University Admission 2008
Admission Requirements for School Leavers (2007 Year 12)

Requirements for University Admission
Competence in English
Tertiary Entrance Rank
Prerequisites
Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE)
Disclaimer

Last Updated 3 January 2008

The following information is issued on behalf of the four Western Australian public universities. Its aim is to help Year 10 students to decide on their upper secondary subjects, so that they meet university admission requirements. Remember to choose subjects which will allow entry to a wide range of university courses.

This information is correct as at 15 March 2007 and is based on information supplied by the participating universities and information relating to changes in upper secondary schooling in Western Australia, available from the Curriculum Council of Western Australia at the time of publication. It applies to applicants who will be under 20 years of age on 28 February 2008 (ie students born on or after 1 March 1988 ). It is relevant only for admission in 2008 and is subject to change without notice.

In particular, the universities reserve the right to change, withdraw or amend any course or program that they offer, to impose limitations on enrolment in any unit or course and/or vary arrangements for such course. Enquiries regarding university admission requirements should be directed to the individual university(ies) concerned.

TISC and the participating universities cannot accept liability for any incorrect advice received from sources other than TISC, the universities or the universities' officially appointed agents.

Participating Universities

Curtin University of Technology
Edith Cowan University
Murdoch University
The University of Western Australia

Important Notice

Starting with the 2007 admissions year, university admission requirements will reflect the changes occurring in upper secondary schooling in Western Australia as a result of the implementation of the Western Australian Post-Compulsory Education Review Report, Our Youth, Our Future.

For 2008 admissions, Aviation, Engineering Studies, English, and Media Production and Analysis Courses will be recognised for the purpose of university admissions, providing students have sat the external assessment. Achievement in these Courses and TEE subjects will be mapped to the same scale. Edith Cowan University may offer alternative pathways that do not require the external examination to be sat.

For the purposes of this publication, in the context of Year 12 study, the term subject(s) means both Curriculum Council-developed Course(s) and TEE subjects.

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Requirements for University Admission

To be considered for university admission as a school leaver applicant normally you must -

  1. achieve competence in English as prescribed by the individual universities, and
  2. obtain a sufficiently high TER for entry to a particular university and/or course, and
  3. satisfy any prerequisites or special requirements for entry to particular courses, and
  4. for The University of Western Australia only - meet the requirements for the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) prescribed by the Curriculum Council. WACE is not required for entry to Curtin University of Technology, Edith Cowan University or Murdoch University.

Portfolio Pathway to ECU
In addition to the requirements outlined above, Edith Cowan University offers an additional pathway for entry by school leaver students. Students will need to satisfy ECU’s competence in English requirement, as outlined below, and achieve a certain number of points determined by their school assessed results for both TEE, Courses and Year 12 Common Assessment Framework (CAF) subjects. Applications will be partially assessed prior to release of final results based on experience and results achieved to date.

Detailed information about the requirements for the Portfolio Pathway to ECU may be obtained from Student recruitment on 08 6304 6304 or www.ecugreatcareers.com.

Applicants for University Admission from Non-Standard Schools
Normally all school leaver applicants for university are required to meet the admission requirements outlined in this brochure. You may not meet these admission requirements if you are attending a school that does not follow the standard Western Australian school system. If so, apply for admission to a university course through TISC, but include with your application a statement giving full details of your upper secondary school studies. Your application will be considered on an individual basis. For The University of Western Australia, in some courses you may be in direct competition with non school leavers. The WACE, awarded by the Curriculum Council, is not required by any of the universities for students from non-standard schools.

University Application Procedures
Information about applying to the universities and admission to undergraduate courses will be sent to TEE students at their schools in August 2007. Application will be via our website.

The closing date for applications without incurring a late fee is Friday 28 September 2007. Offers of admission are made by the universities in the second half of January and in early February.

Any further information about application procedures may be obtained from TISC. Enquiries about mid-year entry, external studies, postgraduate studies, timetables and particular course requirements should be directed to the university concerned.

You need to apply for admission through TISC if you:

If you are not one of the above, you are an international student and you need to apply direct to the International Office at the relevant university.

