SACE

What is SACE?

SACE International is a globally recognized pre-university program that awards students the South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE) and provides entry into the world’s top universities.

The SACE International prepares students to be better learners, independent thinkers, and creative problem solvers. It is the official senior secondary qualification of the South Australian Government.

School-based Assessment and External Assessment

SACE International is a well-paced curriculum to build student’s knowledge and skills. Students typically study 6 subjects at Stage 1, and 5 subjects at Stage 2. This curriculum focuses on developing skills and learning techniques that help students to get success in their undergraduate university study.

Stage 1 subjects in the SACE program are fully school-assessed. School teachers will design tasks and assess student work according to SACE Board guidelines and performance standards. At Stage 2, the subjects will be comprising a mix of school (70%) and external assessment (30%). School-based assessments make an important contribution to students’ final results. The school-based assessment will be sent to the SACE Board for moderation at the end of the examinations.

External assessments, including examinations, are developed by panels appointed by the SACE Board. Close supervision, strong evaluative processes, and sound security measures produce high-quality and valid examination papers that fairly measure the academic achievement of SACE International students. Students sit the final examinations using the same examination timetable used in Australia.

All assessments and grades are converted into the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) at the end of the program.

SACE Result

Students who successfully complete SACE International will receive the 3 documents which are The South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE), The Record of Achievement, and a Tertiary Entrance Statement.

The Record of Achievement is a detailed transcript with the results the student obtained that contributed towards the completion of SACE requirements issued by the SACE Board. Student levels of achievement are shown as the score received (out of 20) and a grade on a scale of A+ (highest) to E- (lowest).

A Tertiary Entrance Statement issued by the universities in Australia. It includes an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR). This is a percentile ranking calculated on the basis of the students’ results in subjects studied in the final year of secondary school, i.e. Stage 2 of the SACE.

To meet the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) requirement for entrance into tertiary studies, students must successfully complete the SACE International qualification with a minimum of 90-100 credits of subjects (five subjects) at Stage 2 level.

What is ATAR

The Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) is a number between 0.00 and 99.95 that indicates a student’s position relative to all the students in their age group (ie all 16 to 20 year olds in NSW). So, an ATAR of 80.00 means that you are 20 per cent from the top of your age group (not your Year 12 group).

SAC and Exam Scores

During the year, your school sets SACs (School Assessed Coursework) for you to do. These are essentially assessments that test your knowledge of the coursework so far and obviously at the end of the year, you have your final exams. Your marks from SACs and exams are used to create a raw Study Score for each subject at the end of the year.

This Study Score depends on a range of factors such as how your class performs and how you perform relative to the rest of the state. This part is not too important to fully understand – the main thing is to try to top your class in every single SAC and exam and you won’t even need to know how your ATAR is calculated!

Raw Study Score

Once you’ve completed a subject, you receive a ‘raw’ Study Score for that subject. This score is given on a scale of 0 to 50, with 30 being the average. However, the Study Score is not a score out of 50. It is technically your ranking relative to how everyone else in the state scored in that subject.

Since 30 is the average, this means that a student who scores a 30 SS has scored higher than approximately 50% of students in Victoria. A student who scores a 40 SS has scored higher than about 91% of students in Victoria. This is what is known as the ‘bell curve’. As the study score gets higher, the amount of students that you’ve beaten gets exponentially larger. You get a raw Study Score for each Year 12 subject you complete.

Scaled Study Score

Now that you’ve got your raw Study Score, it needs to be scaled. ‘Scaling’ means that your raw score is adjusted to reflect the fact that it is more difficult to obtain a high Study Score in some subjects than others. This is not related to the ‘difficulty’ of a subject. Rather, it is related to the natural competitiveness that is attracted to certain subjects.

Usually, Maths, Science and LOTE subjects scale up; Arts subjects like History and Art scale down; English and Business Management-type subjects usually stay about the same. Once the Study Scores are scaled, these are your final subject scores. These are then added up in a certain way to give your ‘Aggregate’.

Aggregate

The Study Scores mentioned below refer to Scaled Study Scores. Your Aggregate is calculated by adding:

• Your best Study Score in any one of the English studies

• The Study Scores of your next best three subjects

• 10% of the Study Score of your fifth best subject (if applicable)

• 10% of the Study Score of your sixth best subject (if applicable)

EXAMPLE: