Understanding the UAI
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After 13 years of study, Year 12 students are now awaiting the results of their HSC and their Universities Admissions Index (UAI). Professor George Cooney explains what the UAI really means.
So what exactly is a UAI?
A UAI is a number between 0 and 100 which provides a measure of overall academic achievement in the New South Wales Higher School Certificate in relation to students across the state. It assists institutions to rank applicants for tertiary selection.
“We rank students from 1 to 52,000 and then calculate what their ranking would be if all of those who left school in year 10 were included,” says Cooney. “That is the UAI.”
How is the UAI determined?
The UAI is based on overall academic performance.
“We are interested in a student’s position in relation to other students,” explains Cooney. “The mark a student gets in a course depends on how good they are in that subject and who they are competing against. If they are competing against a high quality field, it is harder to get a high position.
“We calibrate/scale the marks to determine what the marks would have been if every student in every course was competing against the same students.”
The mark that is then used to rank students is based on an aggregate of scaled marks comprising the best two units of English and the best eight units from the remaining subjects.
What if you don’t get the mark you hoped for?
Since 1995, if a student has not performed as well as they had hoped or required for university entry, they have been able to repeat an individual subject rather than the entire HSC. While this option is available, only about 1000 students choose to repeat each year.
“If a student has worked as hard as they can, I don’t recommend they repeat because the results the second time around are the ones that count and they often do worse than better,” says Cooney. “This is because sometimes they don’t study as hard as they feel they already know the work.”
Look at all your options
There are a number of options Cooney suggests considering if a student does not gain the UAI they were hoping for:
- if you have come close to gaining the mark for the course of your choice, find a similar course at another university, try to do well and then reapply for what you want
- if you don’t have a UAI high enough to gain entry into university, think about other pathways. In some cases you can articulate from TAFE
- go away and work for a while and return as a mature age student.
“Don’t fall on your sword if you don’t get the marks you were hoping for,” says Cooney. “Try and be flexible as universities can’t take all the people who apply. Look at all your options.”
Professor George Cooney is a Professor of Education at Macquarie University and Chairman of the UAI Scaling Committee.
Macquarie University’s Pathways Day will be held on Wednesday 3 January 2007. The day is specifically for students who are concerned that they do not have the appropriate UAI to obtain entry to Macquarie University. For more information visit www.pathwaysday.mq.edu.au
For further information on the UAI, contact Professor George Cooney at george.cooney@mq.edu.au