Claire Pech – Careers Advisor

ATAR’s and Cut Off Points

UAC has been opened now for a few weeks. The display of their new cut off’s has changed and new types of data are now included. Anyone in Year 10, Year 11, Year 12 and parents will need to be aware of these changes. I will highlight the main differences below.

When we look at Engineering at UNSW, we will now say that the ATAR is 92 (the same as last year). But in order for Universities to show transparency, they are also showing what the lowest ATAR was, in order to get in and this was 82.45. What this means, is that someone with an 82.45 got in with added adjustment factors (bonus points). This may have been as they got a Band 5 or 6 in Extension Mathematics for example. Or it may have been if they are an elite athlete (state level), or had some extra bonus points for an Education Access Scheme application. This is where they were at an educational disadvantage for more than 6 months for reasons out of their control, for example a serious illness or a learning difficulty.

(https://www.uac.edu.au/future-applicants/scholarships-and-schemes/educational-access-schemesfor more information on EAS schemes.)

This table above now shows the ATAR profile for this course. It tells us that the median ATAR for this course was a 93.27, the highest was a 99.95 and the lowest as we know was a 82.45. It gives us an indication of the group that are studying this course. The 92 selection rank, means the lowest ATAR with added adjustment factors added on to it. It will become clear when researching UAC now, that a lot of courses are offered to students with these extra added adjustment factors.

UNSW LAT Test

Any students who would like to apply for LAW at UNSW, need to take the LAT (Law Admission Test). Students in Year 11 can apply and sit this test and potentially use that result to get into Law (along with their ATAR). This year that LAT is sitting on a Jewish holy day, Tuesday 25 September. This could either mean that attendance will be easier as students do not need to request a day off, or if students are fasting and would not like to sit it on this day, then a special consideration can be made by UNSW. Please see details about this at latreg.acer.edu.au. Late registrations will still be accepted until 5 September 2018.

Open Days 2018

Students need to check the Open Day list and make sure they have put the relevant dates in their diary. https://www.uac.edu.au/assets/documents/schools/uni-open-days-2018.pdf