TUT APS Requirements: How TUT Calculates Your Score

TUT sums your best 6 subjects (Life Orientation excluded) on the standard 1-7 scale, maximum 42. Uniquely, a subject with an achievement Level of 1 (0-29%) is not considered at all - it is left out of the calculation rather than scored as 1 point. In practice that means TUT uses the 1-7 scale with failed subjects excluded outright, so your TUT number depends on TUT's specific rules rather than a single national formula.

The important thing to understand is that TUT uses a rule that drops any subject you scored below 30% out of the calculation entirely. 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 TUT'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.

TUT uses the ordinary 1-7 scale and excludes Life Orientation, which puts it in familiar territory. What sets it apart is a single sentence in its own prospectus: Life Orientation and an achievement Level of 1 in a subject are not considered in the calculation of the Admission Point Score. A Level 1 means 0 to 29%, and "not considered" means exactly that - the subject is removed from the calculation, not scored as one point.

The difference is easy to miss and easy to get wrong. If you have six academic subjects and one of them is a Level 1, an ordinary calculator scores it as 1 and reports a total over six subjects. TUT drops it and works your APS out over the remaining five, so your real TUT score is lower than the generic figure. With a spare seventh academic subject, that one counts in the failed subject's place instead. Either way, a failed subject is worth nothing at TUT rather than the consolation point most calculators award it.

TUT scores the same six subjects on the standard 1-7 scale. This learner has no subject below 30%, so the Level 1 rule does not bite here - the row below shows what would happen if it did.

Run those marks through TUT and you get APS 33 out of 42. 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. Now swap Accounting for a subject scored at 25%. An ordinary calculator gives it 1 point and reports 30 over six subjects. TUT does not consider it at all, so the APS is worked out over five subjects and comes to 29. That gap is the rule most calculators get wrong.

The most common mistake is counting Life Orientation. TUT 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 TUT 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 TUT number from one calculator transfers to another university. It does not, because TUT uses a rule that drops any subject you scored below 30% out of the calculation entirely. 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, TUT produces 33 / 42, 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 TUT 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 TUT score as specific to TUT, and recalculate for every other university on your list.

TUT 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 TUT 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. TUT programmes are competitive and use additional criteria, and popular degrees routinely admit only applicants comfortably above the stated floor. Use your TUT score to build a realistic shortlist, then confirm the current requirement for each specific programme on the official TUT website before you apply.