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Choosing School Subjects

If you are contemplating tertiary study, you will need to consider carefully your subject choice in years 10, 11 and 12. The Universities select students on the basis of their school qualifications, so your choice of subjects at school determines what study options are available at university.

The University selects students from a variety of backgrounds, not just school leavers. Please check the Admissions web site if you are not a school leaver.

HESS General and HESS Restricted

Choose the combination of Year 12 subjects that gives you the widest choice of uni programs. Universities select students on the basis of their Higher Education Selection Subjects (HESS for short) studied in Year 12. University entry requirements are classified as either HESS General or HESS Restricted.

The majority of degree programs have HESS General entry requirements. This means you will need at least 4 subjects designated HESS General (at SACE Stage 2 level, or equivalent) in order to be considered for selection - how well you perform in the subjects is also important!

Some uni degrees have HESS Restricted as the entry requirement, meaning at SACE Stage 2 (or equivalent) you can take either HESS Restricted or HESS General subjects.

Other Considerations

There are three additional factors you will need to explore when choosing your school subjects:

Prerequisite subjects
Prerequisite subjects are those subjects which must be studied at SACE Stage 2 (or equivalent) in order to be considered for selection into a particular degree. Researching the entry requirements for different universities is essential, as many will have different prerequisite requirements for degrees in the same subject area! So be prepared - by researching early you will give yourself the widest range of options by sensible subject choice.

Assumed Knowledge subjects
Universities are less strict with assumed knowledge subjects. You don't have to have studied these subjects at SACE Stage 2 (or equivalent) in order to be selected into the program. However, not studying them may affect your understanding of the subject, as your lecturers will assume you have this level of knowledge. Think carefully about studying assumed knowledge subjects.

Additional Entry Requirements
Some degree programs will require you to undertake additional tasks as part of the selection process. These may take the form of special tests or auditions. Check the University of Adelaide's Study Selector for full details.