Stellenbosch APS Requirements 2026: How the TPT Works Instead

Stellenbosch uses the TPT, a percentage aggregate: your highest Language of Learning & Teaching mark (English or Afrikaans) plus your five best other 20-credit subjects, divided by 6. In practice that means SU uses the TPT percentage aggregate, so your SU number depends on SU's specific rules rather than a single national formula.

The important thing to understand is that SU uses the TPT percentage aggregate rather than a points APS. Two applicants with identical matric marks can end up with different admission numbers at different universities purely because the counting rules differ. The calculator on this site applies SU's rules exactly and shows every subject's contribution, so you can see how the final figure was reached instead of trusting a black box.

Stellenbosch does not use a points APS at all. It builds the TPT (Toelatingspuntetelling), a percentage aggregate: it takes your highest Language of Learning and Teaching mark, English or Afrikaans, then adds your five best other 20-credit subjects, and divides the six by six. The result is a percentage out of 100, which is why a Stellenbosch figure cannot be compared directly with a points APS from another university.

Life Orientation is excluded, and so are Advanced Programme Mathematics and any non-NSC subject. Because every counted subject carries equal weight and the result is a straight average, the TPT rewards consistency across your best six rather than a single standout mark. A very high English mark helps, but only as one of six equally weighted terms.

Stellenbosch builds the TPT: your highest Language of Learning and Teaching mark plus your five best other subjects, divided by six. Life Orientation is excluded.

Run those marks through SU and you get TPT 72.2%. The step-by-step table further down the page shows each subject's contribution. Enter your own marks in the calculator to get the same breakdown for your results. TPT = (91 + 76 + 74 + 68 + 66 + 58) / 6 = 433 / 6 = 72.2%. It is a percentage, not a points score.

The most common mistake is counting Life Orientation. SU excludes it, but plenty of generic calculators add it in, which inflates your total by several points and can make a programme look reachable when it is not. Enter Life Orientation in the SU calculator anyway: it will show the mark and confirm it is excluded, so there is no ambiguity.

The second mistake is mixing up percentages and levels: on a points scale you enter your actual subject percentage, and the calculator converts it, not the 1-7 level. The third is assuming the SU number from one calculator transfers to another university. It does not, because SU uses the TPT percentage aggregate rather than a points APS. Always calculate each university on its own terms.

The clearest way to see why the method matters is to run one matric result through all six universities. Using the marks in the worked example above, SU produces 72.2%, while the other universities land on different numbers on different scales. The comparison table on the universities page lays all six side by side.

This is the whole point of calculating SU on its own terms. A number that looks strong on one scale can be middling on another, and a programme minimum only means something once it is expressed in the same units the university actually uses. Treat your SU score as specific to SU, and recalculate for every other university on your list.

SU sets minimum requirements per faculty and per programme, and competitive courses sit well above the faculty floor. aps.guide does not publish an admission minimum until it has been verified against an official SU prospectus, so the faculty table below marks these as being verified rather than showing an unconfirmed number. This is deliberate: a wrong cut-off is worse than none when you are deciding where to apply.

Meeting a minimum never guarantees a place. SU programmes are competitive and use additional criteria, and popular degrees routinely admit only applicants comfortably above the stated floor. Use your SU score to build a realistic shortlist, then confirm the current requirement for each specific programme on the official SU website before you apply.