Queensland students are increasingly choosing senior subjects based on their perceived value for achieving a high ATAR, according to QUT academics Professor Gavin Sade and Professor Sandra Gattenhof, with the trend potentially reshaping the subjects schools are able to offer.
The academics describe the trend as ‘ATARmaxxing’, where students strategically select subjects they believe will maximise their Australian Tertiary Admission Rank.
Their analysis of Queensland senior subject enrolment data and Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre (QTAC) scaling information found substantial changes in subject participation since the introduction of the ATAR in 2020.
General Drama enrolments have fallen 38 per cent, while Dance is down 26 per cent and Film, Television and New Media has declined 15 per cent.
Agricultural Science, Physical Education and Chinese are also among the subjects experiencing declining enrolments.
The researchers acknowledge that subject selection is influenced by multiple factors, but say the relationship between scaling and enrolment patterns suggests scaling is at least one significant contributor.
The decline in student participation is reflected in school offerings. Around 324 Queensland schools offered General Drama in 2020, compared with approximately 238 in 2026.
The analysis also identifies schools running some creative arts subjects with single-figure cohorts, creating challenges around the viability of maintaining classes.
At the same time, some schools have shifted from General to Applied subjects. Among schools that dropped General Music, 43 added Music in Practice, while 56 schools added the Applied subject. Visual Art shows a similar pattern: 46 schools dropped General Visual Art, while 83 added Visual Arts in Practice.
The researchers say the growth in Applied subjects indicates that students are not necessarily abandoning these disciplines, but may increasingly be pursuing them through pathways that do not contribute substantially to an ATAR.
Scaling and subject choice
QTAC scaling adjusts subject results for the calculation of ATARs and allows students studying different subject combinations to be compared.
QTAC advises students not to select subjects based on predicted scaling, instead recommending that they consider their interests, abilities and the prerequisites for their preferred courses.
Sade and Gattenhof argue that publicly available scaling information can nevertheless shape perceptions about which subjects are advantageous for students seeking a high ATAR.
They identify a potential cycle in which those perceptions influence subject selection, changing enrolment patterns and, in turn, the subjects schools can continue to offer.
The pattern is not consistent across all subjects. Psychology enrolments, for example, have more than doubled since 2020, demonstrating that factors beyond scaling are influencing student choices.
The researchers also note that subjects experiencing declining participation can develop capabilities including creativity, interpretation, judgement and collaboration.
Their analysis raises questions about the longer-term impact of ATAR-driven subject selection on the breadth of Queensland’s senior secondary curriculum.
Source: Gavin Sade and Sandra Gattenhof, ATARmaxxing: the way it changes what students choose now and what schools offer, EduResearch Matters, Australian Association for Research in Education, 27 August 2026. Read the original analysis