What is an APS score?
APS stands for Admission Point Score. It is the number a South African university uses to decide whether your matric results clear the bar for a specific qualification. The catch: there is no single national APS. Each of the 26 public universities runs its own calculation, and the same matric results can produce very different APS numbers from one university to the next.
The APS conversion table: turning percentages into levels
The starting point at almost every university is the National Senior Certificate (NSC) achievement scale. Your subject percentages convert to a level from 1 to 7:
| Percentage | Level |
|---|---|
| 80-100% | 7 |
| 70-79% | 6 |
| 60-69% | 5 |
| 50-59% | 4 |
| 40-49% | 3 |
| 30-39% | 2 |
| 0-29% | 1 |
At six of the 26 universities the APS is then the sum of the levels for your 6 best subjects, with Life Orientation set aside, for a maximum of 42. The other twenty do something different, and that is what the rest of this guide is for.
How each university calculates APS differently
Below is how each of the 26 SA public universities actually calculates your APS. We have grouped them by approach.
Group 1: standard best 6, Life Orientation excluded, max 42
UJ, UP, UNISA, UL, DUT, TUT. Take the level (1 to 7) for each of your 6 main subjects, drop Life Orientation, and add. Maximum 42.
TUT adds one twist of its own: any subject you scored an achievement level 1 in (below 30%) is thrown out entirely rather than counted as a point.
Group 2: the same ladder with an 8 for 90%, max 48
UKZN, NWU, WSU, UniZulu, VUT. Same as Group 1, but a subject in which you scored 90% or more is worth 8 points instead of 7. Maximum 48, not 42, so a score from one of these is not comparable with a UP or UJ score.
Group 3: an 8 point ladder plus one Life Orientation point, max 49
CUT, UFS. Six academic subjects on the same 8 point ladder as Group 2, and then a single point for Life Orientation however high the mark: CUT awards it from 50%, UFS from 60%. Nothing below 30% scores at all. Maximum 49.
The UFS prospectus works an example through: five academic subjects at level 5 gives 25, one more at level 4 gives 4, and the Life Orientation point makes 30.
Group 4: raw percentages instead of levels
UCT. Sum the actual percentages of your 6 best subjects, excluding Life Orientation and Advanced Programme subjects. Any subject below 40% contributes nothing. This gives the Faculty Points Score (FPS) out of 600. UCT then applies a Weighted Points Score (WPS) on top: WPS = FPS + (disadvantage % times FPS). The uplift is up to 10% in most faculties and up to 20% for Health Sciences, and is calculated from school context (quintile, school average, school resources) and home background (parents' education, household income, home language).
NMU (Nelson Mandela). Sums the raw percentages of six 20-credit subjects, called the Applicant Score, out of 600. Life Orientation is excluded because it is a 10-credit subject. If your school is in Quintile 1, 2 or 3 and you scored 50% or higher in Life Orientation, NMU adds a flat 7 point bonus.
Stellenbosch (SUN). Sum the percentages of your 6 best subjects (Life Orientation excluded), divide by 6. The result is essentially your average mark out of 100. Stellenbosch no longer uses an APS at all.
Group 5: percentage divided by 10, per subject
Rhodes (RU) and UniVen. Each subject percentage is divided by 10, so 75% becomes 7.5 points. Sum your 6 best, Life Orientation excluded. Both give no score at all to a subject below 40%. Maximum 60.
Univen publishes this as a table rather than a formula, which is why it is often misreported as the ordinary 1 to 7 scale out of 42. The decimal ranges in that table (9.0 to 10 for 90 to 100%, 8.0 to 8.9 for 80 to 89%, and so on) are exactly percentage divided by 10.
Group 6: Maths and English are worth more
Wits. Uses all 7 subjects including Life Orientation, on a custom table. Maths and English carry a bonus from level 5 upward and reach 10 points at 90%, while other subjects top out at 8. Life Orientation runs on its own scale to a maximum of 4. Nothing below 40% scores at all. Maximum 56.
UWC. Even more generous to Maths and English: 90% or more in either scores 15 points, while other subjects max out at 8. Life Orientation contributes up to 3. Maximum 65, the highest scale in the country. Mathematical Literacy is scored in the "other subjects" column, not as Maths.
