Malpractice data
This data reports on the breaches and offences that were committed for HSC assessments. Learn how many offences were committed for HSC exams or school-based HSC assessments in 2025.
About the data
Every year NESA receives a small number of reports on HSC students breaching the rules of HSC exams or school-based HSC assessments.
HSC Exam breaches
In 2025, the following HSC Exam breaches were penalised by the Examination Rules Committee:
- 127 cases of non-serious attempts
- 80 projects for non-certification
- 79 students with 83 offences for the breach of exam rules or malpractice.
Number of school-based assessment offences by course
In 2025, a total of 325 schools registered 1,270 offences in school-based assessments, involving 1,152 students. View the table for a breakdown of courses and the number of offences.
| Course | Number of offences | Offences per 1,000 students |
|---|---|---|
| English Standard | 191 | 5.7 |
| English Studies | 108 | 9.4 |
| PDHPE | 78 | 4.4 |
| Business Studies | 68 | 3.3 |
| English Advanced | 65 | 2.5 |
| Community & Family Studies | 63 | 6.2 |
| Legal Studies | 59 | 5.8 |
| Modern History | 58 | 5.3 |
| Biology | 55 | 2.7 |
| Mathematics Standard 2 | 49 | 1.5 |
| Board Endorsed Courses | 44 | 2.6 |
| Ancient History | 33 | 4.4 |
| Mathematics Standard 1 | 32 | 4.1 |
| Food Technology | 28 | 6.7 |
| Industrial Technology | 26 | 4.3 |
| Investigating Science | 26 | 7.9 |
| Society and Culture | 24 | 4.8 |
| Physics | 22 | 2.5 |
| Chemistry | 20 | 1.9 |
| Engineering Studies | 18 | 7.0 |
| Visual Arts | 18 | 2.0 |
| English EAL/D | 14 | 9.3 |
| Geography | 14 | 3.2 |
| Economics | 13 | 2.3 |
| Mathematics Advanced | 13 | 0.8 |
| Music 1 | 13 | 2.8 |
| Studies of Religion II | 12 | 1.8 |
| English Extension 1 | 11 | 3.0 |
| Construction | 10 | 2.6 |
| All other courses | 85 | 1.4 |
Number of offences by school-based assessment type
View details about the type and number of offences committed for the different school-based assessment types.
Overview
In 2025, there were:
- 725 take-home written assessment breaches
- 363 timed exam breaches
- 79 project breaches
- 76 other breaches
- 24 practical assessment breaches
- 3 oral exam breaches.
There was a total of 725 take-home written assessment breaches, representing 57% of all breaches in 2025.
| Offence | Number of offences | % of offences |
|---|---|---|
| Unauthorised use of AI | 445 | 61% |
| Plagiarism | 169 | 23% |
| Late submissions | 54 | 7% |
| Collusion | 42 | 6% |
| Other | 12 | 2% |
| Unacknowledged assistance | 3 | <1% |
There was a total of 363 timed exam breaches, representing 29% of all breaches in 2025.
| Offence | Number of offences | % of offences |
|---|---|---|
| Unauthorised notes | 154 | 42% |
| Electronic device use | 113 | 31% |
| Other | 32 | 9% |
| Collusion | 20 | 6% |
| Plagiarism | 13 | 4% |
| Unauthorised alteration | 11 | 3% |
| Unauthorised use of AI | 11 | 3% |
| Late submissions | 7 | 2% |
| Making a false claim | 1 | <1% |
| Unacknowledged assistance | 1 | <1% |
There was a total of 79 project breaches, representing 6% of all breaches in 2025.
| Offence | Number of offences | % of offences |
|---|---|---|
| Unauthorised use of AI | 41 | 52% |
| Plagiarism | 21 | 27% |
| Collusion | 6 | 8% |
| Late submissions | 4 | 5% |
| Other | 3 | 4% |
| Unacknowledged assistance | 2 | 3% |
| Making a false claim | 1 | 1% |
| Unauthorised notes | 1 | 1% |
There was a total of 76 other assessment breaches, representing 6% of all breaches in 2025.
| Offence | Number of offences | % of offences |
|---|---|---|
| Unauthorised use of AI | 24 | 32% |
| Plagiarism | 19 | 25% |
| Electronic device use | 9 | 12% |
| Unauthorised notes | 9 | 12% |
| Late submissions | 8 | 11% |
| Other | 3 | 4% |
| Collusion | 2 | 3% |
| Unacknowledged assistance | 1 | 1% |
| Unauthorised access | 1 | 1% |
There was a total of 24 practical assessment breaches, representing 2% of all breaches in 2025.
