Your year 12 exams are over – Woo! You got to have a break – yeah! Perhaps went to leavers – great! Had an awesome Christmas – fun! And just as you’re in the Happy Christmas/Merry New Year mode – they drop a bomb on your head, your ATAR results! And then it begins – what did I get, did I pass my exams, did I get into my course, why didn’t I study more, what do I do now? Aaannnd cue panic mode. Yeah been there!
Don’t worry, the key to dealing with this situation is to know your options and organise yourself accordingly. Just follow my logical list of steps and you will be sorted out in no time!
What to do once you have your ATAR results:
- Find out what your ATAR score is so that you can plan your next move: as scary as it may be, take a look, it kind of helps if you know what you got. Check out your score and the breakdown of the exam marks for each subject – take a moment (or a day) to absorb this, you did your best, now it’s time to make a game plan.
- Consider these questions, if you answer yes to these questions follow the prompt, if you answer no then move to the next question:
- Did you get a high enough ATAR to enter your course? Yes – 3
- Did you get a high enough ATAR to enter another university course? Yes – 4
- Do you want to go to university? Yes – 5, No – 6
- If you got the score you wanted adjust your university preferences: Congratulations, you achieved the score in the range you aimed for! Hop online and check you university preference list, ensure that your top pick for university and course is first. To fill in the rest of the list preferences, I recommend applying for your favourite course (e.g. Bachelor of Science) at each university and then a back-up course for your last preference. Each university has a number of places open per course, and they will take the top applicants to fill up those places. Therefore, even if you do achieve above the cut-off score it is possible you might not be accepted into your first preference (though from experience this is very unlikely to happen unless you’re applying for medicine).
- If you did not get the score you wanted adjust your university preferences: If you did not achieve an ATAR in the range you wanted (e.g. above 80 to get into your preferred university or course) you have time to adjust your preferences. Ok so you didn’t get the high score you hoped for, but hey you can still get into a university. Find another course at the university or the same course in another university and apply for that – once you get into university you can transfer university or course (there are different ways of doing this, speak to faculty staff, they will know).
- If you did not achieve the score you were hoping for but still want to go there are alternative paths to university. Many universities now have bridging courses for those who flunked their ATAR or did not complete ATAR, it’s basically a semester of catch-up classes to prepare you for the uni course you wish to complete (contact your local university or check out their website for more information). Similarly colleges let you redo year 12 and your ATAR exams.
- University isn’t for everybody, there are many other options available. Believe it or not you don’t have to go to university, you could try Tafe, an apprenticeship, a gap year, travelling, working, various online courses – the list goes on.
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