SPU (Sol Plaatje). All 7 subjects count. Your home language and Mathematics take an additive bonus that lifts them to 10 points at 90%, where other subjects reach 8. Life Orientation starts at 1 point for 60% and is capped at 4. Maximum 56.
Group 7: all 7 subjects count, with Life Orientation discounted
SMU (Sefako Makgatho). Adds the levels of all 7 subjects, including Life Orientation at full subject value. SMU is the only university that does this. Maximum 49.
UMP (Mpumalanga). Counts all 7 prescribed subjects, but halves Life Orientation: a level 5 there is worth 2.5 rather than 5. Half points are real, so a UMP total can land on a .5. Maximum 45.5.
UFH (Fort Hare). Counts all 7 on the 8 point ladder, with Life Orientation capped at 4 points. UFH spells this out: even 70% in Life Orientation is allocated 4, not 6. Below the cap it scales normally, so 45% still scores 3. Nothing below 30% counts. Maximum 52, and a bachelor's degree needs at least 26.
Fort Hare is the rule third party APS sites most often get wrong, variously reporting it as best six excluding Life Orientation, as percentage divided by 10, or with the cap set at 3. The prospectus is unambiguous.
Group 8: fewer subjects (MUT)
MUT (Mangosuthu). The only university that counts five subjects rather than six. Life Orientation is excluded entirely, the ladder runs from 8 at 90% down to 3 at 40%, and anything below 40% scores nothing. Maximum 40.
One weak subject costs you less at MUT than anywhere else, because there is one fewer slot to fill, but there is also nowhere to hide a second one.
Group 9: it depends on which subjects you took (CPUT)
CPUT is the only university where the formula changes with your subject combination.
- You took Maths and Accounting: APS = (2 x Maths + 2 x Accounting + English + 3 best others) divided by 10. Maximum 80.
- You took Maths and Physical Sciences: APS = (2 x Maths + 2 x Physical Sciences + English + 1 best other) divided by 10. Maximum 50.
- Otherwise: APS = (English + your 5 next best subjects) divided by 10. Maximum 60.
Life Orientation is never counted in any of the three. CPUT picks the method from the qualification you apply for rather than from your subjects, so a CPUT score only means something against a cut-off recorded under the same method. CPUT also cannot score you at all without English.
What APS do you need? Comparing your score to the cut-off
Meeting the APS minimum is necessary but never sufficient. Every degree also carries subject specific minimums (Maths at level 5, English at level 4, Physical Sciences at a specific level, and so on). Some programmes layer on the NBT (UCT, Stellenbosch, Wits Health Sciences), portfolios (architecture, fine art) and interviews (medicine, social work).
Always read the most recent prospectus for the specific programme you want to apply to. The numbers can shift by a point or two between intakes.
Worked example: one set of marks, six different APS scores
Mark, a Grade 12 learner, has these results: English 72%, Afrikaans 68%, Mathematics 65%, Physical Sciences 70%, Life Sciences 75%, Geography 80%, Life Orientation 85%.
- At UP, UJ, UNISA, UL, DUT or TUT (Group 1): levels are 6 + 5 + 5 + 6 + 6 + 7 = 35 APS.
- At UKZN, NWU, WSU, UniZulu or VUT (Group 2): same total because no subject is at 90%+, but out of 48 rather than 42. 35 APS.
- At SMU (Group 7): include Life Orientation at level 7, so 35 + 7 = 42 APS out of 49.
- At UMP (Group 7): include Life Orientation at half its level, so 35 + 3.5 = 38.5 APS out of 45.5.
- At UCT (Group 4, FPS only): 72 + 68 + 65 + 70 + 75 + 80 = 430 / 600. WPS adds the disadvantage uplift if applicable.
- At Stellenbosch (Group 4): 430 / 6 = 71.7 average.
- At Wits (Group 6): the base plus extra weighting on English and Maths and a Life Orientation contribution, out of 56. The exact total depends on the Wits points table.
The same matric profile produces very different numbers. Calculate against the universities you are actually applying to.
Try it yourself
NavyBlue's APS Calculator applies the correct rule for each university automatically and shows the courses you qualify for once you enter your marks. Use the per-university calculators for the institution you want to apply to.
For the full Life Orientation comparison across all 26 universities, see Does Life Orientation count for APS?.