NCEA to ATAR: applying to Australian universities

How NCEA is converted to an ATAR

The ATAR is the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank, used for university admission in Australia. NZQA's page for students applying to Australia says ACTAC has given NZQA responsibility for converting NCEA results into ATAR scores. The details are:

• When: each January, after the exams are marked.
• Which credits: your best 90 Level 3 assessed credits, with no more than 24 from any one subject.
• Weighting: some credits are weighted by the type of standard and its statistical difficulty. NZQA says weightings change every year.
• Range: 99.95 down to 0.00.
• Who sees it: NZQA shares results with Australian tertiary admission centres and some university admission departments before students receive them. It does not release information to third parties.

How many subjects do you need?

The cap of 24 credits from one subject means one subject cannot carry the score. 3 subjects would give at most 3 × 24 = 72 credits, which is below 90, so you need credits from at least 4 subjects for a full set of 90. NZQA advises having results for at least 90 assessed Level 3 credits, and as many Merit and Excellence results as you can.

Those four add up to 59 credits from the externals, so a student doing Calculus, Physics and Chemistry would still need about 43 more Level 3 credits from other standards or subjects to reach 90. The externals are not the whole count, and the weightings are not published in advance, so use this as arithmetic about credits only.

What else Australian universities require

An ATAR is not enough alone. NZQA says you also need:

• University Entrance, which is described in our University Entrance guide.
• The entry criteria of the Australian state where you apply, including English requirements, which need credits from Level 3 University Entrance-approved English.
• Any English language proficiency requirement the university sets.

Things NZQA says it will not do

• Predict your ATAR. NZQA says it does not predict ATAR scores in advance, and the weightings change each year, so last year's figures are not a guide.
• Calculate one from fewer than 60 credits. NZQA says it cannot calculate an ATAR for students assessed in fewer than 60 credits at Level 3 or above while enrolled in secondary school.
• Recalculate mid-year. Results from the current year are included only in the following January's calculation.
• Share your result with third parties. Results go only to you and the tertiary institutions.

Using today's paper while you wait

Uni-Sine publishes a free daily paper on the NCEA Level 3 Calculus track. It is a short timed paper of 8 questions worth 25 to 35 marks, not a full NCEA exam, and it is not written by NZQA. Mark it, then look at your stats page, which turns the papers you mark into a predicted grade. That is a prediction of an NCEA grade, not of an ATAR: only NZQA converts results to ATAR scores.

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