Alan Nguyen
New Member
There are alot of posts about people wanting ATAR estimates and tbh it's a little annoying and highly inaccurate when ppeople just throw around random numbers. This post is just a quick explanation on how to estimate it yourself much more accurately using the same method that UAC uses.
What you need:
1. ATAR calculator. Heaps of them out there. My preference is Matrix.
2. Internet access to access the following websites:
- topscores.info: to find historical information about the ranks required for a band 6 in a specific school.
- rawmarks.info: to find what raw marks you need to to get an external mark of (90+)
3. Your HSC trial marks
Before you start we need to revise on some HSC theory and how it works. I have attached a document which explains how to process works (View attachment HSC planning for an 99+ ATAR in SGHS.pdf). But here is a quick summary:
- The final mark for each subject you receive in that final piece of paper in the mail consists of an internal and external mark.
- The external mark is calculated from the final external HSC exam you sit. When you sit an exam and get a raw mark (e.g. 70/80=87.5% raw mark) it is aligned to another mark. This is called the aligned mark. Usually harder subjects are aligned more generously for example a 60-70% in extension 2 mathematics is aligned to at least a band 6.
- The internal "assessment" mark is calculated using your rankings. So your rankings found in your school are sent to BoS. They will then assign you the external mark that corresponds with your internal ranking. For example say if you came first in school but you came second in the external exams. Therefore for your internal "assessment" mark you will be given the mark of the student who came first in the externals.
- These marks are averaged and this is your final HSC mark.
- These HSC marks are given to UAC and scaled to give a score out of 500. Approx 470-490/500 = 99.95
STEPS TO CALCULATE YOUR ATAR:
DISCLAIMER: This estimate is ONLY an estimate. Don't take it too seriously. You should look at this number in a range. For e.g. you estimated 95 then you would probably get 92-98.
What you need:
1. ATAR calculator. Heaps of them out there. My preference is Matrix.
2. Internet access to access the following websites:
- topscores.info: to find historical information about the ranks required for a band 6 in a specific school.
- rawmarks.info: to find what raw marks you need to to get an external mark of (90+)
3. Your HSC trial marks
Before you start we need to revise on some HSC theory and how it works. I have attached a document which explains how to process works (View attachment HSC planning for an 99+ ATAR in SGHS.pdf). But here is a quick summary:
- The final mark for each subject you receive in that final piece of paper in the mail consists of an internal and external mark.
- The external mark is calculated from the final external HSC exam you sit. When you sit an exam and get a raw mark (e.g. 70/80=87.5% raw mark) it is aligned to another mark. This is called the aligned mark. Usually harder subjects are aligned more generously for example a 60-70% in extension 2 mathematics is aligned to at least a band 6.
- The internal "assessment" mark is calculated using your rankings. So your rankings found in your school are sent to BoS. They will then assign you the external mark that corresponds with your internal ranking. For example say if you came first in school but you came second in the external exams. Therefore for your internal "assessment" mark you will be given the mark of the student who came first in the externals.
- These marks are averaged and this is your final HSC mark.
- These HSC marks are given to UAC and scaled to give a score out of 500. Approx 470-490/500 = 99.95
STEPS TO CALCULATE YOUR ATAR:
- Go on rawmarks.info and pretend that your trial mark is your external HSC as mentioned above. Then approximate what aligned mark you would achieve using this database. Do this for all your subjects.
- To calculate internal marks, which is more accurate for high ranked elite schools where there is more information readily available on topscores.info. Compare your school rankings with the historical rankings for a band 6 in your school. (This part is highly arbitrary) but you have to estimate what you might get for your internal mark. (e.g. you are ranked 10 and historically the top 20 get a band 6 for maths. Then possibly you would get 91-92 as an internal mark). DO NOT BE GENEROUS, always account for the worst case scenarios.
- Once you have the marks for your external and internal assessment marks average them
- Put this in an ATAR calculator. Do this for many years and find an average.
DISCLAIMER: This estimate is ONLY an estimate. Don't take it too seriously. You should look at this number in a range. For e.g. you estimated 95 then you would probably get 92-98.
