Additional requirements and selection criteria
This page outlines additional requirements and selection criteria for bachelor's degrees at AUT, and explains how we calculate your rank score.
Things we may consider in addition to University Entrance
- Some bachelor's degrees have additional requirements and selection criteria – such as preferred NCEA subjects, supporting documents or an interview.
- If there are more applicants than places - we may assess your academic results and calculate your rank score.
Bachelor's programmes using additional requirements and selection criteria
Refer to the AUT Calendar for more details
Evaluating your academic achievement – how we assess your academic results
Places in bachelor's programmes are limited. If there are more applicants than places we will assess your application against other applicants to the same programme.
We calculate your rank score based on your Year 13 results in NCEA Level 3, Cambridge International Examinations or International Baccalaureate.
AUT programmes with a rank score
Several AUT degrees use a rank score:
When applying for scholarships from secondary school, AUT uses a rank score generated from Year 12 results.
Health science degrees
The popular health science degrees give preference to the highest level of academic achievement (highest performing students). There is no set rank score that guarantees entry to these degrees.
Approved University Entrance subjects
UE subjects - NZQA website
National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) rank score
How we calculate the rank score:
- By taking the 80 best credits in University Entrance approved subjects at Level 3 or higher, and weighting them by the level of achievement
- No more than 24 credits per subject will be counted
- If a student achieves fewer than 80 credits at Level 3 or higher, the rank score will be calculated on the total number of credits they attain at this level in UE approved subjects
How we calculate your rank score:
Excellence 4 points
Merit 3 points
Achieved 2 points
Example of how we calculate your rank score
Approved subject |
Excellence credits |
Merit credits |
Achieved credits |
English |
2 |
3 |
10 |
Statistics and modelling |
- |
4 |
12 |
Geography |
6 |
6 |
6 |
Biography |
2 |
4 |
16 |
Chemistry |
- |
6 |
18 |
|
Subtotals |
10 |
23 |
62 |
Best 80 credits |
10 |
23 |
47 |
Calculate points |
40 points (10 x 4) |
69 points (23 x3) |
94 points (47 x 2) |
Rank score: 203 points |
Note: Excellence and merit credits are counted first, followed by the required number of Achieved, up to the maximum total of 80 credits. In this example, the student could only count 47 of their achieved credits.
Calculate your NCEA rank score

Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) Rank score
These are the steps we take to calculate your rank score using your CIE results. Here's an example of how we do it.
How we calculate your rank score:
- Based on your UCAS Tariff score
- No more than 6 subject units over the last 2 years of study will be counted in subjects at AS, A2 or A level from subjects that match the NCEA University Entrance approved subjects
- The rank score may differ from the UCAS Tariff used for University Entrance because only subjects equivalent to NCEA approved ones will be used for calculating
- An A level counts as 2 subject units and an AS level counts as 1 subject unit. Students who have studied more than 6 subject units can count only the 6 best scores
How we calculate your rank score
Level |
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
A |
120 points |
100 points |
80 points |
60 points |
40 points |
AS |
60 points |
50 points |
40 points |
30 points |
20 points |
Example of how we calculate your rank score
Subject |
Level |
Subject units |
Grade |
Tariff points |
Rank score |
English |
A |
2 |
D |
60 |
60 |
Mathematics |
A |
2 |
C |
80 |
80 |
Geography |
AS |
1 |
D |
30 |
30 |
Biology |
AS |
1 |
D |
30 |
30 |
Chemistry |
AS |
1* |
E |
20* |
- |
Rank score: 200 points |
Calculate your CIE rank score

International Baccalaureate (IB): Rank score
How we evaluate you:
- You must have achieved the IB Diploma (24 points)
- We will evaluate you on the number of points achieved above 24
Applicants without a Year 13 (7th form) entrance qualification: how we assess you
We look for evidence of:
- Work experience that has prepared you for university study by requiring you to use higher order thinking skills and high level written communication and numeracy skills
- Clear goals and objectives for degree level study
- Qualifications relevant to your proposed programme
Last updated: 21-Nov-2017 1.27pm
The information on this page was correct at time of publication. For a comprehensive overview of AUT qualifications, please refer to the Academic Calendar.