Ep 70 - ATAR Myths and Misconceptions

You can also listen on: Spotify, Amazon Music and Audible.

What we’re talking about:

While I could talk all day about the things that I don’t like about the ATAR system, these 3 myths and misconceptions around the ATAR, what it means and how it’s used are the most prevalent ones that I see that can cause a lot of stress and decision regret.

1:44 Your ATAR is not a budget

Whether you’re trying to guess what ATAR you’ll get, or you already have your results in front of you, there are 2 ways that this number can trip you up. One way is to think of it as the “amount” you have to spend ie I got an ATAR of over 90 so I can’t choose a course that has a lowest selection rank of only 70 or I’ll be wasting the opportunity. The other way is for students to use their ATAR as a way of limiting their choices ie I got an ATAR of 75 so I’m just going to look at the courses that have a lowest selection rank of between 70 and 75 and choose one of those. Instead of choosing courses based on your ATAR, I want you to choose courses based on your interests and strengths, and then we can look at pathways to get into that course as a back up if you need it.

5:58 The selection rank for a course is not an indication of how difficult or how “good” the course is

Courses that have a higher selection rank are not necessarily harder or better than courses with a lower selection rank. The selection rank to get into a course is a popularity contest. The higher the selection rank, the more in demand that course is. There are a number of reasons why a course might be more popular, including the prestige of the course or institution or particular features of the course, but you need to look separately at these features and decide whether or not this course is the one that will suit you best.

9:23 Your ATAR is not an indication of how well you will do at university

While there is likely some correlation between students doing well at high school and then doing well at university, I would argue that this is more true when you’re looking at courses that are set up in a similar way to high school, with similar test and exam-based assessment. However, there are a range of factors that are more likely to dictate whether you do well in your course, including things like how interested in the course you are, how self motivated you are (which might depend on how interested you are in the content), and what other things are happening in your life (or were happening when you were in high school). Don’t fall into the trap of assuming that because you didn’t do as well in VCE as you hoped, you automatically won’t do well at tertiary level.

Links mentioned:

My website: https://www.roadmapeducation.com