WACE to NCAA: The Complete Eligibility Guide for Western Australian Student-Athletes

If you're a Western Australian student-athlete eyeing a US college scholarship, your WACE results don't translate directly into something a US coach can use. The NCAA Eligibility Center runs them through its own conversion before any school can offer you anything.

This guide is written specifically for WACE students. It uses the official NCAA grading scale and approved-course list from the NCAA International Guide (August 2025 revision) for Western Australia - including the ATAR vs General course distinction that has no equivalent anywhere else in Australia.

What the NCAA accepts as proof of WA graduation

Per the NCAA's August 2025 Western Australia country guide:

Accepted:

1. Western Australia Certificate of Education (WACE) and Statement of Results - issued by the WA School Curriculum and Standards Authority. Available from December of Year 12.
2. Euka Assessed / University Pathway - for home-schooled students.

Not accepted:

• The ATAR alone (it's a rank, not a qualification).
• The Euka Assessment-free pathway.

The Eligibility Center needs the actual WACE certificate plus the Statement of Results showing your final grade per subject. Order both from SCSA once your results are released.

The WACE grading scale the NCAA actually uses

WA's grading is the cleanest in the country: it's based directly on percentage cut-offs, not a translated descriptor. The NCAA accepts these cut-offs straight across:

WACE Grade	Translation	Percentage	NCAA Letter	Quality Points
A	Excellent Achievement	75 – 100	A	4.0
B	High Achievement	65 – 74.99	B	3.0
C	Sound Achievement	50 – 64.99	C	2.0
D	Limited Achievement	35 – 49.99	D	1.0
E	Inadequate Achievement	0 – 34.99	F	0.0

ATAR vs General: which courses count for the NCAA

This is where WA is uniquely complicated. WACE offers most academic subjects in two versions:

• ATAR courses - feed the ATAR calculation, used for direct university entry.
• General courses - same content area, lower academic load, doesn't feed the ATAR.

For the NCAA, both versions of an approved subject count equally. The Eligibility Center looks at the subject, not the track. A C in Chemistry General is worth the same NCAA quality points as a C in Chemistry ATAR. The grades convert identically - the only thing that matters is whether the underlying subject is on the approved list.

This is genuinely good news for WACE students who couldn't fit ATAR-track subjects in: many General-track courses are explicitly NCAA-approved (see the list below).

Which WACE subjects count as NCAA core courses

For NCAA Division I and II eligibility you need 16 core academic subjects across high school, distributed:

Category	Required
English	4 years
Mathematics (Algebra 1 or higher)	3 years
Natural / Physical Science	2 years (1 lab science)
Additional English, Maths or Science	1 year
Social Science	2 years
Additional core (any of the above + LOTE)	4 years
Total	16 courses

WACE subjects that count as core ✅

English:

• English ATAR, English General (Y11–12), Literature ATAR, English as an Additional Language/Dialect

Mathematics:

• Mathematics Specialist ATAR, Mathematics Methods ATAR, Mathematics Applications ATAR / General (Y11–12), Mathematics Essentials

Science (all approved in both ATAR and General forms where they exist):

• Biology ATAR, Biology General (Y11–12)
• Chemistry ATAR / General (Y11–12)
• Physics ATAR / General (Y11–12)
• Human Biology General (Y11–12)
• Integrated Science ATAR / General (Y11–12)
• Marine and Maritime Studies (Y11–12)
• Science in Practice General (Y11–12)
• Earth and Environmental Science ATAR, Psychology ATAR

Social Science:

• Ancient History ATAR / General (Y11–12), Modern History General (Y11–12), Modern History ATAR
• Economics ATAR / General (Y11–12)
• Geography ATAR, Politics and Law ATAR / General (Y11–12)
• Philosophy and Ethics (Y11), Philosophy and Ethics ATAR (Y11–12)
• Psychology General (Y11–12)
• International Perspectives

Religion / Additional:

• Religion (Y11–12), Religion and Life (Y11–12), Religion and Life ATAR / General (Y11–12)

LOTE: All continuers and background-speaker courses (French, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, German, Italian, Indonesian, etc.)

WACE subjects that do NOT count ❌

The NCAA's WA country guide explicitly blocks:

• Commerce
• Health Studies General
• Physical Education

Also not core (consistent with national NCAA exclusions):

• Outdoor Education
• Materials Design and Technology (Wood, Metal, Textiles)
• Visual Art, Drama, Music, Dance, Media Production and Analysis
• Food Science and Technology, Children, Family and the Community
• VET (Certificate II/III courses)
• Career and Enterprise

The 10/7 rule: how it lands on a WACE timeline

For NCAA Division I eligibility:

• 10 of your 16 core courses must be locked in before Year 12, and
• 7 of those 10 must be in English, Maths or Science.

