How SACE Stage 2 assessment works for Year 12 in 2027: school assessment, moderation and exams

This guide is for students completing Stage 2 in 2027 (Year 11 in 2026), in South Australia or, under the NTCET, in the Northern Territory.

How is SACE Stage 2 assessment split?

Each subject outline sets out its assessment types. Biology, for example, has an Investigations Folio (30%) and Skills and Applications Tasks (40%), both school assessed and moderated, plus an exam worth 30% (external). Check your own subject outline for the exact tasks and weightings.

School assessment and moderation

Your teachers grade your school assessment against the SACE performance standards. At the end of the year, your school submits a sample of students' work in each subject for final moderation. Moderators confirm that the school applied the standards correctly before final grades are issued, and the SACE Board can adjust school assessment results where needed. That's why, if you later request an assessment summary, it shows both a "school grade" and a "moderated grade" for each assessment type.

Activating Identities and Futures (AIF), the compulsory 10-credit Stage 2 subject, has front-loaded moderation in terms 1 and 3 and a final moderation for one assessment type at the end of Semester 1, as well as the end-of-year moderation.

External assessment: exams, performances and investigations

The SACE Board says there are three kinds of external assessment: investigations, performances and examinations. Markers are teachers appointed and trained by the Board. Some Stage 2 subjects now use e-exams in a browser-based system; the SACE Board recommends practising with its demo and with past e-exams for your subject.

When are the SACE exams?

Most Stage 2 written exams run in November. For reference, the SACE Board's 2026 calendar has most written exams from Monday 2 November (General Mathematics and Mathematical Methods) to Friday 13 November 2026, with oral exams and some written exams for Stage 2 languages in October. The 2027 exam timetable has not been published yet; it will appear on the SACE Board's exam timetable page and in its online calendar. Exam rules are printed on the front of each question booklet and available a few weeks before the exam. See our SACE exams hub for subject exam guides.

What counts toward the ATAR?

SATAC does not scale your letter grade. It converts your grade for each school-assessed assessment type to a number (A+ = 15 down to E- = 1), weights them, and adds your external assessment mark converted to the same scale, to make a raw score out of 15, which it then scales. So:

• A strong exam can lift your scaled score even within the same final grade.
• Missing the external assessment gives a scaled score of 0.0 for that subject.
• Your ATAR comes from a 90-credit university aggregate: your best three 20-credit subjects plus a 30-credit flexible option. To get an ATAR you must also complete the SACE.

The full method, with SATAC's worked tables, is in how the SACE ATAR is calculated. To test combinations, use the SACE ATAR calculator.

What is changing for the 2027 cohort?

Less than you might think:

• Subject renewal is under way, but the SACE Board's published timeline has the earliest renewed Stage 2 outlines ready for teaching in 2028 (Group 1 subjects such as Essential English, Music and continuers languages), with others later. So in 2027 you'll study current Stage 2 outlines.
• Smaller changes still happen. The Board made subject improvements for 2025, recorded in a change log at the front of each subject outline. For example, the Biology exam cut its multiple-choice questions from 15 to 10 from 2026. Read your subject outline's change log before you rely on older resources.
• Adjustment points for 2027 entry now include NDIS participants in SATAC's individual equity criteria (see lower-than-expected pathways).

Next: set up your system with a summer study plan before Year 12, decide when to start past papers, and check your subject hubs such as Biology, Chemistry, Mathematical Methods and English. The whole series is on starting Year 12 in 2027.