WACE Syllabus (SCSA): Year 12 Courses and 2027 Changes

The SCSA syllabus is the document that defines a WACE course: what you learn in each unit, how it is assessed, what the ATAR course examination looks like and what each grade means. Every ATAR course has its own, and SCSA publishes them on each course's page of its senior secondary website. For the 2027 school year, SCSA has issued new editions with the rationale, aims and General Capabilities revised, and in the two we compared (Chemistry and Mathematics Methods) the content and exam design are the same.

This guide covers the Year 12 ATAR course syllabuses used by the 2026 cohort and the 2027 editions. Each edition has an effective date, and we compared only the Chemistry and Mathematics Methods editions line by line. For every other course, use the date printed in your own PDF. Our WACE hub lists the courses we cover.

What is the SCSA syllabus?

A syllabus is the course document for one course and one year level. A Year 12 ATAR syllabus covers a pair of units, Unit 3 and Unit 4, with a nominal 110 class contact hours across the pair in both Chemistry and Mathematics Methods. In the two we read, the same parts appear:

• Rationale and aims, which say what the course is for.
• Unit descriptions, learning outcomes and unit content, the list of what you are taught and what can be assessed. Methods also gives hours for each topic.
• The assessment table, which sets the school-based assessment types and their weightings.
• The ATAR course examination and its design brief, which sets the sections, question types, marks, times and permitted materials.
• Grade descriptions for A to E. The WACE Manual says these are defined in the syllabus and describe what a student at each grade knows, understands and can do.
• A glossary. Chemistry also has an appendix listing the ions and molecules you must be able to name and write.

The syllabus does not hold the exam questions or the marking keys. Those come from the ATAR course examination itself, so WACE past exams (SCSA) are the companion to the syllabus, not a replacement for it. SCSA's key words for exam questions are separate again, in the WACE command terms guide.

Where do you find the SCSA syllabus for your course?

On SCSA's senior secondary website, at senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/syllabus-and-support-materials. Your course has its own page there, and the Year 12 Information Handbook lists the current syllabuses among the resources it recommends for preparing for the examinations. The same course page holds the practical examination requirements for courses that have a practical.

When you open a course page, choose:

1. The ATAR course, not the General course. SCSA publishes ATAR and General versions of many courses as separate documents. The exam we cover is the ATAR one.
2. Your year level. Year 11 (Units 1 and 2) and Year 12 (Units 3 and 4) are separate documents. The ATAR course examination is based on Units 3 and 4 only.
3. The right edition. See the next section.

Which edition applies to you in 2026?

Each syllabus prints its effective date on the Important information page near the front. A syllabus is current for the cohort whose teaching it covers, so a 2027 edition does not apply to students who sit their exam in 2026.

We have read these five. For Biology, Physics, Psychology, Human Biology, the other mathematics courses, Economics, Geography, Business Management and Enterprise and Physical Education Studies, we have not compared editions, so open the PDF and read its effective date before relying on what any summary says, ours included.

Year 11 matters here too. There is no ATAR course examination in Year 11, and the Chemistry Year 11 syllabus asks schools to model the Year 11 school examination on the design brief in the Year 12 syllabus, as preparation for Units 3 and 4. So a Year 11 school exam in Chemistry follows the Year 12 format.

What changes in the 2027 WACE syllabuses?

SCSA's note on the Important information page of the 2027 Chemistry and Methods syllabuses, and on the Chemistry Year 11 2026 syllabus, says that as part of the WACE Refreshment it has revised the course rationale and aims and updated the General Capabilities to create clearer connections with the syllabus content.

We compared the 2027 Chemistry and Mathematics Methods editions against the ones before them. In both, the examinable content, the assessment types and weightings, the grade descriptions, the glossary and the examination design brief are the same. What changed:

If you are in Year 12 in 2026, none of this touches your exam. If you start Year 12 in 2027, the revision changes the framing of the course, but on these two courses it does not change what the exam asks. The formula and data booklets are separate documents. SCSA publishes four of them: the WACE Chemistry data booklet, the WACE Mathematics Methods formula sheet, the WACE Mathematics Specialist formula sheet and the WACE Physics formula sheet, all listed in the WACE formula sheets index.

WACE syllabus pages by course

Each course below has a syllabus page on AusGrader. It lists the course's Year 12 content by unit and topic, with past-exam questions mapped to each topic and our average marks. It organises the official content for study, so for the official wording, open the SCSA PDF.

These are the 12 courses we cover. English and Accounting and Finance have no syllabus page here, but each has a study guide: the WACE English study guide and the WACE Accounting and Finance study guide. For Literature and the other ATAR courses SCSA lists, use the SCSA website. Mathematics Specialist has one rule to know before you plan: the Methods syllabus's overview says Specialist is the only ATAR mathematics course that should not be taken as a stand-alone course.

How do you use the syllabus to study?

Treat the syllabus as the checklist and the past papers as the test of it.

• Tick off the unit content. Each dot point is something you can be asked about. Our syllabus page for your course turns that list into topics with the questions attached.
• Read the examination design brief first. It tells you the sections, the working time and what you may bring, so you know the shape of the exam before you start practising. For the full breakdown in two courses, see the WACE Chemistry exam guide and the WACE Methods exam guide.
• Learn what the grade descriptions reward. They describe what each grade looks like, which is useful when you are deciding where to put your last weeks.
• Check the dates and rules separately. The syllabus does not set exam dates. Those are on the WACE exam timetable, and how the school mark and exam mark combine is in how the WACE works.
• Use the SCSA key words on every question. The command terms guide explains what explain, justify and the others ask for.

Where to go next

Pick your course from the table above for the topic breakdown, then WACE past exams (SCSA) for practice. For how the exam fits into your ATAR, see the WACE ATAR guide.