Maybe your ATAR has just landed and you’re trying to work out if it’s any good. Or maybe it’s still a few weeks off and you’re bracing yourself. Either way, we’ll walk you through what the average ATAR is, what the 2025 numbers show, and why your number has a lot less say over your future than it feels like right now.

In other words: breathe. Whatever your ATAR is, you've got this.

What is an ATAR, actually?

First, a quick correction to something loads of people get wrong. Your ATAR isn’t a mark out of 100 (and it's impossible to get an ATAR of 100, anyway). It’s a rank.

It runs from 0.00 to 99.95. It shows where you sit compared with everyone your age in your state, not just the people in your Year 12 class. So an ATAR of 80.00 means you’re in the top 20% of your whole age group.

UAC, the admissions centre for NSW and the ACT, compares it to a running race. Your exam marks are your time, whereas your ATAR is the place you came.

It's calculated by taking your aligned mark (a combination of your raw examination mark and school assessment mark), and scaled by the UAC to account for the differences between subjects.

Your ATAR will drop sometime in December, depending on your state or territory.

a young woman stares at her phone while walking.
A student checking their ATAR. Staring harder won’t change the number, but we get it.

What’s the average ATAR in Australia?

According to UAC, the average ATAR is usually around 70.

If every person your age got an ATAR, the average would be 50. But some people leave school before Year 12. The group who stay and get an ATAR tends to be stronger at schoolwork, which pushes the average up.

The 2025 numbers line up with this. The median ATAR in NSW was 70.75, and the average ATAR in Victoria was 69.48.

(Quick maths reminder: the median is the middle ATAR if you lined everyone up from lowest to highest. The average is what you get when you add them all up and divide by the number of people. They’re slightly different measures, so we haven’t mashed them together.)

How many students get an ATAR of 90 or above?

Fewer than you’d think. Last year in NSW, 17.3% of NSW students received an ATAR of 90.00 or above, while just 53 students received the top result of 99.95 (an ATAR of 100 is impossible). If you received an ATAR below 90.00, you're in the vast majority company — and there are more career options open to you than you'd think. An ATAR is just a number, and in a year's time, it won't even matter.

woman looking at her laptop
We get it: the ATAR anxiety is so real.

So, what’s a good ATAR?

A good ATAR is one that gets you where you want to go next. If the course you want needs a selection rank of 65, then 65 is a great ATAR for you. (Your selection rank is your ATAR plus any adjustments you’re eligible for.)

If you didn’t get the number you wanted, give yourself a minute. You worked hard, and feeling flat about it is normal. Just remember what the ATAR is for. UAC says its only purpose is to help universities select students for their courses. Your future boss isn’t going to ask about it.

It’s also used less than you might think. In 2024, 64% of Year 12 students in Australia received an ATAR, so plenty of people finish school without one at all. And research from the Mitchell Institute at Victoria University found that in 2023, 30% of school leavers who started a bachelor’s degree got in without their ATAR being considered.

“The ATAR is often treated as if it decides everything, but our analysis shows it applies much less often than people think,” Mitchell Institute Director Professor Peter Hurley said.

What are your options if your ATAR isn’t what you wanted?

A pathway into uni. Diplomas usually take one to two years. At some unis, finishing one means you can move into the second year of a bachelor’s degree. Uni prep programs can also get you in, and some don’t require an ATAR at all.

  1. TAFE. Unis may count TAFE qualifications such as a Certificate IV or a diploma when you apply. TAFE is also a great destination on its own. Plenty of careers start and stay there.
  2. An apprenticeship or traineeship. You get paid while you train, and there are more than 500 occupations to choose from. They take one to four years, and they’re open to anyone of working age. When we looked at the career plans of more than 45,000 Australian high school students for the Anyway Careers Index 2024, electrician was the most popular trade. It made the top 20 in every state we looked at except the ACT.
  1. Going straight into work. A job, even a casual one, builds skills and contacts. It can also help you work out what you actually like doing before you commit to more study.

What to do next if your first option is no longer available.

  1. Check the real entry ranks for courses you’re interested in. They’re on your state’s admissions centre website (UAC, VTAC, QTAC, TISC or SATAC).
  2. Ask unis about their pathway courses and entry schemes. Most have more than one way in.
  3. Look up TAFE courses and apprenticeships in the area you’re into.
  4. Review your course preferences, and check your admissions centre’s deadline for changing them.
  5. Talk it through with your careers adviser, or call your admissions centre’s results hotline.

Not sure what’s next?

That’s where Anyway comes in (that’s us!). Blinky, our AI career coach, can help you work out which courses and jobs suit your number and, more importantly, the stuff you actually enjoy. Ask Blinky about your next step now.