much safer. If I was to do standard maths instead of advanced, which is my teacher's recommendation, am I still able to knock off that top ATAR or would I struggle compared to someone who does advanced English or advanced maths? Scaling is just a whole other topic that doesn't make sense. Some help would be cool

 

[hschelper01]

Hi!

This might help:
https: //www.uac.edu.au/assets/documents/atar/all-about-your-atar.pdf

I know someone who didn't do maths at all in Yr12 and still received at 99.85 ATAR - so it's definitely possible. At the end of the day, it all depends on how you perform relative to your cohort and the rest of NSW.

 

[dasfas]

Highly recommend doing advanced maths if you're capable of it. Science/medicine requires maths as core units

 

[Time&moretime]

So I am a current year 11 student. My HSC subjects are standard English, advanced maths, biology, chemistry, PDHPE and studies of religion. I'm trying to understand how the ATAR is calculated based on my HSC results. My goal is to achieve a 95+ minimum if I want to get into medicine, 99+ would be much safer. If I was to do standard maths instead of advanced, which is my teacher's recommendation, am I still able to knock off that top ATAR or would I struggle compared to someone who does advanced English or advanced maths? Scaling is just a whole other topic that doesn't make sense. Some help would be cool

You are absolutely right to say, '99+ would be much safer' as an ATAR score into medicine because most applicants, the ones that get a 'look-in' by the various medical schools score around the 98 to 99 mark. Those who don't & are successful is a rarity. Either they score amazingly high in the UCAT or interviews or have special considerations attached to their applications eg. Aboriginality/Rurality/etc. Also agree with 'dasfas', highly recommend doing advanced Maths if you can still make changes to your course selection. My tip: Try to observe what others are doing, the ones that score the ATAR you want.

 

[hschelper01]

You are absolutely right to say, '99+ would be much safer' as an ATAR score into medicine because most applicants, the ones that get a 'look-in' by the various medical schools score around the 98 to 99 mark. Those who don't & are successful is a rarity. Either they score amazingly high in the UCAT or interviews or have special considerations attached to their applications eg. Aboriginality/Rurality/etc. Also agree with 'dasfas', highly recommend doing advanced Maths if you can still make changes to your course selection. My tip: Try to observe what others are doing, the ones that score the ATAR you want.

Hmmm I don't know - My friend did standard Maths in Year 12. She aced her UCAT, only got a 97.85 ATAR and is now studying Medicine at UNSW.... so anything's possible

 

[_rakelt]

Hmmm I don't know - My friend did standard Maths in Year 12. She aced her UCAT, only got a 97.85 ATAR and is now studying Medicine at UNSW.... so anything's possible

True, but if she only did standard maths, shes probably struggling BIG TIME at med school;; unless she caught up with the content etc

 

[KingKong^]

You are absolutely right to say, '99+ would be much safer' as an ATAR score into medicine because most applicants, the ones that get a 'look-in' by the various medical schools score around the 98 to 99 mark. Those who don't & are successful is a rarity. Either they score amazingly high in the UCAT or interviews or have special considerations attached to their applications eg. Aboriginality/Rurality/etc. Also agree with 'dasfas', highly recommend doing advanced Maths if you can still make changes to your course selection. My tip: Try to observe what others are doing, the ones that score the ATAR you want.

Will do. I'm doing a maths test next week on my teacher's request in order for me to see what level of maths I am at. I'm capable of advanced so I'll smash the test. Thanks for the help guys : )

 

[hschelper01]

No problem - good luck !!