Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) results are released for senior students across South Australia on December 19. For many, their ATAR dictates whether they gain entry to their chosen university degree.
Mathilda Meinecke and Charlotte Durward, two senior students who attended Victor Harbor High School told The Times how they’re feeling about receiving their ATARs.
Mathilda and Charlotte completed their exams and submitted university applications five weeks ago – Charlotte originally wanted to study Medicine, but changed her preference to Speech Pathology.
“I decided I didn’t want to be so stressed all the time, I was very stressed going through the application process for Medicine,” Charlotte said.
Like many other students from regional areas, Charlotte will move to Adelaide in order to study her chosen degree.
“I’m moving to Adelaide to go to uni and it’s scary – I’m going to be an hour away from my friends and family and I’ll have to really take time to maintain those connections and balance it with uni work,” she said.
In contrast, Mathilda has decided to continue on her path to gaining acceptance into Medicine.
In July 2022, she completed the UCAT, a complex mandatory clinical aptitude test which focuses on problem solving and comprehension, from which she was offered an interview at Adelaide University and now waits for her ATAR before a formal offer can be given.
“If I don’t get a good enough ATAR, I will probably do Health and Medical Science as a bridging degree and try to gain entry into Medicine through the GAMSAT instead,” Mathilda said.
The ATAR is a number between 0.00 and 99.95 that indicates a student’s position relative to all the students in their age and is commonly used as a guaranteed entry score to various university degrees.
Both girls said they are pretty nervous about receiving their ATARs, but acknowledge that it’s not the end of the world if they don’t get what they’re expecting.
“I am nervous, but I’m actually more nervous about the university offers which are released on January 12. The ATAR is just a number, but a university offer is more final,” Charlotte said.
“People tend to think that the ATAR is the only way you can get into uni, but there are all sorts of things you can do – from bridging degrees to the STAT test.”
Mathilda gave The Times some of her tips for exam preparation – exams can be worth up to 30 per cent of a student’s final grade in that subject, so nervousness is justified.
“I did a lot of practice exams. The way the questions are worded from exam to exam can be quite similar,” she said.
“I got to school an hour before the exam, we sat as a class and debriefed, not necessarily about exams or about our subjects, but just talked about other things and that really helped to calm us all down.”
Charlotte and Mathilda both studied STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects, including Chemistry, Physics and Specialist Maths.
“”I like the STEM subjects,” Charlotte said.
“They’re fun and I like that there’s a process to it.”
In order to receive a SACE (South Australian Certificate of Education), students must complete (and pass) four SACE subjects and do a research project in year 11.
Mathilda has worked hard throughout all her SACE subjects, but acknowledges she can only give it her best, Charlotte feels much the same.
“You can’t predict your ATAR, you don’t know how it’ll be scaled or how other students fared, so really at the end of the day, you just need to give it your best and be at peace,” she said.
Based in Adelaide, tasked to regional mastheads across SA.
Based in Adelaide, tasked to regional mastheads across SA.
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