Types of Packages

The Senior Secondary Certificate is awarded following a program of full-time study completed over years 11 and 12, or equivalent. It certifies that students have demonstrated achievement that prepares them for the workforce or further study. 

Students may complete either a T or an A package. The requirements for each are different. 

Your school will have a Certification Officer whose job it is to ensure each student has chosen subjects that meet the Certification requirements for either a T or an A package. Students must decide which package they want to study.  The T package is the one required if students are interested in direct entry to university after year 12. 

A Package

• Students studying an A package must complete a minimum of 17 standard units.

• Students must complete at least a minor (2 semesters of study) in any English course.

• Students can complete their 17 points as a mixture of A,  T,  M,  H,  E, or R units.

• Students must complete their 17 points with courses from a minimum of 4 course areas.

• A maximum of 2 majors (or the equivalent of 8 units) can contribute to the ACT Senior Secondary Certificate from the same course area.  

• Students will achieve an ACT Senior Secondary Certificate for completion of an A package. 

• Students are free to exceed these minimum requirements if the school allows it.

T Package 

• To obtain an ACT Tertiary Entrance Statement a student needs to meet the requirements for an ACT Senior Secondary Certificate.

• The Tertiary Entrance Statement is produced for students who qualify for the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR). It reports information useful for tertiary admission. 

• Students studying a T package must complete a minimum of 20 standard units as a mixture of A,  T,  M,  H,  E, or R units. 

• Of those 20 units they be structured with at least 3 Majors and 3 A,  T,  M,  H,  E Minors OR  4 A,  T,  M,  H,  E Majors and 1 Minor. 

• A major is a minimum of 3.5 units in a course and a minor is 2 units in a course. 

• Students must do 3 Majors and 1 Minor at a T or H level, but may choose to do more T or H majors/minors.

• Students can count a maximum of 1 H course towards their T package.

• A maximum of 2 majors (or the equivalent of 8 units) can contribute to the ACT Senior Secondary Certificate from the same course area.  

• Students are free to exceed these minimum requirements if the school allows it.

Students who meet the requirements of a T package and take the ACT Scaling Test (AST) will be awarded and ACT Tertiary Entrance Statement (including an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank --ATAR).  An ATAR is required for students who are interested in achieving direct entry into University after year 12. 

A 1.0 unit is equivalent to 1 semester of 55 hours of study.  At the end of each semester for all units studied, students should receive a unit grade, and also a score in T units.

Units scores are calculated based on the assessment weightings and student results set out in the relevant unit outline for each course.  In T courses, the unit scores are generally based on the relative achievement of students measured through scaled scores, not their raw assessment item results. 

For students studying a T course:

Unit Scores lead to Course Scores

For T subjects, students must study a minimum of 3.5 units in course area for a Major. The best 80% of the unit scores are used to create a Course Score. 80% of 3.5 unit scores = best 2.8 unit scores. This information is often comforting to students who have had a bad term or semester. 

Here are some examples:

Example 1 Mathematical Applications

• Unit 1 score 78.9

• Unit 2 score 67.4

• Unit 3 score 81.3

• Unit 4 score 73.6

The best 2.8 scores will be:  

Notice the student's poorest semester, Unit 2, did not count at all and the next lowest semester, Unit 4, only counted partially towards the course score. 

Example 2 Health and Wellbeing T 

• 0.5 Unit Individual Human Health score 93.9

• 1.0 Unit Health in Australia score 88.4

• 1.0 Unit Health of Populations score 92.6

• 1.0 Unit Global Health and Human Development score 90.4

The best 2.8 scores will be:

The course score would be 91.6

Course Scores lead to a 'number' that leads to an ATAR

Course scores are scaled at the end of the year 12 by the BSSS and are converted to numbers ranging from approximately 75 to 225. AST results are used in the scaling process here (more on the AST to come later in this workshop). There are further workshops that will go into greater detail on scaling. For the purposes of this workshop we are just doing a cursory explanation. Look here for further details on scaling workshops. 

A raw course score becomes a scaled course score:

T Course English Score 77.4 

The 77.4 might be scaled to become a 168.45 as a scaled course score. 

Below is a simplified explanation of how Course Scores lead to Rankings

ATAR's are calculated from the Best 3.6 T level Course Scores earned by the student 

Example 1: 

T Course English Score 168.45

T Course Mathematical Application (major) Score 182.90

T Course Ancient History (major) Score 139.43

T Course Health and Wellbeing (major) Score 175.25

A Course Furniture Construction (major), does not contribute to the ATAR

182.90 + 175.25 + 168.45 + (0.6 x 139.43) =  610.258

The ATAR is then calculated as a percentile ranking of the 610.258 score above.

Example 2:  

T course Literature (major) score 175.30

T course Modern History (major)  score 160.55

T course Mathematical Methods (major) score 193.28

T course Hospitality (minor) score 143.28

T course Chemistry (minor) score 168.43

T course Continuing Japanese (minor) 187.71

T course Accounting (minor) 186.48

193.28+160.55 +175.30 + (0.6 x 187.71) = 641.756

Notice all 3 majors are counted and 0.6 of the best minor score.