Assessment and reporting in Society and Culture
Assessment for Society and Culture 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% |
| Application and evaluation of social and cultural research methods | 30% |
| Communication of information, ideas and issues in appropriate forms | 20% |
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 Society and Culture includes:
- 3 assessment tasks, including:
- a formal written exam.
The recommended weighting for any individual task is 20% to 40%.
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.
| Course component | Weighting |
|---|---|
| Knowledge and understanding of course content | 50% |
| Application and evaluation of social and cultural research methods | 30% |
| Communication of information, ideas and issues in appropriate forms | 20% |
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 Society and Culture includes:
- 4 assessment tasks, including:
- a minimum weighting for an individual task of 10%
- a maximum weighting for an individual task of 40%
- a formal written exam with a maximum weighting of 30%.
School-based assessment of the Personal Interest Project
Since the final project will be assessed externally, no part of the product is to be assessed as part of the school-based assessment program. The Personal Interest Project process, however, may be assessed. Students may report in written or oral form on the progress they are making. They may outline their choice of research methods, justify these and report on their application to the research topic. The student’s PIP diary may provide a basis for assessment.
Formal written examination
This task may assess a broad range of course content and outcomes. Schools may choose to replicate the timing and structure of the HSC examination.
HSC Exam Specifications
The exam will consist of a written paper worth 60 marks and a Personal Interest Project worth 40 marks.
Time allowed: 2 hours plus 5 minutes reading time.
The written paper will consist of TWO sections.
Section I – Core – Social and Cultural Continuity and Change (20 marks)
- There will be objective response questions to the value of 8 marks.
- There will be short-answer questions to the value of 12 marks.
Section II – Depth Studies (40 marks)
- For each of the four (4) Depth Studies there will be 1 question in two unrelated parts worth a total of 20 marks:
- the first part will be worth 5 marks
- the second part will be worth 15 marks
- Candidates will be required to answer a question from two (2) Depth Studies
- The expected length of response for each Depth Study will be around six pages (approximately 800 words).
The Personal Interest Project requires students to apply appropriate social and cultural research methods to investigate a topic related to the course. The completed project will be a substantial piece of research containing a number of components, including a log that outlines the development of the project and the procedures undertaken in researching the topic.
Personal Interest Project
Requirements
Society and Culture students must each undertake, on an individual basis, a Personal Interest Project worth 40% of the HSC exam mark. The PIP requires students to select a suitable topic related to the course, develop and apply appropriate research methods and submit a completed project containing the required components.
Development of the PIP may commence from the beginning of the HSC course.
Schools must have procedures in place to ensure the effective supervision of the development of students’ Personal Interest Projects. This is particularly the case where work is done away from school. Schools must be confident that effective supervision and sufficient documentation of this work is possible before giving consent for students to begin work on their PIP.
Each student is to report their progress at three points during the development of the PIP. Both the student and the teacher are to sign these reports.
In addition, a brief written record of each student’s progress throughout the project must be kept by the teacher. Teachers may refer to students’ Personal Interest Project diary and progress reports as well as observations and discussions to maintain the record of student progress. This should not be submitted with the project, but may be requested in exceptional circumstances where the examiners require further information. This record should be retained in the school together with assessment records. A Practical Project: Record of Student’s Progress proforma is available to download from Schools Online.
Students will be required to certify that the Personal Interest Project is their own original work, and that any material drawn from other sources and any outside assistance is acknowledged. Group projects are not permitted.
Teachers must certify that the work has been completed under their supervision, and that the rules and procedures described here and in the ACE website have been followed.
Principals must be able to endorse the teacher’s declaration that the work:
- has been done under the teacher’s supervision
- is the student’s own work consistent with earlier drafts or any changes as negotiated with the teacher and other examples of the student’s work
- was completed by the due date.
The Personal Interest Project enables students to demonstrate the development of their interests, research skills and personal experiences concerning the interactions between persons, societies, cultures and environments across time. In particular, students will be able to demonstrate the development and application of social and cultural research methods in completing their PIP.
The Personal Interest Project must:
- be a topic of the student’s own choice
- be related to the course
- develop appropriate methods
- include a cross-cultural perspective
- address continuity and/or change.
The Personal Interest Project will have a substantial amount of subject matter brought together by the individual student on the basis of their reading, research and personal experience. While the PIP will be the student’s own work, published material should be consulted to provide background material and/or comparative data.
The student should submit a research proposal outlining the topic and its relationship to the course as a whole.
Accompanying this research proposal should be an outline of how the topic will be approached, including the research methods to be employed. This outline should be submitted to the teacher before detailed work is begun, so that the teacher may advise on subject matter and research methods. As a result of this feedback from the teacher, the student may need to rethink the topic and/or the approach.
If a student is considering a Personal Interest Project topic or method of research that might be controversial or possibly unethical, the student should discuss the topic selection with the teacher or the school’s principal.