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Competence in English

For university admission purposes, usually you demonstrate competence in English by achieving prescribed performance in English Course, TEE English (not offered after 2006) or TEE English Literature or TEE English as a Second Language (ESL). You can meet the competence in English requirement with results obtained in any year.

English Course

Curtin University of Technology
You must achieve a scaled mark of at least 50.

Edith Cowan University
You must achieve a scaled mark of at least 50 or a final standard of at least level 5 in Course school assessment.

Murdoch University
You must achieve a scaled mark of at least 50.

The University of Western Australia
You must achieve a scaled mark of at least 50.

English Course sat on a private basis (if available) can be used to meet all universities' competency in English requirement (see Subjects Studied on a Private Basis).

TEE English Literature
You must achieve a final scaled mark of at least 50 in TEE English Literature. For Edith Cowan University only, a letter grade of A, B or C in TEE English Literature is acceptable.

TEE English Literature sat on a private basis can be used to meet the universities’ competence in English requirement (see Subjects Studied on a Private Basis)

TEE English as a Second Language (ESL)
If your first language is not English, an acceptable level of achievement in TEE ESL can be used. Each year the universities decide the mark required. If ESL is not available at your school, you should take English Course or TEE English Literature and also contact the universities for details about alternative acceptable English tests.

Concessions

Curtin University of Technology
If you have not met the requirement for Curtin University of Technology above, Curtin University of Technology will concede competence in English to you if you have:

1 achieved a TER above the minimum specified annually by Curtin University of Technology, and
2

achieved a standardised moderated numeric school assessment or standardised numeric examination assessment of at least 60 in English Course or TEE English Literature.

If you have:

3 satisfied condition 1, but not 2, and
4

achieved a scaled mark less than 50 in English Course or TEE English Literature or obtained a mark lower than the acceptable mark in TEE ESL, then Curtin University of Technology will invite you to demonstrate your competence in English by sitting the Special Tertiary Admissions Test (STAT) Written English component or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) early in January.

Edith Cowan University
If you have not met the requirement for Edith Cowan University above, Edith Cowan University will concede competence in English to you if you have:

1 achieved a TER above the minimum specified annually by Edith Cowan University, and
2

achieved a standardised moderated numeric school assessment or standardised numeric examination assessment of at least 60 in English Course or TEE English Literature.

If you have:

3 satisfied condition 1, but not 2 and
4

achieved a scaled mark less than 50 in English Course or TEE English Literature or obtained a mark lower than the acceptable mark in TEE ESL, then Edith Cowan University will invite you to demonstrate your competence in English by sitting the Special Tertiary Admissions Test (STAT) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) early in January.

Murdoch University
If you have not met the requirement for Murdoch University, see above, Murdoch University will concede competence in English to you if you have:

1 achieved a TER above the minimum specified annually by Murdoch University, and
2 (i) achieved a standardised moderated numeric school assessment or standardised numeric examination assessment of at least 60 in English Course or TEE English Literature or
  (ii)

sat the English Course examination and achieved a final standard of at least level 5 in the Course school assessment.

If you have:

3 satisfied condition 1, but not 2(i) or (ii), and
4 achieved a scaled mark less than 50 in English Course or TEE English Literature or obtained a mark lower than the acceptable mark in TEE ESL , then Murdoch University will invite you to demonstrate your competence in English by sitting the Special Tertiary Admissions Test (STAT) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) early in January.

The University of Western Australia
If you have:

1 achieved WACE, and
2 achieved a TER above the minimum specified annually by UWA, and
3

achieved a scaled mark less than 50 in English Course or TEE English Literature or obtained a mark lower than the acceptable mark in TEE ESL, then UWA will invite you to demonstrate your competence in English by sitting the Special Tertiary Admissions Test (STAT) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) early in January.

TEE English
You have satisfied a university's current competence in English requirement if you have satisfied that university's competence in English requirement previously, via results in TEE English.

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The Tertiary Entrance Rank (TER)

The Tertiary Entrance Rank is the basis of admission to most university courses. You are ranked in order of merit based on your TER.

