What does WACE stand for?

WACE stands for Western Australian Certificate of Education. It's the certificate awarded by SCSA (the School Curriculum and Standards Authority) at the end of Year 12 to students who satisfy WACE requirements: completing certain numbers of approved courses, demonstrating literacy and numeracy through OLNA, and passing a sufficient number of units.

How does ATAR differ from WACE?

WACE is the certificate; ATAR is a tertiary-entrance ranking. Students get WACE if they meet the certificate requirements. ATAR is calculated separately by TISC for students who took ATAR-eligible subjects and want to apply to university. You can complete WACE without an ATAR if your post-school plans don't require university entry.

Do I need to do an ATAR pathway in Year 11 and 12?

No. Students can complete WACE through general courses, VET certificates, workplace learning, or a mix. ATAR pathway is required only if you want to apply to university through TISC. VET pathways feed into TAFE and direct workforce entry.

What is OLNA and why does it matter?

OLNA is the Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessment. WA students who don't reach Band 8 in Year 9 NAPLAN need to pass OLNA in reading, writing, and numeracy before completing WACE. OLNA can be re-sat each year through Year 11 and 12. Failing OLNA prevents WACE certification regardless of subject results.

What is WACE? · WA Certificate of Education

WACE in three paragraphs

WACE stands for the Western Australian Certificate of Education. It is the credential you earn for finishing high school in WA, the same way a Year 12 graduate in Victoria earns a VCE or one in NSW earns an HSC. WACE proves you completed the work, met the literacy and numeracy benchmarks, and graduated.

You earn WACE by passing a set of Year 11 and Year 12 courses (called "units"), demonstrating English literacy, demonstrating numeracy, and accumulating enough completed units across breadth and depth requirements. Some students do all ATAR courses; some mix ATAR with General courses or Vocational Education and Training (VET); some do entirely non-ATAR pathways. All of these can earn WACE.

WACE is run by the School Curriculum and Standards Authority, known as SCSA. They set the syllabuses, run the external exams, and decide whether each student has met the WACE requirements. SCSA is the body whose website you'll be opening at midnight in November when results drop.

WACE vs ATAR: not the same thing

This trips up almost every Year 10 student who walks in our door, so let's settle it now.

WACE

A graduation certificate. Pass / not pass. You either get one or you don't. Required if you want a Year 12 leaving credential in WA.

ATAR

A rank from 0 to 99.95. Used by universities to choose between applicants. Optional, you only need an ATAR if you're going to uni straight from school.

You can earn WACE without earning an ATAR (very common, very fine). You can also fail to earn WACE while still receiving a calculated ATAR, though that scenario is rare and usually messy. If you want uni straight after school, you almost always need both.

What you need to graduate WACE

The headline requirements (current as of 2026)

Complete a minimum number of units across Year 11 and Year 12 (currently at least 20).
Complete two Year 12 ATAR or General English units, or an equivalent.
Complete a List A (arts/humanities) and List B (maths/science) Year 12 pair.
Demonstrate the literacy and numeracy standard, usually via the OLNA in Year 9, 10 or 11.
Achieve a C grade average or better across at least 14 units in Year 11–12.

Schools track this in the background, so you usually find out you're "on track for WACE" via your school's online dashboard. If you're worried, the safest move is to ask your year coordinator directly. They have the spreadsheet open already.

Who runs it (SCSA, briefly)

The School Curriculum and Standards Authority writes the syllabuses, sets external exam papers, manages OLNA, and publishes past papers (which we link from our Past Papers hub). They are the canonical source: when in doubt, the SCSA website is more reliable than any tutor, including us.

For ATAR, scaling and university entry sit with a separate body, TISC. SCSA tells you what you scored. TISC tells you where that scored mark places you against everyone else.

Mapping out Years 11 and 12?

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