South West students deliver outstanding ATAR results

The tense wait for Australian Tertiary Admission Rank results is over for the thousands of WA students who have been working towards a university place.

Almost 10,000 WA students sat the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank examinations with 17 receiving the perfect ATAR rank of 99.95 with about 20 from the South West recording a result above 96.

Among the highest performers in the region was Sage Mearns from Georgiana Molly Anglican School, who attained an ATAR of 98.65.

“Next year I’m heading to Queensland to start a Bachelor of advance science degree,” she said.

“I will be majoring in marine biology and chemistry.”

In Miss Mearns year group the number of students working towards ATAR dropped steadily as the course progressed.

“ATAR can be stressful for some students, who switched from ATAR to general, it’s a good thing there are alternative pathways to university, ” she said

Ella Mulvey, a student at Margaret River Senior High School, secured an ATAR rank of 97.80.

“Achieving this score was really hard, but I had a great support base and very good teachers who encouraged all of their students to strive to do their best,” she said.

“Many of my friends at school also did well with their ATAR results.”

Following her gap year touring Europe, Miss Mulvey will study human rights at UWA and then hopes to undertake post graduate studies in law.

The Tertiary Institutions Service Centre, which calculates students’ Australian Tertiary Admission Ranks, said it was “disappointing” to report ATAR participation had plunged to a new low of 28.08 per cent.

This drop has led WA to become the State with the lowest ATAR participation rate in Australia.

TISC board chair Andrew Taggart said it had urged making it compulsory for every Year 12 taking an enabling course to also attempt at least one ATAR subject instead of the less-rigorous general courses.

TISC also wants to see a review of conditions attached to early university offers and more recognition for students attempting ATAR courses, even if they don’t achieve high marks.