Assessment and reporting in History Extension

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.

Year 12

NESA requires schools to submit a school-based assessment mark for each Year 12 candidate in a course. Formal school-based assessment tasks should reflect the syllabus outcomes and content. The mark 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.

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 History Extension includes:

• 3 assessment tasks, including:
  • one task that is a formal written exam with a weighting of 30%
  • the History Project – Historical Process (proposal, process log, annotated sources) with a weighting of 30%
  • the History Project – Essay with a weighting of 40%.

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.

History Project

The History Project provides the opportunity for students to design and conduct an investigation into an area of changing historical interpretation.

Students develop and refine specific questions for investigation that contribute to their understanding of some or all of the key questions:

• Who are historians?
• What are the purposes of history?
• How has history been constructed, recorded and presented over time?
• Why have approaches to history changed over time?

Students work independently to plan and conduct their investigation. The investigation provides opportunities to apply the historiographical understanding developed through the course work and/or develop their own approaches to constructing and representing history.

The History Project – Historical Process consists of three elements assessed as one formal task:

• proposal
• process log
• annotated sources.

The History Project – Essay comprises an argument in response to a focus question, with supporting evidence.

The essay must:

• be in print form
• not exceed 2500 words
• include a bibliography of the sources used.

Further information relating to the History Project is provided within the History Project section of the History Extension Stage 6 Syllabus.

Certification of the History Project

A signed History Project Declaration and Certification Form must be submitted with each essay and retained by the school in accordance with the school’s assessment policy.

Certification is required to ensure that each project is wholly the work of the student entered for the HSC and has been completed under the supervision of the teacher.

It is essential that:

• aspects of the process of development of the project take place in school time
• work completed away from school is regularly monitored by the supervising teacher
• each student signs a statement, witnessed by the supervising teacher, that the submitted project is their own work

The process log is necessary for verification of authenticity and may be referenced by the school in the case of school-based assessment appeals.

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 a written paper worth 50 marks.

The time allowed is 2 hours plus 10 minutes reading time.

The paper will consist of two sections.

Section I (25 marks)

• There will be one extended-response question.
• The question may include reference to one or two unseen passages as a stimulus for exploration of issues of historiography.
• The expected length of response will be around eight exam writing pages (approximately 1000 words).

Section II (25 marks)

• There will be one extended-response question.
• The question will ask candidates to analyse an historiographical issue with specific reference to the case study.
• The expected length of response will be around eight exam writing pages (approximately 1000 words).