Assessment and reporting in Vietnamese Continuers
Assessment for Vietnamese Continuers 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 |
|---|---|
| Listening | 30% |
| Reading | 30% |
| Speaking | 20% |
| Writing | 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 Vietnamese Continuers includes:
- 3 assessment tasks, including:
- tasks that involve each of the 4 skill areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing
- 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 |
|---|---|
| Listening | 30% |
| Reading | 30% |
| Speaking | 20% |
| Writing | 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 Vietnamese Continuers 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 formal written exam with a maximum weighting of 30%.
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.
If a school includes the externally assessed oral exam in conjunction with the written paper, the combined weighting of the tasks should not exceed 30%.
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 75 marks and an oral exam worth 25 marks.
Written paper (75 marks)
Time allowed: 3 hours including 10 minutes reading time.
The stimulus texts and the writing tasks will relate to the topics as listed in the syllabus.
Monolingual and/or bilingual print dictionaries may be used in the written exam.
The paper will consist of 3 sections.
This section will consist of 2 parts.
- Candidates will be required to demonstrate their understanding of spoken text.
- There will be 6 or 7 questions in total relating to Objective 3.
- Each question will be based on an aural text in Vietnamese.
- Texts will be read twice. There will be a pause between the readings and a longer pause after the second reading to allow candidates to answer the question.
- The texts will vary in length, ranging from approximately 35 seconds to approximately 120 seconds.
- The total time for one reading of all the texts will be approximately 8 minutes.
- The aural texts will include a range of text types.
- There will be a range of question types such as short-answer questions, including those that may require the completion of a table, list or form, and objective response questions.
- Questions may contain parts.
- There will be approximately 8 items.
- There will be at least two items worth from 5 to 6 marks.
Part A (20 marks)
- There will be 4 or 5 questions phrased in English requiring a response in English.
Part B (10 marks)
- There will be two questions phrased in English and Vietnamese requiring a response in Vietnamese.
This section will consist of 2 parts.
Part A (20 marks)
- Candidates will be required to demonstrate their understanding of written text.
- There will be 2 questions relating to Objective 3 phrased in English requiring a response in English.
- Each question will be based on a written text in Vietnamese.
- The total length of the 2 texts will be approximately 500 words.
- Questions will contain parts.
- There will be approximately 6 parts.
- There will be at least one part worth from 5 to 7 marks.
Part B (10 marks)
- Candidates will be required to demonstrate their understanding of written text by writing an extended response in Vietnamese.
- There will be one extended response question relating to Objectives 1 and 2 phrased in English.
- The question will be based on a text in Vietnamese of approximately 150 words.
- The question will specify the audience, purpose and context of the response.
- Candidates will be required to respond to questions, statements, comments and/or specific information in the text.
- The expected length of response will be approximately:
- 200 words in Vietnamese
- 150 words in Modern Hebrew.
- There will be 2 extended response questions relating to Objective 2 phrased in English requiring a response in Vietnamese.
- Candidates will be required to answer one question.
- Each question will specify the audience, purpose and context of the response, and will require the same text type.
- Candidates will be required to write an informative, descriptive, evaluative, persuasive, reflective or imaginative response of approximately:
- 250 words in Vietnamese
- 200 words in Modern Hebrew.
Oral exam (25 marks)
Time allowed: approximately 15 minutes.
The oral exam will consist of 2 sections.
Approximately 7 minutes.
In this section of the oral exam, the candidate will respond to the examiner’s questions on the prescribed syllabus topics as they relate to the candidate’s personal world.
Approximately 8 minutes.
In this section of the oral exam, the candidate will respond to the examiner’s questions about the candidate’s in-depth study. The subject of the study will relate to one or more of the prescribed themes or topics and involve the in-depth study of at least three texts, one of which will be a literary text, such as a novel, play, film or poem.