Food and Nutrition Scaling TCE 2026: Does It Scale Up or Down?

What Food and Nutrition actually asks of you

135 numeric marks in A, B and D plus separate alpha ratings. Section C has no numeric marks. Fifteen questions offered, fourteen answered; never label this an official 180-mark paper. Eight internal and five external ratings. Criterion 2 ratings from C and D contribute equally; no percentage exam weighting is specified.

The 20 areas of study you are examined on

From the Current Food and Nutrition Level 3 course version 2b, renewed January 2026; EAS Version 1.2 February 2022 linked June 2026; all five specification pages visually verified..

• Energy balance, basal metabolism and interpreting energy data
  Distinguish basal metabolism from total expenditure, calculate energy with consistent units, and interpret energy balance over a stated interval. Energy density, nutrient density and BMI describe different quantities; none alone determines a person’s nutritional health.
  In the exam: External Section A, Criterion 4: Unit 1 Nutrition. External Section A commonly assesses energy sources, BMR, requirements, balance and healthy-weight interpretation; numerical evidence can also support Criterion 5.
  Where marks go missing: Counting the immediate energy cost of exercise as BMR instead of activity expenditure.
• Carbohydrates, fibre and explaining food substitutions
  Classify sugars and starch accurately, explain the different mechanisms of dietary fibres, and compare realistic portions. Energy quantity, glycaemic response and overall nutritional quality are different considerations when evaluating carbohydrate foods.
  In the exam: External Section A, Criterion 4: Unit 1 Nutrition. External Section A assesses carbohydrate types, functions, sources, imbalance and justified dietary implications.
  Where marks go missing: Calling all sugar-containing foods nutritionally equivalent.
• Dietary fats, essential fatty acids and blood lipoproteins
  Distinguish fatty-acid structures, essential fatty acids and lipoprotein transport. Evaluate the specific replacement and realistic portion: changing fat type, reducing total fat and reducing total energy are related but different actions.
  In the exam: External Section A, Criterion 4: Unit 1 Nutrition. External Section A assesses fat types, essential fatty acids, trans fat and relationships with HDL, LDL and health.
  Where marks go missing: Defining every polyunsaturated fatty acid as essential.
• Protein functions, essential amino acids and complementary sources
  Protein supports many functions beyond muscle. Evaluate essential amino-acid supply, digestibility, realistic portions and the whole dietary pattern. Complementary foods can address relative amino-acid limitations without requiring one rigid meal formula.
  In the exam: External Section A, Criterion 4: Unit 1 Nutrition. External Section A assesses protein functions, complete and incomplete sources, amino-acid adequacy and practical complementary choices.
  Where marks go missing: Calling non-essential amino acids unimportant.
• Folate and vitamin D: functions, sources and life-stage interpretation
  Folate supports cell division and early development; vitamin D supports calcium and phosphate regulation and skeletal mineralisation. Verify food composition, age group, reference category and units, and distinguish dietary contribution from a clinical assessment of nutrient status.
  In the exam: External Section A, Criterion 4: Unit 1 Nutrition. External Section A assesses focussed micronutrient functions, sources, imbalance and accurate use of current Australian reference values.
  Where marks go missing: Claiming vitamins supply kilojoules like carbohydrate or fat.
• Minerals in oxygen transport, bone, thyroid and fluid regulation
  Link iron, calcium, iodine, sodium and potassium to their distinct physiological roles, then analyse sources, bioavailability, life-stage NRVs and label units. Fortification and population targets guide interpretation; they do not justify personal diagnosis, supplement advice or conclusions from one recorded day.
  In the exam: External Section A, Criterion 4: Unit 1 Nutrition. External Section A assesses iron, calcium, sodium, potassium and iodine functions, sources, imbalance and food-based application.
  Where marks go missing: Calling iron a source of dietary energy.
• Water balance, non-nutrient compounds and safe food handling
  Water supports transport, reactions and temperature regulation, but needs and hydration evidence vary. Non-nutrients can affect physiology without becoming essential nutrients. Food safety requires hazard-specific hygiene and cumulative time-temperature control; smell, appearance and intention do not verify safety.
  In the exam: External Section A, Criterion 4: Unit 1 Nutrition. External Section A assesses water, antioxidants, phytoestrogens, probiotics and handling that protects nutritive, aesthetic and safety qualities.
  Where marks go missing: Treating an AI for total water as a universal bottled-water prescription.
• Using NRVs, nutrient density and food-label data responsibly
  Choose the NRV that answers the question, match age, sex, life stage and units, and treat short records as uncertain evidence. Energy density, nutrient density, per-serving data and per-100-gram data use different denominators. A sound recommendation shows its calculation, mechanism, trade-offs and review measure.
  In the exam: External Criteria 4 and 5: nutrient/reference principles in A and applied dietary analysis in B. Unit 1 Nutrition with transfer to Unit 2. Apply RDI, EAR, AI, EER and UL for their correct purposes and distinguish nutrient density from energy density.
  Where marks go missing: Calling the EAR the requirement of every individual.
• Dietary patterns, chronic-disease risk and proportionate prevention
  Explain chronic-disease risk through interacting dietary, biological and social influences. Interpret cardiovascular, diabetes and body-weight evidence with mechanisms and limits, calculate rates using the right denominator, and design prevention that addresses both behaviour and food environments without personal diagnosis or blame.
  In the exam: External Section A, Criterion 4: Unit 1 Nutrition. The current course places heart disease, type 2 diabetes, overweight and obesity, Australian statistics, dietary risk and prevention frameworks in Unit 1.
  Where marks go missing: Claiming one food directly causes or prevents a chronic condition.
• Designing ethical nutrition research and interpreting dietary evidence
  Match the research question to an ethical design and a dietary method whose errors are understood. Protect people across collection, storage and reporting; separate validity, reliability, bias and confounding; preserve transparent raw data; and limit recommendations to what the method and results can support.
  In the exam: Internal Criterion 1 covers research methods, sources and ethical inquiry. Transferable dietary-data interpretation supports external Section B, Criterion 5; there is no separate external research-methods section. Unit 2 Dietary and Data Analysis. Assess research methodologies, ethics, validity and critical interpretation of existing nutrition evidence.
