ATAR Notes: Forum

National Education => General National Education Discussion => Topic started by: Joseph41 on December 14, 2017, 10:51:13 am

Title: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: Joseph41 on December 14, 2017, 10:51:13 am

What was receiving your results like for you? As expected? Anti-climatic? Did you sleep that night?

For me, it was a bit of a weird one. Between exams and ATAR release, I had a sort of excited/nervous combination going on, but I was broadly looking forward to ATAR day just to get it all over and done with.

I went to bed pretty early the night before (I was tired haha), and got to sleep. But then I was woken at like 2am by a friend texting me saying that the Herald Sun had leaked results. Crazy. Basically, what had happened was they'd published an article or something early (perhaps they were testing it - I'm not sure), and you could search by name. It didn't show every study score, but it showed all 40+ raw study scores, so some people got a pretty decent indication of what they were going to get.

The thing is, though, is that nobody knew if it was legit or some sort of weird, elaborate hoax. I didn't get back to sleep after that, so the next five hours or something were spent basically refreshing waiting to see if the results were legit or not. They were, so when I opened my official ATAR, it probably wasn't as nerve-wracking as perhaps it would have otherwise been.

Anyway, I spent ATAR day just walking along St. Kilda beach trying to work out what I wanted to do the next year. My ATAR threw me a bit, and I ended up changing my preferences fairly considerably, but it all worked out in the end.

/rambling story

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: K888 on December 14, 2017, 11:32:48 am

My experience was also a weird one. In the break between finishing exams and ATAR release, I wasn't too stressed - I was working heaps, which helped, and I just sort of enjoyed not having any stress. Got nervous in the days leading up to it, though, I think more just because I wanted to know my score already.

There was the whole text scandal last year where for a period of like two hours, if you texted the number subscribing to the SMS results service, you'd get your results sent to you. I think I found out about it by seeing a post on VCE Discussion Space on Facebook. Figured that it was legit after talking to a few friends about it. So I proceeded to sit there, with my phone in my hands, wondering whether I should send a text. On one hand, I really wanted to know my results, and on the other, I wanted to find out on the website and wasn't sure that they'd be legit scores.

So, I ended up not sending the text and decided to wait. Fast forward to release day, and I woke up about 6:50am. Hadn't had the best sleep - was pretty nervous. Started doubting myself, told myself that I hadn't put in enough work or come out of my exams confident enough. Ended up worrying whether I'd even crack the 80s hahaha.
I went on to the website about 6:55am, saw that I could actually log in, and the website wasn't being super slow (which was what I had expected). So, I logged in, and saw my study scores.

Wow. Was really happy with them. But didn't really figure out what ATAR they would translate to. Figured "okay, sweet, that should get me into the 90s!", then clicked on the "see my ATAR". Wow. I was blown away. Way higher than anything I expected. Started shaking and crying happy tears haha. Messaged my friends and sat in bed letting it sink in. Time got to ~7:10am, and was like "...cool, so, that was a bit anti-climactic", so I went back to sleep.

Woke up about 10am, chilled in bed, then mum decided she couldn't handle the suspense anymore and barged into my room wanting to know my results because the school had called and asked if it was okay to put my photo in the newspaper and all that stuff. I was still pretty lost for words, so just showed her the website. I think she said something like "wow, that's amazing, congratulations" and that was about it. Was kinda expecting a present or something because I'd just gotten the highest ATAR in the family (and was the youngest) and was hoping that would warrant a bit of recognition. Was disappointed. Dad delivered, though, and got me some chocolates on his way home from work.

The rest of my day was pretty chilled, though. I had an ATAR high enough to get into my first preference, so wasn't too stressed.

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: strawberries on December 14, 2017, 11:37:00 am

I stayed up the entire night on IRC talking with some people.

Then when 7am and results came...I got too scared to log in. So  I didn't check for the next few hours while other people were getting all excited.

I was still too scared to check and I was tired from staying up so I decided to take a nap. I woke up at 11 or something and finally got the courage to check them.

I did better than I thought I would do, and was relieved that I would be able to get into my courses, but I was still upset that I didn't do as well as I wanted to do. I spent the rest of the day crying and sleeping in blocks cos I stayed up the whole night

added

So I texted my parents when they were out at work during the middle of the day but because I was upset I decided to lie and told them I got something significantly lower than what I did (partly to piss them off). My dad was okay about it, my mum was furious when she came home.

I then told her my real scores and she hugged me and bought me dinner  :)

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: spectroscopy on December 14, 2017, 12:40:06 pm

I gotta have the most boring atar story.

I tried to all nighter but I fell asleep at like 5am. When I woke up at 10am I looked at the text message and sighed and thought to myself "damnit now i gotta pay for a statement of marks to see where i fucked up... at least I got 25 for methods" and went back to sleep. pretty underwhelming. I looked up solutions for my exams right after doing them and calculated my expected study scores and atar, and I ended up getting a score in the low 90's when my very conservative atar estimates done by myself as well as the atarnotes community put me somewhere in the 96-98 range LMFAO topping your cohort and full marking practice exams does not always mean you'll smash your final exams.


English was what really cooked me, I didn't realise exactly why my study score was so low until I got my statement of marks but I eventually found out why. I was pumping the language analysis sections of my practice exams getting like 9/10 or 10/10 every time (getting them marked by vcaa examiners) but I must've fucked up in the exam because it was a comparative language analysis (which I hadn't practiced that much), and I got absolutely destroyed for that section. I can't remember how bad it was but I got like 20/20 and 19/20 for context and text response with memorised essays, and my language analysis was so bad that my exam score got dragged down to an A. I was ranked somewhere between 5th and 1st for unit 4, and ranked in the top 10 for unit 3 at a really strong select entry school cohort and still ended up with a score in the low 40's. The english teachers were very disappointed in my performance when I went to school later that day for the post-atar brunch. Also for history I was ranked 1st all year and destroyed all the sacs and practice exams (i full marked something like 10 out of 12 practice exams with a few of them being marked by a vcaa examiner) and i got a score in the high 30's. The history cohort that year was the worst performing subject cohort for the school. I found my teacher in her office that day and apologised to her and she said it was ok and we hugged and she wished me good luck for the future.
 
Also my further maths teacher always liked me and my friends but was very very concerned about how our results would turn out because he was a very new teacher and we would never really be in class. After he told the class any important announcements and did the roll, me and my friends would get up and go study somewhere else in a different room and he would always walk over to us and start roasting us calling us dumb saying that "you can't just study for further for a few days before the sac/exam and get over 40 study score" and saying shit like "you guys got below 90% for a couple of sacs no matter what happens you guys won't get over 40". well get rekt sir, my whole table got over 40 and all we did in class was draw dicks on each others workbooks, watch youtube videos on our laptops and go on atarnotes. at least on atar day he was super happy for us with a beaming smile saying shit like "WOW I never thought you fellas would do it, good work!!!!, that shows me that not everyone learns the same way etc. etc." (he was a very young new teacher).
Also my methods teacher really hated me.. I've never felt so personally victimised before and I'm getting angry just remembering it. She used to be so mean to me and I would try to explain that all I need is a 25 and she would just scream at me in front of everyone. when I got my score and came to school that day she just gave me the biggest death stare and I swear i was gonna give her the finger but then I got interupted by my year level co-ordinator.