The student should use a range of research methods that are suited to the topic being studied. These research methods may be those studied during the Year 11 course or those introduced to the student during the HSC core study.
Appropriate research methods and instruments may be:
- survey
- case study
- participant observation
- content analysis
- focus group
- questionnaire
- interview
- observation
- statistical analysis
- personal reflection
- secondary research.
The student should keep a Personal Interest Project diary that will later form the basis of the log. In this diary, the student should record the progress of the PIP, showing a sequential record of the research and details of the processes followed, problems encountered and how these were overcome. This PIP diary will not be submitted with the final Personal Interest Project, but may be submitted as part of the school-based assessment program.
Presentation
The PIP should be carefully prepared for submission. It must be word-processed, with the body text in 12 point Times New Roman or Arial, with 1.5 line spacing.
The following must be submitted or accessed via Schools Online:
- HSC Society and Culture PIPs must be submitted to NESA electronically
- Schools are also required to electronically certify each student’s PIP
- Instructions on the process of submitting and certifying HSC Society and Culture PIPs are available under Memos and Documents.
Word limits are indicated for each component of the Personal Interest Project. The word count is based on all words written, as shown by a computer word count or manual count of each word. In-text referencing or footnotes are NOT included in the word count.
The presented project must contain the following components:
Introduction
The introduction requires a brief description (no more than 500 words) of what the topic is about, why this topic was chosen and in what ways it contributes to a better understanding of Society and Culture. The choice of research methods should be explained and justified.
Log
The log should be based on the student’s PIP diary and will be a summary (no more than 500 words) of the development of the final product, outlining the procedures undertaken in researching the topic.
Central material of the Personal Interest Project
The central material will be in written form and may be accompanied by graphic forms such as photographs, tables, graphs and/or diagrams that should be labelled and incorporated into the text through discussion. The central material should be between 2500 and 4000 words. The central material must contain a cross-cultural perspective and address continuity and/or change. The cross-cultural perspective and continuity and/or change should be integrated in the central material of the PIP.
Conclusion
The conclusion requires a statement (no more than 500 words) of what the student learnt from the Personal Interest Project.
Resource list
The resource list should include annotated references used in the PIP and/or a list of other kinds of resources, for example films, internet sites or electronic resources referred to during the preparation of the project, and resource persons (eg people interviewed). The references should be accurate and include publication/production details. For each internet site, the URL and the most recent date the site was visited should be included, along with a short annotation on its usefulness to the PIP.
Exam criteria
The following criteria will be used to mark the Personal Interest Project:
- Evidence of achievement of the course outcomes related to the Personal Interest Project
- The clarity of the topic, purposes and procedures of the Personal Interest Project
- A demonstrated understanding and application of the concepts of the course
- The appropriate use of research methods essential to the course
- The accuracy and relevance of the subject matter for the purposes of the Personal Interest Project
- A demonstrated knowledge and understanding of viewpoints different from the immediate culture of the student
- A demonstration of how continuity and/or change have been addressed
- An integration in a coherent structure of various aspects of the course
- Conclusions that proceed from the stated introduction and arguments presented in the Personal Interest Project
- Evidence that personal experience is related to public knowledge
- Effective communication of the student’s ideas to a wider audience
- Evidence of originality of design, analysis and execution
- Evidence of social and cultural literacy
Students should consider the following in the preparation of their Personal Interest Project:
Clarity
Is the topic clearly stated? Are the purposes and procedures of the PIP clear?
Conceptual content
Does the Personal Interest Project reflect the concepts of the course?
Social and cultural research methods
Does the Personal Interest Project demonstrate some of the research methods essential to the Society and Culture course plus any other distinctive procedures? Are the research methods appropriate for the topic? Is there evidence of a systematic approach to the study of the topic? Is there an awareness of both the limitations and the values of the research methods used?
Students should consider the ethical implications of both their topic and the methods they employ to research that topic.
Subject matter content
Is the subject matter accurate, relevant to the topic and adequately explained for the purposes of the project?
Cross-cultural content
Does the topic reflect some knowledge and understanding of viewpoints different from that of the immediate culture of the student in terms of, for example, socioeconomic group, gender, ethnicity or location?
Continuity and change
Does the topic reflect some knowledge and understanding of continuity and/or change, for example viewpoints of different generations, links between the past, the present and the future?
Integrative skills
Has the PIP integrated various aspects of Society and Culture? Does the PIP achieve a coherent structure? Do the conclusions proceed from the statements in the introduction and the arguments presented in the central material? Is personal experience related to public knowledge?
Communication skills
Has the student effectively communicated her or his ideas to the external audience?
Originality
Does the PIP give evidence of originality in design, analysis and execution?
Social and cultural literacy
Is there evidence of social and cultural literacy?
Acknowledgement of sources
Does the PIP acknowledge all sources of information consulted during research?