What is the TER?
The TER ranges between zero and 99.95. It reports your rank relative to all other WA students of Year 12 school leaving age and takes into account the number of students with a Tertiary Entrance Score (TES) as well as the number of people of Year 12 school leaving age in the population of this state. A TER of 75.00 indicates that you have an overall rating equal to or better than 75% of the Year 12 school leaving age population in Western Australia.

The TER is derived from the Tertiary Entrance Score (TES). This score is calculated by multiplying the better average (mean) mark of four or five TEE subjects or Courses of Study, as listed below, by 5.1. The maximum TES is 510. You must include at least one List 1 (Humanities/Social Sciences) subject and at least one List 2 (Quantitative/Sciences) subject in the calculation of your TES.

In calculating the final score for TER subjects, equal weight is given to the marks obtained in the external assessments and those from school assessments, except where subjects are taken on a private basis. All scores are scaled before they are used for university entrance purposes.

For Curtin University of Technology, Edith Cowan University and Murdoch University you may accumulate the marks which contribute to your TER over three consecutive years. The University of Western Australia allows subject marks that contribute to your TER to be accumulated over two consecutive years. For standard entry to Medicine and Dentistry at UWA, you can only accumulate subjects over the two years immediately prior to admission.

Your TER calculated for Edith Cowan University may be higher than that for other universities. ECU provides a bonus to students sitting a TER language subject. Your Tertiary Entrance Score will be boosted by 10% of your final scaled mark in a language subject other than English (LOTE). Your Tertiary Entrance Rank will then be calculated on the basis of this enhanced Tertiary Entrance Score. . If you complete more than one language other than English, the bonus will be calculated using the language subject with the highest final result (see example 2). Note that this LOTE bonus will be applied only to language subjects you have studied in 2005, 2006 and 2007 .

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Subjects which are used to form the TER
List 1 (Humanities/Social Sciences) List 2 (Quantitative/Sciences)  

TEE Subjects
Ancient History
Arabic
Art
Chinese:  Advanced
Chinese:  Second Language
Drama Studies
Economics
English (not offered after 2006)
English Literature
French
Geography
German
Hebrew
History
Indonesian: Advanced
Indonesian: Second Language
Italian
Japanese: Advanced
Japanese: Second Language
Malay: Advanced
Modern Greek
Music
Political & Legal Studies

Courses
English
Media Production and Analysis

TEE Subjects
Accounting
Applicable Mathematics
Biology
Calculus
Chemistry
Discrete Mathematics
Geology
Human Biology
Information systems
Physical Science
Physics

Courses
Aviation
Engineering Studies

 

Unacceptable Subject Combinations
The following subject combinations are not acceptable in relation to the calculation of the TER.  Both subjects may be taken but the result in only one may be used to calculate a TER.

Biology and Human Biology
Chemistry and Physical Science
Chinese: Advanced and Chinese: Second Language
Discrete Mathematics and Applicable Mathematics
Discrete Mathematics and Calculus
English (TEE) and English Literature
English (TEE) and English Course
English Literature and English Course
Indonesian: Advanced and Indonesian: Second Language
Indonesian: Advanced and Malay: Advanced
Japanese: Advanced and Japanese: Second Language
Malay: Advanced and Indonesian: Second Language
Physics and Physical Science

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TEE Subjects Studied on a Private Basis

If you wish to sit subjects on a private basis you must enrol with the Curriculum Council. Your final marks in subjects you sit privately will be based on your examination mark only (out of 100).

You may use results in subjects sat privately in the calculation of your TER. You will not be able to use such results to meet the WACE requirement.

Calculation of a TES
The following explains how your TES will be calculated

1. Identify your best List 1 and best List 2 subject scaled marks.

For a four subject TES:

2. Choose your next two best subjects (no List restriction). Note unacceptable subject combinations, accumulation rules etc.
3. Calculate the average of the four subjects determined in steps 1 and 2.

For a five subject TES:

4. Choose your next three best subjects (no List restriction). Note unacceptable subject combinations, accumulation rules etc.
5. Calculate the average of the five subjects determined in steps 1 and 4.
6. Take the better average from steps 3 and 5 and multiply it by 5.1 to produce a TES. For ECU check if the language bonus applies.

