An article in The Guardian today: Alternatives to the ATAR: "Most kids don't know about them" Certainly worth a read, in my opinion. The ATAR is not the only way into University study, nor is an ATAR below your goal and end to the chance of studying your chosen course or at your chosen University.
Please also be aware that ATAR cut-offs are demand-driven. A student with an ATAR of 90 may be well below the entry score for medicine, but that doesn't mean that she or he is incapable of studying medicine. In fact, studying medicine is within the capabilities of a 90-ATAR student, in my opinion, and the Universities are well aware that students with suitable subject backgrounds and who are well motivated can excel in courses that they did not have the ATAR score to enter, and so will look favourably on transfers so long as university-level performance is strong.
The HSC is important, but it is not the be-all and end-all. The ATAR is a somewhat crude measure of a subset of skills from school education. It is neither a measure of your worth as a person, nor your potential, nor your skills in a range of other areas. With all the stress on all of you at present, and the added stress of the unknowns imposed by COVID, please try to keep in perspective that you are an individual with strengths and weaknesses, with family and friends, with ambitions and hopes and dreams and likely a long life ahead. You will make a huge difference in the lives of some people you meet. You will live, and love, and grow, and contribute to society, and in turn benefit from the contributions of others. And all this is true irrespective of a number that will, I admit, influence your immediate future and choices, but which will also fade in importance in time. Take a moment to remind yourself over the coming weeks and months: you are a individual, you are important in your own right, and there is no single number that can possibly capture who you are, what you can contribute, or how much you matter.
Please also be aware that ATAR cut-offs are demand-driven. A student with an ATAR of 90 may be well below the entry score for medicine, but that doesn't mean that she or he is incapable of studying medicine. In fact, studying medicine is within the capabilities of a 90-ATAR student, in my opinion, and the Universities are well aware that students with suitable subject backgrounds and who are well motivated can excel in courses that they did not have the ATAR score to enter, and so will look favourably on transfers so long as university-level performance is strong.
The HSC is important, but it is not the be-all and end-all. The ATAR is a somewhat crude measure of a subset of skills from school education. It is neither a measure of your worth as a person, nor your potential, nor your skills in a range of other areas. With all the stress on all of you at present, and the added stress of the unknowns imposed by COVID, please try to keep in perspective that you are an individual with strengths and weaknesses, with family and friends, with ambitions and hopes and dreams and likely a long life ahead. You will make a huge difference in the lives of some people you meet. You will live, and love, and grow, and contribute to society, and in turn benefit from the contributions of others. And all this is true irrespective of a number that will, I admit, influence your immediate future and choices, but which will also fade in importance in time. Take a moment to remind yourself over the coming weeks and months: you are a individual, you are important in your own right, and there is no single number that can possibly capture who you are, what you can contribute, or how much you matter.