Which ATAR subjects scaled the highest in Queensland in 2021?

QTAC’s 2021 ATAR Report is out! Let’s look at how different subjects scaled in 2021.

Before we get started, it’s really important to remember:

• The same subjects don’t necessarily scale well every year.
• That’s because scaling depends on how each cohort of Year 12 students performs across all of their subjects.
• Don’t really understand how the Queensland ATAR is calculated? Check out QTAC’s All about the ATAR, Inter-subject Scaling and Calculating the ATAR reports.

Scaling data in the ATAR scaling report

In the QTAC’s 2021 ATAR Report, scaling data is reported in a big table.

As you can see, QTAC report the raw results that students achieved at certain points in each cohort (25th percentile, 50th percentile, 75th percentile, 90th percentile and 99th percentile). They also report the way these raw results scaled before they were input into the student’s ATAR calculation.

This data shows us if certain subjects generally scaled up or generally scaled down or if it varied depending on where a student sat in the cohort.

(Not sure what a percentile is? Here’s a simple explanation.)

Which subjects scaled well overall in 2021?

In 2021, the following subjects scaled up at every percentile that QTAC reported on.

Subject	Result	25th percentile	50th percentile	75th percentile	90th percentile	99th percentile
Chemistry	Raw result Scaled result	70.00 73.45	80.00 88.89	88.00 94.93	94.00 97.25	98.00 98.19
Economics	Raw result Scaled result	63.00 71.10	74.00 86.37	84.00 93.74	90.00 96.16	96.00 97.67
Engineering	Raw result Scaled result	56.00 64.15	67.00 80.17	80.00 91.37	88.00 95.04	95.00 96.98
Specialist Maths	Raw result Scaled result	66.00 87.33	78.00 85.89	88.00 97.78	93.00 98.53	98.00 99.03

Which subjects generally scaled up?

There were also a lot of subjects that scaled up at most percentiles in 2021.

Subject	Result	25th percentile	50th percentile	75th percentile	90th percentile	99th percentile
Accounting	Raw result Scaled result	57.00 62.02	68.00 76.00	79.00 86.00	88.00 91.35	96.00 94.47
Arabic	Raw result Scaled result	41.00 41.71	50.00 52.99	60.00 65.12	75.00 79.92	97.00 92.36
Digital Solutions	Raw result Scaled result	55.00 57.45	68.00 74.85	81.00 86.77	89.00 91.43	96.00 94.23
French	Raw result Scaled result	71.00 84.06	81.00 93.15	90.00 96.96	94.00 97.90	99.00 98.68
Geography	Raw result Scaled result	54.00 52.99	63.00 67.76	75.00 82.84	84.00 90.00	93.00 94.38
German	Raw result Scaled result	73.00 81.42	83.00 92.08	90.00 95.84	95.00 97.40	99.00 98.23
Italian	Raw result Scaled result	59.00 66.71	76.00 84.58	87.00 91.32	91.00 93.02	98.00 95.28
Literature	Raw result Scaled result	66.00 71.15	78.00 86.26	88.00 93.19	94.00 95.62	99.00 96.99
Mathematical Methods	Raw result Scaled result	60.00 78.45	72.00 89.40	84.00 95.13	92.00 97.16	99.00 98.24
Physics	Raw result Scaled result	70.00 72.80	80.00 88.50	89.00 95.22	95.00 97.41	99.00 98.28
Philosophy & Reason	Raw result Scaled result	60.00 65.01	73.00 82.61	86.00 92.39	93.00 95.27	99.00 96.88
Spanish	Raw result Scaled result	68.00 72.56	78.00 85.89	88.00 93.34	92.00 95.14	98.00 96.99
Study of Religion	Raw result Scaled result	62.00 64.92	72.00 79.31	82.00 88.82	89.00 92.97	97.00 95.95

A reminder about how the ATAR is calculated

As a quick reminder, the basic process for ATAR calculations is:

• You complete at least 5 subjects (including a minimum of 4 General subjects)
• QTAC take your raw subject results from QCAA and scale them
• QTAC add all five scaled scores together to get your “aggregate score”
• QTAC put all ATAR eligible Year 12 students’ results in a list from highest aggregate score to lowest aggregate score
• QTAC figure out how many students will be in each ATAR band (from 99.95-00.00). Usually there are about 30 students per band.
• QTAC then assign students to each ATAR band by working their way down the list of students. So the top ~30 students will get a 99.95 ATAR, and the next ~30 students in the list receive an ATAR of 99.90, and so on!

Remember, your raw score REALLY matters

Sometimes students think they should select subjects that have scaled up in the past, even if they don’t enjoy them and/or don’t think they’ll do well at them. This is not usually a good approach. This is because how you perform in each of your subjects is a really important part of the ATAR calculation.

So don’t just think about scaling!

Using this information for the future

Thinking a subject might scale well is not usually a good reason to choose to study it in Year 11 and 12. There are a lot of other things to think about when you select your Year 11 and 12 subjects.

As QTAC say, you should definitely consider taking:

• subjects you enjoy
• subjects you think you’ll do well at, and
• subjects that meet the prerequisites for any courses you’re considering at university.

This is great advice!

Good luck!

Tom

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