ONE careers counsellor says the ATAR system is the “best one we’ve got” and schools are putting a focus students electing subjects they enjoy and excel at.
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It comes after Australia’s chief scientist Alan Finkel called for the tertiary entry scheme to be simplified or scrapped because it was “completely obscure”.
“Students select their courses with an eye to a number: the ATAR to enter a particular course,” Dr Finkel said.
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“Rightly or wrongly, they absorb the message that the way to boost their ATAR is to drop down a level in mathematics.”
Tamworth councillor Charles Impey is a high school careers adviser and said there were two criteria when it came to guiding kids with elective subjects: “That they enjoy it and they’re good at it”.
“That’s the best recipe for success,” he said.
They absorb the message that the way to boost their ATAR is to drop down a level in mathematics.
- Chief Scientist Alan Finkel
“If you don’t enjoy it, as the assignments and exams build up you’re probably going to end up questioning yourself.”
He said universities needed to look beyond the ATAR and consider the personal attributes and strengths of prospective students.
“They need to look at the student as a person, rather than an academic score on a piece of paper,” Mr Impey said.
“Align them with their strengths and assets.”
The University Admissions Centre (UAC) said reports high school students were choosing “easy” subjects to maximise their ATAR were misguided.
It’s UAC’s view the ATAR is maximised by choosing subjects according to a student’s interests, abilities and future plans.
UAC regularly communicates this message to students through its publications and digital touch-points, as well as at careers events, it said in a statement.
“Studying particular subjects won’t guarantee a student a high ATAR – what really matters is how well the student does compared to everyone else,” UAC general manager of marketing and engagement Kim Paino said.
“The best advice for students is to do subjects they enjoy and are good at, rather than choosing subjects because of a misguided belief that they will scale well.”
UAC’s analysis showed the majority of students who were more capable in mathematics in Year 10 continued to study the higher levels of mathematics in the HSC, and that most students who were less capable in mathematics in Year 10 chose to study the lower levels of mathematics.
When it compared ATARs of students with similar mathematical ability in Year 10, it found that those students who chose general mathematics obtained (on average) a similar ATAR to those who chose to study mathematics.