Assessment and reporting in Mathematics Standard

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 Standard 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:

MS11-8: uses appropriate technology to investigate, organise and interpret information in a range of contexts

MS11-9: justifies a response to a given problem using appropriate mathematical terminology and/or calculations

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.

Year 12 assessment requirements are different for Mathematics Standard 1 and Mathematics Standard 2.

NESA requires schools to submit a school-based assessment grade for each Year 12 candidate in this course. Formal school-based assessment tasks should reflect the syllabus outcomes and content. The grade 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 Standard 1 includes:

• 4 assessment tasks, including:
  • a minimum weighting for an individual task of 10%
  • a maximum weighting for an individual task of 40%
  • a task that is an assignment or investigation-style task with a weighting of 15–30%
  • one task that is a formal written exam with a maximum weighting of 30%.

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:

MS1-12-9: chooses and uses appropriate technology effectively and recognises appropriate times for such use

MS1-12-10: uses mathematical argument and reasoning to evaluate conclusions, communicating a position clearly to others

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.

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.

Awarding of grades in Mathematics Standard 1

Schools will use the Achievement Level Descriptions for Mathematics Standard 1 to award grades for school-based assessment. NESA monitors the grades awarded by all schools and conducts work sample reviews to ensure the grades reported on NESA credentials are comparable. Information on retaining and submitting student work samples is available under Awarding Grades.

All students studying Mathematics Standard 1 for the HSC will have their school-based assessment reported on NESA credentials as a grade (A to E).

Students studying Mathematics Standard 1 who sit for the optional HSC exam will have an HSC mark and performance band derived from the HSC exam only. The HSC mark and performance band will be reported on a separate line to the school-based assessment grade on the NESA credential.

Student performance in the Mathematics Standard 1 optional exam is reported against standards on a course report. The course report contains:

• a level of achievement for the performance band descriptions
• an HSC mark located on the performance scale
• an exam mark.

The course report also shows graphically the statewide distribution of HSC marks of all students who have sat the HSC exam in the course. The distribution of marks is determined by students’ performances against the standards and not scaled to a predetermined pattern of marks.

Estimated exam mark for students entered for the optional HSC exam in Mathematics Standard 1

NESA requires schools to submit an estimated exam mark for students entered for the optional HSC exam in Mathematics Standard 1. This mark is an estimate of likely performance in the HSC exam. The estimated exam mark should reflect the student’s achievement on a task or tasks similar to the HSC exam, such as a trial HSC exam. This exam does not need to be part of the school assessment program.

The estimated exam mark that is submitted to NESA should not be revealed to students. In the case of a successful illness/misadventure application, NESA will refer to the estimated mark when determining the HSC exam mark for the student. Teachers are still able to provide students with results and marking comments for all assessment tasks.

Year 12 assessment requirements are different for Mathematics Standard 1 and Mathematics Standard 2.

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 Standard 2 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%
  • an assignment or investigation-style task with a weighting of 15–30%.

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:

MS2-12-9:  chooses and uses appropriate technology effectively in a range of contexts, and applies critical thinking to recognise appropriate times and methods for such use

MS2-12-10: uses mathematical argument and reasoning to evaluate conclusions, communicating a position clearly to others and justifying a response

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.

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.

The HSC exam format is: Section 1 multiple choice and Section 2 question and answer booklet/s. There may be 1 or 2 question and answer booklets because the number of lines provided for each question is determined by the requirements of the question and this will vary from year to year.