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The Higher School Certificate (HSC) is the diploma awarded in New South Wales , Australia to secondary school students who successfully complete high school senior level studies (Years 11 AND 12 or equivalent). It was first adopted in 1967 and came into force in 2019 with the last major revision.The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) is presently establishing and administering it.

A significant overhaul of the HSC Syllabus has been introduced in 2019. The “new” syllabus included new courses with the inclusion of “Science Extension” and “Investigating Science.” These courses for the 2019 cohort have been made available to students who began teaching in October 2018. As of October 2018, the course ‘Senior Science’ was discontinued. Changes to compulsory English, Physics , Chemistry , Biology, Investigating Science and Extension Science in the future were included in the reformed syllabus.

Over the final two years of high school, the majority of students attend HSC-related classes, while different study habits can be conducted over different time periods or by different teaching organizations.

There are a great number of potential courses that students will study in a wide variety of subject areas, totalling more than 100 (including languages). Many schools, however, provide students with a smaller range from which they have to choose. English, with one of the English Advanced, English Regular, English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL / D), or English Studies required for the HSC award, is the only compulsory subject field. (English Extension 1 is also available for Advanced English students, with Year 12 offering Extension 2). As is the case with Studies of Religion in many religious schools or Agriculture in agricultural schools, individual schools may require their students to attend those courses.

The final mark of a student in each subject is decided by a combination of in-school tests performed during the course portion of the HSC and externally administered final exam(s) usually held in that year’s October or November. External exam results are often used to statistically moderate in-school evaluation results between different schools, in addition to comprising half of the final evaluation result of a student in a subject.

The New South Wales government grants the Premier ‘s Award to students who achieve outstanding grades of over 90 in 10 units of research in the HSC. The most promising of these students may also be rewarded by the Commonwealth government with the Australian Student Prize. The Mathematical Association of New South Wales’ T G Room award is given to the student with the best score in the HSC mathematics exam at the highest level.

In order to measure the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR), HSC results can also be used. The UAI (Universities Admission Index) and the TER (Tertiary Entrance Rank) were referred to as similar ranking processes previously used. The ATAR is a separate ranking determined by the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC), another body, which is used to assess university entry. To differentiate the two, the university entrance rank has been provided separately from the HSC results since 1998.

Did you know? Sydney Ferries has been operating since 1875 and annually carries over 14 million passengers in and around Sydney. The Australian Museum, which opened in Sydney in 1857, is the oldest natural history museum in Australia. The Sydney Morning Herald is the oldest publication in Australia. It has been published since 1831. The University of Sydney was established in 1850 and is Australia’s oldest university. By 2036, the population of Sydney is expected to rise by almost 2.1 million to more than 6 million inhabitants.