Universities Admission Index - Overview

Overview

The UAI was awarded to students on the completion of the HSC in NSW and the completion of an ACT Year 12 Certificate with a "Tertiary Package" in the ACT - both at the end of year 12. It provided a percentile ranking of peer students of the same age. In NSW, the UAI was determined by a combination of the public HSC exams common across all schools at the end of Year 12 and continuing assessment. Assignments and exams in Year 11 served to prepare students for Year 12 but were not in any way involved in the calculation process. In the ACT, the UAI was determined by ongoing assignments and exams spanning through both Years 11 & 12. The ACT Scaling Test (AST), sat by tertiary students, linked a student's ability with the school's mean score in each course and was used to scale students in different courses and schools.

UAI scores were not directly equivalent to a percentile rank among those who completed Year 12 (i.e. a UAI of 99 was not equivalent to placing in the top 1% of the state). The statistical distribution of UAI scores in 2004 found that 1.6% of students who completed Year 12 scored at or over a UAI of 99. UAIs are awarded in increments of 0.05. The UAI's predecessor, the Tertiary Entrance Rank, was different because it defined the student population as only students in year 12. The UAI attempted to rank students who did not progress to their senior years of High School, by estimating what they would have got. This keeps the rank consistent throughout the years despite fluctuating Year 10 drop-out rates as the rank was always measured relative to a Year 10 cohort, with the ranks of the drop-outs being estimated.

A student's UAI was given as a number between 30 and 100. Students who receive 30 or below receive a 'pink slip' which informed them that they received below 30, though these were rare due to most of the estimated Year 10 cohort's marks falling into this range. UAIs of 100 were extremely rare and were only achieved by a few students (generally, about 20 out of almost 66,000) every year.

The organisation responsible for administering the UAI, was the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC), who scaled all subjects using mathematical formulae to try to ensure equity of marks across subjects.

To be eligible for the UAI as well as the HSC or ACT Year 12 Certificate, a student must have complied with additional rules set by the Board of Studies in New South Wales or the Board of Senior Secondary Studies in the Australian Capital Territory.