Queensland is the one state where an ATAR calculator has to be honest twice over: QTAC publishes how every subject scaled in 2025, so the scaled results and the TEA can be computed properly, but it publishes no table from TEA to ATAR, so the rank has to be modelled. This page does both, from QTAC's ATAR Report 2025, with the subject scaling tables, the eligibility rules, the model written out, and a calculator that shows every step.
Download the QCE scaling and ATAR sheet (PDF) (the 2025 raw and scaled result at four percentiles of every main General subject, the Applied and VET scaled results, the best-five rule with a worked example, QTAC's 2025 band allocation, and a planner; two pages, free).
The calculator
ATAR calculator (2025 scaling tables):
How the Queensland ATAR is built
Scaling. QTAC scales every result onto a common 0 to 100 scale in which a scaled result reflects how students with that result in that subject performed across all their subjects. General subjects have 100 result categories; Applied subjects five (the grades A to E); VET qualifications one per level. The algorithm iterates until the scale is stable (40 iterations in 2025). A subject whose students do well elsewhere scales high: the median Specialist Mathematics result of 82 scaled to 95.3, the median Chemistry result of 85 to 90.4; a subject with a wider cohort scales lower: the median General Mathematics result of 69 scaled to 59.5, the median Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies result of 65 to 32.5. Subjects with fewer than 50 students are not reported.
The TEA. The best five scaled results out of 500: five General subjects, or four General plus one Applied subject, or four General plus one completed VET qualification at Certificate III or above. Results can come from 2021 to 2025. An English subject (English, EAL, Literature, English and Literature Extension or Essential English) at C or better is required for eligibility. In 2025, 30,167 of the 59,919 students in the scaling were ATAR-eligible.
The ATAR. QTAC ranks eligible students by TEA and allocates ATARs to 2,000 bands with a participation model of the whole 16-to-20 population: in 2025 that meant about 37 students in each 0.05 band near the top (37 at 99.95, 37 at 99.90), 7,535 students at 90 or above, 14,758 at 80 or above and 20,920 at 70 or above. QTAC publishes these counts but no TEA-to-ATAR table.
2025: raw result → scaled result at four percentiles, main General subjects
Read a row as: the student at this percentile of the subject had this raw result, which scaled to this result.
| Subject | 25th | 50th (median) | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | 61 → 52.7 | 72 → 70.1 | 83 → 83.2 | 91 → 89.5 |
| English as an Additional Language | 62 → 56.5 | 72 → 73.3 | 81 → 84.3 | 90 → 91.3 |
| Literature | 72 → 71.3 | 83 → 86.0 | 91 → 92.2 | 96 → 94.7 |
| General Mathematics | 60 → 49.0 | 69 → 59.5 | 79 → 70.3 | 86 → 76.7 |
| Mathematical Methods | 64 → 79.4 | 76 → 89.6 | 86 → 94.4 | 93 → 96.4 |
| Specialist Mathematics | 70 → 88.9 | 82 → 95.3 | 90 → 97.4 | 95 → 98.2 |
| Chemistry | 76 → 77.1 | 85 → 90.4 | 92 → 95.4 | 96 → 97.0 |
| Physics | 78 → 77.2 | 86 → 89.8 | 93 → 95.3 | 96 → 96.7 |
| Biology | 73 → 59.2 | 81 → 75.2 | 89 → 86.4 | 94 → 91.0 |
| Psychology | 72 → 54.8 | 80 → 69.3 | 87 → 79.5 | 92 → 85.1 |
| Economics | 67 → 72.5 | 79 → 88.1 | 88 → 94.1 | 94 → 96.4 |
| Accounting | 62 → 63.0 | 74 → 77.9 | 86 → 88.0 | 93 → 91.8 |
| Business | 60 → 49.2 | 70 → 62.7 | 80 → 74.5 | 88 → 81.9 |
| Legal Studies | 59 → 55.2 | 69 → 68.6 | 81 → 81.2 | 89 → 87.2 |
| Modern History | 64 → 52.8 | 76 → 71.8 | 87 → 84.4 | 94 → 89.7 |
| Ancient History | 62 → 48.7 | 74 → 66.8 | 85 → 80.0 | 92 → 86.1 |
| Geography | 60 → 54.3 | 72 → 71.9 | 83 → 83.8 | 91 → 89.6 |
| Digital Solutions | 65 → 61.5 | 78 → 80.3 | 89 → 90.1 | 94 → 92.9 |
| Engineering | 62 → 71.0 | 75 → 86.9 | 86 → 93.9 | 92 → 96.0 |
| Design | 60 → 49.8 | 72 → 63.3 | 84 → 75.0 | 91 → 80.5 |
| Health | 59 → 46.6 | 70 → 59.9 | 81 → 71.8 | 89 → 79.0 |
| Physical Education | 63 → 47.3 | 74 → 61.6 | 84 → 73.1 | 91 → 79.7 |
