Assessment and reporting in Food Technology
Assessment for Food Technology 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 | 40% |
| Knowledge and skills in designing, researching, analysing and evaluating | 30% |
| Skills in experimenting with and preparing food by applying theoretical concepts | 30% |
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 Food Technology 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 | 40% |
| Knowledge and skills in designing, researching, analysing and evaluating | 30% |
| Skills in experimenting with and preparing food by applying theoretical concepts | 30% |
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 Food Technology 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.
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 100 marks.
Time allowed: 3 hours plus 5 minutes reading time.
The paper will consist of four sections.
There will be approximately equal weighting of each of the four core strands across the exam as a whole. Questions may require students to integrate knowledge, understanding and skills developed through studying the entire course, rather than focusing on a particular core strand.
- There will be objective response questions to the value of 20 marks.
- There will be approximately six short-answer questions.
- Questions may contain parts.
- There will be approximately 14 items in total.
- At least two items will be worth from 4 to 6 marks.
- There will be one structured extended response question.
- The question will have two or three parts, with one part worth at least 8 marks.
- The question will have an expected length of response of around four pages of an exam writing booklet (approximately 600 words) in total.
- There will be one extended response question.
- The question will have an expected length of response of around four pages of an exam writing booklet (approximately 600 words).