The highest possible ATAR is 99.95 in every Australian state and territory.

What “highest ATAR” means

  • ATAR is a rank , not a percentage, running from 0.00 up to a maximum of 99.95.
  • A 99.95 ATAR means the student is ranked in about the top 0.05% of their age group nationally (they’ve done better than roughly 99.95% of their cohort).

How common is 99.95?

  • Only a small group of students reach 99.95 each year; for example, recent cohorts in large states like NSW/ACT have had a few dozen students at this top rank.
  • Many more students fall in high bands like 95+ or 90+, but 99.95 is reserved for a tiny elite slice of results.

“Highest ATAR ever” vs “highest possible”

  • Because the scale is capped, there is no ATAR above 99.95; no one can get 100.00 as an ATAR under the current system.
  • Some years will have more or fewer students on 99.95, but the ceiling of the system stays fixed at 99.95.

TL;DR: When people ask “what is the highest ATAR,” they are asking about the system’s maximum rank, and that number is always 99.95.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.