For WACE students, "before Year 12" means by the end of Year 11. WA is unusual in that many schools push students to lock subject selections at the end of Year 10 (sometimes earlier) - which means the 10/7 decision is essentially made for you by Year 9 or 10. If you're in a school that allows late changes, take advantage; if you're at one that doesn't, you need to pick cores aggressively from Year 9.

Division II uses the same 16-course requirement but drops the 10/7 rule entirely. WACE students who pivot to NCAA late (e.g., a Year 11 club basketball or swimming breakthrough) often clear D2 even when D1 is closed off.

How your WACE NCAA core GPA gets calculated

The Eligibility Center looks at:

1. Your WACE Statement of Results - final grade per subject, Y11 and Y12.
2. Your Year 9 and Year 10 school reports - same A–E percentage scale applies.

It then takes only the core subjects, converts each percentage or letter to a 4.0-scale value, and averages them. ATAR-track subjects and General-track subjects of the same name count identically.

Worked example: a typical WACE student

Year	Subject	%	Grade	Core?	NCAA Grade
10	English	78	A	✅	A (4.0)
10	Maths	70	B	✅	B (3.0)
10	Science	82	A	✅	A (4.0)
10	Society & Environment	65	B	✅	B (3.0)
10	HPE	88	A	❌	not counted
11	English General	72	B	✅	B (3.0)
11	Mathematics Applications General	68	B	✅	B (3.0)
11	Biology General	76	A	✅	A (4.0)
11	Modern History General	64	C	✅	C (2.0)
11	Health Studies General	80	A	❌	not counted
12	English General	75	A	✅	A (4.0)
12	Mathematics Applications General	70	B	✅	B (3.0)
12	Human Biology General	78	A	✅	A (4.0)
12	Modern History General	68	B	✅	B (3.0)

Core quality points: 4 + 3 + 4 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 4 + 2 + 4 + 3 + 4 + 3 = 40
Core subjects: 12
NCAA Core GPA = 40 ÷ 12 = 3.33

The 88 in HPE and the 80 in Health Studies - strong grades on the WACE certificate - count for zero on the NCAA side.

ATAR ranges and what they typically convert to

ATAR Range	Likely NCAA Core GPA	D1 Status
95+	3.6 – 4.0	Well clear of the 2.3 D1 minimum
85 – 95	3.1 – 3.6	Comfortably eligible
70 – 85	2.5 – 3.1	Eligible. Admissions becomes the gating factor
50 – 70	2.2 – 2.7	Tight. D2 / NAIA more realistic
Below 50	Below 2.2	NAIA pathway most likely

A General-track WACE student doing English General, Mathematics Applications, Biology General and Modern History General can easily produce a 3.0+ NCAA GPA even with no ATAR at all. The NCAA does not require an ATAR, and many WA athletes who took the General track because ATAR didn't suit them still qualify cleanly for D1 and D2.

The NCAA sliding scale (Division I): only if you take the SAT or ACT

Effective 1 August 2023, the NCAA permanently removed the SAT/ACT requirement for initial eligibility. If you don't submit a test score, your core GPA alone determines eligibility - 2.3 for D1, 2.2 for D2.

If you take the SAT or ACT, the sliding scale applies:

Core GPA	SAT (EBRW + Math)	ACT Sum
2.3	980	75
2.5	900	68
2.7	820	59
3.0	720	50
3.5	400	37

The SAT is offered at test centres in Perth several times a year (March, May, August, October). Register on the College Board site - WA seats fill especially fast because they're so geographically isolated.

What WACE student-athletes should do, by year

Year	What to do
Year 9	Pick 4 core academic subjects. Avoid pre-loading HPE, Outdoor Ed and Materials Design if NCAA is on the table.
Year 10	Lock in English, Maths and a science (ATAR or General both work). Drop Health Studies if it's your only science line.
Year 11	Register with the NCAA Eligibility Center at the start of the year. WACE students on the General track should especially register early - international evaluators sometimes need extra time to recognise General-level subjects.
Year 12	Order your Statement of Results once issued in December. Sit the SAT in May or August if needed.
After WACE	Send certified academic records via SCSA's verification process. Confirm amateurism status.

Common WACE-specific mistakes

1. Assuming General courses don't count. They do - for almost every approved subject, the General version is NCAA-eligible.
2. Counting Health Studies General as a science. It's explicitly blocked by the NCAA's WA guide.
3. Treating the ATAR as your NCAA GPA. Different scales, different calculations.
4. Dropping a subject with a D rather than pushing through. A D (35–49%) is still NCAA credit. A withdrawn subject is zero.
5. Forgetting Year 9/10 grades. WA schools' end-of-year reports get uploaded too - they're not optional.

What to do next

If you're at the start of WACE: pick 4 cores every year. English, a maths and a science always on the table. Avoid Health Studies if it's standing in for a science. ATAR or General - either works.

If you've already finished WACE: pull your Statement of Results and your Y9–10 reports, and run them through an actual NCAA conversion. WACE students often discover their NCAA number is higher than they expect, because the General-track subjects translate cleanly.