Examples of how a TES is calculated


In the examples given below only subjects which may contribute to a TER are shown. Note that, subject to unacceptable combinations, the subjects may be a mixture of TEE subjects and Courses.
Example 1 – Four TER Subjects
Scores
List 1 subject 2007 66
List 1 subject 2007 64
List 1 subject 2007 56
List 2 subject 2007 72

Four subject average

66 + 64 + 56 + 72  = 64.50
4

Multiply by 5.1 = 328.95

TES = 329.0

Example 2 – Six TER subjects
Scores
List 1 subject 2007 62
List 1 (French) 2007 53
List 2 subject 2007 85
List 2 subject 2007 83
List 2 subject 2007 82
List 2 subject 2007 80

Four subject average

62 + 85 + 83 + 82  = 78.00
4

Five subject average

62 + 85 + 83 + 82 + 80  = 78.40
5

The best result is the five subject average. Multiply 78.40 by 5.1 = 399.84
Add ECU LOTE bonus (10% of French = 5.3): 399.84 + 5.3 = 405.14

TES = 399.84
ECU TES = 405.14

Example 3 – Five TER Subjects

Including English Course and English Literature
List 1 (English Course) 2007 85
List 1 (English Literature) 2007 60
List 1 subject 2007 72
List 2 subject 2007 62
List 2 subject 2007 58

Four subject average – no five subject average:

85 + 72 + 62 + 58  = 69.25
4


Multiply by 5.1 = 353.2

TES = 353.2

English Course and English Literature is an unacceptable subject combination - only one of these can be used in the calculation, therefore a five subject TES cannot be calculated.

Example 4 - TEE studied over 3 years by a student whose birthday falls on or after 1 March 1988
(Note: a student studying TEE over 3 years whose birthday was BEFORE 1 March 1988 would be treated as a mature age student.)

List 1 (History) 2005 65

Will not be considered by UWA

List 1 (Music) 2007 58
List 1 (English Course) 2007 57
List 2 (Biology) 76

Will not be considered by UWA

List 2 (Applicable Maths) 2006 81
List 2 (Aviation Course) 2006 69
List 2 (Calculus) 2007 80

Curtin, Edith Cowan and Murdoch Universities
Four subject average (this gives the better score)
(65 + 81 + 80 + 76)  = 75.5
4

Multiply by 5.1 = 385.05
TES = 385.05

The University of Western Australia
Four subject average (this gives the better score):

(58 + 81 + 80 + 69)  = 72
4

Multiply by 5.1 = 367.2
TES = 367.2

TES to TER
Each year TISC constructs a TES to TER conversion table, taking into account the number of students with a TES and the number of people of Year 12 school leaving age in the state. This table is used to convert your TES to a TER. As a guide, based on previous years’ results, a summary version of the TES to TER conversion table and a TES to TER calculator are available on this website.

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Prerequisites

Make sure that you satisfy the prerequisites for admission to the university course of your choice. Prerequisites are the subjects or special requirements that must be successfully completed for entry to particular courses. Generally, a scaled mark of 50 or more is required in prerequisite subjects unless otherwise specified.

For some university courses the special requirements may include bridging/special course units, interviews, auditions, folio presentations, manual dexterity tests, aptitude tests, fitness requirements, etc. Detailed information is available from the individual universities.

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Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE)

It is highly desirable, but not essential for you to satisfy the requirements of the WACE to enter Curtin University of Technology, Edith Cowan University and Murdoch University. If you wish to be considered for admission to The University of Western Australia then you must be awarded the WACE.

Detailed information about the WACE may be obtained from the Curriculum Council, 27 Walters Drive, Osborne Park, 6017, phone (08) 9273 6300.

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Disclaimer

The universities reserve the right to change the content and/or method of presentation and/or the method of assessment of any unit of study, to withdraw any unit of study or programme which they offer, to impose limitations on enrolment in any unit or programme, and/or vary arrangements for any programme.  Enquiries regarding university admission requirements should be directed to the individual university(ies) concerned.