WACE grades explained: A to E, school marks and exams

WACE grades from A to E

Teachers award a grade (A, B, C, D or E) for each pair of units you complete in Year 12, and a single Year 11 unit. Preliminary (P) units are not graded: they are recorded as completed or not completed. To get a grade and a mark you must have had the opportunity to complete the school's education and assessment program for the units. Grades are based on SCSA's grade descriptions for each course. They are provisional until SCSA confirms them, and your school must tell you in writing if SCSA changes a grade. SCSA only adjusts school grades in exceptional circumstances.

For each Year 12 pair of units in an ATAR, General or Foundation course you also receive a school mark in the range 0 to 100. For an ATAR course with a practical exam, you get both a written mark and a practical mark.

How the ATAR course mark is made

1. School mark. Your school submits a course mark out of 100, based on the assessments in its assessment outline.
2. Exam mark. You sit the ATAR course exam set by SCSA. Exam marks of students at all schools are on the same scale.
3. Moderation. SCSA statistically moderates the school marks in a course, placing them on the same scale as the exam marks at that school. Moderated school marks are comparable across schools.
4. Combined mark. Your combined mark for the written component is the average of your ATAR course written exam mark and your moderated school mark.
5. Scaling. TISC calculates scaled scores in all ATAR courses for use in your ATAR. See WACE scaling explained.

For courses with both written and practical exams, the written and practical combined marks are equated to the same scale, then weighted: for example Music, Drama, Dance and Visual Arts are 50 per cent written and 50 per cent practical, and Aviation is 80 and 20. Chemistry, Physics, Biology and the maths courses have written exams only, so the combined score is the written combined mark.

The C grade equivalent

Since 2025 SCSA applies a C grade equivalent to a pair of units in a Year 12 ATAR course when a student has earned a D grade and also reached a moderated written school mark or an ATAR course written exam mark at or above a cut point of approximately 40. There is no limit on the number of Year 12 C grade equivalents a student can receive. It helps with the WACE achievement standard below, not with your ATAR.

What you need to get the WACE

• Achievement standard: at least 14 C grades or higher (or the equivalent) in Year 11 and Year 12 units, including at least six C grades (or equivalents) in Year 12 units.
• Pattern: at least four Year 12 ATAR courses, or at least five Year 12 General courses (or a combination with up to three ATAR courses), or a Certificate II or higher VET qualification with other courses.
• Literacy and numeracy: meet the minimum standard.
• Units: 20 units in all, with up to four Year 11 and four Year 12 units from VET or endorsed programs as unit equivalents.

These are SCSA's rules in the 2026 Year 12 Information Handbook. The WACE is a certificate of completion. The ATAR is separate: see the ATAR in Western Australia.

Reviewing your grade

SCSA reviews school assessment during the year: teachers meet in groups, Authority officers visit schools, and samples of tasks and student work set the standard. Year 12 General and Foundation courses also have an Externally Set Task (EST) set by SCSA, marked by the teacher, worth 15 per cent of the final mark for the pair of units. Students could lodge appeals against school assessment up to Friday 30 October 2026.

Practise for the exam mark

In an ATAR course half of the combined mark comes from the exam. Try today's Year 12 Maths, Year 12 Physics, Year 12 Chemistry or Year 12 Biology paper. It is a short timed paper of 8 questions worth 25 to 35 marks, and the results page shows a predicted grade from A to E with typical cut-offs of its own, not SCSA's. The exam days are in WACE exam timetable 2026.

Common mistakes about WACE grades

• Reading your school grade as your ATAR course mark. The exam half comes from SCSA.
• Skipping an ATAR exam. Without it there is no course mark or grade.
• Thinking a D means no credit. A D can become a C grade equivalent with a written mark of about 40.
• Confusing the WACE and the ATAR. One certifies completion, and the other ranks students.

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