Is it possible to get a high ATAR if only doing 5 subjects?

[trickster]

Hi guys,

I'm doing year 12 this year and i keep thinking that i'm at a complete disadvantage due to not doing an 6th subject, or an accelerated year 12 subject last year.
Just wondering if it's possible to still get a high ATAR (in the 90's) when your only doing the 5 subjects in year 12? Or should i lower my expectations a little?
Any advice would be great 

[psyxwar]

Yeah definitely. Some guy last year got a 99.95 with his top 4 alone . 90+ is definitely reasonable!

[Orb]

Hi guys,

I'm doing year 12 this year and i keep thinking that i'm at a complete disadvantage due to not doing an 6th subject, or an accelerated year 12 subject last year.
Just wondering if it's possible to still get a high ATAR (in the 90's) when your only doing the 5 subjects in year 12? Or should i lower my expectations a little?
Any advice would be great 

You certainly can, but given you're already doing Methods + spesh, why not just pick up further? You could probably get a 30 on it with just the knowledge from methods + spesh without doing any specific study for it!

[trickster]

Yeah definitely. Some guy last year got a 99.95 with his top 4 alone . 90+ is definitely reasonable!

Oh that's so relieving to hear, thanks so much !!

[trickster]

You certainly can, but given you're already doing Methods + spesh, why not just pick up further? You could probably get a 30 on it with just the knowledge from methods + spesh without doing any specific study for it!

Sounds like a great idea, but my school only allows 5 subjects in year 12
Which is sort of why I've been stressing out, they said i can do further only if i drop Specialist but no way am i doing that :') 

[heids]

Remember that a sixth subject can take up enough time, stress and effort that you can do worse in your other subjects and land a lower ATAR. (I only had 5 subjects which was enough for me )
However, more breadth from doing more subjects is always a good thing.  Learning is worthwhile in itself!

[trickster]

CONGRATS UR ATAR IS SO GOOD 
You only had 5?? so you didn't do any subjects in year 11?

[heids]

Nope, none in year 11 because for various reasons I hadn't done a 1/2 so I wasn't allowed to do a 3/4 .
Interesting fact for you: my older brothers both did 6 subjects (all in year 12), and one of them got 98.35 exactly the same as me, and the other got 98.40 (beat me by just 0.05, grr). 
Moral of the story: you can get just the same mark with 5 subjects as with 6.

[nerdmmb]

Definitely possible. You'll actually have more time to spend on your other subjects

[trickster]

Nope, none in year 11 because for various reasons I hadn't done a 1/2 so I wasn't allowed to do a 3/4 .
Interesting fact for you: my older brothers both did 6 subjects (all in year 12), and one of them got 98.35 exactly the same as me, and the other got 98.40 (beat me by just 0.05, grr).

He probably loves rubbing it in, I'd probably do the same to my younger sister if that happened! hahah
Well i guess you got into the course you wanted with an atar that high, which is amazing in itself! I can't decide what i want to do, so i'm feeling pressured constantly, so just trying to do my best to keep my options open.

[trickster]

Definitely possible. You'll actually have more time to spend on your other subjects

awesome!

[Maths]

Hi guys,

I'm doing year 12 this year and i keep thinking that i'm at a complete disadvantage due to not doing an 6th subject, or an accelerated year 12 subject last year.
Just wondering if it's possible to still get a high ATAR (in the 90's) when your only doing the 5 subjects in year 12? Or should i lower my expectations a little?
Any advice would be great 

Just to reiterate what everyone else is saying, 5 Subjects is the norm for the final year of high school at my school and plenty of people do amazingly well and score very high
Good luck!

[doher109]

It's quite achievable with hard work.

The benefits of doing 6 instead of 5 are obviously the 10% aggregate addition and also provides a greater number of subjects that could be in the top 4.

However if over your 5 subjects get a total of 5 extra SS points you have 'achieved' the advantage of doing a 6th subject as it can only theoretically contribute a max points of 5.

Whilst I wish I did a 6th subject (in year 11) doing 5 is really no issue at all!

[Zues]

Oh that's so relieving to hear, thanks so much !!

Your question is, "Is it possible to get a high ATAR if only doing 5 subjects?"

Put 50 in atar calc for all your subjects and oyu get 99.95.

It is possible 

[JackSonSmith]

You can get well over 80 with just 3 subjects theoretically. So don't sweat it.