Your Admission Point Score is the first thing an admissions officer looks at, and the first thing the Scenda APS checker works out. It is not complicated, but almost nobody explains it properly at school.

The table

Each subject gets a level from 1 to 7 based on your percentage.

  • 80% to 100%: level 7
  • 70% to 79%: level 6
  • 60% to 69%: level 5
  • 50% to 59%: level 4
  • 40% to 49%: level 3
  • 30% to 39%: level 2
  • Under 30%: level 1

Add up your best six subjects and leave out Life Orientation. The most you can get is 42. A learner with 72% Home Language, 66% English, 58% Maths, 54% Physical Sciences, 71% Life Sciences and 75% Geography has 6 + 5 + 4 + 4 + 6 + 6 = 31.

Use your Grade 11 final marks for applications that close before your Grade 12 June results, then send the June results as soon as you have them. Institutions make conditional offers on Grade 11 marks and confirm them in January.

Your pass level matters as much as the number

The National Senior Certificate has three pass levels, and each one opens a different door.

  • Bachelor's pass: 40% in your Home Language, 50% in four other subjects, 30% in the rest. Needed for any degree.
  • Diploma pass: 40% in your Home Language, 40% in four other subjects, 30% in the rest. Opens diplomas at universities of technology.
  • Higher Certificate pass: 40% in your Home Language, 40% in three others, 30% in the rest. Opens higher certificates, which lead into diplomas and degrees.

A 34 APS with a Diploma pass cannot get into a degree. Four subjects at 50% would make it a Bachelor's pass. Check which subject is closest.

Where the scale changes

  • Wits adds bonus points for English and Mathematics above 60% and counts Life Orientation on a capped column, so its published floors look higher than everyone else's.
  • UCT does not use the APS at all. It works out a Faculty Points Score from your percentages and your NBT results.
  • Stellenbosch publishes required averages instead.
  • UKZN uses a 48-point scale.

This is why Scenda does not put a single APS number on a programme card. The institution's own prospectus is the only floor that counts.

Two points short?

  1. Look for the extended or foundation version of the same degree. Several universities take learners a few points below the standard floor into a four-year extended programme that ends in the same degree.
  2. Look at the diploma at a university of technology. Engineering and IT diplomas start lower and articulate into degrees.
  3. Check whether your Grade 12 June marks move you over the line. A subject going from 59% to 60% is one point.
  4. Do not swap Mathematics for Mathematical Literacy in Grade 12. It closes more doors than it opens.

Enter your marks in the free APS checker: it shows your pass level, flags the subjects that limit you, and tells you which institutions are still open.