  Where marks go missing: Choosing a dietary method before defining the research question.
• Comparing nutritional requirements across the life course
  Life-stage analysis links physiological reason, current reference value, observed intake and feasible modification. It uses the correct denominator, distinguishes screening from diagnosis, and respects practical and clinical limits.
  In the exam: External Section B, Criterion 5: Unit 2 Dietary and Data Analysis. Compare requirements for different life stages, health and activity contexts using the correct population references.
  Where marks go missing: Using one adult NRV for every age and life stage.
• Using the ADGs, AGHE and NRVs to analyse and modify food patterns
  Diet analysis standardises the record, applies the correct Australian tool, quantifies important gaps or excesses, and proposes feasible modifications. It states denominators, retains strengths, and evaluates uncertainty and trade-offs.
  In the exam: External Section B, Criterion 5: Unit 2 Dietary and Data Analysis. Apply NRVs and Australian food-selection tools to diets, menus and recipes, then justify feasible modifications and critique diet trends.
  Where marks go missing: Treating the AGHE, ADGs and NRVs as identical tools.
• How body signals, senses, beliefs and habits shape food selection
  Food selection reflects body signals, sensory evidence, safety needs, values, beliefs, attitudes, experience, habits, emotions and self-concept. Analysis should connect the strongest case evidence to a feasible and ethical response.
  In the exam: External Section D, Criterion 6: Unit 3 Food Sociology. Assess physiological and psychological influences including hunger, appetite, satiety, senses, sensitivities, values, beliefs, experience, habit, emotion and self-concept.
  Where marks go missing: Using hunger, appetite, satiation and satiety as interchangeable words.
• Culture, community, markets and the development of Australian food patterns
  Food choice develops within culture, history, work, relationships, regulation, marketing and material resources. Strong analysis avoids stereotypes, identifies interacting constraints, assigns responsibility proportionately and evaluates real access and outcomes.
  In the exam: External Section D, Criterion 6: Unit 3 Food Sociology. Assess sociocultural and economic influences and the development of Australian food culture without stereotyping individuals or groups.
  Where marks go missing: Assuming everyone from one culture eats the same foods.
• Using Tasmania's health-promotion framework to plan and evaluate action
  Working in Health Promoting Ways applies partnerships, engagement, evidence, equity, supportive environments and systems change to Tasmanian practice. Campaigns need a causal logic, matched measures and honest process, impact, outcome and equity evaluation.
  In the exam: Internal Criterion 7 covers application to health-promotion work. External Section D, Criterion 6 draws on framework knowledge when analysing food-choice influences and solutions; this note does not replace internal work requirements. Unit 4 Health Promotion. Apply the Tasmanian Working in Health Promoting Ways framework, distributed responsibilities and detailed evaluation of a nutrition-promotion strategy.
  Where marks go missing: Replacing the Tasmanian framework with Ottawa Charter action areas.
• Using food labels and evaluating nutrition marketing
  Food-label analysis separates legal information from marketing, matches denominators, checks claims and recognises audience access. The NIP, ingredient statement and Health Star Rating answer different questions and must be interpreted within the whole diet.
  In the exam: External Section D, Criterion 6: label and marketing influences on choice; quantitative diet analysis also supports Criterion 5 in B. Unit 4 Health Promotion. Assess food regulation, nutrition labelling, industry, media and marketing within promotion settings and consumer decision-making.
  Where marks go missing: Treating every word or image on a package as mandatory label information.
• Food security, supply chains and interventions in Australia and developing countries
  Food security depends on four connected dimensions and the distribution systems that link supply to households. Effective interventions in Australia and developing countries combine strategies, measure equitable outcomes and address immediate need alongside durable causes.
  In the exam: External Section C, Criterion 8 content and Criterion 2 communication elements 1–3: Unit 5 Global Food Issues. Analyse food-security dimensions, barriers, at-risk groups and multi-strategy interventions in Australia and a developing-country context.
  Where marks go missing: Equating high national food production with food security for every household.
• Evaluating sustainable food systems from farm to household
  Sustainable food systems protect ecological resources while remaining nutritious, equitable and viable. Evaluation follows impacts through the chain, preserves functional units and compares at least three multi-strategy interventions with trade-offs and measured outcomes.
  In the exam: External Section C, Criterion 8 content and Criterion 2 communication elements 1–3: Unit 5 Global Food Issues. Analyse ecological sustainability through production, processing and consumer practices, including at least three multi-strategy examples.
  Where marks go missing: Calling any local food automatically more sustainable.
• Assessing innovation, regulation and trade-offs in future food systems
  Emerging technologies require specific, conditional evaluation of mechanism, evidence, regulation, life-cycle effects, nutrition, access and control. Their value depends on context and governance rather than novelty alone.
  In the exam: External Section C, Criterion 8 content and Criterion 2 communication elements 1–3: Unit 5 Global Food Issues. Extends analysis of current and emerging production, processing and marketing techniques affecting environment, food supply and health.
  Where marks go missing: Treating newness as proof that a technology is either safe or dangerous.
• Planning, conducting and communicating a defensible food-and-nutrition investigation
  An evidence-based investigation aligns question, design, ethics, analysis and communication. It documents sources and calculations, distinguishes association from causation, and limits conclusions to the population, measures and time actually studied.
  In the exam: Internal Criteria 1 and 3 cover research and planning/completion. External Criterion 2 elements 1–3 in C and D assess logical/coherent writing, English usage and terminology; a practice paper does not fulfil the internal investigation. Ongoing elements: Planning, organisation and communication. Frame questions, use ethical and valid methods, analyse evidence and communicate justified findings across Units 1–5.
  Where marks go missing: Starting data collection with a broad topic instead of a measurable question.

