Historical performance band statistics
This historical data reports on HSC performance band distributions in the period 2019–2023. View the performance band distributions by gender, location and socio-economic status.
About the statistics
Each student’s performance is based on their HSC mark, which is the average of their school assessment and HSC exam marks. The student’s HSC mark places them in a performance band that describes the skills and knowledge demonstrated by the student in that course.
The information in this section relates to performance in Board developed courses with exams.
View more information on HSC performance bands in the data glossary.
Gender
Use the graph to view the percentage of results in the top 3 performance bands by gender in the period 2019–2023.
Location
Use the graph to view the percentage of results in the top 3 performance bands by location in the period 2019–2023. Location refers to where a student's school is located. The location is based on Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Remoteness Area classification.
Socio-economic status (SES)
Use the graph to view the percentage of results in the top 3 performance bands by SES in the period 2019–2023. The SES is based on the student’s address.
- Quartile 1 – represents the lowest or most disadvantaged 25% of SES localities.
- Quartile 4 – represents the highest or most advantaged 25%.
For details on SES data, view the data glossary.
Band distribution breakdown
View the performance band distributions for general and extension HSC courses.
Band Distribution proportions are not provided in the tables below where the course candidature is 25 or less. These cells are marked with E.
Performance within a specific course can be compared over time. Performance cannot be compared across different courses. The distribution of results across performance bands is determined by the actual performance of students in that course. There is no pre-defined distribution for each course. The distribution can change from year to year.
Non-extension courses
| Course | Band 6 | Band 5 | Band 4 | Band 3 | Band 2 | Band 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aboriginal Studies | 13% | 25% | 24% | 19% | 12% | 7% |
| Agriculture | 10% | 20% | 27% | 28% | 11% | 4% |
| Ancient History | 9% | 23% | 28% | 20% | 13% | 6% |
| Arabic Continuers | 17% | 43% | 32% | 6% | 2% | 1% |
| Armenian Continuers | E | E | E | E | E | E |
| Automotive Exam | 3% | 15% | 24% | 38% | 18% | 3% |
| Biology | 8% | 24% | 32% | 25% | 9% | 1% |
| Business Services Exam | 2% | 25% | 48% | 18% | 6% | 1% |
| Business Studies | 11% | 25% | 28% | 24% | 10% | 2% |
| Chemistry | 12% | 26% | 28% | 19% | 12% | 2% |
| Chinese and Literature | 21% | 50% | 26% | 2% | 1% | 0% |
| Chinese Beginners | 32% | 32% | 18% | 9% | 9% | 0% |
| Chinese Continuers | 41% | 29% | 20% | 5% | 4% | 1% |
| Chinese in Context | 64% | 30% | 5% | 1% | 1% | 0% |
| Classical Greek Continuers | E | E | E | E | E | E |
| Classical Hebrew Continuers | E | E | E | E | E | E |
| Community and Family Studies | 6% | 30% | 36% | 20% | 6% | 2% |
| Construction Exam | 5% | 38% | 33% | 20% | 3% | 0% |
| Croatian Continuers | E | E | E | E | E | E |
| Dance | 17% | 52% | 23% | 8% | 1% | 0% |
| Design and Technology | 12% | 35% | 31% | 17% | 4% | 1% |
| Drama | 22% | 39% | 28% | 11% | 1% | 0% |
| Dutch Continuers | E | E | E | E | E | E |
| Earth and Environmental Science | 7% | 26% | 27% | 22% | 12% | 5% |
| Economics | 13% | 35% | 28% | 16% | 6% | 2% |
| Electrotechnology Exam | 3% | 13% | 40% | 34% | 9% | 1% |
| Engineering Studies | 9% | 21% | 39% | 27% | 4% | 0% |
| English Advanced | 14% | 53% | 28% | 4% | 0% | 0% |
| English EAL/D | 5% | 17% | 32% | 25% | 15% | 7% |
| English Standard | 0% | 13% | 47% | 30% | 9% | 2% |
| English Studies Exam | 0% | 0% | 9% | 36% | 39% | 15% |
| Entertainment Industry Exam | 16% | 30% | 34% | 14% | 5% | 1% |
| Filipino Continuers | E | E | E | E | E | E |
| Financial Services Exam | 7% | 25% | 33% | 23% | 11% | 0% |
| Food Technology | 7% | 23% | 35% | 24% | 9% | 2% |
| French Beginners | 21% | 22% | 26% | 20% | 7% | 2% |
| French Continuers | 25% | 33% | 34% | 6% | 1% | 0% |
| Geography | 10% | 32% | 36% | 15% | 5% | 2% |
| German Beginners | 29% | 22% | 23% | 14% | 12% | 0% |
