HSC exam provisions: information for schools

What are HSC exam provisions?

HSC exam provisions are practical changes that can support students to access, read or respond to the HSC exams. They are usually for students with a medical condition or disability that affects how they function in the exam room. 

Examples are:

• rest breaks
• small group supervision
• a large-print exam paper.

Exam provisions are different to the support students might get in their everyday schooling, including in their HSC school assessments or HSC trial exams.

Exam provisions are similar to the reasonable adjustments schools might make for a student in line with the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. But we manage the exam provisions to make sure they’re used fairly across the entire HSC cohort.

Find out more on the HSC exam provisions page. 

What provisions can a student apply for?

Exam provisions are based on each student’s exam needs, not their medical condition or disability. For example:

• We might approve a large-print exam paper for one student with vision impairment, and approve rest breaks (for eye strain) for another student with vision impairment.
• We might approve varied seating within the exam hall for one student with ADHD, and approve small group supervision or rest breaks for another student with ADHD.

Find out what provisions are available on the Types of exam provisions page. 

What if the student isn’t diagnosed?

Because it is sometimes difficult for students to get a diagnosis, they don’t need one to get exam provisions. In line with the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, we can approve exam provisions for ‘imputed’ disabilities, which are conditions or disabilities that the school team treats like a diagnosed disability. 

Find out more about how this works on the ‘Students don’t have a formal diagnosis’ section of the Supporting information page.

How does the application process work?

It is a school’s responsibility to identify that a student might need exam provisions. Teachers, Year advisers, school counsellors or other school staff may recognise that a student might need provisions. The student, their parent or caregiver might also flag that the student will need support.

It is the school’s responsibility to:

• explain the process to the student, parent and family
• coordinate the application
• submit all the documents through Schools Online.

Find out more about the process on the Applications page. 

How do I give teacher comments for a student?

Teacher comments are a critical piece of supporting information. To give us your comments, complete the Teacher comments form and tell us:

• how you have seen the student’s condition or disability affect them accessing, reading or responding to assessment tasks
• which (if any) school-based adjustments the student is currently using in assessment tasks done under exam conditions in your subject area
• how effective those adjustments are.

Applications only need comments from 2 teachers. These comments will help us understand the student’s exam needs and what provisions will support them. You can download the Teacher comments form from Schools Online. Or visit the Supporting information page to understand more about what we need. 

What happens if NESA doesn’t approve an application?

Sometimes we don’t approve a request for an exam provision. This might be because:

• the application didn’t have all the right supporting information
• approving that provision for the student wouldn’t be fair for all HSC students
• the request isn’t possible or practical.

If the school, student, parent or caregiver think we’ve made the wrong decision, you can ask to appeal. The school should do this within 14 days of us declining the exam provisions application. And the appeal normally needs new supporting information.

Find out more about the process on the Appeals page. 

What happens in the exam?

There are specific rules for each exam provision. For example, a student who is approved to use rest breaks typically has to stay in their chair for the rest break. 

The rules might be different for online exams because of the digital format. You can see some of the features of online exams on the NSW Curriculum website.

It is the school’s responsibility to explain these rules to students. 

You can look up the rules for some of the most common exam provisions in the Exam provisions library. If you have a specific question, please ask Student Support on studentsupport@nesa.nsw.edu.au or 02 9367 8117.