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ATAR & TAC's Explained
Last updated 24th April 2026
Understanding the Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR) and applications process for Australian Universities as a parent can become confusing, but not to worry! MedView has you covered with this guide to the ATAR and Tertiary Admissions Centres (TAC).
What is the Australian Tertiarry Admissions Rank (ATAR)?
ATAR stands for Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank, and is a rank of your academic achievement compared to every single Australian student in the same year group.
Every student upon leaving school in Australia receives an ATAR. Each student’s rank reflects a direct, scaled comparison of that student’s performance against that of every other student finishing in Australia in that same year. As such, a student’s ATAR is a percentile score, with the top score being 99.95. It should be noted that even if students complete alternative/international curricula such as the International Baccalaureate (IB) or Cambridge (CIE), Australian medical schools will convert these scores to an ATAR in attempt to compare all candidates on equal grounds.
In the context of minimum ATAR requirements for medical school, there is no one answer. A general rule for students to follow is that an ATAR exceeding 99.00 is likely to be a competitive score. However, it is at the discretion of each university to place as much weighting as they see fit, on the ATAR.
By way of example, The University of Sydney’s program requires its students to obtain a perfect ATAR score of 99.95 to be eligible for admission. Other universities will place greater emphasis on different elements of the process such as the entrance exams (e.g. UCAT), interview performance, in which these cases may reflect a lower ATAR score required.
For more information on Australian medical school admissions, check out this guide!
ATAR’s from every state are all equivalent (i.e. an 80.00 in NSW is the same as an 80.00 in QLD). ATAR’s are calculated and released by each individual state's TACs.
What is a Tertiary Admissions Centre (TAC)?
TACs stands for Tertiary Admissions Centres, they are organisations that handle university applications on behalf of individual universities. Each state in Australia (except for Tasmania) has a TAC that will convert a students final year results to an ATAR and process this information with their application. Below is a list of the TACs for each state:
- New South Wales: Universities Admissions Centre (UAC)
- Victoria: Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC)
- Queensland: Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre (QTAC)
- South Australia: South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre (SATAC)
- Western Australia: Tertiary Institutions Service Centre (TISC)
Note: The Northern Territory is governed by SATAC and the Australian Capital Territory collaborates with UAC
Why do we have an ATAR?
There are a great number of curriculums offered in Australia from local state streams such as the HSC, VCE, WACE, QCE and SACE to international streams such as the International Baccalaureate (IB) and A-Levels. All of these curriculums differ slightly and calculate their own final scores. Therefore, to fairly rank all Australian high school graduates, the ATAR is used.
How is the ATAR calculated?
All curricula across Australia include a mixture of internal assessments (tests, assignments, investigations) and external assessments (state-wide examinations). These are combined to produce a final mark or grade for each subject.
Each state’s TAC then applies a series of algorithms to scale subjects. This ensures that students who take more academically demanding subjects — where average marks may be lower — are not disadvantaged compared to those taking less intensive subjects.
The way subjects are counted towards the ATAR varies by state and curriculum. Rather than being based on a fixed number of “units” nationally, ATAR is calculated using a student’s best-performing subjects or study scores, according to the rules of their specific system (e.g. WACE, VCE, HSC, SACE).
Students receive a final result based on their curriculum — for example:
- An overall score in the IB Diploma Programme (out of 45)
- Scaled subject scores and aggregates in systems like WACE, SACE, VCE, and HSC
These results are then used to calculate an ATAR each year, which is a national percentile ranking that compares a student’s performance against their peers.
All Australian curricula apply scaling and moderation processes to ensure fairness and comparability between subjects and cohorts.
Finally, some schools or systems may offer bonus points or subject incentives, depending on subject choice or performance. These vary across states and institutions, and understanding how they apply can make a meaningful difference to your final ATAR.
Book a free consultation with the MedView team to build a subject strategy that maximises your ATAR and medical school options.
ATAR Cutoffs for Medicine
Why is my ATAR low compared to my high school grades?
A student’s high school marks (their academic performance) and their ATAR (their rank compared to other students) measure different things and are not directly comparable.
The ATAR is a percentile ranking that reflects a student’s position within their cohort, not just their raw marks.
As a general guide, a student performing around the middle of their cohort across all subjects may receive an ATAR of approximately 70.00. However, this can vary significantly depending on subject scaling and the strength of the cohort.
For example, marks in the 70s may result in a higher or lower ATAR depending on how those marks rank within each subject.
Does this mean I should only pick ‘hard’ subjects?
Not necessarily. Because all scores are scaled, students need to think about which subjects they will do well in. The higher above the year group average of a subject that they perform, the higher their ATAR will be. Similarly if a student chooses all the hard subjects and is performing in the middle of the pack they (and their ATAR) would benefit more from choosing an ‘easier’ subject where they could be ranked 1st amongst their cohort.
Why do some subjects scale better than others?
Subjects are scaled using the mean scores and distribution of marks, which reflect the overall performance of students studying that subject.
Subjects taken by academically stronger cohorts — where students tend to perform well across multiple subjects — are often scaled higher. This is why subjects such as Mathematics and Physics have traditionally scaled well.
However, scaling alone does not guarantee a higher ATAR — you still need to achieve strong individual marks to benefit from it.
Understanding which subjects align with your strengths — while also scaling well — is key to maximising your ATAR for medical school admission.
Want to choose the right subjects for medicine?
Choosing the right subjects can have a significant impact on your ATAR — but it’s not just about picking the highest scaling options. The best strategy is selecting subjects that align with your strengths, maximise your performance, and support your long-term pathway into medicine.
At MedView, we help students:
- Build a subject selection strategy tailored to medicine
- Understand how scaling actually impacts ATAR outcomes
- Identify the best balance between high-scaling and high-scoring subjects
Speak with an academic advisor to plan your subject strategy with confidence.
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