| German Continuers | 27% | 30% | 32% | 10% | 0% | 1% |
| Hindi Continuers | 55% | 38% | 0% | 7% | 0% | 0% |
| Hospitality Exam | 6% | 26% | 40% | 23% | 5% | 1% |
| Human Services Exam | 2% | 16% | 47% | 30% | 5% | 0% |
| Hungarian Continuers | E | E | E | E | E | E |
| Indonesian and Literature | E | E | E | E | E | E |
| Indonesian Beginners | E | E | E | E | E | E |
| Indonesian Continuers | 38% | 35% | 19% | 6% | 2% | 0% |
| Industrial Technology | 8% | 16% | 31% | 31% | 12% | 2% |
| Information and Digital Technology Exam | 7% | 29% | 40% | 22% | 1% | 1% |
| Information Processes and Technology | 7% | 25% | 27% | 23% | 13% | 6% |
| Investigating Science | 7% | 27% | 37% | 21% | 7% | 2% |
| Italian Beginners | 20% | 28% | 28% | 13% | 7% | 3% |
| Italian Continuers | 26% | 38% | 22% | 13% | 1% | 0% |
| Japanese Beginners | 11% | 26% | 22% | 18% | 14% | 9% |
| Japanese Continuers | 23% | 32% | 23% | 14% | 6% | 2% |
| Japanese in Context | 35% | 55% | 10% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Khmer Continuers | E | E | E | E | E | E |
| Korean and Literature | 48% | 48% | 3% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Korean Beginners | 22% | 36% | 29% | 9% | 2% | 2% |
| Korean Continuers | E | E | E | E | E | E |
| Korean in Context | 66% | 27% | 7% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Latin Continuers | 46% | 38% | 11% | 5% | 0% | 0% |
| Legal Studies | 14% | 29% | 27% | 21% | 7% | 3% |
| Macedonian Continuers | E | E | E | E | E | E |
| Mathematics Advanced | 22% | 27% | 26% | 18% | 6% | 1% |
| Mathematics Standard 1 Exam | 3% | 18% | 40% | 30% | 7% | 2% |
| Mathematics Standard 2 | 9% | 22% | 26% | 24% | 14% | 3% |
| Modern Greek Beginners | 45% | 27% | 17% | 2% | 6% | 2% |
| Modern Greek Continuers | 46% | 28% | 24% | 1% | 0% | 0% |
| Modern Hebrew Continuers | E | E | E | E | E | E |
| Modern History | 10% | 25% | 29% | 20% | 12% | 4% |
| Music 1 | 23% | 46% | 21% | 8% | 1% | 1% |
| Music 2 | 35% | 50% | 13% | 1% | 0% | 0% |
| Persian Continuers | E | E | E | E | E | E |
| Personal Development, Health and Physical Education | 6% | 25% | 32% | 26% | 9% | 1% |
| Physics | 13% | 26% | 29% | 22% | 10% | 1% |
| Polish Continuers | E | E | E | E | E | E |
| Portuguese Continuers | E | E | E | E | E | E |
| Primary Industries Exam | 2% | 24% | 43% | 27% | 3% | 0% |
| Punjabi Continuers | E | E | E | E | E | E |
| Retail Services Exam | 2% | 14% | 38% | 31% | 13% | 2% |
| Russian Continuers | 63% | 33% | 4% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Serbian Continuers | 59% | 33% | 7% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Society and Culture | 12% | 33% | 35% | 15% | 4% | 1% |
| Software Design and Development | 12% | 23% | 30% | 23% | 9% | 3% |
| Spanish Beginners | 23% | 33% | 26% | 10% | 5% | 3% |
| Spanish Continuers | 21% | 39% | 30% | 9% | 1% | 0% |
| Studies of Religion I | 14% | 35% | 35% | 13% | 3% | 1% |
| Studies of Religion II | 11% | 35% | 36% | 13% | 4% | 1% |
| Swedish Continuers | E | E | E | E | E | E |
| Tamil Continuers | 62% | 38% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Textiles and Design | 17% | 35% | 27% | 16% | 5% | 1% |
| Tourism, Travel and Events Exam | 3% | 27% | 54% | 13% | 3% | 0% |
| Turkish Continuers | 44% | 21% | 26% | 9% | 0% | 0% |
| Vietnamese Continuers | 5% | 40% | 47% | 6% | 0% | 1% |
| Visual Arts | 19% | 47% | 26% | 8% | 1% | 0% |
Extension courses
| Course | E4 | E3 | E2 | E1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arabic Extension | 34% | 59% | 7% | 0% |
| Chinese Extension | 69% | 29% | 2% | 0% |
| Classical Greek Extension | E | E | E | E |
| Classical Hebrew Extension | E | E | E | E |
| English Extension 1 | 41% | 53% | 5% | 0% |
| English Extension 2 | 29% | 57% | 14% | 1% |
| French Extension | 18% | 66% | 16% | 0% |
| German Extension | 62% | 36% | 3% | 0% |
| History Extension | 26% | 59% | 13% | 2% |
| Indonesian Extension | E | E | E | E |
| Italian Extension | 53% | 47% | 0% | 0% |
| Japanese Extension | 50% | 38% | 11% | 1% |
| Latin Extension | 82% | 16% | 2% | 0% |
| Mathematics Extension 1 | 34% | 38% | 24% | 4% |
| Mathematics Extension 2 | 38% | 48% | 13% | 1% |
| Modern Greek Extension | E | E | E | E |
| Music Extension | 70% | 25% | 4% | 0% |
| Science Extension | 7% | 71% | 21% | 1% |
| Spanish Extension | 58% | 42% | 0% | 0% |