Port Hacking High School Higher School Certificate Information Night Monday 27th February 2017

NESA NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA). [Previously Board of Studies or Board of NSW Education Standards Authority. ]

What does ‘satisfactory completion’ mean? To satisfactorily complete a course, students must: follow the course developed or endorsed by the Board apply themselves with diligence and sustained effort achieve the course outcomes. Satisfactory completion can be judged by; level of involvement in class, class assignments and tasks completed formal assessment tasks and level of achievement. Failure to meet one or more of these requirements may lead to an 'N' or 'Non-completion' determination. An 'N' determination for a course may make a student ineligible for the HSC.

School Assessment All students in each subject will complete a number of assessment tasks. All students are used to this as it is the current school practice in Years 10 and 11.

Illness/ Misadventure. If a student is unable to sit an examination or complete an assessment task then they may apply for illness/misadventure at the time of the examinations or assessment task. This form can be obtained from the Deputy Principal.

Malpractice All student in the state must complete All My Own Work at the end of year 10. Cheating, or malpractice, is dishonest behaviour by a student that gives them an unfair advantage over others. It includes: copying, buying, stealing or borrowing part or all of someone else’s work and presenting it as their own using material directly from books, journals, CDs or the internet without acknowledging the source submitting work that contains a large and unacknowledged contribution from another person such as a parent, tutor, coach or author paying someone to write or prepare material that is associated with a task, such as process diaries, logs or journals. The above are examples of plagiarism.

NESA Disability Provisions Students who need additional time, breaks or special examination papers – i.e. large print, can apply for special provisions through NESA. The application form is available from the Head Teacher Welfare. (Mr Papangelis)

HSC Exams Begin on Monday 16th October 2017

How is the HSC mark calculated ? The HSC mark for nearly all subjects is a 50:50 combination of a student’s examination mark and school-based assessment mark for each course. There is no overall mark for the HSC.

The steps in producing a HSC mark.

What happens to the school assessment mark? The school will submit a cumulative mark (over all tasks) to NESA. This mark ranks the students for each subject. NESA puts the marks through a process of moderation to allow a fair comparison of marks in each course across different schools. This means that the assessment marks for each school/course group are moderated according to the same group’s examination performance. This process maintains both the rank order of students within the school group and the relative gaps between them.

The moderation process adjusts submitted assessment marks using three points: The mean of the school group’s assessments is adjusted to equal to the mean of the examination marks obtained by the students in that group. The top assessment mark is adjusted to equal to the highest examination mark obtained by any student in the group. Where possible, the bottom moderated assessment is equal to the lowest examination mark obtained by any student in the group.

Student School Assessment Mark Rank Exam Mark Moderated A 90 1 92 B 78 2 72 3 77 C 75 80 74 Total 243 244 Mean 81

The ATAR

The ATAR The University Admissions Centre (UAC) determines a students ATAR. The ATAR – what is it? The ATAR is a number between 0 and 99.95 with increments of 0.05. It provides a measure of your overall academic achievement in the NSW HSC in relation to that of other students, and it thelps institutions rank applicants for selection. It is calculated on behalf of the universities and released by UAC.

The ATAR The ATAR is a rank, not a mark Your ATAR indicates your position relative to the students who started Year 7 with you. An ATAR of 80.00 indicates that you have performed well enough in the HSC to place you in the top 20 per cent of your cohort. It is important to note that your ranking depends solely on your performance in the HSC.

What is scaling? “The scaling process is designed to encourage students to take the courses for which they are best suited and which best prepare them for their future studies…The scaling algorithm estimates what students’ marks would have been if all courses had been studied by all students.” UAC Report on the Scaling of 2012 NSW HSC p6

What is scaling? Scaling is the first step in calculating the ATAR and scaled marks (not HSC marks) are used in the ATAR calculation. Scaling is necessary because HSC students take all kinds of different courses, and scaling allows courses to be compared fairly.

What is scaling? The same HSC marks in different courses are not necessarily equal. The scaled ATAR mark endeavours to say that a scaled mark of 72 in say hopscotch demonstrates the same academic rigour as a scaled 72 in neurosurgery.

Can I work out what my ATAR will be from my HSC marks? No you can't. Remember that your scaled marks (not your HSC marks) are used to calculate your ATAR. Your ATAR isn't an average mark, it is a rank that indicates your position. However, as a general rule, if you are in the middle group of students enrolled in your courses (with marks in the 70s) you are likely to get an ATAR in the upper-60s. But sometimes marks in the 70s can mean a much lower ATAR depending on your courses and your position in your courses.

Are certain courses ‘scaled up’ or ‘scaled down’? No, scaling is carried out each year. If the quality of the candidature changes, the scaled mean will also change. Is it true that if I study certain courses I can’t get a high ATAR? No, there are students in every course who achieve high ATARs.

Board of Studies website More Information? Board of Studies website www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au Students Online http://studentsonline.bostes.nsw.edu.au/ UAC http://www.uac.edu.au/