Even though my two best subjects did not go according to plan I had a couple of other scores over 40 and I had back up plans on back up plans in preparation for the situation where I I didn't meet my original atar goal though so I didn't really care. I ended up not having to use any of my back up plans anyway because I called  melbourne uni when I properly woke up and asked them if i qualified for access melbourne and the girl on the phone said "yep you've got like 4 categories so as long as you got over 88 you can expect a spot in melbourne commerce" and I was just like cool (I was pretty sure this was gonna happen anyway). Then I went to my school where they had a post-atar brunch on and the principals all came up to me and asked if I was okay because they all assumed I was going to be devastated by my score. My year level co-ordinator asked me if I want to speak to the counselor or something and I said to them "nah fam im gucci" and he was like "ok cya at the next alumni event" and I was like "laters 💯"

and yep. thats it. moral of the story have lots of back up plans so even if you don't meet your atar expectations you don't really care cos you have a second pathway you're reasonably happy with. I suppose its too late now though.
best of luck !!!

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: heids on December 14, 2017, 07:50:05 pm

I woke up on the dot and did the whole enter-password-with-shaky-fingers-and-thumping-heart thing.  Looked at my study scores for about one second before jumping up and pacing the room excitedly.  Was pretty chuffed - my results met all my hopes and in English significantly exceeded them.

Later that day, my mood crashed and I cried hopelessly for a long time - year 12 was over, I didn't know exactly what life meant anymore, and I was packing for going to India alone that night.  But my lovely HHD teacher took me out for (stressed and upset) celebratory afternoon tea for my 50, because my parents weren't there to celebrate with me.

In the end, my ATAR hasn't mattered at all in any way - I could have easily reached my course by a 50 ATAR or pathways if I didn't get that, and in the end I even ditched that course lol.  Instead, I've used it to mentally measure and compare my worth as a person, which is always valuable *cough* :P

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: PhoenixxFire on December 14, 2017, 09:34:32 pm

Ok so not an ATAR story but I'm too nervous to sleep just yet so here's how I found out my score for 3/4 psych last year:

I really didn't care about it much - I did basically no homework and only one practice exam that we did in class. It's so weird how different it is this year, even though I'm also only doing one subject.

I didn't have school the day they came out so I slept in. I woke up around 8:30 ish. My mum called about 9 and asked if my brother was awake yet (he was graduating last year). He wasn't. This was when I realised that I could find out what I got for psych 😂 I googled a bit to find out the website. Luckily I have a good memory and I remember unimportant things as I had not realised I needed my student number to log in. After a couple of guesses I remembered it. Now for my pin. What pin, I wondered. I don't remember setting a pin? I trawled through the FAQ section to try and find out what my pin was. Luckily I remember my birthday. Annnd I was in.

I was so excited when I saw 37 and barely stopped smiling all day. It's weird because I will be disappointed if I get 37 for bio, but for psych I was ecstatic.

My sister had got 60 atar, my brother (who graduated that year) got 70. My sister got into her course (teaching) at the uni she wanted through doing the first year of a different degree. My brother got into his double degree in enviro engineering/enviro science (supposed atar requirement 80) in first round offers. Just goes to show that there are so many different ways in.

This year I'm a bit more prepared. I know my student id and pin. I even know the website it is on 😂

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: 2352300 on December 15, 2017, 01:41:48 pm

So me and my friends properly pulled an all nighter. We had three shots each at 6:30am "to numb the pain" and then opened it together and reacted live over facetime. I saw it and was like holy shit no way cuz I didn't expect to do that well. It was a weird out of body experience because I could feel one part of my brain screaming but the overwhelmingly inebriated part of brain was hella numb despite there being no pain. Took a nap straight after woke up at 11 and was sober enough to let it sink in and now my entire brain can be super happy cuz I'm pretty sure I'll get into my first preference !! (Unless the clearly in drastically changes oh dear)

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: Natasha.97 on December 15, 2017, 04:05:52 pm

I've been repeatedly opening and closing this thread, debating whether or not to post this...

I received my HSC marks yesterday. Turned on my phone and the first thing that greeted me was an email at 6:15 =.= Opened it, saw my marks, and just stared it them for a while. For each subject, I kept running through different scenarios in my head, wondering where I could have gotten more marks, how I ended up with the ones staring back at me. At the same time, I expected the marks that I received, so I was both disappointed and slightly detached from them.

This morning, I couldn't sleep at all. I tossed and turned in my bed, trying to calm myself down but I couldn't. (I'm normally a deep sleeper once I'm asleep so this is unusual). I logged on to the UAC app at 8:30 and saw my ATAR. It did get me over the requirement for my desired course, which is the whole purpose of the ATAR and what people tell me matters the most, but there is always the thought at the back of my head, what if? What if I started putting more effort instead of procrastinating all the time?

Eh. .-.

Didn’t eat until 1, ate an entire tub of ice cream...

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: cookiedream on December 16, 2017, 04:02:14 pm

Woke up at 6:00AM in a cold sweat and couldn't go back to sleep again. I couldn't stop thinking that...this was it. This was the day. The day I had been waiting for for 13 years. I couldn't stop thinking about what study scores and ATAR I might get, whether I would be hugely disappointed or pleasantly surprised and how I would break it to my parents if I did not do as well as I coveted. The minutes were ticking by achingly slowly until the long hour came to 7:00AM. I shot out of bed and took out my laptop, diving underneath the covers again (since I remember it being a cold morning). As I was typing in my VCE number and PIN, all I could think was 'It's okay, I probably got in the 30s for everything, although that's pretty much confirmed for Spesh...no I might get in the 20s for Spesh lol. But oh well, whatever has happened, has happened. I knew I screwed up all my exams, even in my strong subjects.' I hesitated to click the 'Submit' button - I could feel my heart thumping and my breath shortening. As soon as I clicked the button, I kinda hid behind the covers then slowly peeped out...

...to see my study scores staring back at me boldly. I remember shouting something like 'OH MY GOD!!!' whilst not being able to take my eyes off the Biology and Eng Lang score. Mum ran all the way from the other side of the house to my room and was similarly shocked by the numbers. I quickly tapped the 'View your ATAR' button and, in big bold letters, was 99.75. I forgot to breath for a second, then I shouted. And cried. And made ugly whale noises as I hugged my mum tightly and made her shoulder wet with my tears (sorry mum).

My fingers were shaking as I messaged my friends over Skype and seeing how they felt about their results. I could barely write a message without making a typo or grammar mistake or writing the wrong word as my mind was in shambles and still processing what had happened just before. Mum was in the other room calling my relatives and family friends, where many of them started crying over the phone as well.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected this!!! It was a very nice closure to what otherwise has been one hell of a year.

