How ATAR Works in South Australia
South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE)
The SACE System
SACE is a two-year certificate completed in Year 11 (Stage 1) and Year 12 (Stage 2), but only Stage 2 results count toward ATAR. Each Stage 2 subject produces a grade from A+ to E- which is converted to a numerical score. SATAC scales these scores and sums your best 90 credits (roughly 4.5 full-year subjects) to produce an aggregate. This is then converted to an ATAR — a percentile rank from 0.00 to 99.95.
Score Range
0 – 20
Per subject raw score range
English Requirement
Must complete a minimum of 20 credits of a Stage 2 English subject
TAC Body
SATAC
South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre
How Your Aggregate is Formed
In South Australia, SACE Stage 2 subjects (studied in Year 12) are worth either 10 or 20 credits each. Full-year subjects are usually 20 credits. SATAC uses your best 90 credits of Stage 2 subjects — approximately 4.5 full-year subjects — to form an aggregate. Subject results are converted to numerical scores and scaled by SATAC to account for subject difficulty.
Once your raw subject scores have been through the scaling process, they are combined according to the rules above. The resulting aggregate is a single number that represents your overall performance across your best subjects.
Converting Aggregate to ATAR
Your aggregate score is compared against the aggregates of every other student in your state who is eligible for an ATAR. This comparison produces a percentile rank from 0.00 to 99.95, reported in increments of 0.05.
The rank includes the entire age cohort, not just students who completed Year 12 or sat exams. This means an ATAR of 90.00 indicates performance above approximately 90 percent of the relevant age group in your state.
Disclaimer
The information on this page is a simplified overview. Official ATAR calculations involve detailed statistical processes managed by SATAC. Always refer to the South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre for authoritative information.