if i’m ranked 1st in basically all of my subjects in a well-ranked school, would my predicted atar be .95?
If you are ranked first in all your subjects at a high-ranking school, this translates into a high chance of achieving a 99.95 ATAR. It is, however, not guaranteed since it would heavily depend on your performance in your HSC exams.
An HSC mark in a subject is equal to the average of an Assessment Mark and an Examination Mark. The Assessment Mark is the mark that reflects your internal performance in a particular subject, and the Examination Mark is the mark that reflects your performance in the HSC exam of a particular subject. The Assessment Mark is determined using two main elements:
- Your internal rank relative to your cohort in a particular subject
- The Examination Marks achieved in your cohort in the subject
If you are ranked first in a subject, your Assessment Mark will be made equal to the highest Examination Mark achieved by anyone in your cohort. This is where the notion of a 99.95 not being guaranteed becomes relevant. If you are ranked first in a subject, and also achieve the highest Examination Mark in your cohort for that subject, your Examination Mark will essentially become your overall HSC mark because you would also receive your own Examination Mark as your Assessment Mark. In such a case, it becomes very important to perform favourably, because the more favourable your performance, the better your chances of achieving a 99.95 ATAR.
On the other hand, if you do not achieve the highest Examination Mark in your cohort in a particular subject, your Assessment Mark will instead be made equal to the highest Examination Mark, which in this case would have been achieved by another student in your cohort. Depending on the academic capability of your cohort, as well as your own HSC exam performance, this could still give you a good chance of achieving a 99.95 ATAR, but may also lower your chances. This is the reason that ranking first internally and achieving the highest Examination Marks would best help maximise your ATAR.
I hope this helps!