How the WACE Works: SCSA Requirements and OLNA

The WACE (Western Australian Certificate of Education) is the certificate you earn at the end of senior secondary school in WA. To get it you need at least 20 units across Years 11 and 12, with a spread of courses and at least 14 C grades (at least six of them in Year 12), plus a minimum standard of literacy and numeracy shown through OLNA or Year 9 NAPLAN. The ATAR is separate. It comes from TISC and is the standard basis of admission to most university courses.

This guide describes the WACE requirements in SCSA's WACE Manual 2026 and Year 12 Information Handbook 2026, which apply to students completing in 2026. SCSA says the requirements can change over time, and a student finishing after leaving school must meet the requirements current when they finish. For how the ATAR is calculated, see the WACE ATAR guide.

What is the WACE?

The WACE records that you have met SCSA's requirements for breadth and depth, the achievement standard and the literacy and numeracy standard. Most students complete it over Year 11 and Year 12, although SCSA allows you to meet the requirements over your lifetime.

Your results are recorded on the Western Australian Statement of Student Achievement (WASSA). It lists the courses and programs you completed, your school marks and grades, and whether you met the literacy and numeracy standards. In Year 12, Units 3 and 4 appear on it as a single year-long course. If you sit an ATAR course exam, you also get an ATAR course report, which shows your school mark, moderated school mark, exam mark and combined score, and where you sit in the state-wide distribution for that course.

Three things get confused, so here is who owns what:

• SCSA sets the WACE requirements, sets and marks the ATAR course examinations, and moderates school marks.
• TISC scales the marks and calculates the ATAR. SCSA says it is not involved in scaling or the calculation of an ATAR.
• The universities set their own admission rules. Most WA universities need you to meet the WACE, but Murdoch accepts completion of Year 12 even if the WACE is not achieved.

What do you need to get the WACE?

The requirements fall into the following parts.

A few details that catch students out:

• A pair of units is one course year. Year 11 is Units 1 and 2 and Year 12 is Units 3 and 4. Each pair gets one mark and one grade.
• The English requirement can use English, Literature or EAL/D. SCSA counts units from those courses.
• Courses sit on List A or List B. Among our WACE courses, English, Economics, Geography and Business Management and Enterprise are on List A, while Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Human Biology, Psychology, Physical Education Studies and the Mathematics courses are on List B. SCSA's Handbook has the full table. VET certificates and endorsed programs cannot be used for the breadth requirement.
• Four units per subject. Only four different units in a single subject count towards the WACE, with an exception for subjects delivered in defined contexts.
• Grades run A to E. A is excellent achievement, B high, C satisfactory, D limited and E very low.

You can check your own progress on SCSA's WACE Checker (wacechecker.scsa.wa.edu.au), which works from the data you enter. SCSA says it is a guide only and its report is not a guarantee that you will achieve a WACE.

How do C grades, D grades and the C grade equivalent work?

Since 2025, a student who gets a D grade for a pair of Year 12 ATAR course units, with a moderated written school mark or ATAR course written exam mark at or above a cut point of approximately 40, receives a C grade equivalent for that pair. SCSA determines the cut point for each course. The equivalent can contribute to the six Year 12 C grades, as long as you have met every completion requirement for that course, and there is no maximum number you can receive.

It is applied after your combined marks are calculated, and it shows on the WASSA as a D* with a note that a C grade equivalent was applied.

VET qualifications and endorsed programs can also stand in for some of the 14 C grades. The most unit equivalence available is eight units, four in Year 11 and four in Year 12. A Certificate II is equivalent to two Year 11 and two Year 12 units, and a Certificate III or higher to two Year 11 and four Year 12 units. Endorsed programs contribute no more than four unit equivalents in total.

Do you have to sit the ATAR course exam to get the WACE?

