ATAR Notes vs ATARMAxxing
ATAR Notes pricing checked August 2026, from ATAR Notes’s own site. Prices change — if the figures here no longer match theirs, believe theirs.
ATAR Notes is the best-known senior-study brand in the country, and most of what it is known for is free — the school-holiday lectures, the notes library, the forums. What it charges for is printed products, sold one at a time: notes, topic tests, flashcards and an exam pack are four separate purchases.
That is the difference worth understanding before you spend anything. As at August 2026, kitting out one subject with all four ATAR Notes products comes to A$151. ATARMAxxing charges A$20 once for a subject and puts the equivalent of all four inside it, plus lifetime access. On exams specifically the gap is wide: their exam pack is three past-style exams with marking guides; ours is 20 full-length model exams, each with a mark-by-mark answer guide.
None of that makes ATAR Notes the wrong choice. Their free lectures and their forum are things we do not offer and cannot replicate, and if you want a physical book to annotate, we do not print one. The table below is what you get for the money, and the section under it is where they beat us.
Side by side
ATAR Notes figures as at August 2026. ATARMAxxing figures are our current published offer.
| ATAR Notes | ATARMAxxing | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Complete Course Notes A$35 a subject; Topic Tests A$42; Flashcards A$32; the Neap-sourced exam pack A$42. ATARNotes+ digital is A$99 for 3 months or A$239 for 12 months. | A$20 one subject, A$50 three subjects, A$60 five subjects. One-time payment. |
| One subject, fully kitted out | Notes, topic tests, flashcards and the exam pack are four separate products — A$151 together. | A$20 covers notes, exams, practice questions and flashcards for that subject. |
| How long you keep it | Printed books are yours to keep. ATARNotes+ digital access expires at the end of the 3-month or 12-month term. | Lifetime. One payment, no renewal, nothing to cancel, no expiry date. |
| Full-length practice exams | The Neap-sourced exam pack contains 3 past-style exams with marking guides. | 20 full-length model exams per subject. |
| Answer guides | Marking guides are supplied with the exam pack. | Every exam has a mark-by-mark answer guide showing where each mark is won. |
| Revision notes | Complete Course Notes, printed, A$35 a subject. | About 120 pages across 20 note sets, included. |
| Practice questions | Topic Tests, A$42 a subject. | 64 practice questions with worked solutions, included. |
| Flashcards | A$32 a subject as a separate product. | 60 flashcards, included. |
| Official past papers | Past papers and community solutions are shared free in the forums. | Links to every official VCAA, NESA and QCAA past paper for your subject. |
| Curricula covered | VCE, HSC and QCE, with the deepest range in VCE. | 63 Year 12 subjects across VCE, HSC and QCE. |
| Try before you buy | A large free notes library and free lectures. Paid products are bought outright. | Preview everything in every subject free, no card. |
Where ATAR Notes is better
No product wins on everything, and a comparison that pretends otherwise is not worth reading. Here is what ATAR Notes genuinely does better than we do.
- Free school-holiday lectures, run in person and streamed. They cost nothing, they are taught by people who recently sat the exams, and we do not offer anything like them.
- The busiest student forum in Australian senior study. You can ask a question at 11pm and get an answer. ATARMAxxing has no community feature at all.
- A large free notes library you can read without buying anything.
- Printed books. You can annotate them, take them to class and revise away from a screen. We are digital only.
- The longest track record and the most name recognition of any brand here — your teachers will know it.
Where ATARMAxxing is better
- One A$20 payment covers notes, exams, practice questions and flashcards for a subject, instead of four purchases.
- 20 full-length model exams per subject, each with a mark-by-mark answer guide, rather than three.
- Lifetime access. Nothing expires, so Year 11 material is still there in Year 12 and after.
- 63 subjects across VCE, HSC and QCE in one account, with an ATAR tracker across every subject you own.
- You can read the notes, sit an exam and use the flashcards before paying anything, with no card required.
Our exams are original full-length model exams written to the public study designs and syllabuses — they are not past papers. Every subject hub also links to the official VCAA, NESA or QCAA past papers, which those authorities publish free.
ATAR Notes vs ATARMAxxing — your questions
Is ATAR Notes free?
A lot of it is. The lectures, the forums and a large notes library cost nothing. The printed products are what you pay for: as at August 2026 the Complete Course Notes are A$35 a subject, Topic Tests A$42, Flashcards A$32 and the Neap-sourced exam pack A$42, while ATARNotes+ digital access is A$99 for three months or A$239 for twelve.
How much is ATAR Notes for one subject compared with ATARMAxxing?
Buying the notes, topic tests, flashcards and exam pack for a single subject from ATAR Notes comes to A$151 as at August 2026. One ATARMAxxing subject is A$20 and includes notes, 20 full-length model exams with mark-by-mark answer guides, 64 practice questions and 60 flashcards. Three subjects are A$50 and five are A$60.
Does ATAR Notes access expire?
The printed books do not — they are physical products you keep. ATARNotes+ digital access is sold as a 3-month or 12-month term and ends when the term does. ATARMAxxing is a one-time payment with lifetime access, so nothing you buy stops working.
Can I use both?
Plenty of students do, and it is a sensible combination. The ATAR Notes lectures and forums are free and we do not compete with them. Use those for teaching and community, and use ATARMAxxing for the volume of timed exam practice and the marking detail.
Are ATARMAxxing exams real past papers?
No. They are original full-length model exams written to the current study design or syllabus, each with a mark-by-mark answer guide. Every subject hub also links to the official VCAA, NESA or QCAA past papers, which are published free by those authorities. If you specifically want licensed past questions in a printed book, Cambridge Checkpoints or Excel Success One are the better fit.
Decide for yourself
You do not have to take our word for any of this. Preview a subject free — the notes, a full exam and the flashcards — without entering a card, and compare it against whatever else you are considering.