Assessment and reporting in Mathematics Extension 1

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.

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 Mathematics Extension 1 includes:

• 3 assessment tasks, including:
  • a formal written exam
  • an assignment or investigation-style task.

The recommended weighting for any individual task is 20% to 40%.

Assignment or investigation-style task

The length and scheduling of the assignment or investigation-style task is at the discretion of the school. The task should provide opportunities to gather evidence about the:

• achievement of a range of outcomes
• application of Working Mathematically components
• demonstration of knowledge and skills in different ways to the HSC exams.

The task provides application and modelling opportunities.

Outcomes that are content specific should be assessed and should include the following:

ME11-6: uses appropriate technology to investigate, organise and interpret information in a range of contexts

ME11-7: communicates making comprehensive use of mathematical language, notation, diagrams and graphs

The following examples provide some approaches to task types:

• an investigative project or assignment involving presentation of work in class
• an independently chosen project or investigation
• scaffolded learning tasks culminating in an open-ended or modelling-style problem
• a guided investigation or research task involving collection of data and analysis.

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 Mathematics Extension 1 includes:

• 4 assessment tasks, including:
  • a minimum weighting for an individual task of 10%
  • a maximum weighting for an individual task of 40%.

Formal school-based assessment

Formal school-based assessment in this course should focus on the course objectives and the Year 12 outcomes. The Year 11 course is assumed knowledge and may be assessed.

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.

Assignment or investigation-style task

The length and scheduling of the assignment or investigation-style task is at the discretion of the school. The task should provide opportunities to gather evidence about the:

• achievement of a range of outcomes
• application of Working Mathematically components
• demonstration of knowledge and skills in different ways to the HSC exams.

The task provides application and modelling opportunities.

Outcomes that are content specific should be assessed and should include the following:

ME12-6: chooses and uses appropriate technology to solve problems in a range of contexts

ME12-7: evaluates and justifies conclusions, communicating a position clearly in appropriate mathematical forms

The following examples provide some approaches to task types:

• an investigative project or assignment involving presentation of work in class
• an independently chosen project or investigation
• scaffolded learning tasks culminating in an open-ended or modelling-style problem
• a guided investigation or research task involving collection of data and analysis.