SSABSA AND THE SACE

SSABSA - Senior Secondary Assessment Board of South Australia is now called SACE Board of South Australia and is the agency that is responsible for developing, implementing and accrediting subjects that are studied by secondary school students in their post compulsory school years.

SACE Board of South Australia responsibilities include:

• defining the Curriculum Statement within which students must study particular subjects;
• organising and/or advising on the moderation of subject assessments aimed at achieving a consistency of educational standards in secondary schools across the state;
• arranging the setting, marking and moderation of HESS subjects at Stage 2 or Year 12 level in South Australia;
• having responsibility for the maintenance of student records of achievement at Stage 1 and Stage 2 and for calculation and provision of final results and the awarding of the SACE certificate of completion to students who have satisfied the requirements.

SACE - The South Australian Certificate of Education
This certificate is awarded to students who successfully complete their senior secondary education and involves studies at Stage 1 (Year 11 level) and Stage 2 (Year 12 level).
Completion of the SACE is a requirement for those students who wish to go on to higher education.

Students may take more than two years to gain the SACE. There is no time limit to complete specific requirements as determined by the Senior Secondary Assessment Board of South Australia (SSABSA).

To qualify for the SACE a student must:-

• Reach a level of 'recorded achievement' in 22 half-year units of study. Six of these units must be Stage 2 units taken as 2 unit sequences i.e. as three full-year subjects;
• 14 of the 22 units must comply with a required curriculum pattern which includes some compulsory units and the selection of some units from specific groups;
• Reach a level of 'satisfactory achievement' in 16 of the 22 units. Six of these 16 must be Stage 2 units taken as 2 unit sequences i.e. full-year subjects

The 22 units are defined as:-

SACE NOTES

At Stage 1 Curriculum statements for subjects have been prepared for the SACE. There are three levels of achievement recorded by SSABSA at Stage 1 of SACE. They are:

• SA - 'satisfactory achievement' (the higher level) - results of 10 or better out of 20.
• RA - 'recorded achievement' (the lower level) - results from 3 to 9 out of 20.
• RNM - 'requirements not met' - results of less than 3 out of 20.

If students receive an RNM result then the result is shown on the statement of results but no credit towards the completion of the SACE is awarded. Scotch also uses a system of 'letter grades' for achievement and effort throughout the year. Written comments are provided at the end of each semester to give more detailed information about student achievement. Prerequisites for continuing study within subject areas are based on these Scotch grades.

At Stage 2 all Year 12 Subjects count towards the units required for the achievement of the SACE.

A 20 point scale is used by SSABSA to indicate a level of achievement in each subject.
A score of 10 or more would be 'satisfactory achievement'. A score from 3 to 9 on the 20 point scale would be 'recorded achievement'.

Stage 2 subject achievement scores can be summarised as:-

2. SATAC AND TERTIARY ENTRANCE
SATAC the South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre, is the organisation which processes students' applications to all tertiary institutions and courses in South Australia and most recently, Charles Darwin University in the Northern Territory. More information is given in the University Course and Entrance Guide. TAFE courses are also offered through SATAC, it is important that students check the details in the TAFE Course and Admissions Guide.

In Term 3 each year students apply for tertiary courses using an order of preference. Scotch gives advice and assistance to students when the information booklets arrive in the school. The application process is completed by the internet and closing dates are towards the end of September each year. For some courses earlier entry tests or auditions are required, examples include the UMAT test for Dentistry, Medicine at Adelaide University and Music Auditions for the Elder School of Music.  Dates should be checked carefully and financial penalties apply to late applications.

Students may also apply for interstate courses by obtaining an interstate tertiary admissions guide directly from SATAC or by contacting the Tertiary Admission Centres in relevant states to request guide booklets. Students must check prerequisites as they are often different from the South Australian requirements.

UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE

To qualify for application to University a student must:

• qualify for the SACE
• reach at least a level of 'recorded achievement' 5 full year subjects
• have at least 8 units, four full-year subjects must be classified as HESS General and a minimum of one HESS Restricted subject
• achieve the Tertiary Entrance Rank required for the chosen course of study at the particular university
• meet any prerequisite subject requirements for the course/program.

UNIVERSITY AGGREGATE AND TERTIARY ENTRANCE RANK (TER)
The TER is an indicator of how well a particular student has performed relative to other students who have qualified for a TER in the same year. It is calculated from the university aggregate which is found by doing the following from scaled subjects:

1. Tertiary entrance points (best 4 )    4 x 20 = 80
2. ½ of the points for the fifth subject   1 x 10 = 10
3. University Aggregate                       90

The university aggregate score is converted to a TER. The TER is an indicator of how well a particular student has performed relative to other students. It is calculated as follows:

• the group of students who in a particular year (called the cohort) qualify for the university aggregate
• for each university aggregate score (in the range 0 &ndash 90) obtained by the students in this cohort, the percentage of students who obtained that score or better is calculated. This is known as calculating a percentile distribution.
• each score in the 0 -90 range now has a corresponding percentile rank in the range 0-100. For example, if a score of 77 out of 90 has been obtained by 6% of the cohort, the score of 77.0 will correspond to a percentile rank of 94.0 (100-6).

