WACE Specialist Mathematics exam 2026: date

When and how long

Mathematics SpecialistMonday 9 November 20269.20 am startTwo sections: Section One (calculator-free) has 5 minutes reading and 50 minutes working time; Section Two (calculator-assumed) has 10 minutes reading and 100 minutes working time.

SCSA: arrive 30 minutes before the examination start time. Every ATAR written exam has 10 minutes reading time and 3 hours working time unless otherwise indicated. The timetable is final, and no allowance is made for misreading it.

Source: 2026 Year 12 ATAR course written examinations timetable (SCSA), checked Wednesday 23 September 2026. Where a start time, reading time or duration isn't shown, the timetable doesn't publish it: check your personal timetable and the front of your paper.

What the exam covers

We don't have past-paper frequency data for this exam, so here is the course, module by module. Make sure every module is covered.

Night-before and exam-morning checklists

The night before

Check your personalised timetable: SCSA makes no allowance for missing an exam by misreading it.^[1]
Read SCSA's Year 12 Information Handbook, Part II: Examinations (sitting an exam means you are taken to know it).^[1]
Pack your equipment the night before, set two alarms and sleep.^[2]

Exam morning

Arrive 30 minutes before the start time (9.20 am or 2.00 pm).^[1]
Most exams have 10 minutes reading time before working time starts.^[1]
Leave your phone and other electronic devices outside the exam room.^[2]

Exam-week survival kit: The last 7 days · The night before and exam morning · What to bring, and what's banned · How to use reading time · If you're sick or something goes wrong · Handling exam-week stress.

Last-week revision

FlashcardsSpaced-repetition cards from the syllabus pages

WACE Specialist Mathematics cram sheet

Key formulas, definitions and facts copied from our Specialist Mathematics syllabus pages. One page when printed.

Unit 3

Principal domains and ranges

$y = \sin^{-1} x$ has domain $[-1, 1]$ and range $[-\tfrac{\pi}{2}, \tfrac{\pi}{2}]$ . $y = \cos^{-1} x$ has domain $[-1, 1]$ and range $[0, \pi]$ . $y = \tan^{-1} x$ has domain $\mathbb{R}$ and range $(-\tfrac{\pi}{2}, \tfrac{\pi}{2})$ .

From: Inverse trigonometric (circular) functions

[r\,\text{cis}\,\theta]^n = r^n\,\text{cis}(n\theta), \qquad n \in \mathbb{Z}.

From: De Moivre's theorem

De Moivre's theorem

[r\,\text{cis}\,\theta]^n = r^n\,\text{cis}(n\theta), \quad n \in \mathbb{Z}.

From: Complex numbers

Modulus

The modulus of $z = x + iy$ is $|z| = \sqrt{x^2 + y^2}$ , the distance from $z$ to the origin.

From: The complex plane, modulus and argument

Unit 4

Standardising the sample mean

z = \frac{\bar{x} - \mu}{\sigma/\sqrt{n}}.

From: The central limit theorem

Mean and standard error of the sample mean

E(\bar{X}) = \mu, \qquad \text{sd}(\bar{X}) = \frac{\sigma}{\sqrt{n}}.

From: The sampling distribution of the sample mean

Confidence interval for a mean

\bar{x} \pm z\,\frac{\sigma}{\sqrt{n}},

From: Confidence intervals for a population mean

Inverse of a 2x2 matrix

A^{-1} = \frac{1}{ad - bc}\begin{pmatrix} d & -b \\ -c & a \end{pmatrix}, \qquad ad - bc \neq 0.

From: Matrices and linear transformations