Admission criteria and additional tasks

Summary: When applying for tertiary study, it’s important to understand that each institution will have a set of admission criteria designed to assess the applicant’s qualifications. To be eligible for a course, an applicant must meet the course’s admission criteria, which may include additional tasks or tests. This page outlines the admission criteria by applicant type and the additional tasks to consider when selecting courses.

Courses with specific admission criteria

Some courses require applicants to undertake additional tests or provide written statements as part of their admission criteria. See links to more information by course area below:

Medicine applicants

If you are applying for medicine courses, you must also pass the UCAT or ISAT tests.

UCAT

UCAT ANZ (University Clinical Aptitude Test for Australia and New Zealand) is a requirement for some courses. Sittings of the UCAT ANZ take place from July to August and bookings close in May.

Visit the UCAT website for more information (www.ucat.edu.au).

ISAT

ISAT (International Student Admissions Test) is administered by ACER (Australian Council for Educational Research). Currently, the only VTAC applicants required to sit ISAT are international students who are currently studying year 12 in Australia and applying for Type 3 places in Medicine/Surgery at Monash University.

Visit the ISAT website for more information (http://isat.acer.edu.au/).

For both the UCAT and ISAT tests you will need to provide your results to VTAC by uploading them to the “Additional tasks” section of your VTAC applicant dashboard. The “Additional task” prompt will only become available once your course application with at least one medical course with the requirement is submitted and paid.

Nursing/midwifery and allied health applicants

If you are applying for nursing, midwifery and in some circumstances other health science courses, you must submit an English language proficiency declaration to be considered for an offer.

This declaration will become available in your VTAC account once you submit relevant course preferences. You will be able to select from one of the following options to declare your English proficiency status:

Option 1: You currently hold one of the following registrations with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA): 

  • Enrolled Nursing (Division 2) 
  • Registered Nursing (RN) 
  • Midwifery 

Option 2: English is your primary language AND you have completed at least six years of primary and/or secondary education (minimum two years must be secondary education between grades 7 to 13) that was taught and assessed solely in English.  

Option 3: You have either sat or will sit one of the approved English Language tests prior to VTAC’s documentation deadline dates.

Approved tests are: 

  • IELTS (Academic) 
  • TOEFL Internet-based Test (IBT Special Home Edition NOT accepted) 
  • Pearson Test of English (Academic) 
  • Occupational English Test (OET)

For more information on this requirement, see our English Language Proficiency Declaration page.

Teaching applicants

Some teaching courses have additional course requirements that need to be completed to be eligible for an offer into a teaching program. 

It is important to read through the course listing in VTAC's CourseSearch for each course you are applying for, as each course may have different requirements. 

The most common course requirement is a Situational Judgement Test which is a non-academic test that helps the institution assess an applicant’s personal and professional attributes. This test can be taken through a third party company called Acuity Insights, which administers the Casper test, or in some cases, directly through the institution.

Casper test

The Casper test is administered on select dates and can be booked through the Acuity Insights website here. The test can be taken online and will incur a fee. For more information, please refer to the Acuity Insights website.  

How to Provide Casper Results to VTAC

When registering for the Casper test through Acuity, you must provide your VTAC ID and select the distribution option (i.e. VTAC or Direct application). For VTAC applications, ensure that you have selected the distribution option as “[institution] - VTAC”, not “[institution] - Direct”.

Once your results are finalised, they will be electronically transmitted from Acuity to VTAC and included in your account. The same Casper test score will be used for all courses that require this test type in your course application.

To ensure your results are considered in time for the offer rounds, it is important to sit the Casper test within the relevant time period.

Tests and selection statements offered through Institutions

For some courses, there may be free alternatives to the Casper test, meaning you can choose between sitting the Casper test, or choosing a test directly through the institution. However, not all institutions offer alternatives and tests specific to one institution are not transferable to other institutions. If you have multiple institutions within your course application preference list, you will need to take the tests required by each of the institutions to be eligible.

More information for each test can be found within the course listing under the “Course Requirements” tab, as well as directly on the institution’s website.

Australian Catholic University offers the Teacher Selector Statement (TSS), which is submitted along with your VTAC application. You can complete the TSS form after you submit your course application under the “Additional tasks” section in your VTAC applicant dashboard.

La Trobe University offers the Aptitude for Teaching Assessment (AFTA) test, which is an online test. Once completed, upload your completion certificate within the “Additional tasks” tab in your VTAC applicant dashboard.

Monash University offers the Monash Teaching Suitability Test (MTeST), which is an online test involving a series of open-ended questions. Monash will provide these results directly to VTAC.

Creative Courses

Folio presentations and auditions are common for courses in the creative arts, like acting, dance, music and design.These additional tasks help the institution to determine your potential when making selection decisions. Your folio or presentation should be original and showcase your abikity in the relevant area.

To find out whether you need to do an interview, folio, audition or anything else as part of your course application, read the ‘essential requirements and admission criteria’ in the course entry. VTAC doesn’t administer interviews, auditions or folio presentations— you will need to arrange these with the institutions directly.

To help you prepare, download our fact sheet here.

VTAC Personal Statement

The VTAC Personal Statement is available for applicants to provide to selection officers relevant information that is not collected as part of the VTAC course application. Check the course listing on CourseSearch to see if it is a requirement of the course you are applying for. For more information about the personal statement, visit our personal statement page.

Skills for Tertiary Admissions Test (STAT)

The Skills for Tertiary Admissions Test is developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to measure the aptitude of candidates wanting to undertake tertiary study. It is typically sat by those with no formal qualifications or whose qualifications are outdated.

The STAT has two formats: Multiple Choice and Written English.

For information about the STAT, including how to prepare and how to book, visit the STAT website.

Institutions consider STAT results for different lengths of time. If you have results from previous years, check with your chosen institution if they will be considered.