Best of wishes and luck to future Year 12s! No matter what you get in the end, be proud of yourself for all your hard work and efforts!! This is the end of one chapter but a beginning to another.

- cookiedream

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: prickles on December 16, 2017, 06:35:31 pm

Quote from: cookiedream on December 16, 2017, 04:02:14 pm

Woke up at 6:00AM in a cold sweat and couldn't go back to sleep again. I couldn't stop thinking that...this was it. This was the day. The day I had been waiting for for 13 years. I couldn't stop thinking about what study scores and ATAR I might get, whether I would be hugely disappointed or pleasantly surprised and how I would break it to my parents if I did not do as well as I coveted. The minutes were ticking by achingly slowly until the long hour came to 7:00AM. I shot out of bed and took out my laptop, diving underneath the covers again (since I remember it being a cold morning). As I was typing in my VCE number and PIN, all I could think was 'It's okay, I probably got in the 30s for everything, although that's pretty much confirmed for Spesh...no I might get in the 20s for Spesh lol. But oh well, whatever has happened, has happened. I knew I screwed up all my exams, even in my strong subjects.' I hesitated to click the 'Submit' button - I could feel my heart thumping and my breath shortening. As soon as I clicked the button, I kinda hid behind the covers then slowly peeped out...

...to see my study scores staring back at me boldly. I remember shouting something like 'OH MY GOD!!!' whilst not being to take my eyes off the Biology and Eng Lang score. Mum ran all the way from the other side of the house to my room and was similarly shocked by the numbers. I quickly tapped the 'View your ATAR' button and, in big bold letters, was 99.75. I forgot to breath for a second, then I shouted. And cried. And made ugly whale noises as I hugged my mum tightly and made her shoulder wet with my tears (sorry mum).

My fingers were shaking as I messaged my friends over Skype and seeing how they felt about their results. I could barely write a message without making a typo or grammar mistake or writing the wrong word as my mind was in shambles and still processing what had happened just before. Mum was in the other room calling my relatives and family friends, where many of them started crying over the phone as well.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected this!!! It was a very nice closure to what otherwise has been one hell of a year.

Best of wishes and luck to future Year 12s! No matter what you get in the end, be proud of yourself for all your hard work and efforts!! This is the end of one chapter but a beginning to another.

- cookiedream

Aww that was such a beautiful conclusion ... congratulations on such an amazing result!!!

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: Sam M on December 16, 2017, 06:51:18 pm

For some reason, I actually wasn't too nervous about my atar. In fact, I was more nervous about getting my psychology study score last year.
Anyway, I was using the website to view my atar, so planned to look at my study scores first to prepare myself for the big reveal. However, I think my hands must have been jittery because I accidentally clicked 'view vce results' and 'view atar' in quick succession.
So when I saw my atar, I wasn't at all prepared. I sort of yelled a little bit  ::) , which caused my mum came running to my room.
She asked what I got, so I told her, only to get the response: 'Haha, what did you really get'...thanks mum. She believed me when I showed her, though.
Anyway, couldn't be happier.

Sidenote: every time i tried to write 'atar' my computer would correct it to 'star'... so if i talk about stars anywhere in this post, or others, you know what I mean.

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: K888 on December 16, 2017, 06:53:01 pm

Quote from: Sam M on December 16, 2017, 06:51:18 pm

For some reason, I actually wasn't too nervous about my atar. In fact, I was more nervous about getting my psychology study score last year.
Anyway, I was using the website to view my atar, so planned to look at my study scores first to prepare myself for the big reveal. However, I think my hands must have been jittery because I accidentally clicked 'view vce results' and 'view atar' in quick succession.
So when I saw my atar, I wasn't at all prepared. I sort of yelled a little bit  ::) , which caused my mum came running to my room.
She asked what I got, so I told her, only to get the response: 'Haha, what did you really get'...thanks mum. She believed me when I showed her, though.
Anyway, couldn't be happier.

Sidenote: every time i tried to write 'atar' my computer would correct it to 'star'... so if i talk about stars anywhere in this post, or others, you know what I mean.

Great story - congratulations on your results! Particularly for Revs, it was great to see you helping Revs students throughout the year and I'm really happy for you!! :D

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: Sam M on December 16, 2017, 07:03:51 pm

Quote

Great story - congratulations on your results! Particularly for Revs, it was great to see you helping Revs students throughout the year and I'm really happy for you!! :D

Aww thanks. I owe so much to all your help throughout the year on not only the history board (of course) but others. In fact, I could have helped more for history, but you always answered people's questions so quickly and in such an insightful way so there wasn't really anything more to be said. You're too good!

Thanks again for all your invaluable help, I'll make sure to stick around :).

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: Bri MT on December 17, 2017, 12:34:37 am

Before I could access it I was just trying to distract myself. I knew I shouldn't dwell on negative thoughts and anxiety but also didn't want to think positively and be dissapointed. I woke up 6ish and was waiting to log on to the website at 7 but before then I received an email with my study scores. There were good scores, but my eyes were drawn to 34 in methods, which was a bit soul-crushing. I'm still bitter that in my only subject at my school where I wasn't rank 1, the person who got rank 1 gave up on VCE and didn't prep for exams at all. I'd expected that this would bring SAC marks down but I still didn't predict getting a C+ as a GA. In some ways getting a B+ for exam 1 was even worse because for that I could only blame myself. I now know that I won't be taken seriously if I try to help others with a subject that I understand well and that hurts. Getting a flat 40 in chemistry was also painful.
On the other hand, getting 38 in English Language was great. My decision to study units 3&4 of a subject I had no experience in through distance ed was a risk; I'm relieved to know that it was the right decision and that I still achieved a high enough score for prereqs.

When I was able to log onto the site and see my ATAR I was relieved. I desperately want to live on campus and have been hoping for a while now to get 98+ and thus be eligible for a (merit) scholarship to provide financial assistance. It's also a competive ATAR for my first preference which seems like a really fantastic course.
The dream was coming together and in a few months I'll be a university student - something I've wanted since before primary school.

On that day I had a change of preference appointment appointment in the careers office and talking to staff members was such a positive experience. I'm so proud of my cohort because they have done so well* and I just hope that this gives hope to future students and that they build on it. The most meaningful message of the day was a peer thanking me for advice I'd given them throughout the year as they received a study score of 45 on that day. So amazing to see a student at my school getting a result like that.

The successes and efforts of others gives me hope for a brighter future.



*Doing well can mean many different things to many different people; no one definition/perspective is inherently more valid than another

---- above this line is from Dec 17 2017, below is from Nov 19 2018

I didn't end up being in a position to live on campus,  which was what I wanted from my ATAR. It took me a while to realise that my scores never had the power to do that for me.  I did end up being offered an achievement scholarship,  but I got rid of that for my (lower value) Access Monash Mentors community leaders scholarship.

I was terrified I wouldn't achieve my goal of living on res - I didn't get there & I won't be living on res next year either - but I've coped. I could've gotten into my course with an ATAR 10 points lower and had a healthier year 12, but this whole thing has been a good learning experience so I wouldn't say I'm regretful either.

