The WACE exam timetable for 2026 places the Year 12 ATAR course written examinations between Wednesday 28 October and Thursday 19 November, according to the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA). Practical examinations, for courses such as Dance, Drama, Music and the languages, run earlier, from Saturday 26 September to Sunday 25 October. And for every written ATAR course, the exam is not a final hurdle stacked on top of the year: it is half of the combined mark.
At NextStepAcademy we tutor Year 12 students online, including in Western Australia, and the families we speak to are usually clear on the dates but hazy on what the exam actually does to a result. This guide covers both: the timetable for the most common ATAR courses, the start times and exam format, and how SCSA and TISC turn an exam mark and a school mark into an ATAR.
When are the 2026 WACE ATAR exams?
SCSA’s examination timetables page gives two windows for 2026:
- Practical examinations: Saturday 26 September to Sunday 25 October 2026.
- Written examinations: Wednesday 28 October to Thursday 19 November 2026.
Since Tuesday 8 September, students have been able to download a personalised written timetable and a personalised practical timetable from the SCSA student portal. The personalised version shows the date, time and examination centre for each exam a student is enrolled in, and it is the one to plan from. Practical exam slots are allocated randomly across the days set for each course, so schools cannot request particular days.
What is on the 2026 ATAR written examination timetable?
These dates come from SCSA’s 2026 Year 12 ATAR course written examinations timetable. There are two sessions each day, starting at 9.20am and 2.00pm.
| ATAR course | Date | Start time |
|---|---|---|
| Psychology | Wednesday 28 October | 9.20am |
| Engineering Studies | Wednesday 28 October | 2.00pm |
| Chemistry | Thursday 29 October | 9.20am |
| Ancient History / Computer Science | Thursday 29 October | 2.00pm |
| English | Friday 30 October | 9.20am |
| English as an Additional Language or Dialect | Friday 30 October | 2.00pm |
| Mathematics Methods | Monday 2 November | 9.20am |
| Literature | Tuesday 3 November | 9.20am |
| Physics | Wednesday 4 November | 9.20am |
| Politics and Law | Wednesday 4 November | 2.00pm |
| Human Biology | Thursday 5 November | 9.20am |
| Mathematics Applications | Friday 6 November | 9.20am |
| Mathematics Specialist | Monday 9 November | 9.20am |
| Biology | Monday 9 November | 2.00pm |
| Economics | Tuesday 10 November | 9.20am |
| Business Management and Enterprise | Wednesday 11 November | 9.20am |
| Geography | Wednesday 11 November | 2.00pm |
| Modern History | Thursday 12 November | 9.20am |
| Physical Education Studies | Thursday 12 November | 2.00pm |
| Accounting and Finance | Friday 13 November | 9.20am |
| Health Studies | Monday 16 November | 9.20am |
This is a selection of the most common courses. Languages, the arts, the technologies courses and the smaller sciences all have their own slots on the full SCSA timetable.
How long are WA ATAR exams, and when should students arrive?
The SCSA timetable sets out the standard format:
- Arrive 30 minutes before the start time, to allow for seating, administration and instructions.
- Three hours of working time is the default for a written exam, unless the timetable marks the course as a two-and-a-half-hour paper.
- Ten minutes of reading time is standard, unless otherwise indicated.
The three mathematics courses (Applications, Methods and Specialist) work differently. Each has two sections: a calculator-free section with 5 minutes of reading and 50 minutes of working time, then a calculator-assumed section with 10 minutes of reading and 100 minutes of working time. Students should practise both sections back to back, because switching from no calculator to calculator mid-exam is a skill in itself.
SCSA is blunt on one point: no allowance is made for a candidate who misses a session by misreading the timetable. Check each date against the personalised timetable, not a friend’s.
How much does the ATAR exam count in WA?
For an ATAR course with only a written examination, SCSA calculates the combined mark as the average of the examination mark and the moderated school mark. In plain terms, the exam is worth 50% and the school’s assessment is worth 50%.
This comes from SCSA’s own explanation of how school marks and ATAR course examination marks are used. It also describes how the exams are marked: each paper is set by an independent expert panel and marked by at least two qualified markers, who see only the student number and never the student’s name or school.
Does the exam change my school mark?
In one specific way, yes. School marks from different schools are not directly comparable, so SCSA applies statistical moderation. It places a school’s marks in a course on the same scale as that school’s exam marks in the same course. If a school’s cohort performs strongly in the exam, its school marks are moderated up; if not, they may be moderated down.
What moderation never changes is order. SCSA states that the ranking of students by moderated school marks is the same as their ranking by unmoderated marks. A student who ranks third in their class in Chemistry stays third. That makes class rank one of the most important numbers a Year 12 student has, and it is why the exam matters to the whole class, not only to each individual.
How are practical examinations handled?
