THOUSANDS of WA Year 12 students are looking at their post-high school options after receiving their ATAR scores yesterday.
According to the Tertiary Institutions Service Centre (TISC), there were 10 males and seven females who notched the top score of 99.95 while the median ATAR was 81.80.
The highest median ATARs were achieved by students studying mathematics specialist (95.75), mathematics methods (91.70), literature (91.10), chemistry (90.20) and physics (90.00).
Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE
Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
READ NOWTISC executive officer Wayne Betts said the ATAR compared the performance of 11,920 students.
“An ATAR of 75 doesn’t mean you’ve achieved 75 per cent in all your subjects,” he said.
“What it does mean is that, whatever your results are, they are equal to or better than the results of 75 per cent of people of your age in WA this year.
“The ATAR is a useful tool for university admission purposes, and it gets a lot of attention at this time of year, but it should be kept in perspective.
“No single number can capture all the qualities that may make someone a successful university student.
“That’s why other ways of assessing students, such as portfolios, auditions or aptitude tests are used for some courses alongside or sometimes instead of the ATAR.”
He encouraged students who did not achieve strong results to seek advice on possible options.
“We know it can be disappointing for some students, after working hard all year, if their results aren’t as strong as they were hoping for, but there is always a path forward,” he said.
“These days there are many more ways to get where you want to go than there used to be, so don’t be afraid to contact any of the universities, or TISC, for assistance on your options.”
Students have until 11pm on December 18 to finalise their preferences in time for the first major round of offers, which will be available on Friday, December 21.
They will also have time after the December offer round to consider their options before another major offer round in January.
Contact details and university opening hours between now and January are available on www.tisc.edu.au.
For information, call 9318 8000 or email info@tisc.edu.au.
Useful links
ATAR Statistics: http://www.tisc.edu.au/static/statistics/ter-frequency/atar-index.tisc
Scaling Statistics: http://www.tisc.edu.au/static/statistics/scaling/scaling-index.tisc