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: nice! on December 17, 2017, 01:24:05 am

The night before results were released I stayed up with my sister until 2:30am, replicating what we did when she got her results two years ago. I couldn't sleep very well as my heart would not slow down, even though I wasn't actually too anxious about my results as I had accepted some ballpark figures in my mind. I ended up getting about 2 hours sleep before waking up at 6:15am and messaging some friends in anticipation. Then it came upon 6:52am, and I received a snapchat from a friend saying she got the e-mail and saw all her scores. At this point I became terrified, the moment had finally come that I would learn of my efforts from the past two years of VCE and see whether I had done enough to be satisifed. Another friend and I agreed to check our results at 6:55 just so we could prepare ourselves.

The moment came, and I logged into the mobile app and clicked to see results. I was amazed. I had never imagined to get the scores I did, even in an absolute best case scenario I didn't think I would get those study scores. I'd used the atarcalc obsessively for the month leading up to results day and had been expecting around a high 97, or in the best circumstances, a mid 98. SOooo when I saw my study scores I realised I could actually get a 98, sending a picture to my friend of my scores and messaging "omg im gonna get a 98". I was so astounded when I clicked to see my atar and saw 99.00 staring up at me. A score of 99 seemed so unattainable and crazy that I had never even entertained the thought.

I took a second to double check I didn't read it wrong before messaging the friend who I was talking to as we both excitedly congratulated each other. After that, I ran into my parents bedroom in utter disbelief, telling them the good news. It was so surreal, I cried. One of the most rewarding moments of my life.
I checked in with all my other friends who also did exceptionally well, and we were all extremely happy with our scores and atars. Later that day, we went to school to see our teachers who were all so proud and excited for the students, and then followed this with a brunch to debrief (and work out who duxed and got 50s lol).

It turned out to be a really fun day despite running on 2 hrs sleep, with a celebratory karaoke outing with friends ending the night!!

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: rodero on December 17, 2017, 07:42:25 am

For HSC students, I guess we have a bit more predictability when receiving our ATARs, since we get our HSC marks the day before. I popped them into the ATAR Calculators and was mostly getting within the high 96, which was amazing for me. All I ever expected was a 90+ to get into UTS Business. I wanted to go to UNSW for Commerce so badly, but I never dared think I'd get the ATAR, needing a 94.3 minimum + bonus points.

To see that I not only got into my dream course, but actually exceeded the requirement was such a great feeling. I'm so glad that I filmed myself reacting to it because I will cherish that moment forever. It was great to see that my friends had achieved great ATARs as well! I instantly got myself ready and headed off to school one more time, where the cohort all got together with teachers as a celebration. We were told that our cohort had been the best the school had ever had - we jumped more than 50 places in the school rankings, and we were crowned the best Catholic high school in Sydney.

My teachers also showed me where I got my marks in each subject. Can you believe I got 1/3 for the Legal Studies short answer on common law? I thought I smashed that one. For English, I was surprised to see 19/18/17 for my modules. It had been my weakest subject by far all year and it's surprising that with some effort, it became my best in the HSC, with an examination score of 93.

That same day I celebrated with my parents by going out for lunch. The deal was that if I beat my sisters 88, my dad would pay for most of my schoolies. Since I managed to surpass it by so much, he got me a brand new laptop for uni - a laptop that's been on my wishlist for ages!

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: Thebarman on December 17, 2017, 11:04:27 am

Between the final exams and receiving my atar, I wasn't too stressed out or worried. I had already secured an early entry spot at my second preference uni, and my first preference course at another uni only required 80. That whole time (and for most of the year really), I believed that I could get into the course. My goal had always been to achieve an atar above 80, but my ultimate dream was 92 (I even stuck a poster up on my wall which said 'Atar Goal 92' and left it there until about a month ago). It's only in the few days before the hsc results were released that I became extremely worried and lost faith in myself. The continuous emails from UTS telling me to fill out an optional questionnaire which could get me into the course if I didn't get the required atar only elevated my worries (a questionnaire that in the end I didn't fill out). During this time, I began to think about my internal marks, especially my trial marks, and began to believe that I wouldn't be close to my goals (our school marks quite harshly, to the point where my raw internal math mark was in the low 60s, but the scaled assessment mark was 84). At this point, I had no idea whatsoever to expect.

So hsc results day comes around, and mum wakes me up to try and find out what I got. Still dreading my marks, I decide to not look at them yet. It's only half an hour later that I finally work up the courage to log in and check my marks. I was absolutely stunned and blown away; all my expectations had been surpassed. After processing it, I immediately ran downstairs to let mum and dad know how I went. The rest of the day was spent looking up how friends had gone, and binge watching Dark. I also used a few atar calculators to try and guess what my ranking would be. Most said I could place anywhere between 90 - 92, but I didn't want to get my hopes up just in case.

When atar day rolled around, I got an email half an hour before results were due from UTS, telling me I had achieved guaranteed entry into any IT or engineering course of my choice. Guaranteed entry is for those who achieve 90+. So UTS ultimately ruined the surprise  ;D. Either way, I screamed when I finally saw that I had achieved 92.05, and frantically called up family and friends. The rest of the day was spent getting completely and utterly lost in the city with a friend

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: Joseph41 on November 19, 2018, 01:02:17 pm

Bump for the new year! ;D Would love to hear some more stories.

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: beatroot on November 19, 2018, 03:06:58 pm

I actually remember typing out my thoughts about my ATAR in my HSC journey journal last year so I'll just add it in the spoiler below !

Spoiler

Quote from: beatroot on December 15, 2017, 10:50:39 pm

"What'll It Be?"
a post-ATAR post by Bea

I woke up today with a throbbing headache at 8:43am and first thing I did was check the HSC 2017 Discussion page on Facebook to check out the pre-ATAR memes. Though it came to my surprise when people said that the ATARs were already out. I was planning to get ready and to film my reaction but realised that my shift started in one hour so I had to get this ATAR out of the way. I typed in my student number and my pin and came out my ATAR of

bea's atar lol

89.50 lol. My HSC marks are in my signature lol

At first I was a bit disappointed because the ATAR calculators said I could get 90+. After reading my ATAR, my headache got worse. I called my parents and they were a bit sad at first because of how close the ATAR was but they didn't mind because they already knew I got into the film school I've always wanted to get into. Afterwards I took a shower, ate leftovers from last night and put on my work uniform. I walked into work with the worse headache in the world. I took a tablet of panadol, though the headache never went away.

Thirty minutes into my shift, I was fixing a display when I overhead a conversation between my boss and another co-worker in an aisle next to mine. I heard them say the words 'HSC' and knew they were going to ask me about it. They walked past me a second later and my boss said "Hey Beatrice. Apparently your HSC marks are out?". I told them my ATAR and they started congratulating me. Although, I was like "I was close to getting that 90+". I pretty much told every co-worker about my ATAR as a way of explaining why I had the worse headache in the world. The pharmacist recommended me Nuromol. Took about two hours for Nuromol to sink in. The headache was finally gone. But the thought of being so close to a 90 never went away.

