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    How the WACE ATAR is calculated

    In Western Australia the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA) runs the WACE and the exams, and the Tertiary Institutions Service Centre (TISC) calculates the ATAR. 2026 is a notable year: it is the first without the 10% Tertiary Entrance Aggregate bonuses, so older advice about "bonus" courses no longer applies.

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    Which courses produce a scaled score

    Only ATAR courses in which you sit the external WACE examination produce a scaled score. General courses, Foundation courses, VET qualifications and endorsed programs all count towards achieving the WACE, but not towards the ATAR.

    From school mark to combined mark

    1. SCSA moderates each school's marks in a course against that school's exam results, so a school mark means the same thing everywhere.
    2. The moderated school mark and the exam mark are averaged 50:50 into a combined mark.
    3. Combined marks in each course are standardised so that different courses can be compared.

    TISC scaling

    TISC scales all courses at the same time so that the all-course average sits at 60 and each course is adjusted for the strength of the students who took it. Scaling is recalculated every year and TISC publishes the resulting statistics for each course. Choosing a course because it "scales up" usually backfires; TISC's own advice is to pick the courses you are strongest in.

    The TEA: your best four

    Your Tertiary Entrance Aggregate is the sum of your best four scaled scores, out of 400. A fifth or sixth course adds nothing directly; it only helps by replacing a weaker score.

    • Mathematics Applications and Mathematics Specialist cannot both count. Only the higher scaled score is used.
    • Scaled scores can accumulate across the current year and the previous four, so a course completed in Year 11 can count.
    • Until 2025 a 10% bonus was added to the TEA for certain language and mathematics courses. From 2026 those bonuses no longer exist.

    TISC ranks every TEA against the Western Australian age cohort to produce ATARs from 99.95 down to 30.00 in 0.05 steps.

    A worked example

    A student sits five ATAR courses and finishes with combined marks of English 71, Mathematics Methods 66, Chemistry 62, Human Biology 74 and Geography 69.

    1. Each combined mark is standardised and scaled. Suppose the scaled scores are English 70, Methods 72, Chemistry 68, Human Biology 71 and Geography 65.
    2. The best four are Methods 72, Human Biology 71, English 70 and Chemistry 68.
    3. TEA = 72 + 71 + 70 + 68 = 281 out of 400.
    4. TISC ranks 281 against the cohort. In recent years a TEA in the low 280s has corresponded to an ATAR in the low-to-mid 80s.
    The WA ATAR Calculator handles the standardising, scaling, the Applications/Specialist preclusion and the best-four selection.

    Put it to work

    Questions

    Common questions.

    Sources

    Figures in worked examples are illustrative. Scaling and rank conversions are recalculated by each admissions centre every year, so treat every estimate as a guide, not a prediction.

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