The Higher School Certificate (HSC) is the credential awarded to secondary school students who successfully complete senior high school level studies (Years 10, 11 and 12 or equivalent) in New South Wales and some ACT schools in Australia, as well as some international schools in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Vietnam and Papua New Guinea. It was first introduced in 1967, and is currently developed and managed by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA).
Structure
The majority of students undertake HSC-related courses over the final two years of high school, though it is possible to undertake different study patterns over different time periods or through different teaching organisations. To be eligible for the HSC, students must:
Satisfactorily complete Year 9 & 10, or obtain equivalent qualifications recognised by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA). Attend a government school, an accredited non-government school, a NESA recognised school outside NSW, or a TAFE college. Successfully complete the HSC: All My Own Work program before submitting any work for Preliminary or HSC courses (except if only enrolled in Life Skills courses). Satisfactorily complete the required courses as part of the specified study patterns. Sit for, and make a serious attempt at HSC exams as required. Meet the HSC minimum standard of literacy and numeracy within 5 years of starting their HSC course.
There are a large number of possible courses that students can study, totalling over 100 (including languages), in a wide range of subject areas. However, schools have control over the courses that they offer students, from which they must choose. The only compulsory subject area is English, with one of English Advanced, English Standard, English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D), or English Studies required for the award of the HSC. Individual schools may require their students to undertake certain courses, as is the case with Studies of Religion in many religious schools or Agriculture in agricultural schools, however, these are internal school requirements separate from HSC requirements.
Most courses offered comprise a preliminary (typically Year 11) component and a HSC (typically Year 12) component. As a general rule, the preliminary component must be completed prior to the HSC component. Furthermore, each subject is designated as either one or two "units". Each unit of study involves 60 hours of indicative time in each of the preliminary and HSC courses. 10 units is the minimum number of units required; however, students can attempt more should they choose.
To be eligible for the award of the HSC a student must have: at least 12 preliminary units and at least 10 HSC units 6 units of Board Developed Courses 2 units of a Board Developed Course in English 3 courses of 2 or more units (board developed courses, or board endorsed courses) 4 subjects
Some courses have certain rules and prerequisites such as: An extension course can only be enrolled in if they are enrolled in the corresponding 2-unit course. A maximum of one non-extension course from a subject (e.g. both Mathematics Standard and Advanced is not permitted). In courses with option exams, a student can only enrol in the optional exam if they have enrolled in the corresponding course (in the case of VET, the 240-hour or 360-hour course where applicable).
Further restrictions may apply in certain subject areas. Further requirements regarding study patterns apply if the student wishes to apply for a separate Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) based on their HSC performance. If they do, their final ATAR mark is calculated using their best 2 units of English and 8 best other units. Extension courses, each with a value of one unit, may be included in the study program, meaning that a certain subject area may have up to four units, e.g. English (Advanced) (two units) plus English Extension 1 and English Extension 2 (each worth one unit).
Types of courses There are two main types of courses available in the HSC: Board Developed Courses and Board Endorsed Courses.
Board Developed Courses (BDCs), also known as HSC courses, have a syllabus and final exam set by NESA and may contribute to the calculation of the ATAR. They are the most common type of course in NSW and are inclusive of Life Skills courses and VET Industry Curriculum Framework courses.
Board Endorsed Courses (BECs) are developed outside of NESA (such as TAFE) and may vary from school to school in regard to content and assessment. They do not have a HSC exam and they cannot contribute to the calculation of a student's ATAR. Before they can be taught, they must be endorsed by NESA and follow NESA's rules regarding BEC courses. There are four types of Board Endorsed Courses:
Content Endorsed Courses (CECs) are developed by NESA to cater for a wide candidature in areas of specific need not served by Board Developed Courses. School Developed Board Endorsed Courses (SDBECs) are developed by schools where the curriculum needs cannot be served by BDCs or CECs. University Developed Board Endorsed Courses (UDBECs) are developed by universities in conjunction with schools and typically supplement or extend on the HSC curriculum in areas not supported by BDCs or other types of BECs. VET Board Endorsed Course (VEC BECs) are courses based on national industry training Packages that are endorsed by NESA where the need for the courses is not already covered by VET courses already offered by NESA.
Assessment For most board developed courses, a student's final mark in each subject is determined by a combination of in-school assessments conducted throughout the HSC component of the course (constituting 50% of their HSC mark) and an externally administered final exam, typically held in October or November of that year (constituting 50% of their HSC mark). For in-school assessments, schools prepare and run an assessment program for each course, in line with NESA requirements such as which course components are assessed and how they are weighted in the assessment. Schools are responsible for setting assessment tasks such as exams, assignments, fieldwork or practical activities, as well as deciding due dates. The external exam is then used to statistically moderate in-school assessment results between different schools before calculating the student's final mark in the subject, typically out of 100 for 2-unit courses and out of 50 for 1-unit courses.