As soon as I finished work, I called up my friend (who went to my school's morning tea) to ask how everyone went. Our school didn't get into the top 100 (as expected but I was really hoping to get into the top 100 like our 2015 cohort), therefore scaling didn't really favour anyone. However, all the teachers were super excited to see everyone again and congratulate us on our performance, regardless of ATAR or HSC marks. A couple of my friends got 90+ ATARs and I feel like such a proud mum. I'm also proud of those who got a Band 6 and everyone in general. I haven't got the confirmation letter but I'm pretty sure I will be invited to my school's high achievers assembly next year (thank you my Band 6 in Visual Arts and my ARTEXPRESS 2018 selection!). I hope that my achievements and the other achievements of my fellow high achievers can inspire the girls at my school. Good luck to my school's 2018 cohort. I'm confident that they will get amazing ATARs and can beat our school's ranking for this year (I don't mind them beating us. They're a lovely cohort)

Looking back now- I realise now that your ATAR don't mean anything. No one at university gives a shit about it. The only time I've had people mentioning their ATARs is when they discover that I'm on AN and they're like 'that's that thing that gives out free HSC lectures right?'. I know I was disappointed at first when I got my ATAR. It's like 'damn if I actually studied that one dot point in Ancient History' or 'if I actually dedicated more time in the MC for Maths' or something. One small thing could have raised my ATAR to a 90+. I could've been recognised as a 90+ student at my school's high achiever's assembly rather than 'another chick who got a Band 6 for Visual Arts'. I think it was more of the pride and glory that came with being recognised as a 90+ student that I craved for rather than the ATAR itself (I didn't need an ATAR for film school). But at the end of the day- it really didn't matter because I already got accepted into my first preference (film) two weeks before ATARs were released. I'm just glad I got higher HSC marks that I expected (especially Society & Culture).

Wishing everyone the best with ATAR results day :)

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: fantasticbeasts3 on November 19, 2018, 03:46:43 pm

I thought I posted here last year, but here we go :-)

As most of you know, in NSW we get our HSC results and ATARs one day after each other. For results, I had put my phone on aeroplane mode and had planned on sleeping in to make sure I didn’t see my results. At 7am I woke up to go to the bathroom and couldn’t sleep again because of the results anticipation. My hands were shaking and I couldn’t type my email and password to log into my email account.. then the first email pops up with my results, and I honest to goodness screamed. The first thing staring me in the face was a 94 in Legal and I was so incredibly happy about that. The rest wasn’t as good, but putting my marks into ATAR calculators made me sure I wouldn’t get my first UAC preference.

ATAR day was the following day. I had a morning tea at school, but I slept in lol. We were supposed to tell our pastoral care teachers our ATARs and I almost forgot to check before going to school 😂 But when I did check, I was happy but also disappointed because I didn’t get into my first preference, even with bonus points. I was 0.55 off. To this day, I’m disappointed I didn’t put more effort into maths which would’ve gotten me over 90, but at the end of the day I’m where I want to be. I ended up getting my first preference which is the most important thing! No one really asks you about your ATAR, and I’ve only been asked once by a teacher after getting my ATAR.

I hope your results are what you want them to be, and if not, there are tons of pathways to get to where you want ❤️❤️

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: Joseph41 on December 15, 2018, 02:51:26 pm

Would love to hear some stories from the recently graduated Class of 2018! :D 🎓

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: ItsYaBoyd on December 15, 2018, 03:10:27 pm

Although I am a massive stress head, with the exam period literally being the worst experience of my life, I was surprising not nervous in the lead up to the release of ATARs. The night before I went out with some friends for dinner, and ended up going to a nightclub until around 2:30am before coming home, and sleeping through that 7am release time.

Going into exams I set some pretty unrealistic goals for myself, saying I wanted a 99.9 with high 40s in English and like 45 in spesh. I mean, these results weren't actually unreasonable for me given the work I had put in during the year, SAC rankings and my prep for exams. But having pretty severe performance anxiety, this pressure I put on myself became way too much for me to bear, and I ended up panicking during the English exam, and before the spesh tech free. As you can see from my scores below, I still did pretty well in both, but I do wonder how I would have gone if I didn't have such issue with exams.

With all this in mind, I was fairly sure I was going to get around the scores that I received for those subjects and the others that I did in the lead up to ATAR release, which was probably why I wasn't too concerned. What I wasn't sure about was my score in French, which was probably what carried my ATAR to what I got. With a LOTE, or indeed any high scaling subject, it can be very difficult to predict where you will stand coming out of the exam. 45 was my dream at the beginning of the year and when I saw that I was so incredibly happy, and the ATAR I got was much higher than I expected because of that.

So what have I learned from this? Whilst I could say "don't stress and you'll do fine", for people like me who suffer anxiety, not stressing is not always an option. Of course, do everything you can to manage that stress, see a psychologist, eat well, get enough sleep, do some meditation. But in the end for me, I knew it would affect my scores and I was prepared for that. In any case, while aiming for a 50 or a high 99s ATAR is great, be wary of the pressure you put on yourself. Unless you are some sort of genius, a 50 in a subject and a high 99s ATAR does come down to how you feel on the days of your exams and how well the exams suit you.

And if you miss that ATAR goal? It's probably been said a million times before, but there are SO MANY different pathways into courses. Even if you miss the ATAR by a large amount, it's likely that you can do even just one semester to a year of another course before transferring into the course of your dreams. Don't let the number stop you from doing what you want to do, that's not how it works.

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: DrDusk on September 27, 2019, 12:02:51 am

Mine was quite boring. I was 100% confident that I would get the required atar for my course and so I stared off into space thinking about this new chapter of my life(uni) the whole night and awaited the sunrise, and well I got what I needed =)

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: Joseph41 on November 28, 2019, 02:32:19 pm

It's getting to that time of year again. 😬 Anybody else have ATAR stories?

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: hums_student on November 28, 2019, 03:16:07 pm

I was in Iraq with my history teacher and two classmates when ATARs came out. My history teacher was also the school principal so he got our results before Dec 14th and he wasn't going to tell us until after the official release, but couldn't control himself and told us our history study scores (but made us wait for the other subjects and the ATAR). We nagged him for hours on end and bribed him with anything we could buy from the Iraqi night markets but he refused to budge.

Anyway due to time zones results came out at 3am for us - the three of us students pulled an all nighter and had a planking contest until results came out. I specifically remember that I was in the toilet when the app finally loaded. I saw ATAR first because I just wanted to get it over and done with. My prediction was in the low/mid 90s so when I saw my actual ATAR my first feeling was confusion - I thought I logged into someone else's account. While I was over the moon with my ATAR I was quite disappointed in my study scores as I had gotten two raw 39s, including chem which I thought was a safe 40+.

