Reviewing preferences after HSC results are received

Whether your son or daughter gets a higher or a lower ATAR than expected, it’s important to help them keep the result in perspective – it’s not going to ruin their life, nor does it mean that life will now be easier. Leaving school and moving into adult work or study is a challenge, and they'll need your support (even if they won’t admit it!)

A higher-than-expected ATAR

If your son or daughter’s ATAR is above the ATAR cut-off of their first choice, they are very likely to be offered a place.

Sometimes, students want to take a course with a high ATAR cut-off, but decide not to include that course in their list of preferences because they believe that they won’t get in.

If your son or daughter was in this situation, and then got a higher ATAR than expected, they should add the desired course to their list of preferences before early January by lodging a change of preference with UAC.

A lower-than-expected ATAR

If your son or daughter gets a lower ATAR than expected and misses out on their first preference, they may still be offered a place in another course on their list of preferences.

If they applied through an educational access scheme, they may be offered a place in one of their preferred courses even if their ATAR is lower than the standard ATAR cut-off for that course.

If they don’t get offered a place in any of their preferred courses, they can reapply to university in subsequent years – perhaps after gaining some work experience or completing other post-school qualifications.