UNIVERSITY ATAR BONUS POINTS; Get The Max You Can! How do they work? UNSW USYD UTS UWS UOW Macquarie Newcastle New England
Bonus points work like this. For instance, let's say a university was willing to give 3 bonus points to whoever scored a band 5+ mark in Biology when they apply for the Bachelor of Science degree. Let's say the cut off for this science degree was an ATAR of 92. You end up receiving an ATAR of 91 and achieved a band 5 (80+) mark in Biology. Normally, you wouldn't have gotten into this degree. However, because of your mark in Biology, you would receive an extra 3 bonus points which would result in your ATAR being interpreted as 94 which would leave you above the ATAR cut off (yay!).
The ATAR you may require to get into the degree/course you want may not be as high as you think. For many degrees, getting bonus points isn't as hard as you may have thought. Sometimes, doing well in a particular subject can reward you with as much as five bonus points to your ATAR! Additionally, living in the local area of a university (which is usually quite big) may also lead you to being awarded a substantial amount of bonus points.
Of course, many circumstances that may hinder your performance in the HSC, such as coming from a disadvantaged background, having English as your second language, or undertaking a substantial amount of sports, can also result in you being awarded the bonus points that you deserve. Even achieving outstanding results in many other things like piano can result in you being awarded extra marks!
In saying all this, getting bonus points may not be easy as you think. For some very competitive degrees bonus points can be quite hard to come by and you would usually be required to achieve the actual ATAR cut-off of that degree (bonus points for being disadvantaged may still be applicable though).
It is important that you find out as much as you can as soon as possible to give you the best idea of what ATAR you would need to be accepted into your desired degree. The bonus point schemes of different universities can be quite different so it's important you check out the ones that are applicable to you. Have a look at the links below!
| University | Bonus Points Schemes |
|---|---|
| Australian National University (ANU) | Academic Educational Access Scheme |
| Australian Catholic University (ACU) | All schemes |
| Macquarie University (MQ) | All schemes |
| University of New England (UNE) | Regional Educational Access Scheme |
| University of New South Wales (UNSW) | HSC Plus ACCESS Scheme Elite Athletes and Performers |
| University of Newcastle (UON) | All schemes |
| University of Technology Sydney (UTS) | Subject bonus points Educational access schemes |
| University of Sydney (USYD) | Flexible Entry Scheme |
| University of Western Sydney (UWS) | Western Sydney Advantage |
| University of Wollongong (UOW) | All schemes |
Jack Zheng | N° 33
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