How much does your ATAR score matter to you?

[Dejan]

My ATAR means alot to me but I guess now I'll take any ATAR that will guarantee my spot in university

[_eriicc]

I wish I was one of those people who say 'I don't care, as long as I know I put the effort in' but I'm not one of those people. It's sad to say, but I am obsessed with achieving an ATAR of 80. Ruthlessly obsessed.

A majority of my University courses don't require a specific ATAR (As they're dependent on auditions) but I am driven to achieve that score. Why? Is it pride? Is it validation? A sense of accomplishment? Who knows.

And for those who don't achieve the ATAR they worked so hard for can have such devastating outcomes. People fail to realize that this whole concept of ranking and scoring can actually be quite destructive and quite damaging.

[gossamer]

I want to do well because I've worked very hard in the years I've taken VCE. I can slack off this year and still do well, it's a matter of personal pride and achieving the best I can given the work I've put in.

[HERculina]

Getting a high atar does't mean shit to me anymore.
BUT getting the atar I need to get into a course I'd like definitely does.

I think my parents are becoming more lenient with the whole ATAR thing now. Like my dad was telling me how both him and my mum worked really hard in high school overseas and then got into uni. But they never expected that they'd come to Australia, have to start all over again and do TAFE, but then to realize they couldn't get any good jobs specific with their degree cause of poor English skills. They're careers are so different to what they had imagined when they were 18 years old.
Life changes. Your ambitions change.
It's not the end of the world if you get a low ATAR.

[Toto.]

And for those who don't achieve the ATAR they worked so hard for can have such devastating outcomes. People fail to realize that this whole concept of ranking and scoring can actually be quite destructive and quite damaging.

I'm wondering why you think this; personally I don't agree with your statement.
Besides disappointment, what other outcome is there for those who don't achieve the ATAR they worked so hard for? And how is it "devastating"?
If we don't get into the course that we wanted first, then there are alternative pathways into it. Sure it's not ideal, but when life gives you lemons you better make some lemonade.

Also. Paul Stereo, I agree with everything you've said except this:

The ATAR is very reflective of how smart you are.

Isn't it more reflective of our work ethic and possibly choices? I'm sure some of the most intelligent people in the state won't end up with ridiculously high ATARs because 1. their work ethic is not great or 2. they haven't chosen subjects best suited for them. I believe that someone who may not be the brightest but has a brilliant work ethic can and will get a higher ATAR score than someone who is very bright but isn't willing to put in the hard yards. I'm wondering if you oppose me here.

[paulsterio]

Also. Paul Stereo, I agree with everything you've said except this:

The ATAR is very reflective of how smart you are.

Isn't it more reflective of our work ethic and possibly choices? I'm sure some of the most intelligent people in the state won't end up with ridiculously high ATARs because 1. their work ethic is not great or 2. they haven't chosen subjects best suited for them. I believe that someone who may not be the brightest but has a brilliant work ethic can and will get a higher ATAR score than someone who is very bright but isn't willing to put in the hard yards. I'm wondering if you oppose me here.

You've misunderstood what I've said - I never said that the ATAR is a measure of how naturally gifted a person is, or how intelligent they are, I said it is a measure of how smart they are, people who are smart are not necessarily intelligent or gifted, just like people who are intelligent or gifted are not necessarily smart.

What are smart people then - you may ask? Well smart people are those who embody all the ideals which lead to success - they work hard, they have a good level of natural ability and intelligence, they make good choices and they have decent common sense. These are all elements which makes a person smart. These are all, more or less, attributes which, usually, lead to success in VCE - of course, it is not always the case, but it often is.

Thus, yes, smart people will have those qualities to varying degrees, some are more gifted whilst some may work harder - that is a given.

Now, in terms of whether I oppose you here - well, I do and I don't. I don't oppose you because that is true, there are many people who are not that gifted but will do well on VCE because they put in the hard yards and work hard. However, I oppose you because the extreme rarely happens, you never get a really bright and talented student absolutely flopping his VCE, neither do you get an absolute idiot attain a 99.95 just with hard work alone - it just does not happen - it's too EXTREME. It's a balance you must strike and most people hit somewhere in the middle of that balance to achieve their peak.

[Greatness]

I've always known 'intelligent' and 'smart' to mean the same thing, I just thought 'intelligent' was more formal and well a more 'intelligent' and elegant way of describing it.

[katykins]

Somewhat important. I would love to get into my perferred course (around 82), but i have a lot of backups (66-73) so im not that worried. Im more concerned about scoring great study scores in theatre and psych! I'm doing it for myself, so its not so bad when you don't have other people's ridiculous expectations to carry.