In June 2009, the Federal Minister for Education announced the replacing UAI with Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) in NSW and ACT. ATAR is going to be gradually introduced in all other Australian states and territories except Queensland during 2009 and 2010. Queensland will retain OP system due to a completely separate system and scoring scale. ATAR will replace the UAI (Universities Admission Index used in NSW and ACT), Equivalent National Tertiary Entrance Rank (ENTER used in VIC only) and Tertiary Entrance Rank (TER used in SA, NT, TAS and WA) to unify the university entrance system in Australia.

For all students these changes will have very little effect. The scaling tests and ranking process will stay the same. Any small change in an ATAR compared to a UAI, ENTER or TER will see an equivalent change in the course cut-off. The changes will not disadvantage any students and will not impact on subject selection or choice of university courses.

What’s different?

The ARAT score will function as a rank of all students entering the tertiary education system, based on the number of students in Year 7, rather than the Year 10 group. As a consequence, for example, the majority of students will receive a slightly higher ATAR than the equivalent UAI. Tables comparing UAIs and ATARs are available on UAC’s website at http://www.uac.edu.au/documents/atar/ATAR-Conversion-Table.pdf.

The number given to the maximum rank in NSW and the ACT is also changing this year. The maximum ATAR score is 99.95, as opposed to a UAI of 100. Achieving an ATAR of 99.95 is the same as achieving a UAI of 100. The shift to ATAR means that the scores for most students receiving a UAI would increase by a small amount. This would not present as any advantage as score cut-offs would subsequently increase. It also means NSW and ACT students will now be in line with their interstate peers, where the top rank is 99.95.

Download more information on ATAR:
• complete UAI to ATAR conversion table
• FAQs about the change from UAI to ATAR
• UAC News Special ATAR issue
• a user-friendly general publication about the ATAR in NSW - FAQs about the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR)
• All about your ATAR for NSW HSC students.