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This is a re-post from a thread on the ATAR Notes Forums. You can find the thread, ask questions, and contribute to discussion here.
Hi everybody! As you may or may not know, QTAC has just made the QCE ATAR Report 2020 available. The report covers a range of things based on the 2020 cohort – the first to be eligible for an ATAR – including things like inter-subject scaling and ATAR calculation.
I’ve read through the report (as is my wont), and thought I’d put together a quick summary and a few key takeaways I found interesting for those who are less inclined to read through the whole thing. Note that everything here in this thread is merely my interpretation of QTAC’s report.
You can find the report here, and more on QTAC’s website here.
2020 QLD YEAR 12 COHORT
The 2020 cohort was the first to be eligible for an ATAR after the shift from the OP system (more about the QCE ATAR system here). The cohort consisted of 49,667 students, of whom 47,027 (26,042) were part of the scaling cohort, and 26,042 (~52.43%) were deemed eligible for an ATAR. Students can “qualify” in a number of different ways based on their QCE subject selection and program. The break-down in 2020 was:
→ 5 General subjects: 72.49%
→ 4 General subjects and 1 Applied subject: 16.1%
→ 4 General subjects and 1 VET course: 11.4%
🚨 Note that there are other factors that come into consideration for ATAR eligibility further to the number of subjects you study. For an overview of all things technical/behind-the-scenes QCE, these guides are a great place to start: What is the ATAR? | How is the ATAR calculated? | How does QCE inter-subject scaling work? 🚨
2020 QCE INTER-SUBJECT SCALING RESULTS
To my knowledge, this is the first time data have been released for 2020 QCE inter-subject scaling. You can find results for very many subjects in the report (pages 12-14), but here is a very quick overview of a not-completely-random-but-also-not-selected-for-any-particular-reason selection of subjects:
QCE BIOLOGY:
→ 64.00 raw (25th percentile) > 58.48 scaled
→ 73.00 raw (50th percentile) > 76.12 scaled
→ 81.00 raw (75th percentile) > 86.82 scaled
→ 87.00 raw (90th percentile) > 87.00 scaled
→ 94.00 raw (99th percentile) > 95.54 scaled
QCE CHEMISTRY:
→ 67.00 raw (25th percentile) > 73.97 scaled
→ 77.00 raw (50th percentile) > 88.77 scaled
→ 85.00 raw (75th percentile) > 94.72 scaled
→ 91.00 raw (90th percentile) > 97.07 scaled
→ 97.00 raw (99th percentile) > 98.39 scaled
QCE ENGLISH:
→ 53.00 raw (25th percentile) > 54.20 scaled
→ 64.00 raw (50th percentile) > 70.89 scaled
→ 76.00 raw (75th percentile) > 84.26 scaled
→ 86.00 raw (90th percentile) > 91.16 scaled
→ 97.00 raw (99th percentile) > 95.50 scaled
QCE GENERAL MATHS:
→ 55.00 raw (25th percentile) > 47.66 scaled
→ 64.00 raw (50th percentile) > 60.86 scaled
→ 72.00 raw (75th percentile) > 71.44 scaled
→ 80.00 raw (90th percentile) > 80.10 scaled
→ 90.00 raw (99th percentile) > 87.94 scaled
QCE MATHS METHODS:
→ 57.00 raw (25th percentile) > 77.12 scaled
→ 69.00 raw (50th percentile) > 88.78 scaled
→ 80.00 raw (75th percentile) > 94.53 scaled
→ 88.00 raw (90th percentile) > 96.83 scaled
→ 97.00 raw (99th percentile) > 98.30 scaled
QCE PHYSICS:
→ 67.00 raw (25th percentile) > 72.68 scaled
→ 76.00 raw (50th percentile) > 87.40 scaled
→ 85.00 raw (75th percentile) > 94.76 scaled
→ 92.00 raw (90th percentile) > 97.44 scaled
→ 98.00 raw (99th percentile) > 98.63 scaled
QCE PSYCHOLOGY:
→ 66.00 raw (25th percentile) > 56.31 scaled
→ 75.00 raw (50th percentile) > 73.22 scaled
→ 83.00 raw (75th percentile) > 84.21 scaled
→ 89.00 raw (90th percentile) > 89.90 scaled
→ 96.00 raw (99th percentile) > 94.05 scaled
QCE SPECIALIST MATHS:
→ 60.00 raw (25th percentile) > 84.50 scaled
→ 73.00 raw (50th percentile) > 94.12 scaled
→ 84.00 raw (75th percentile) > 97.55 scaled
→ 91.00 raw (90th percentile) > 98.61 scaled
→ 97.00 raw (99th percentile) > 99.15 scaled
SO BASED ON SCALING, WHAT SUBJECTS SHOULD YOU STUDY?
Oop – bit of a trick question!
I explain this in more detail here, but I am still of the opinion that, for the most part, potential scaling should not impact your QCE subject selection. Ultimately, scaling does not “reward” or “punish” you for studying certain subjects – it simply levels the playing field to ensure that results across subjects can be accurately compared.
In any case, QTAC has noted that students who received a 99.95 ATAR in 2020 – the highest possible result – collectively studied 16 different General QCE subjects. There’s no set configuration of subjects that will guarantee high marks and, indeed, no set configuration of subjects that will guarantee low marks.
So – what do you all think? Any surprises? Any thoughts?
Please let me know if you think I’ve made an error or misinterpreted something, as it’s very possible! 
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