| Study of Religion | 69 → 66.0 | 79 → 79.4 | 88 → 87.8 | 94 → 91.6 |
| Visual Art | 60 → 47.0 | 73 → 61.9 | 85 → 74.0 | 94 → 81.3 |
| Drama | 68 → 45.6 | 80 → 63.8 | 89 → 75.5 | 96 → 82.7 |
| Music | 70 → 53.0 | 83 → 71.7 | 93 → 82.5 | 98 → 86.6 |
| Japanese | 70 → 73.2 | 83 → 86.4 | 92 → 91.9 | 96 → 93.6 |
| Chinese | 71 → 74.4 | 83 → 83.9 | 89 → 87.5 | 93 → 89.5 |
| Marine Science | 68 → 46.9 | 76 → 61.4 | 84 → 74.1 | 90 → 81.7 |
| Earth and Environmental Science | 73 → 49.0 | 80 → 65.4 | 87 → 78.7 | 92 → 85.7 |
Applied subjects, 2025 scaled result by grade (QTAC Table 8; D and E are not published):
| Applied subject | A | B | C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Studies | 46.8 | 23.1 | 9.3 |
| Essential English | 38.9 | 19.6 | 8.5 |
| Essential Mathematics | 41.3 | 22.3 | 10.5 |
| Fashion | 63.8 | 37.6 | 17.0 |
| Hospitality Practices | 48.9 | 26.0 | 11.4 |
| Information and Communication Technology | 55.3 | 28.0 | 10.9 |
| Religion and Ethics | 72.5 | 44.0 | 0.0 |
| Science in Practice | 44.4 | 20.4 | 7.6 |
| Social and Community Studies | 42.9 | 18.4 | 6.3 |
| Sport and Recreation | 50.5 | 23.2 | 8.2 |
VET (Table 9): Certificate III 38.0, Certificate IV 51.8, Diploma 58.7.
How this calculator turns a TEA into an ATAR, and why it is a model
QTAC's scaled results are built so that a result's scaled value tracks the overall standing of the students who got it, across the whole scaling population of 59,919 students. The calculator reads the TEA out of 500 as a standing out of 100 on that scale, assumes the 29,752 ATAR-ineligible students sit below the eligible ones (nearly all of them do, since ineligibility usually means fewer than five results), converts the standing into a rank among the 30,167 eligible students, and reads the ATAR from QTAC's 2025 band allocation (Tables 12 and 13 of the ATAR Report: the number of eligible students at or above each band). Five results scaling to 90 each give a TEA of 450, a standing of 90, about 24,200 eligible students below and 6,000 above, and an ATAR near 92; five results at 70 give a TEA of 350 and an ATAR near 75. QTAC itself warns that Queensland's scaled results and TEA cannot be compared directly with other states', and the model here is an estimate within a few points, less reliable at the extremes.
What moves a Queensland ATAR most
- The fifth result. It counts in full, and it is usually the weakest; five raw marks there are worth as much as five in the best subject.
- Maths choice by expected result, not by scaling. A raw 85 in General Mathematics scaled to about 76 in 2025; a raw 65 in Mathematical Methods scaled to about 80. Methods only wins for a student who can score in the mid-60s or better in it.
- The English requirement. Essential English at C or better satisfies eligibility, but as a scaled result (19.6 for a B) it rarely makes the best five; a General English result almost always does.
- A sixth subject costs effort and adds nothing unless it beats the fifth. In Queensland, five done well is the plan.
Download the QCE scaling and ATAR sheet (PDF) (the 2025 raw and scaled result at four percentiles of every main General subject, the Applied and VET scaled results, the best-five rule with a worked example, QTAC's 2025 band allocation, and a planner; two pages, free).
Where to get help
A 1-on-1 online class with a tutor who holds a master's in mathematics and teaches Year 11 and 12 maths, physics and chemistry to Australian students at Australian times (7:30 am before school, 4 pm to 6:30 pm after school, and weekend mornings, Sydney time): the estimate above read together in the free 30-minute first class, the subject where five marks buys the most ATAR found, and the term spent on it with every line of working read. The Year 12 Australia page says what the class works on in each state's course.
Questions parents ask
1How is the ATAR calculated in Queensland?
2What does a raw result scale to in Queensland?
3Is a QCE ATAR calculator accurate?
4Do Applied subjects and VET count for the ATAR?
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