Following that, the first thing I did was call my parents and sister. My mum actually cried when I told her my scores. I think that phone call was the highlight of my VCE - for most of my life I was "the dumb sibling" and my parents had no expectations of me. But then during that phone call they told me that they were proud of my achievements and my efforts and that was so much better than getting the ATAR itself.

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: Jimmmy on December 28, 2019, 12:46:56 am

Well, I guess I can say mine now can't I?  :o

The night before, I just watched some junk TV (which is a rarity for me, I usually barely watch TV at all), and went to bed around 1am as I knew I was going to overthink things in bed if I went any earlier.

Woke up around 6:40, which was about when I would've wanted to. I went into the living room to grab my phone and turn it on, as I could access my email from there and was going to wait for the raw scores to come through before checking the ATAR. I went back to bed and turned on my emails around 6:45, and saw that I'd received one from VCAA around 6:40 and honestly thought it was a hoax, but it looked similar to the one I got last year so did a double take. I took a few deep breaths, messed around on my phone and surfed the web for a few minutes before finally mustering up the courage to check them. When I finally did, I was shocked again and thought it was a joke...again. My English Language score was a fair few points better than expected after what I considered to be a torrid examination, but the others all seemed below what I was hoping for, but better than I expected (bar Legal, that was awful  :'().

Considering it was 6:55 at this point, I raced to the ATARNotes ATAR calculator and plugged in the numbers, and got a mid 95, which I was content with as I was expecting low 90s after a sub-par exam period, including some sickness. When they finally came out, to see a number in the 96s was, at the time, felt phenomenal. I was expecting higher before exams, and my SAC marks indicated as much, but to come out with that after a pretty horrendous October/November was very relieving, and I knew I was going to get into the course I hoped for at the beginning of the year, so that was all I really needed despite all other factors at play.

From what I've seen, it's the number that causes the most stress, and I'm glad that number is long behind me (and the Class of 2019!).

Afterward, I was just in sheer neutrality for the next few hours, watched some TV around midday, grabbed lunch with a few friends, then went to school to catch a few teachers. Afterward, I went and played some cricket and went home late that night.

Quote from: hums_student on November 28, 2019, 03:16:07 pm

I was in Iraq with my history teacher and two classmates when ATARs came out. My history teacher was also the school principal so he got our results before Dec 14th and he wasn't going to tell us until after the official release, but couldn't control himself and told us our history study scores (but made us wait for the other subjects and the ATAR).

I'm stunned....since when do principals get scores/ATARs before the 7am opening? I've been told that nobody at our school receives information about our scores except the teachers of each subject, and that comes out about an hour after we get it.

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: Bri MT on December 28, 2019, 09:21:42 am

Quote from: Jimmmy on December 28, 2019, 12:46:56 am

I'm stunned....since when do principals get scores/ATARs before the 7am opening? I've been told that nobody at our school receives information about our scores except the teachers of each subject, and that comes out about an hour after we get it.

There was some drama a few years back about schools inviting students for a release day lunch if they got 90+. The thing is, the invitations went out before ATARs were announced...

I'm not sure if things have changed but schools definitely used to get ATARs in advance

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: Sine on December 28, 2019, 10:18:48 am

Quote from: Jimmmy on December 28, 2019, 12:46:56 am

I'm stunned....since when do principals get scores/ATARs before the 7am opening? I've been told that nobody at our school receives information about our scores except the teachers of each subject, and that comes out about an hour after we get it.

Pretty sure principals get scores early, either the day before or if scires are out on a monday the friday before.

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: Joseph41 on December 04, 2020, 10:03:20 am

Bump! For those who have graduated, what were your ATAR stories? What were your experiences?

Class of 2020, what are you expecting to happen/what are you expecting it to be like on the day?

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: fun_jirachi on December 04, 2020, 01:28:12 pm

Noticed I haven't added to this :|

I pulled an all-nighter (feigning nervousness iirc, but actually just not wanting to sleep) - waiting for results. I was pretty happy when the final marks came out early in the morning (and NESA slid into my DMs :o ) but I was pretty cooked by about 9am. I remember going to a friend's house to find out ATARs together, just constantly hitting refresh on UAC. Bit of a bummer in the end considering that all the different ATAR calculators we used projected higher results for the both of us, but I stayed for lunch and caught the train home. Turns out I was even more tired than I thought after 36 hours of no sleep because I overshot the station I was supposed to change trains at by about 12 stations and upon going back the other way to change trains, nearly overshot again. All in all a wild ride :)
 

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: justaloser on December 04, 2020, 02:06:39 pm

Quote from: Joseph41 on December 04, 2020, 10:03:20 am

Bump! For those who have graduated, what were your ATAR stories? What were your experiences?

Class of 2020, what are you expecting to happen/what are you expecting it to be like on the day?

I woke up at easily 6:30am or so, then realised that I would unfortunately have to wait. So I hung out in the living room whilst my parents were sleeping listening to music and playing video games mindlessly to pass the time. I had a very "Let's get it over with" sort of vibe, I was just frankly sick and tired of the VCE and results and numbers. I was constantly alt-tabbing between Gmail and Reddit and Discord seeing if anyone else was up, not nervous but just impatient ("It is what it is").

My parents however were my complete antithesis: they were giddy and when my results came out, it was like winning the lottery for them, God bless their souls, because they were jumping up and down and screaming. I was just really relieved that I hadn't failed the VCE, because I had forgotten to do 10+% on my first Methods exam and Chemistry and English were such wildcard subjects that I really, really didn't know if I was even going to crack 90.00. Plus I was interested in med so there was that. I was just all in all very relieved that it was over (well not really, there was still the possibility of interviews for medicine which I was excited for more than ATAR) and was physically and mentally too tired to really react.

After getting my results I think I went down to school to talk to teachers about results. The school yard was empty, it was rather cold and grey for a December day. It felt like such a bleak way to end high school, but that experience is more vivid to me than the end-of-year events. There weren't any other Year 12 students in sight except for another friend who had decided to turn up as well, we said our hellos, and that was that.

Most of my teachers actually had more faith in me than myself! My Chem teacher in particular told me she wasn't surprised, which shocked me because I wasn't really top-scoring but still pulled out a decent study score. It was also rather awkward talking to my Spec teacher who I was quite close with because I got a 29 study score (I didn't study for Specialist).

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: The Cat In The Hat on December 07, 2020, 09:50:06 pm

Quote from: Joseph41 on December 04, 2020, 10:03:20 am

Class of 2020, what are you expecting to happen/what are you expecting it to be like on the day?

