Year 11 (2006)

Requirements for the South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE)

To qualify for the SACE the student must satisfy the following conditions, A, B and C:

(A) Enrol in 22 units of study and gain Satisfactory Achievement in 16 units and at least Recorded Achievement in the remaining 6 units, over at least two years.

A one unit course represents a semester or half year of study. A two unit course represents two semesters or a full year of study.

There are three possible grades awarded for a semester subject:

Satisfactory Achievement (SA) is awarded for a score from 10 to 20. Recorded Achievement (RA) is awarded for a score from 3 to 9. Requirements Not Met (RNM) is awarded for a score from 0 to 2.

(B) Satisfy the curriculum pattern of 22 units.

The subjects are grouped into two categories:

  • Humanities / Arts / Social and Cultural Studies
  • Mathematics / Science / Technology

At Stage 1 a student must take:

  • 2 units of English or ESL (compulsory)
  • 1 unit of Australian Studies (compulsory)
  • 1 unit of Mathematics (compulsory)
  • 2 further units of Humanities / Arts / Social Studies
  • 2 further units of Maths / Science / Technology
  • Any other 6 units.

At Stage 2 a student must take:

  • 2 unit subject from Humanities / Arts / Social Studies
  • 2 unit subject from Maths / Science / Technology
  • Another 2 unit subject
  • Any other 4 units if university entry is considered.

(C) Satisfy the Writing-Based Literacy Assessment (WBLA)

Satisfactory Achievement must be obtained to be awarded the SACE.

Features of WBLA

  • It is based only on writing.
  • The standard of assessment is based upon a level of competence in writing which can be reasonably expected at Stage 1 level.
  • It is context-based. This means that it uses materials gathered from a student’s work drawn across the curriculum during the normal course of study so as to provide a broad picture of the student as a writer.

Requirements of the WBLA

  • A student must submit a folio containing four pieces of writing in the English language.
  • Each piece must be a minimum of 250 words with at least three pieces in continuous prose.
  • All work to be submitted must be verified by a teacher, including work done on a word processor, and must have a context sheet attached.

    •    To make the assessment broad-based the four pieces must include:

  • One piece from English or ESL.
  • One piece from the Humanities / Arts / Social and Cultural group of subjects.
  • One piece from the Mathematics / Science / Technology group of subjects.
  • One piece from any area of study.

Criteria for Assessment

  • Each folio will be assessed as either Satisfactory or RNM. For a folio to be assessed as Satisfactory, all four pieces of writing must be deemed Satisfactory.
  • Students who do not gain Satisfactory in a particular category will be required to submit a new piece of work for that category.
  • The new piece of work may not include a redrafted version of the piece that did not satisfy requirements in the previous submission.

WBLA Deadline

  • Students must submit their pieces of work to the WBLA Coordinator by Week 1, Term 3.