It is important to remember that a rank is not a score. From the above example 77 out of 90 does not equal 94% and a TER cannot be calculated arithmetically from a university aggregate.

REPORTING THE UNIVERSITY AGGREGATE AND TER

The university aggregate is reported to students on a score range 0 &ndash 90 with 0.25 intervals.
The TER is reported to students on a percentile scale, i.e. 0 &ndash 99.95 with intervals of 0.05.

UNIVERSITY BONUS POINT SCHEMES

Students applying to the University of Adelaide are currently awarded a bonus of two additional points if they are studying a foreign language and two additional points if studying Specialist Mathematics at Stage 2.
Students applying to the University of South Australia are currently awarded a bonus of two additional points (up to maximum of 4 points) for satisfactory achievement in Mathematical Studies and Specialist Mathematics at Stage 2.

DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY
Year 12 subjects will be categorised for the purposes of university selection as:
HESS General:  Those subjects that have either a public examination as part of there assessment at the end of the year, or those subjects which have an externally assessed component as part of the final result.
HESS Restricted: Those subjects that have school based assessment tasks which are subject to a results moderation process at the end of the assessment period.

For a number of specific courses there are additional eligibility requirements relating to the necessary study of specific PREREQUISITE SUBJECTS at Stage 2.

Some tertiary courses also identify ASSUMED KNOWLEDGE of specific Stage 2 subjects as important for success at university level.
For general entrance to University students must choose four HESS General and one HESS Restricted as a minimum course.  It is important that students consider carefully the implications of their course choices and consider the different tertiary entrance requirements.

SCALING PROCEDURES
A statistical results scaling process is used to calculate Higher Education Entrance Scores from the range of Stage 2 subjects studied by a student enrolled in the SACE. Scaled scores are used to determine an aggregate total. This is then converted to a Tertiary Entrance Rank, TER, which is used for selection for university entrance. The process of calculating Higher Education Entrance Scores is commonly known as 'scaling' and the conversion to a TER is the responsibility of the SATAC on behalf of the universities.

The scaling process applies to all HESS General and HESS Restricted subjects. There is no limit to the magnitude of the scaling of subjects. 

The Purpose of Scaling
If scaling did not take place, students who took subjects that tended to give low unscaled (raw) marks would be disadvantaged in relation to students who took subjects that tended to give higher marks. Scaling seeks to moderate assessment differences between subjects in any given year.  This is a complex mathematical task but in essence it means that the raw scores in subjects are adjusted downward if the group of students taking the subject consistently get higher scores in that subject than in their other subjects. Scores in subjects are adjusted upwards if the reverse is the case. These adjustments are made on the basis of the performance of the whole group of students who take the subject that year, and are made to the scores of the whole group.

Scaling and Subject Choice
There can be no guarantee that a subject will be 'scaled up' or 'scaled down' in a particular year. The scaling of a subject depends upon the performances of groups of students in the particular subject in that year. Students who choose a subject because it is usually scaled up, rather than because they have a real interest in or aptitude for it, may achieve lower raw scores before scaling. Hence, they may still receive a Higher Education Entrance Score that is similar to, or even lower than, the score they would have received if they had chosen another subject, on the basis of their ability or interest.

The choice of subjects should be on the basis of need, aptitude, and interest rather than on the expected results of scaling.

The Results of the Scaling Process
Under the scaling system, the better a student does in the subject, the less difference there will be between the student's Subject Achievement Score and Higher Education Entrance Score (in HESS General, or HESS Restricted). For example, a student who receives a 20 as a Subject Achievement Score in a subject can expect to receive a Higher Education Entrance Score very close to 20. A student who receives a Subject Achievement Score of 12 in the same subject will receive a score that may be more affected by the scaling process.

A Special Subject Allowance
Scores in Modern Language subjects can, like those in other subjects, be adjusted upwards or downwards. However, in these subjects a special subject allowance is needed if there are significant numbers of students with a special background in the language studied. This is to allow for the expectation that these students will, as a group, achieve lower scores in their other subjects than in the language subject. The special subject allowance is granted to the whole group studying the language and is added during the calculation of the Higher Education Entrance Scores. Nevertheless, even after the addition of the allowance, it is still possible for the scores in the language subject to be adjusted downwards.

- SACE (2008-2010)
- New SACE Year 10 - 2009