For most board endorsed courses, the assessment is administered by the school and does not have an associated HSC exam. Depending on the requirement of the course, an unmoderated mark will be awarded, or the course will be marked as completed.
Award Upon successful completion of a satisfactory pattern of study, students are awarded the Higher School Certificate by way of a testamur. NESA provides the results of all student results to the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC) to calculate an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) based on their HSC performance (separate from NESA). To be eligible for an ATAR, students must:
Complete at least 10 units of HSC courses (board developed courses) Complete at least 8 units from Category A courses Complete at least 2 units of English Complete three courses of Board Developed Courses of 2 units or greater Complete 4 subjects
The ATAR is then calculated from the best 2 units of English and the best 8 units from your remaining units, which can include no more than 2 units of Category B courses. The ATAR is then used for admission to universities across Australia.
Furthermore, whenever a student has completed a board developed course, they also receive feedback regarding their results in that course, which typically includes exam results, school assessment results and the performance band in which their performance lies. Each band represents a particular range of marks. For 2 unit courses:
Band 6 - 90-100 marks Band 5 - 80-89 marks Band 4 - 70-79 marks Band 3 - 60-69 marks Band 2 - 50-59 marks Band 1 - 0-49 marks
For extension courses:
E4 - 45-50 marks E3 - 35-44 marks E2 - 25-34 marks E1 - 0-24 marks
Students who achieve high marks are celebrated on HSC merit lists. The four types of merit lists are:
First in course - awarded to the student who achieves first place in the course (i.e. the highest score) and scores in the highest band possible. Top achievers in course (also known as a 'state rank') - awarded to students who place within a predetermined number of top scores (typically top 5, 10 or 20) and scores in the highest band possible. Distinguished Achievers - awarded to students who achieve the highest band possible for one or more HSC courses (Band 6 or Band E4). All-round achievers - awarded to students who achieve the highest band possible in 10 or more units of HSC courses.
Available courses
There are two main types of courses available in the HSC: Board Developed Courses and Board Endorsed Courses.
English Being the only mandatory course for HSC, for English, students must choose between one of the English courses available to study: English Standard English Advanced English Extension 1 (only available to students studying English Advanced) English Extension 2 (only available to students studying English Advanced and English Extension 1) English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) (only available to eligible students) English Studies
Elective Courses The following is a list of elective Board Developed Courses currently available to students.
HSIE (Human Society and Its Environment): Aboriginal Studies Ancient History Business Studies Economics Geography History Extension Legal Studies Modern History Society and Culture Studies of Religion I Studies of Religion II
Mathematics: Mathematics Standard 1 Mathematics Standard 2 Mathematics Advanced Mathematics Extension 1 (only available to students studying Mathematics Advanced) Mathematics Extension 2 (only available to students studying Mathematics Advanced and Mathematics Extension 1; only available in Year 12)
Science: Biology Chemistry Earth and Environmental Science Physics Investigating Science Science Extension (only available to students studying 1 Unit of any Science in Year 12)
TAS (Technological and Applied Studies): Agriculture Design and Technology Engineering Studies Food Technology Industrial Technology Enterprise Computing Software Engineering Textiles and Design
Creative Arts: Dance Drama Music 1 Music 2 Music Extension (only available to students studying Music 2) Visual Arts
PDHPE (Personal Development, Health and Physical Education): Health and Movement Science Community and Family Studies
Content Endorsed Courses Content Endorsed Courses (CEC) fall under Board Endorsed Courses. Exploring Early Childhood (PDHPE) Sport, Lifestyle and Recreation Activities (PDHPE) Ceramics (Creative Arts) Photography, Video and Digital Imaging (Creative Arts) Visual Design (Creative Arts) Computing Applications (TAS) Marine Studies (TAS) Work Studies (HSIE) Aboriginal Languages (Languages)
Language Courses Languages are also offered as Beginners, Continuers, Extension, Background Speakers and recently, Heritage courses. Only one course of any one language may be taken, with the exception of Extension, available only to students taking the Continuers course. Due to the large number of language courses, they have been listed separately. The letters B (beginners), C (continuers), E (extension), BS (background speakers), H (heritage) indicate which courses are available for study.
From 2017, background speakers and heritage courses were renamed to In Context and Literature, affecting Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese and Korean students in those courses.