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How the Tasmanian ATAR is calculated (2026): TE Score, course scaling and eligibility

TCEExplainerAtar6 min read

Quick answer

To get a Tasmanian ATAR you must achieve the TCE and gain Satisfactory Achievement or better in at least four Level 3 or 4 courses over two years of senior secondary study. Your scaled course scores are combined into a Tertiary Entrance (TE) Score using your best results worth 60 to 75 points (each Level 3 or 4 course is 15 points), which is then converted to an ATAR. From 2025, the best results can come from either of your two years. In 2025 a TE Score of 80 converted to an ATAR of 86.60.

The University of Tasmania, as Tasmania's tertiary admissions centre, sets the ATAR rules. TASC (the Office of Tasmanian Assessment, Standards and Certification) issues results and the TCE, runs course scaling and publishes the scaling and conversion data.

Eligibility

Over at least two years of post-Year 10 study you must:

  1. meet the standards to achieve the Tasmanian Certificate of Education (TCE); and
  2. achieve Satisfactory Achievement (SA) or better in at least four TASC Level 3 or 4 courses (or equivalent, including University of Tasmania HAP or UCP units).

Only studies from your senior secondary years count. Year 10 studies don't.

Course scaling

Each year TASC scales every Level 3 and 4 course, University of Tasmania High Achiever Program (HAP) units and selected University Connections Program (UCP) units. Scaling sets a score range for each award (Satisfactory, Commendable, High and Exceptional Achievement) in each course, based on how difficult it was to achieve that award compared with awards in other courses that year. Limited or Preliminary Achievement doesn't attract a course score.

TASC stresses that scaling is based only on student results, not on how hard a course's content looks, and that course selections should not be based on previous years' scaling outcomes.

Building the TE Score

Your TE Score is the combination of your scaled course scores that gives the highest total, using courses worth 60 to 75 points:

Course type Points
Level 3 or 4 TASC course (and NIAL courses) 15
UTAS HAP unit (one semester) 8
UTAS UCP unit 8 (one semester) or 15 (full year)
  • Five Level 3 or 4 courses (75 points) is the most common and gives the highest possible score.
  • Four courses (60 points) is the minimum. TASC says it's a fallback, not a plan.
  • 8-point units are included proportionally (8/15 of the course score), and the last course can be partly included to reach 75 points.
  • If you take the same course twice (or a course and its replacement), only one score counts.

The 2025 change

From 2025, your ATAR uses your best results across any two years of senior secondary study (Years 11, 12 or 13). The old rule that three results had to come from your final year no longer applies.

From TE Score to ATAR

TASC publishes a conversion table each December. For 2025:

TE Score (2025) ATAR
123 or more 99.95
110 98.50
100 95.35
90 91.40
80 86.60
70 81.20
60 74.85
50 67.70
40 60.15

These conversions change every year and can't be used to predict a future ATAR.

Common trap

Planning on exactly four courses. If one result is weaker than expected, you have nothing to replace it with. A fifth Level 3 or 4 course both protects you and usually raises your TE Score.

For course choice, see choosing TCE courses with scaling in mind. For release dates and offers, see TCE results day and UTAS offers.

Sources & how we know this

Last updated: 2026-09-23. Rules change. For the official source see TASC.

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