QCE and QST

The Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE)

Senior secondary College students are offered a curriculum which leads to the issue of the QCE (Senior Certificate) as well as a trade qualification in one of the industry groups. The QCE is Queensland's senior school qualification and gives students the flexibility to tailor their learning to meet specific abilities and career goals through the following options:

• go to university, TAFE or another further education and training institution
• take up an apprenticeship or traineeship
• start a career after Year 12

To be eligible for a QCE, a student must be enrolled with a school and registered with the Queensland Studies Authority. For most students the QCE will be achieved over Years 11 and 12. Others may not achieve it until after they finish Year 12.

The QCE lets students choose their pathway to suit further education, training or career aspirations. There are many learning options available and hundreds of course combinations that may lead to a QCE.


To achieve a QCE, a student needs to demonstrate a significant amount of learning, to a set standard and in a set pattern, while fulfilling set literacy and numeracy requirements.

Achievements in different types of learning attract different credit values. Credit is assigned when a minimum standard of achievement has been reached and a set amount of learning has been undertaken.

A student must have at least 20 credits in the required pattern to be awarded a QCE.

Below is a diagram to demonstrate the difference between a traditional school and the Australian Trade College for the purpose of calculating points towards a QCE.

Component		Points towards QCE
		Traditional School	Australian Trade College
Subject 1	English	4	4
Subject 2	Maths	4	4
Subject 3	Certificate II in Business	4	4
Subject 4	Certificate II in IT	4	4
Subject 5	Certificate II in Workplace Practices	0	4
	ASbA in Trade	6	6
	Certificate II in Trade Area	0	4
	TOTAL	22	30

The Certificate IIs in Business, Workplace Practices and Creative Industries (Media) are all embedded in Applied Trade Practices (ATP), which is a subject taken by all student-apprentices at the College.

Part completion of Vocational Certificate II and above
The application of credits to partly completed Vocational Education Training qualifications is based on a percentage of the total competencies in the particular qualification. Individual competencies will be recorded in a student's Learning Account, but it is only when a specified amount of learning in that vocational area has been achieved that those competencies will contribute towards the QCE.

For more information:

• Refer to the QCE planning pathway
• Visit the QSA website
• Visit the Careers Information Service
• Visit the Department of Education, Training and the Arts for information about Australian School-based Apprenticeships and traineeships.

Queensland Core Skills Test (QST)

Each year, the QSA conducts a common statewide test designed for Year 12 students. The test is also available to other eligible candidates.

The QCS Test contributes information for the calculation of Overall Positions (OPs) and Field Positions (FPs), which are used to rank students for tertiary entrance.

A student's individual QCS Test result is not used on its own in the calculation of their OP - instead, group results are used as part of the statistical scaling processes. A student's individual result on the QCS Test (from A to E) is reported on the student's Senior Statement or Statement of Results.

The section on Tertiary Entrance provides information on how the QCS Test is used in the calculation of OPs and FPs.

For more information go to QCS Test general information