Record of changes for English Studies

English Studies Stage 6 – Change to School Based Assessment Requirements

For the 2020 HSC and beyond, schools are advised that an amendment has been made to the school based assessment requirements for English Studies.

NESA requires schools to submit an estimated exam mark for all students entered for an optional HSC exam. The mark is an estimate of likely performance in the HSC examination and reflects each student’s achievement in a task or tasks similar to the HSC exam. The estimated mark is not reported and is used only in the case of a successful illness/misadventure appeal.

For the 2020 HSC and beyond, English Studies teachers will not be required to derive the estimated mark from a formal written exam that is part of the school-based assessment program. This change provides schools with greater flexibility in the design of the English Studies school-based assessment program.

The new Assessment and Reporting in English Studies Stage 6 document is available on the English Studies syllabus page. The Assessment and Reporting in English Studies Stage 6 document for Year 12 2019 HSC candidates will remain available until January 2020.

PowerPoint presentations are available on Schools Online that assist schools in understanding the assessment and reporting requirements in English Studies.

Requirement to submit student work samples for HSC English Studies and Mathematics Standard 1 from 2019

(Official Notice NESA 46/18)

From 2019, schools will use Achievement Level Descriptions to award grades (A to E) to all students who complete HSC courses in English Studies and Mathematics Standard 1. The grades awarded to students for school-based assessment in these courses will be reported on the HSC credential.

NESA will monitor the grades awarded to students in these courses in a similar way to the monitoring of grades in Stage 5 and Preliminary courses. As part of the grade monitoring process, NESA will review student work samples to ensure there is consistency in the awarding of grades across the state.

Schools are required to retain 2-3 student work samples representing each grade awarded to their cohorts in HSC English Studies and Mathematics Standard 1. These work samples should demonstrate typical performance at each grade awarded by the school. The work samples and related assessment task/s are to be uploaded to Schools Online in electronic format when the grades for these courses are submitted in September 2019.

Advice on retaining work samples and reporting student achievement on school-based assessment in English Studies and Mathematics Standard 1 from 2019 is available on the NESA website.

The Assessment and Reporting documents for English Studies and Mathematics Standard 1 have been updated to reflect the requirements for these courses.

PowerPoint presentations are available on Schools Online that assist schools in understanding the assessment and reporting requirements in these courses. These presentations are located in Schools Online/Memos and Documents/PowerPoint Presentations.

Errata - New English Studies Stage 6 Syllabus for implementation with Year 11 from 2018

(Official Notice NESA 34/17)

Schools are advised of the following errata in the new English Studies Stage 6 syllabus for implementation with Year 11 from 2018.

Year 11 Course Structure and Requirements

Current table
Year 11 course (120 hours)

Replace with 
Year 11 course (120 hours)