Courses with a practical component (oral, performance, portfolio or production) are treated in two parts. SCSA moderates the written school marks against the written exam and the practical school marks against the practical exam, calculates a combined mark for each component, places the two on the same scale, and then combines them as a weighted average. The weighting for each course is set in its syllabus. With practicals starting on 26 September, languages, Dance, Drama and Music students are already in their assessment period.
How is the WA ATAR calculated from exam results?
Once SCSA has the combined scores, TISC takes over. Combined scores from different courses are not on the same scale, so TISC applies a scaling process to produce scaled scores. From those, TISC explains, it builds the Tertiary Entrance Aggregate (TEA):
- the sum of your best four scaled scores;
- plus 10% of your best Language Other Than English scaled score, if you have one;
- plus 10% of your Mathematics Methods scaled score, and 10% of your Mathematics Specialist scaled score, if you have them.
The maximum TEA is 430, and you need at least four scaled scores for an ATAR to be calculated. TISC then converts the TEA to an ATAR. Its 2025 table shows how steep that curve becomes at the top:
Moving from an ATAR of 90.00 to 95.00 took about 26 more TEA points in 2025 (269.6 to 295.3). Moving from 95.00 to 99.00 took about 53 more (295.3 to 348.1). Those are 2025 figures and the 2026 table will differ, but the shape is the useful part.
What does the bonus mean for one student? (Illustrative example)
The figures below are invented for illustration and are not a real student’s results. Suppose a student’s best four scaled scores add to 265.0, and those include Mathematics Methods at 68.0 and Mathematics Specialist at 65.0. TISC’s rules add 10% of each: 6.8 and 6.5. The TEA becomes 278.3.
Against TISC’s 2025 table, 265.0 alone sits just below the 89.00 mark (265.5), while 278.3 clears 91.00 (273.9) and falls just short of 92.00 (278.5). The mathematics bonus moves this example student from the 88 band to the 91 band, roughly three ATAR points, which is why Methods and Specialist students should never treat those exams as lower priority than their other courses. For this example student, the timetable is also compact: Chemistry on 29 October, English on 30 October, Methods on 2 November, Physics on 4 November and Specialist on 9 November, finished inside two weeks.
How should Year 12 students use the next four weeks?
- This week: print the personalised timetable and mark every exam, including any practical slot already allocated.
- Weeks one and two: one full past paper per course under exam conditions, including the 10 minutes of reading time, then work on the weaknesses it exposes.
- The final fortnight: revise in the order the exams arrive. If Chemistry is on 29 October, it gets the attention first.
- During the exam period: prepare for the next paper only.
Families wanting structured help can explore our WACE tutoring in Perth, delivered online so sessions fit around each exam. We also offer maths tutoring in Perth for the Methods and Specialist papers, English tutoring in Perth, and high school tutoring in Perth for students in Years 7 to 10. The full range is on our Perth tutoring page.
When do WA ATAR results come out in 2026?
TISC’s important dates for 2026/2027 list:
- 8.00am Sunday 20 December 2026: WA 2026 ATAR results and Universities Admission Advice Letters online.
- 11.59pm Sunday 20 December 2026: closing date to apply, add or rearrange preferences before the main round.
- Thursday 24 December 2026: main round offers available online and by email.
Results and the preference deadline fall on the same day. Students should settle their preference order in advance, for a range of possible ATARs, so that 20 December is a quick confirmation and not a rushed decision.
When are the 2027 WACE exams?
SCSA has already published 2027: the written examinations are scheduled from Wednesday 27 October to Thursday 18 November 2027, and the practical examinations from Saturday 25 September to Sunday 24 October 2027. Current Year 11 students can build their Year 12 plan around those dates now.
Want help turning the timetable into a plan? Book a tutor with NextStepAcademy. Every family starts with our First Lesson Guarantee: if you don’t love the first lesson, you don’t pay. See how our online tutoring works.
Frequently asked questions
When do the 2026 WACE exams start?
The ATAR course written examinations start on Wednesday 28 October 2026 and run to Thursday 19 November 2026. Practical examinations run from Saturday 26 September to Sunday 25 October 2026.
When is the 2026 WACE English exam?
English is at 9.20am on Friday 30 October 2026. English as an Additional Language or Dialect is at 2.00pm the same day.
How much is the ATAR exam worth in WA?
For a course with only a written exam, SCSA calculates the combined mark as the average of the exam mark and the moderated school mark, so the exam is worth half.
How is the WA ATAR calculated?
TISC adds your best four scaled scores, plus 10% of any LOTE, Mathematics Methods and Mathematics Specialist scaled scores, to form the Tertiary Entrance Aggregate (maximum 430), then converts it to an ATAR.
When do WA ATAR results come out in 2026?
At 8.00am on Sunday 20 December 2026, through TISC. Main round offers follow on Thursday 24 December 2026.