Sitting examinations to complete an ATAR course

This is an important reminder of the vital role of examinations in completing your ATAR courses. You must sit the examination for any ATAR course you are enrolled in, in order for it to contribute to your Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) and appear on your Western Australian Statement of Student Achievement (WASSA). This applies to anyone doing Year 12 ATAR courses, even if you are only enrolled in one or two.

To complete a Year 12 ATAR course, you are required to sit the ATAR course examination provided by the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority). For Year 12 ATAR courses with practical components, you must complete both the written and practical examinations. The 2023 Year 12 ATAR course written and practical examinations timetables can be found on the Authority website at https://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/assessment/examinations/examination-timetables.

If you do not sit an ATAR course examination, and you do not have an approved sickness/misadventure application for that course, the grade for the pair of units (Units 3 and 4) will not contribute to the calculation of the WACE.

Consequences of not sitting an ATAR course examination – WACE requirements
If you are enrolled in an ATAR Year 12 course and then do not sit the ATAR course examination (without an approved sickness/misadventure application), the grade for that Year 12 course will not contribute to the:

completion of a minimum of 20 units, including ten Year 12 units – required for the breadth and depth requirement
completion of at least one pair of Year 12 units from an English learning area course (if the ATAR Year 12 course was either English, Literature or English as an Additional Language or Dialect) – required for the breadth and depth requirement
completion of one pair of Year 12 units from List A (arts/languages/social sciences) or List B (mathematics/science/technology) – required for the breadth and depth requirement
achievement of at least 14 C grades or higher, including at least six C grades in Year 12 units – required for the achievement standard
completion of at least four Year 12 ATAR courses – required for the achievement standard.

Consequences of not sitting an ATAR course examination – certification
If you are enrolled in a Year 12 ATAR course and do not sit the course examination (without an approved sickness/misadventure application), you will not:

have a course mark generated and recorded on your WASSA
have a grade for the Year 12 ATAR course recorded on your WASSA
receive an ATAR course report.

You may also find you are no longer eligible to achieve your WACE.

Availability of results
Your results will be available online via the Authority’s student portal (at https://studentportal.scsa.wa.edu.au/ on Monday, 18 December 2023. If you sat the ATAR course examination/s as a non-school candidate, you will be able to also download your examination results from the student portal.

You will be able to print your folio of achievement (WASSA, WACE, ATAR course reports and selected award certificates) for 2023 by logging in to the student portal in mid-January 2024. It is important to remember your login and student password details.

Further information
The Year 12 Information Handbook includes information about school-based assessment and completing courses. You can find it on the Authority website at https://scsa.wa.edu.au/publications/year-12-information.

You may also find additional information on our student information page at https://student.scsa.wa.edu.au/home.