South Australian Certificate of Education

The South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE) is awarded to students who have successfully completed their senior secondary schooling in the state of South Australia.

The SACE Board of South Australia (formerly known as the Senior Secondary Assessment Board of South Australia, or SSABSA) administrators the certificate. The SACE Board of South Australia is an independent statutory authority of the South Australian Government accredited under ISO 9001:2008.

The SACE curriculum is also taught in Northern Territory secondary schools, where it is known as the Northern Territory Certificate of Education and Training (NTCET). The South Australian Matriculation (SAM) certificate is a qualification based on the SACE curriculum which is administrated by the SACE Board of South Australia and taught in some schools in Malaysia and China.

To get the SACE, students must gain 200 credits from a range of subjects that they take, usually over two years. 20 credits is equal to a full year subject, while 10 credits is equal to a semester long subject. There are two stages: Stage 1, which most students do in Year 11, and Stage 2, which most students do in Year 12.

Completion of the SACE is a general requirement to get into universities and colleges of technical and further education (TAFE colleges) in South Australia, nationally and internationally. The certificate also provides many study options for students who want to follow a different pathway into the workforce, such as undertaking apprenticeships while still at school.

There are two stages of the SACE:

Each subject or course successfully completed earns ‘credits’ towards the SACE, with a minimum of 200 credits required for students to gain the certificate.

Students will receive a final grade from A to E for each Stage 1 subject and A+ to E- for Stage 2 subjects. For compulsory requirements, to gain their SACE they will need to achieve:

The compulsory requirements are:

The remaining 90 credits can be gained through additional Stage 1 or Stage 2 subjects or Board-recognised courses (such as VET or community learning) of a student’s choice.

SACE studies are assessed both internally (in school) and externally. All stage 2 subjects have a 30% external assessment, which may be an exam, investigation or performance. As well as the compulsory subjects, stage 2 school based assessments are centrally moderated to ensure fair and accurate results.

SACE results are scaled and then used to calculate a University Aggregate, which is out of 80. This is then converted into an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR), previously a Tertiary Entrance Rank (TER) which universities within Australia use to select students who will be offered places in particular courses. A TAFE SA selection score is also calculated for entry into other further education courses. Full details of South Australian university and TAFE entry requirements for 2012 onwards are provided in ‘Australian Tertiary Admissions Booklet 2013, 2014, 2015’, published by the South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre, the South Australian Government authority which processes applications for tertiary courses in South Australia and the Northern Territory.

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