In August 2019, the Board of the School Curriculum and Standards Authority amended the principles for setting the dates of the Year 12 ATAR course written examinations.

• Written examinations will commence on Monday of the week in which November 1 falls on a weekday; and Monday of the following week, when November 1 falls on a weekend.
• The written examination period will be for a period of approximately 15 weekdays.
• Large candidature examinations will be scheduled, where possible, in the first 10 days of the examination period.
• No practical examinations will be scheduled on the weekend immediately prior to the commencement of the written examinations.

It should be noted that the scheduled date range of Year 12 ATAR course written and practical examinations from year to year will not always fall in the same cycle of weeks of school terms.

In 2025, the examination period was brought forward due to the addition of ATAR courses to the Authority’s offerings and at the request of the Tertiary Institutions Service Centre.

2027 Year 12 ATAR course examinations

The 2027 Year 12 ATAR course written examinations are scheduled from:
Wednesday, 27 October to Thursday, 18 November 2027.

The 2027 Year 12 ATAR course practical examinations are scheduled from:
Saturday, 25 September to Sunday, 24 October 2027. See the schedule below.

2027 Year 12 ATAR course practical examinations schedule

1. Saturday, 25 September to Sunday, 3 October (Saturday, Sunday and the public holiday included)

   ATAR course practical (performance) examinations for Aviation, Dance, Drama and Music.

   Commencement of practical (oral) examinations for Chinese: Second Language, French: Background Language, French: Second Language, German: Background Language, German: Second Language, Hindi: Background Language, Hindi: Second Language, Indonesian: Background Language, Indonesian: Second Language, Italian: Background Language, Italian: Second Language, Japanese: Second Language, Korean: Background Language, Korean: Second Language, Punjabi: Background Language, Punjabi: Second Language, Tamil: Background Language and Tamil: Second Language.

2. Saturday, 9 October to Sunday, 24 October (Saturday and Sunday included)
   Continuation of practical (oral) examinations.

Schools will not be able to specify particular day/s for the practical examinations to be held for any student. Students from a school must be randomly allocated to examination times throughout all of the days allotted for a course. This process ensures anonymity for all candidates.

All school activities, such as school examinations, final-day assemblies, graduations, valedictory dinners and leavers’ breakfasts, should be on dates other than those listed above.

It is important that schools communicate the written and practical examination dates to students, teachers and parents. No allowance in the timetable can be made for holidays, work or personal arrangements.

Projected date ranges for the future Year 12 ATAR course written examination schedules

2028                Monday, 30 October–Friday, 17 November

2029                Monday, 29 October–Friday, 16 November

2030                Monday, 28 October–Friday, 15 November

Note: due to the proposed introduction of the Western Australia Day public holiday on the second Monday in November from 2028 and the impact on the timetable, the proposed start and end dates for projected date ranges are not confirmed and are subject to change.