HSC ATAR 2025 Scaling Report

Every year after ATARs are released, one question dominates conversations among Year 12 students and parents:

“How did subjects scale?”

The HSC ATAR 2025 Scaling Report helps answer exactly that. It explains how raw HSC marks were adjusted by UAC to calculate ATARs — and why two students with the same HSC mark can end up with very different outcomes.

What is HSC scaling (and why does it exist)?

HSC scaling is the process used by UAC to adjust students’ marks so that ATARs reflect overall academic achievement, not just raw exam scores.

Importantly, scaling is not about how “hard” a subject is. It’s about the academic strength of the cohort taking that subject.

In simple terms:

• Subjects taken by high-performing cohorts tend to scale up
• Subjects taken by mixed-ability cohorts tend to scale down

This ensures students aren’t advantaged or disadvantaged simply because of their subject choices.

Key takeaways from the 2025 Scaling Report

1. High-maths subjects continue to scale strongly

As in previous years, advanced maths subjects were among the strongest scaling subjects in 2025.

• Mathematics Extension 2
• Mathematics Extension 1
• Mathematics Advanced

These subjects are typically taken by students who perform well across all their subjects, which pushes scaling upward.

Takeaway: These subjects reward strong performance — but they’re not “easy marks”. Weak results in high-scaling subjects can still hurt your ATAR.

2. Sciences remain solid but competitive

Subjects like:

• Physics
• Chemistry
• Economics

continued to scale moderately well, reflecting strong but broad cohorts.

However, scaling gains were smaller than many students expect, especially for average marks.

Takeaway: Science subjects scale best when paired with strong overall academic performance.

3. English subjects scale closer together than students think

In 2025, scaling differences between:

• English Advanced
• English Standard
• English Extension

were much smaller than common myths suggest, especially around the middle of the cohort.

At the top end, Extension subjects still benefit strong students — but English alone rarely “makes or breaks” an ATAR.

Takeaway: Your rank in English matters far more than the label of the course.

4. HSIE and creative subjects still scale down — but context matters

Subjects such as:

• PDHPE
• Society & Culture
• Visual Arts
• Drama

generally scaled down in 2025, consistent with historical trends.

However, top students in these subjects still achieved strong ATARs, especially when combined with higher-scaling subjects.

Takeaway: Scaling down doesn’t mean a subject is “bad” — it just means performance needs to be strong to compensate.

Subject-by-Subject Scaling Summary (HSC 2025)

Important: Scaling depends on the cohort, not the subject itself. The table below shows typical scaling behaviour, not guaranteed outcomes.

The biggest scaling myth (that won’t go away)

“You should choose subjects that scale well.”

This is the most common mistake students make.

UAC has repeatedly shown that:

• Students perform best in subjects they are good at
• Strong performance in a lower-scaling subject beats weak performance in a higher-scaling one

A Band 6 in a lower-scaling subject almost always helps more than a mediocre result in a “high-scaling” subject.

What actually determines your ATAR

Your ATAR is driven by:

1. Your rank within each subject
2. The academic strength of the cohort
3. Your performance across all subjects combined

Scaling simply aligns these factors — it doesn’t override them.

How students should use the 2025 Scaling Report

The scaling report is best used to:

• Understand why your ATAR looks the way it does
• Compare outcomes across subjects realistically
• Make informed (not fear-based) subject choices for Year 11

It should not be used to:

• Panic about “bad” subject choices
• Assume certain subjects guarantee high ATARs
• Undervalue subjects you genuinely enjoy and perform well in

Final advice for future HSC students

If there’s one lesson from the HSC ATAR 2025 Scaling Report, it’s this:

Your performance matters more than your subjects.

Students who:

• Choose subjects aligned with their strengths
• Focus on ranks, not raw marks
• Study consistently and strategically

will outperform students chasing scaling alone — every single year.

If you want an estimate of what your ATAR might be, you can use an ATAR Calculator:

For more study tips and resources, check out these KIS Academics resources:

FAQs