Housing and Design Scaling TCE 2026: Does It Scale Up or Down?

What Housing and Design actually asks of you

The external assessment has two components. The written examination runs for 2 hours of working time after 15 minutes of preparation time (notes on the supplied note paper and highlighting in the exam booklet only). Students receive the TASC Information Sheet and may use a scale ruler, set squares, parallel ruler, pencils, protractor, drawing compass and eraser. Section A (about 60 minutes, Criterion 3) offers one Cool Temperate and one Hot Humid (Tropical) passive solar design question; students answer one, drawing a scaled plan on the site with sections and annotations on the A3 answer sheet. Section B (about 60 minutes, Criterion 4) offers two functional-use-of-space questions — kitchens, bathrooms, studies, small units, work spaces, wheelchair users, children, aged or shared occupancies — and students answer one, usually with a 1:50 plan plus section or joinery-elevation sketches. Every response is rated on extended ratings A+ to z; the paper carries no marks. The design folio (Criteria 6, 7 and 8; maximum 20 A3 pages as one PDF; due to TASC on 25 September 2026) supplies the other three external ratings, so the exam provides 2 of the 13 ratings used for the award. ATARMAxxing's practice papers use an indicative 120-mark scheme (60 per section) purely as a study allocation mapped onto Criteria 3 and 4; they model only the written exam, not the folio.

The Housing and Design exam is Thursday 19 November 2026, 1.30 pm (2 hours working time (15 minutes preparation time)). Source: TCE timetable.

The 4 areas of study you are examined on

From the HDS315118 Housing and Design Level 3 course document (accreditation renewed from 1 January 2026; current for 2026), read with the HDS315118 External Assessment Specifications Version 4 (Feb 2026) and the HDS315118 Information Sheet Version 1.1 (Mar 2026).

• Unit 4 — Passive Solar Design and Sustainability
  This unit is about achieving thermal comfort with design rather than machinery. You study energy sources for housing, then passive solar design for two climates: in cool temperate areas you orient living spaces and most glazing to the north, store winter sun in thermal mass inside a well-insulated, draught-sealed envelope and size eaves to exclude summer sun; in hot humid tropical areas you shade the whole building, catch prevailing breezes with single-room-depth plans, elevate the floor, vent hot air high and keep construction light. Sun angles, window percentages, insulation R-values, landscaping, embodied energy, Tasmanian heating costs and social sustainability complete the unit.
  In the exam: Section A, Criterion 3: one question per climate, answer one. Markers look for correct orientation for the climate, sun angles from the Information Sheet drawn in section with justified eaves, the right thermal mass and insulation strategy, window placement with percentages, ventilation paths drawn on the plan and annotations that resolve competing factors such as views, privacy and overshadowing.
  Where marks go missing: Applying cool-climate strategies in the tropics (thermal mass, double glazing, bulk insulation) or putting the house in the shade of a hedge or neighbour. Reports also penalise trading solar access for views in a cool climate without justification.
• Unit 3 — Form and Function
  This unit covers functional use of space — layout, flow, circulation and zoning — together with ergonomics and anthropometric data, the design of kitchens, bathrooms, studies and outdoor living, and design for groups with specific needs, especially universal design for wheelchair users. It includes ramp gradients and ramp-length calculations, basic construction and materials, and the elements and principles of design used to justify aesthetic choices.
  In the exam: Section B, Criterion 4: two briefs, answer one. Recent papers set conversions of existing buildings, compact units, kitchens and dining, and every paper from 2021 to 2025 included a wheelchair or universal-access option. Strong answers draw a 1:50 plan with wall thicknesses and every fixture to scale, show 1500 mm turning circles and clearances, keep the work triangle tight, respect the fixed walls and openings given, and add joinery sections with critical heights.
  Where marks go missing: Writing passive solar notes in Section B, drawing walls as single lines, placing beds hard against walls with no access, redesigning parts of a building the brief says to keep, and generic annotations that label rather than justify.
• Unit 1 — Design Communication
  This unit builds the drawing and presentation skills the whole course depends on: freehand and scale sketching, floor plans, sections, elevations, site plans and setback diagrams, sun angle and shadow diagrams, architectural conventions, and the numeracy of scale (1:20, 1:50, 1:100, 1:200), area, ratio and gradients.
  In the exam: Not a separate exam section, but every exam rating depends on it: assessment reports repeatedly mark down missing or inconsistent scale, unclear linework and missing sections.
  Where marks go missing: Spending the hour on a beautiful plan and leaving no time for the section or annotations the question asks for.
• Units 2 and 5 — Design and Systems Thinking; Project Management (design folio)
  These units teach the design process — brief, aims, client needs, context, site analysis, precedents, iterative design development, final design and evaluation — with systems thinking and individual and collaborative project management. They culminate in the externally assessed design folio: a maximum of 20 A3 pages on a small-scale project of the student's choice, with three critically analysed design iterations and final drawings at 1:100, 1:50 or 1:20.
  In the exam: Externally through the design folio (Criteria 6, 7 and 8), not in the written exam. The folio cannot be practised as an exam here; the notes cover its structure and the assessment reports' advice.
  Where marks go missing: Too many aims, concepts 'set to fail', catalogue-style precedents and drag-and-drop floor planning apps — all criticised in recent reports.

Full Housing and Design 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.

Source: official TASC scaling report (PDF). Last checked 2026-08-18.

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 is close to scaling-neutral 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

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• TCE Housing and Design hub — practice exams, notes and flashcards
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• TCE Housing and Design Level 3 revision notes
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• Scaling for every subject, state by state