Yes, if you are enrolled in a Year 12 ATAR course. SCSA treats "complete" as meaning you sat the ATAR course examination, or have an approved Sickness/Misadventure Application for not sitting it. Without either, the pair of units does not contribute to any WACE requirement, and no course mark or grade is recorded on your WASSA. For an ATAR course with a practical component, you have to complete both the written and the practical examinations. Physical Education Studies includes a school-based practical external assessment (SPEA) that you must sit to complete the course.

That also explains how the exam fits into your course mark. The Authority statistically moderates your school's marks so they sit on the same scale as that school's exam marks in the course. For a course with a written exam only, your combined mark is the average of your moderated school mark and your exam mark, so the two count equally. Courses with practicals weight the two parts differently, and the Manual has a table. Physical Education Studies is treated as 70% written and 30% practical.

For dates, start times and exam-day rules, see the WACE exam timetable. For how to prepare, see how to prepare for WACE exams.

What is OLNA?

OLNA is the Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessment, SCSA's test of the minimum standard of literacy and numeracy for the WACE. SCSA describes that standard as indicative of Level 3 of the Australian Core Skills Framework. It has three components:

Students who are eligible for EAL/D support get an extra 10 minutes on each component. Adjustments are also available for students with a disability.

How do you meet the literacy and numeracy standard?

There are two routes for each of reading, writing and numeracy:

1. Prequalify through Year 9 NAPLAN by reaching the required level in the matching NAPLAN test. You then don't need to sit that OLNA component.
2. Pass the OLNA component. To meet the literacy standard through OLNA you have to satisfy both the reading and writing components.

If you haven't prequalified, you are required to sit the relevant OLNA component(s) twice before the end of Year 10. If you still haven't met the standard by then, you sit again in Semester 1 of Year 11. SCSA says students have up to six opportunities before completing Year 12. SCSA runs the test in windows during the year. Its 2026 key dates list five windows (one in Term 1, two in Term 2 and two in Term 3), each with a writing test and a numeracy and reading test period. Check with your school which window applies to you.

A student who hasn't prequalified through NAPLAN and chooses not to sit OLNA does not qualify for the WACE. If you leave school without meeting the standard, you can apply to SCSA to re-sit the assessment at any age.

Our documents don't give a pass mark or the NAPLAN levels that count as prequalifying, so check the exact thresholds with your school or SCSA.

What is the WACE Manual?

The WACE Manual is SCSA's rulebook for senior secondary schooling. It covers how school-based assessment must be run, how grades are assigned, how school marks are moderated, how the ATAR course examinations are conducted, and how achievement is certified. The 2026 edition is dated 17 April 2026 and applies to students in Years 11 and 12 in 2026.

Students usually don't need to read it cover to cover. The parts that matter most to you are the WACE requirements (Sections 1.3 and 7.2), the combined mark and moderation (Section 3.5), and the ATAR course examinations (Section 6). The documents disagree on one date. The Manual and Handbook Part I say the written exams conclude by 19 November 2026, whereas Handbook Part II and the written exam timetable end them on Wednesday 18 November. See the WACE exam timetable for each exam's date.

WACE, ATAR and university admission

Universities set their own entry rules, and the WACE is only one of four things TISC lists for a school leaver applicant. Normally you must:

1. meet the WACE requirements set by SCSA;
2. achieve competence in English as prescribed by the individual university;
3. obtain a sufficiently high ATAR or Selection Rank for the course; and
4. satisfy any prerequisites for particular courses.

You need at least four Year 12 ATAR courses to be eligible for an ATAR, excluding unacceptable combinations defined by TISC. Competence in English is a separate requirement from the ATAR, and TISC's rules for the best four scaled scores don't list English as a course that must be counted. The WACE ATAR guide covers that rule, the bonuses and scaling.

Practising for the exams that count towards the WACE

The Year 12 exam counts equally with your moderated school mark in a written-only course, so it is where preparation pays off. AusGrader has past WACE ATAR exam questions with marking keys for you to work through and mark, starting from WACE past exams (SCSA) or a course such as Mathematics Methods.