I have expectations probably 10 or more ATAR points lower than my parents, so... this could be interesting. We'll see who's right! It being... a particular special day for me... I don't want it to mess it up too, so the pressure's on more. And the course I want to get into is competitive. We'll see!
I also have teeny tiny I'd-like goals that I don't think I've got, but I'd love to top Heidi's scores for English or Texts... sadly, I'm probably not even gonna get 40s in either, let alone mid-40s... Heidi is too smart for me
-updated post-ATAR/offers-
Well as I kinda expected and kinda didn't, my ATAR was neither spectacular (especially in a family of almost all 90+'s) nor awful. I can't remember, I may have got the lowest ATAR in the family, I may not, but it don't matter one tiny bit, 'cause ATAR was there as a way to get into the course I wanted and well I got in, so I don't really care. At the time, of course, I was somewhat nervous, but it was very anticlimactic; I went out for the day with my brother (who is also on AN) and my parents told most of the family. My ATAR story was fairly ordinary. One subject I was shocked and incredibly delighted about (Methods, you saved the day) as I'd expected ~27 raw and got 34, raw. Another subject I was shocked and quite disappointed by was Texts; I'd hoped for high 30s/40, then it ended up being fairly mediocre at 34. The teacher'd been expecting mid-high 40s, but I'd never really believed that in any case. Revs was precisely on-point where I'd predicted; predicted 32, guess what I got. English was a bit lower than I'd hoped, but given my terrible exam performance I was reasonably happy. (But 13/20 for an essay on a book I knew inside out? Still annoyed.) It's rather heartening to know that if I'd done decently on the exams I could've done significantly better on all my subjects (except Methods because that exam pair I was happy with).

I was more concerned about getting my offer; great, I'd got an ATAR of 85.00 which is an okay sort of score (for my incredibly high-scoring family, think heids sort of level), but the course I wanted required probably about 91.5 (ended up first round offers required 92+ selection rank for 2021 entry) so I was fairly convinced I wouldn't get it. Thought I was hallucinating on the day when I first saw it! They obviously decided that major surgery at the start of the summer holidays beforehand was rather detrimental. (spoiler alert: it was)

So my ATAR story was fairly boring. There. Now you have it.

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: XD12345 on December 12, 2020, 01:20:14 pm

Quote from: Joseph41 on December 04, 2020, 10:03:20 am

Class of 2020, what are you expecting to happen/what are you expecting it to be like on the day?

Class of 2020 student right here. So far I have roughly 1 week left until I get my atar. I have actually called into work and requested to have the 19th off because I would have started at 7am and probably would not be able to focus. I was worried that I would check my atar and Not do well and then end up not working to the best of my abilty, so I decided to just have the whole day off. I’ve basically been doing everything to distract myself, I’ve read through the entire course units and structure for my dream course which is only making me more nervous. I’m planning on staying up distracting myself until I pass out the night before (that way I don’t have to lay in bed building scenarios in my head). I’ve talked to other people who are doing something similar, and it’s becoming more and more nerve-wrecking.

I’ve read through dozens of forum pages on a range of websites of people telling their own atar stories and how it’s affected them. I’ve been counting down the days since November, but now, I’ve started counting down the actual hours until atars are released. When posting this, I only need to wait 165 more hours (roughly)!



(

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: Joseph41 on November 29, 2021, 11:28:58 am

Bump! :D Those in the Class of 2020 and earlier - what are your ATAR stories?

And if you're currently waiting on results or soon will be, what are you planning for ATAR release? How are you expecting the day to go?

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: ConFinCMC on November 30, 2021, 10:05:35 am

Quote from: Joseph41 on November 29, 2021, 11:28:58 am

Bump! :D Those in the Class of 2020 and earlier - what are your ATAR stories?

And if you're currently waiting on results or soon will be, what are you planning for ATAR release? How are you expecting the day to go?

Thanks for resurfacing this, it would probably be best to bring it back for another year.
The night before I got my results last year, I wasn't really nervous or anything. I thought I had what I needed, which was a 20 in English and an ATAR above 50. I just woke up at about 9 or 10AM and just scrolled onto the website.
When I saw all those low numbers, I kind of just thought, well damn, time to get a job, I guess.

But then I remembered that the Careers Office at school was open still, and they were offering help to any students who needed to change course or seek advice about universities. My careers teacher stepped me through about an introductory course at a university in Ballarat, which can be a gateway to being even better as a student in general.
After that, I went home, changed my preferences and heard back from friends who got very good scores (while I'm happy for them, I was a little bummed out to hear that I was the only one in my friend group who didn't get the scores they wanted), then I had KFC for dinner and passed out on the couch after a movie marathon at about 2AM.

So, the moral of the story is to always have a backup plan, no matter how sure you are of your scores, be mindful of your resources, even after school is finished, they can give advice and never overestimate or underestimate yourself.

My university course starts in February and I'm super excited for it. Can't wait!

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: rkjthguakj on November 30, 2021, 11:25:19 am

I remember going over to a friend's house really early in the morning to open our ATAR's with friends. I wasn't ready to face my parents no matter what it was.

Coming from a high performing school (median ATAR in 2020 was a 93) and with high achieving friends, I had set a high goal for myself, despite not exactly being a stellar student, at roughly mid to high 90s ATAR. To my demise, I received an ATAR short of a mid-90s. In the face of my high achieving friends who had ALL received 98 ATARs, I didn't want to show my disappointment. It was disappointing to receive study scores a lot lower than I had anticipated - I was expecting a low 40s for English only to find out I bombed Section C with an 11/20.

Sure it was disappointing in the moment, but within the next month, it didn't even matter as I had received my first preference course anyways and am really happy with where I'm heading in university. As cliche as it is, there are always pathways if you're willing to put int he work, no matter how disappointing your ATAR is.

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: Billuminati on November 30, 2021, 11:33:53 am

Class of '18 here. I stayed up late all night on results eve although I was well aware that I'm out of the med race since I failed a section on the UMAT and scored abysmally on it overall. I was hinging on a 98+ as that's the required ATAR for a Monash biomed scholarship and I was nervous about trying to prove my abusive French teacher wrong about me not being capable of getting a 40. To make time past faster, I decided to play some GTA CTW and when I got bored of that, I played a few Danganronpa 2 class trials for the first time.

When results came in, I was mad for getting 47 scaled in French which was definitely under a 40 raw. Looked like my excuse for a "teacher" gets to give me the finger after all

I was also panicking when I saw my chem scaled score cuz I remembered that a 40 raw should scale to 44 and my scaled score was only 43.8, which might mean I got under 40 for it. It was a relief that VCAA decided to round my score up. I could've sworn I scored very well on the exam, but when I ordered the statement of marks, apparently it's marked more harshly than I thought

Despite the horrible exam 1 in methods, I was still happy with my 37 cuz it still meets the 35 prereq for the scholarship.

The only pleasant surprise is English, I was hoping for a 41-42 but somehow got a 44. I feel that this pretty much highlights the flaws of the VCE system, I enjoyed chem and methods way more than English (which was hell on earth for me), yet my scores certainly didn't reflect this.

When I held my breath and scrolled to my ATAR, I was so happy that my ATAR barely made it over the 98 prereq. But biomed being what it is, I still get asked and ridiculed for my ATAR by other kids in the scholars program, cuz most of them have high 98 - low 99 ATARs  whereas I barely made the cut. Of course I never anticipated that on results day, I was way too busy celebrating

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: Joseph41 on November 30, 2021, 12:07:36 pm

Quote from: Billuminati on November 30, 2021, 11:33:53 am

But biomed being what it is, I still get asked and ridiculed for my ATAR by other kids in the scholars program, cuz most of them have high 98 - low 99 ATARs

Damn, does that really happen? That's a bit of a bummer.

