South Australian Certificate of Education - How The SACE Works

How The SACE Works

There are two stages of the SACE:

• Stage 1, which most students do in Year 11, apart from the Personal Learning Plan subject, which most students do in Year 10
• Stage 2, which most students do in Year 12.

Each subject or course successfully completed earns ‘credits’ towards the SACE, with a minimum of 200 credits required for students to gain the certificate.

Students will receive a final grade from A to E for each Stage 1 subject and A+ to E- for Stage 2 subjects. For compulsory requirements, to gain their SACE they will need to achieve:

• a C grade or better at Stage 1
• a C- grade or better at Stage 2.

The compulsory requirements are:

• Personal Learning Plan (10 credits at Stage 1)
• literacy – at least 20 credits from a range of English subjects or courses (Stage 1 or Stage 2)
• numeracy – at least 10 credits from a range of mathematics subjects or courses (Stage 1 or Stage 2)
• Research Project – an in-depth major project (10 credits at Stage 2)
• other Stage 2 subjects totalling at least 60 credits.

The remaining 90 credits can be gained through additional Stage 1 or Stage 2 subjects or Board-recognised courses (such as VET or community learning) of a student’s choice.