Full Food and Nutrition study-design guide →

How scaling works in Tasmania

In Tasmania, TASC rates each Level 3 and Level 4 course against its criteria, from your school's assessment and the external examination, and combines the ratings into an award from Exceptional Achievement down to Preliminary Achievement. Scaling then converts each award of Satisfactory Achievement or better into a course score on a common scale, by comparing every result a student achieved with the results of every other student across all their courses; in 2025 course scores ran from 1.0 to 26.0. Your Tertiary Entrance score combines your best course scores from any two years of senior secondary study to a total of 60 to 75 points — normally five 15-point courses — and the ATAR is your rank on that score. Scaling is recalculated every year from that year's cohort, so a published score range describes one past cohort and is never a guarantee.

What scaling is not

Scaling is not a difficulty rating and it is not a bonus. It compares how the students in one subject performed across every other subject they took, so a subject moves because of its cohort, not because of the paper. The consequence is practical: you cannot scale your way out of a weak result. The only lever you control is the raw mark, and the fastest way to move that is full-length timed practice against the real exam format.

Questions

Keep going

• TCE Food and Nutrition hub — practice exams, notes and flashcards
• TCE Food and Nutrition practice exams with worked solutions
• TCE Food and Nutrition Level 3 revision notes
• TCE Food and Nutrition practice questions with worked solutions
• TCE Food and Nutrition flashcards
• Get the TCE Food and Nutrition Mastery Pack
• TASC ATAR calculator — name your subjects and it builds your dashboard
• TCE Food and Nutrition past exams by year and topic
• TCE Food and Nutrition course document explained
• TCE exam timetable 2026
• Every TCE subject we cover
• Scaling for every subject, state by state