https://www.designto99.com.au/blog daily 0.75 2026-05-08 https://www.designto99.com.au/blog/early-entry-uac-atars-year-12-parents monthly 0.5 2026-05-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/692f9d93fd363858d519c668/ee4e1152-d735-4748-bdcb-fd74a30b63fd/USYD+Law+Student+Explains+University+Entry.jpeg Blog - Early Entry, UAC, and ATARs: What Every Year 12 Parent Needs to Know - When I was in Year 12, I was set on studying Law at the University of Sydney. The ATAR cutoff was 99.5 — and I had no idea if I'd hit it. So, I applied for early entry as a backup. Before even sitting a single HSC exam, I had two confirmed university places, taking a significant amount of pressure off. I ended up getting into USYD Law from my ATAR, but having the early entry offers gave me real peace of mind and more options. That's what early entry is. And the upside of applying is a no-brainer. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/692f9d93fd363858d519c668/a801523d-b19c-45c9-bbf9-7bfe3eb52be7/How+to+get+into+USYD+law.jpg Blog - Early Entry, UAC, and ATARs: What Every Year 12 Parent Needs to Know - The standard pathway: ATAR-based admission Here's how the ‘normal’ process works: Students sit the HSC in October–November. NESA marks the exams and sends results to UAC, who calculate the ATAR. Throughout the year, students list up to five course preferences in their UAC account, ordered from most to least preferred. ATARs are released on 16 December 2026. UAC (the middleman) matches the ATAR against university course requirements and makes one offer per round to the highest preference the student is eligible for. One crucial thing: Always order preferences from most to least desired. Even if a student doesn't get the ATAR for their top choice, they won't be penalised for listing it. UAC simply moves down the list. There's no downside to aiming high. This is exactly how I ended up at USYD. I put it first, UNSW second, and because I scored above 99.5, I got my first preference. https://www.designto99.com.au/blog/why-tutoring-doesnt-always-work monthly 0.5 2026-05-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/692f9d93fd363858d519c668/ac266879-3d7b-451c-828c-0c4be3c63f08/Why+tutoring+might+not+work.jpg Blog - Why Tutoring Isn't Always the Right Solution - There’s a pattern that thousands of families go through every year: A student is getting average marks, so parents hire a tutor. The tutor helps with one subject - maybe it's Math or English. The student (hopefully) improves in that subject. But, their overall results and ranking stay roughly the same. And somehow, they're still unmotivated, disorganised, and leaving study to the last minute. Six months later, they're still paying for tutoring, and not a whole lot is different. The problem here isn't the tutor. The problem is that tutoring often solves the wrong problem. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/692f9d93fd363858d519c668/93c70df6-60d6-4354-a8e2-dbaf0774b9d9/Most+Year+12+students+do+not+know+how+to+study+properly+for+the+HSC.jpg Blog - Why Tutoring Isn't Always the Right Solution A student sits down to study Math. They know they're meant to “study” so they open their laptop. Then it's - do I do a past paper? Which one? Wait, where's my Math book? They spend ten minutes looking for their notes. They find a past paper but it covers a topic from three weeks ago and they can't remember half of it. They get frustrated, check their phone, and twenty minutes later they've barely started. Eventually they run out of time and move on feeling like they studied, when really they just sat at a desk. https://www.designto99.com.au/blog/hsc-subjects-scaling-rankings-parents monthly 0.5 2026-05-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/692f9d93fd363858d519c668/112e42d7-9162-4889-bbae-3135ad8774a9/How+to+pick+subjects+for+a+99+ATAR.jpg Blog - Subject Selection, Scaling, and Rankings: What Every Parent Needs to Know - Here's two things almost every family seems to think when their child is heading into the HSC years: The way to a good ATAR is to pick high-scaling subjects. Marks on exams are a good indication of what a student’s ATAR will be. Both are misleading. Here's the truth, and what you should know as a parent. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/692f9d93fd363858d519c668/e1b222a0-2022-4ac2-87dc-ed93efa6a4f1/Why+picking+Visual+Arts+Gave+me+a+99.55+ATAR.jpg Blog - Subject Selection, Scaling, and Rankings: What Every Parent Needs to Know - Subject choice: play to strengths, not scaling The most common piece of bad advice I hear all the time: "Pick high-scaling subjects to boost your ATAR." It is partly true that some subjects moderate up and some down. ‘Harder’ subjects like Math Extension, Chemistry, Physics tend to scale up. Subjects like Visual Arts, Standard Maths, and Standard English tend to scale down. So in theory, picking hard subjects should mean good scaling and a good ATAR, right? In reality, this is a trap. Failing in a difficult subject, no matter how good the scaling is will not mean a good ATAR. I can tell you this from personal experience. I did no extension subjects, no Chemistry, no Physics - none of that. In fact, one of my subjects was Visual Arts, commonly thought to have "bad scaling." And yet, I graduated with a 99.55 ATAR. The reason: I was at the top of Visual Arts. 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