Hi, I'm a year 12 international student who currently studies in Brisbane. As this is the first year doing ATAR in QLD and the pandemic, I'm pretty stressed right now as I don't have any clue of calculating the ATAR score. So if anyone can give me some ideas of how Qld calculates ATAR, it'd be great.
You might find some of the answers in
this section of the forum to be more helpful for this question, as well as
this thread and
this thread to be super helpful in getting an understanding on how your ATAR is calculated.
Moreover, I want to ask that is there any major differences between bachelor of Philosophy, Politics and Economics and Bachelor of Arts besides its specifically/ flexibility?
It’ll depend on which institute you’re doing these courses at as to whether they’ll be different beyond specificity/ flexibility. Some unis have some more differences such as faculty-specific scholarships and internships or compulsory units (uni subjects) that you’ll have to take if you’re doing one course vs. the other.
And can I study subjects such as philosophy, politics if I don't have any background in highschool or extracurriculars?
Thanks
Unless those subjects are stated as prerequisites for your course and/ or unit and your faculty allows you to take that unit, they won’t really assume you have much prior background. Most first year units will usually begin from the ground up, but you might find that they’ll often be broad or brush through concepts rather quickly. The real catch is whether you can keep up with the pace, which generally isn’t too bad.
If it comforts you somewhat, I’ve seen many people start law degrees without ever taking a Legal Studies class before, new medicine students starting their degrees without ever taking a formal biology class since early/mid high school, IT students who have never done any coding prior to starting their degree and students taking foreign language classes with just their interests in the culture being their only previous exposure. I, myself, have an extended major in biology (genetics) and hadn’t taken biology since Year 9 when I stepped into my first uni lecture.
yo just wondering that if the course I want to get into has the requirments of a 25+ in English and a 98 atar, is there usually any possibility I can get in without a 98 atar? Assuming I fell slightly below the requirements is there a chance I can still get in?
Depends on the degree, the number of spots available for that degree and the demand for that degree. If you were only slightly below (without adjustments), then you’ll have a possibility to still make it in, however, it is subject to your competitiveness against everyone else who wants to get in and however many spots the institute has to offer.