I don't think I ever spoke about my ATAR at uni, although I also didn't speak to that many people at uni, haha.

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: Geoo on November 30, 2021, 01:37:16 pm

Graduated in 2020, and wow I can't believe it's been a year already!

I was coming into this very nervous. I felt that out of the 5 exams I did, only two went well. Going into the methods exam I had literally given up and just didn't care anymore, and I came out crying from the chemistry exam as I thought i'd bombed it, leaving 15 marks blank as I ran out of time (it was my favourite subject to). Ever since high school started, I had been aiming for a 92 ATAR to get into the B.Sci at monash, which is the first thing I looked up in year 7 to have as an end goal. Even though the in 2020 and onwards the ATAR has lowered to 85, I still wanted that 92 I set out to achieve way back when I was 12.

The night before I took a two hour drive just to ring out my nerves. I was already accepting that at most I could get an 82, at worst a 79 due to all the calculations I had done. I just wanted enough to get into my course. Funnily enough, I slept through the night and got a full 7 hours sleep? Don't know how I did that, but I woke up at 6:30. I checked my email at 6:45, and saw the study score results had come in. I knocked on my parents door, and we all went down stairs. I was just so ready to be disappointed, I had already accepted that I wasn't going to do well. Anyway, I open up the email at 6:50 and my jaw dropped. The first thing I noticed was I somehow passed methods getting a 26, didn't bomb chem getting a 38 and to my utter disbelief got a 48 in food studies. I was hysterical. No idea how to react to that. I was kinda just staring at the screen in complete shock.

Then 7 am rolled around and it was time to check my atar. My hopes had been lifted that I may just scrape into the 90's. The only goal I really had for the year, all thanks to the epic food studies score that people told me I shouldn't take as it won't help my atar (jokes on them lol). After putting in the password to vtac, I clicked it, and to my shock got a 93.2. I was over the moon! My mum was crying, I was just there with my mouth open, and dad was just super happy. So in the end, I had a pretty happy atar story. I got the score that I wanted, I beat out my original expectations from my year 7 self, and my own predictions from the day before. Even though I got a low 90's score which isn't as high as many of the people on these fourms or friends of mine in real life, I was just super happy. I had failed a vce unit (unit 2 of bio, but i was super sick :/), missed alot of school due to health over the years, and somehow I pulled a 93? I came from a school where only 70% of people did an ATAR, and the average was around 62, so I ended up scoring the highest in my cohort which was the icing on the cake. My family celebrated for the rest of the day and new years eve!

I got into melbourne at first with a scholarship, then monash, but decided to go to monash because that's where I planned to go originally and the commute is better...... I took a gap year to decide on that decision. Whilst the atar hasn't been important at all in everyday life outside of getting into uni, it has gained me some respect from a few old fashioned relatives....

The only thing I was disappointed about was my english score, way back in year 10, my english sucked and I aimed for a 25, then I started reading and that really improved my eassay writing and reading comprehension. So I aimed for a 38 going into year 12. I got marked down quite harshly by my school's english teachers which I nor the tutor I had help from agreed with (they marked me down for picking a prompt that wasn't their top 3, as I chose option 4 to pick my own chapter for the the creative essay). I ended up with a B+, B+ A. That meant my SAC scores went down..... I got a 44/60 on the exam, my best performance to date.... I ended up with a 36, which I am still happy with, just slightly disappointed due to all the effort I put in. Overall I'm very happy with everything, plus a year on I don't really care anymore!

Anyway, good luck to the class of 2021! Your atar doesn't matter at the end of the day, it's just on key on a key chain to get into uni. Sorry that this got a bit long...

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: caffinatedloz on November 30, 2021, 03:34:26 pm

Very comforting to read a whole range of stories on here. I'm just anxiously counting down to the 16th. I'm not really sure what to expect. My plan is to work the night of the 15th, come home and sleep and not wake up until right on 7:00. I don't want to subject myself to any more anticipation than necessary.

While my course doesn't need a particularly high ATAR I still really want a good one. I'm hoping for 97+. 99 would be amazing, but I'm not sure that my exams were quite good enough for that.

Once I've seen my ATAR and study scores I'm sure I'll barge in to wake up my parents and tell them. Probably my little sister too. Last year I woke my parents up at 6:53 exactly to tell them my bio study score. It just wouldn't feel right to discontinue the tradition.

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: ConFinCMC on November 30, 2021, 06:02:11 pm

Quote from: caffinatedloz on November 30, 2021, 03:34:26 pm

Very comforting to read a whole range of stories on here. I'm just anxiously counting down to the 16th. I'm not really sure what to expect. My plan is to work the night of the 15th, come home and sleep and not wake up until right on 7:00. I don't want to subject myself to any more anticipation than necessary.

While my course doesn't need a particularly high ATAR I still really want a good one. I'm hoping for 97+. 99 would be amazing, but I'm not sure that my exams were quite good enough for that.

Once I've seen my ATAR and study scores I'm sure I'll barge in to wake up my parents and tell them. Probably my little sister too. Last year I woke my parents up at 6:53 exactly to tell them my bio study score. It just wouldn't feel right to discontinue the tradition.

Sounds like you seem confident with your marks. I'm sure you'll do really well, and it's always a good thing if you're likely to get a score well above your requirements. Best of luck for the 16th, and for your parents on that morning, lol

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: Billuminati on December 01, 2021, 12:25:04 am

Quote from: Joseph41 on November 30, 2021, 12:07:36 pm

Damn, does that really happen? That's a bit of a bummer.

I don't think I ever spoke about my ATAR at uni, although I also didn't speak to that many people at uni, haha.

Yeah it did unfortunately. It's actually a common occurrence in biomed cuz many people are probably still salty about being rejected from undergrad med and are looking for people to pick on. I usually don't say anything in response to them, or if I'm feeling petty on that particular day, highlight the fact that they've peaked in high school.

Title: Re: What are your ATAR stories?
Post by: tiredandstressed on December 01, 2021, 09:19:13 am

Quote from: Billuminati on December 01, 2021, 12:25:04 am

Yeah it did unfortunately. It's actually a common occurrence in biomed cuz many people are probably still salty about being rejected from undergrad med and are looking for people to pick on. I usually don't say anything in response to them, or if I'm feeling petty on that particular day, highlight the fact that they've peaked in high school.

Still, that's pretty sad, I didn't have a similar experience at UoM. I didn't really tell anyone my atar because no one asked, nor did I ask anyone else's atar bcoz I couldn't care, since we all knew we were a smart cohort to be able to get in Biomed @ UoM.
Nevertheless, there were some people who 'boasted' their 99.95 atar on orientation but I just didn't vibe with them haha. Sorry this happened to you it shouldn't have, but it seems like you're doing well in undergrad which is great to see :)