| Offence | Number of offences | % of offences |
|---|---|---|
| Unauthorised use of AI | 14 | 58% |
| Plagiarism | 4 | 17% |
| Collusion | 2 | 8% |
| Late submissions | 2 | 8% |
| Other | 1 | 4% |
| Unauthorised notes | 1 | 4% |
There was a total of 3 oral exam breaches, representing <1% of all breaches in 2025.
| Offence | Number of offences | % of offences |
|---|---|---|
| Late submissions | 1 | 33% |
| Plagiarism | 1 | 33% |
| Unauthorised use of AI | 1 | 33% |
School-based assessment offence types and penalties imposed by schools
Use the accordions to view details about each offence type.
Overview
In 2025, there were:
- 536 unauthorised use of AI
- 227 plagiarism
- 165 unauthorised notes
- 122 electronic device use
- 76 late submissions
- 72 collusion
- 51 other
- 11 unauthorised alteration
- 7 unacknowledged assistance
- 2 making a false claim
- 1 unauthorised access.
There was a total of 536 unauthorised use of AI offences, representing 42% of all offences in 2025.
| Penalty | Number of offences | % of penalties for this offence |
|---|---|---|
| Reduced marks | 281 | 52% |
| Zero marks | 207 | 39% |
| Other | 29 | 5% |
| Warning | 19 | 4% |
There was a total of 227 plagiarism offences, representing 18% of all offences in 2025.
| Penalty | Number of offences | % of penalties for this offence |
|---|---|---|
| Zero marks | 112 | 49% |
| Reduced marks | 93 | 41% |
| Warning | 14 | 6% |
| Other | 8 | 4% |
There was a total of 165 possessing or using unauthorised notes offences, representing 13% of all offences in 2025.
| Penalty | Number of offences | % of penalties for this offence |
|---|---|---|
| Zero marks | 130 | 79% |
| Reduced marks | 27 | 16% |
| Other | 4 | 2% |
| Warning | 4 | 2% |
There was a total of 122 electronic device offences, representing 10% of all offences in 2025.
| Penalty | Number of offences | % of penalties for this offence |
|---|---|---|
| Zero marks | 88 | 72% |
| Reduced marks | 27 | 22% |
| Warning | 4 | 3% |
| Other | 3 | 2% |
There was a total of 76 late submission offences, representing 6% of all offences in 2025.
| Penalty | Number of offences | % of penalties for this offence |
|---|---|---|
| Zero marks | 57 | 75% |
| Warning | 10 | 13% |
| Reduced marks | 8 | 11% |
| Other | 1 | 1% |
There was a total of 72 collusion offences, representing 6% of all offences in 2025.
| Penalty | Number of offences | % of penalties for this offence |
|---|---|---|
| Reduced marks | 33 | 46% |
| Zero marks | 29 | 40% |
| Warning | 8 | 11% |
| Other | 2 | 3% |
There was a total of 51 other offences, representing 4% of all offences in 2025.
| Penalty | Number of offences | % of penalties for this offence |
|---|---|---|
| Zero marks | 25 | 49% |
| Reduced marks | 13 | 25% |
| Warning | 9 | 18% |
| Other | 4 | 8% |
There was a total of 11 unauthorised alteration offences, representing 1% of all offences in 2025.
| Penalty | Number of offences | % of penalties for this offence |
|---|---|---|
| Reduced marks | 6 | 55% |
| Other | 2 | 18% |
| Warning | 2 | 18% |
| Zero marks | 1 | 9% |
There was a total of 7 unacknowledged assistance offences, representing 1% of all offences in 2025.
| Penalty | Number of offences | % of penalties for this offence |
|---|---|---|
| Reduced marks | 5 | 71% |
| Zero marks | 2 | 29% |
There was a total of 2 false claim offences, representing <1% of all offences in 2025.
| Penalty | Number of offences | % of penalties for this offence |
|---|---|---|
| Reduced marks | 2 | 100% |
There was a total of 1 unauthorised access offence, representing <1% of all offences in 2025.
| Penalty | Number of offences | % of penalties for this offence |
|---|---|---|
| Zero marks | 1 | 100% |