Understanding your QCE results and ATAR (2026)

For the full timetable of release days and offer rounds, see QCE results day, QTAC offers and changing preferences. This page covers what the documents and numbers actually mean.

What you receive, and from whom

QCAA doesn't automatically post printed copies of your Senior Statement, Statement of Results or QCE certificate. The PDFs in your learning account are the official documents: each has a digital signature and a unique document ID, so you can download them and give them to employers or training providers as they are. If you have no way to print them, you can request print copies through your learning account; check the deadline in QCAA's results FAQs.

QTAC doesn't email ATARs either, although you can opt in to an email notification when they're released. You need an ATAR Portal account (full name as shown in your QCAA learning account, date of birth, LUI and a personal email address) to see yours.

How to read your subject results

General subjects are reported as a mark out of 100 and a grade from A to E. The mark combines your three confirmed internal assessments with your external assessment. The external assessment was worth 50% in Mathematics and Science subjects and 25% in all other General subjects. For how those parts fit together, see QCE internal vs external assessment.

Applied subjects (for example Essential English or Essential Mathematics) have no QCAA external assessment and are reported as an A to E grade only.

Your Senior Statement is a cumulative record of every QCE-contributing study you completed and the result you got, including VET. It's your transcript, whether or not you've earned the certificate.

Your QCE appears in your Senior Education Profile only if you met the eligibility requirements. See how QCE credits work if you want to check why you did or didn't get it.

What is your ATAR, exactly?

Your ATAR is a rank on a 2,000-point scale from 99.95 down to 0.00 in steps of 0.05, with anything below 30 shown as "30.00 or less". QTAC describes it as your position relative to the whole Queensland Year 12 age cohort. An ATAR of 80.00 doesn't mean you scored 80%. It means you placed around the top 20% of that age group.

QTAC calculates it in steps:

1. QCAA sends QTAC your Units 3 and 4 subject results and any completed VET qualifications.
2. QTAC scales each subject's results so they can be compared across subjects.
3. QTAC adds your best five eligible scaled results into an aggregate.
4. Students are ranked by aggregate and assigned to the 2,000 ATAR bands.

For the detail and 2025 scaling data, see how the QCE ATAR is calculated. You can try combinations of results in the QCE ATAR calculator, which gives an estimate only.

What is and isn't in your ATAR?

In it: your best five scaled results from five General subjects, or four General subjects plus one Applied subject or one completed VET qualification at Certificate III or higher.

Not in it:

• Your QCE. The certificate isn't an ATAR requirement. You can be ATAR-eligible without a QCE.
• Your English result, unless it's in your best five. You must pass an English subject with a C or better to be eligible, but it only counts in the aggregate if it's one of your best five scaled results.
• Precluded combinations. A General and an Applied English can't both count, nor can a General and an Applied Mathematics.
• Adjustment factors. Formerly called bonus points, these are added by each institution to create a course-specific selection rank. They never change your ATAR.

ATAR vs selection rank

Universities admit you on your selection rank for each course, not your raw ATAR. For a Year 12 applicant, the selection rank starts from your ATAR, then any adjustment factors you're eligible for are added (for example for a language other than English, Specialist Mathematics, equity or location). That's why a course's listed rank and your ATAR aren't always directly comparable.

If something looks wrong

Questions about a subject result go to your school first, then QCAA's verification or reassessment process. Questions about how your ATAR was calculated go to QTAC. Deadlines and fees are in QCE results reviews and ATAR appeals.

If your ATAR is lower than you hoped, there are more routes to your course than it seems on the day. See if your ATAR is lower than expected, and for the day itself, how to handle results day.