Assessment and reporting in English Studies
Assessment for English Studies provides information to support learning and reporting of performance. Find out about assessment requirements and the structure of the HSC exam.
School-based assessment requirements
Schools are required to develop an assessment program for each Year 11 and Year 12 course. NESA provides information about the responsibilities of schools in developing assessment programs in course-specific assessment and reporting requirements and in the Assessment Certification Examination (ACE) rules and requirements.
Schools are required to submit to NESA a grade for each student based on their achievement at the end of the course.
Teachers use professional, on-balance judgement to allocate grades based on the Common Grade Scale for Preliminary courses.
Teachers consider all available assessment information, including formal and informal assessment, to determine the grade that best matches each student’s achievement at the end of the course.
See ACE (Assessment, Certification and Examination rules and requirements) for further information.
Assessment programs must reflect course components and weightings
The course components and component weightings for Year 11 are mandatory.
| Course component | Weighting |
|---|---|
| Knowledge and understanding of course content | 50% |
Skills in:
| 50% |
Schools may determine specific elements of their assessment program
Schools have authority to determine the number, type of task and the weighting allocated to an assessment task. Schools may also follow the sample assessment programs provided by NESA.
Sample assessment program
NESA’s sample Year 11 formal school-based assessment program for English Studies includes:
- 3 assessment tasks, including:
- a formal written exam
- a collection of classwork demonstrating student learning across the modules studied
- one task that is a multimodal presentation enabling students to apply their knowledge, understanding and skills to at least one real world scenario using a range of modes.
The recommended weighting for any individual task is 20% to 40%.
Collection of classwork
The assessment of a collection of classwork is designed to allow students to demonstrate their learning across all of the modules studied in each year. This collection of work may include items of classwork that have been refined as a result of teacher feedback throughout the year. This work may be published in a variety of forms and media.
Multimodal presentation
The multimodal presentation is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills across all of the modes. A multimodal presentation includes at least one mode other than reading and writing such as listening, speaking, viewing and representing.
No specific weightings have been allocated to the modes to allow flexibility in task design and to meet the needs and interests of students in a range of contexts.
NESA requires schools to submit a school-based assessment grade for each Year 12 candidate in this course. Formal school-based assessment tasks should reflect the syllabus outcomes and content. The grade submitted by the school provides a summation of each student’s achievement measured at several points throughout the course.
A school’s program of school-based assessment includes both mandatory and non-mandatory elements.
See ACE (Assessment, Certification and Examination rules and requirements) for further information.
Assessment programs must reflect course components and weightings
The course components and component weightings for Year 12 are mandatory.
| Course component | Weighting |
|---|---|
| Knowledge and understanding of course content | 50% |
Skills in:
| 50% |
Schools may determine specific elements of their assessment program
Schools have authority to determine the number, type of task and the weighting allocated to an assessment task. Schools may also follow the sample assessment programs provided by NESA.
Sample assessment program
NESA’s sample Year 12 formal school-based assessment program for English Studies includes:
- 4 assessment tasks, including:
- a minimum weighting for an individual task of 10%
- a maximum weighting for an individual task of 40%
- one task that is a collection of classwork demonstrating student learning across the modules studied with a minimum weighting of 30%
- assessment of the Common Module should integrate teacher or student-selected related material
- one task that is a formal written exam with a maximum weighting of 20%.
Collection of class work
The assessment of a collection of classwork is designed to allow students to demonstrate their learning across all of the modules studied in each year. This collection of work may include items of classwork that have been refined as a result of teacher feedback throughout the year. This work may be published in a variety of forms and media.
Formal written exam
This task may assess a broad range of course content and outcomes. Schools may choose to replicate the timing and structure of the HSC exam.
There is no compulsory HSC external exam in English Studies. Students may choose to sit for an optional HSC exam.
Should a student seek an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR), the exam mark for English Studies will be used by the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC) to calculate the ATAR. Students who do not sit for the English Studies HSC exam are not eligible for the calculation of an ATAR.
Determining grades in English Studies
Schools will use the Achievement Level Descriptions for English Studies to allocate grades for school-based assessment. NESA monitors the grades allocated by all schools and conducts work sample reviews to ensure the grades reported on NESA credentials are comparable. Information on retaining and submitting student work samples is available under Determining Grades.
All students studying English Studies for the HSC will have their school-based assessment reported on NESA credentials as a grade (A to E).
Students studying English Studies who sit for the optional HSC exam will have an HSC mark and performance band derived from the HSC exam only. The HSC mark and performance band will be reported on a separate line to the school-based assessment grade on the NESA credential.
Student performance in the English Studies optional exam is reported against standards on a course report. The course report contains:
- a level of achievement for the performance band descriptions
- an HSC mark located on the performance scale
- an exam mark.
The course report also shows graphically the statewide distribution of HSC marks of all students who have sat the HSC exam in the course. The distribution of marks is determined by students’ performances against the standards and not scaled to a predetermined pattern of marks.
Estimated exam mark for students entered for the optional HSC exam in English Studies
NESA requires schools to submit an estimated exam mark for students entered for the optional HSC exam in English Studies. This mark is an estimate of likely performance in the HSC exam. The estimated exam mark should reflect the student’s achievement on a task or tasks similar to the HSC exam, such as a trial HSC exam. This exam does not need to be part of the school assessment program.
The estimated exam mark that is submitted to NESA should not be revealed to students. In the case of a successful illness/misadventure application, NESA will refer to the estimated mark when determining the HSC exam mark for the student. Teachers are still able to provide students with results and marking comments for all assessment tasks.
HSC exam specifications
The external HSC exam measures student achievement in a range of syllabus outcomes.
The external exam and its marking relate to the syllabus by:
- providing clear links to syllabus outcomes
- enabling students to demonstrate the levels of achievement outlined in the performance band descriptions
- applying marking guidelines based on criteria that relate to the quality of the response
- aligning performance in the exam each year to the standards established for the course.
Exam questions may require candidates to integrate knowledge, understanding and skills developed through studying the course.
The exam will consist of one written exam paper worth 70 marks in total.
The time allowed is 2 hours and 30 minutes plus 10 minutes reading time.
The paper will consist of four sections.
There will be five to six questions.
Questions may contain short-answer and objective-response parts.
Questions will be based on stimulus and/or unseen texts related to the Common Module.
At least two items will be common to English Standard.
There will be one question.
The question will require a sustained response based on the candidate’s prescribed text.
This question may include stimulus and/or unseen texts.
This question will be common to English Studies, English Standard and English Advanced.
There will be one question.
The question will require a sustained response based on one of the candidate’s chosen electives using the texts studied.
This question may include a stimulus.
There will be one question.
The question will require an imaginative, persuasive, informative or reflective response to stimulus and/or unseen text.