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Formal assessment programs and tasks

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Updated 02 Apr 2025

NESA has added a new footnote to Rule 2.1.2 outlining the types of feedback that may be provided to students for individual HSC assessment tasks (see paragraph 34).

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NESA is authorised under section 20A of the Education Act 1990 (NSW) to prepare and distribute to schools information relating to the conduct of exams and other forms of assessment for HSC candidates.

Assessment tasks must be accessible to students with disability under the Disability Standards for Education 2005.

Categories

HSC (assessment)HSC credentialHSC (curriculum)MalpracticePreliminaryRoSA

About Preliminary course school-based assessment

  1. Students, as well as their teachers and others who guide them, must comply with NESA’s requirements for upholding the integrity of HSC school-based assessment and exams.
  2. The honesty of students in completing assessment tasks, exams, and tests underpins the integrity of the HSC. Dishonest behaviour carried out for the purpose of gaining unfair advantage in the assessment process undermines the standard of scholarship represented by the award of the HSC and constitutes malpractice, or cheating.

Developing a Preliminary course school-based assessment program

  1. NESA's Loading , including course-specific Assessment and Reporting information, indicate the mandatory components for Preliminary course assessment and the weightings to be attached to those components.
  2. Schools must follow mandatory course-specific requirements when developing a Preliminary course school-based assessment program. These include but are not limited to course exclusions, course prerequisites and VET work placement requirements. 
  3. Schools may follow the assessment program provided by NESA, but have the authority to determine the number, type and weighting of assessment tasks. 
  4. Schools must have appropriate and valid procedures in place for marking, recording, and advising students of their achievement in all assessment tasks.
  5. Schools must, at the commencement of a Preliminary course, provide students with written advice about the school’s policies and procedures for school-based assessment, which must include:
    1. the school’s malpractice policy and procedures for managing malpractice, and
    2. details of administrative requirements, including:
      1. student absences on the day of an assessment task, and
      2. late submission of assessment tasks, and
      3. the school’s illness/misadventure procedures for illness/misadventure suffered immediately before or during an assessment task; and
    3. procedures1 to be implemented if assessment tasks produce invalid or unreliable results, and
    4. procedures for final grade appeals, which must be:
      1. based on a student’s final grade at the end of the course, and
      2. focused on the procedures used by the school for determining the grade(s) and whether they align with Loading  and the school’s policy regarding the grading of student achievement, and
      3. resolved within the school, where possible, and
    5. the formal assessment program for each of their Preliminary courses, excluding Life Skills courses.2 The formal assessment program must adhere to mandatory course-specific requirements, with assessment schedules that detail:3
      1. syllabus outcomes assessed in each assessment task, and
      2. the course components and component weightings allocated to each assessment task, and
      3. when each assessment task is to be attempted or submitted.

Setting formal Preliminary assessment tasks

  1. Schools must follow their school-based assessment program for each course, and set formal assessment tasks in accordance with the mandatory course-specific components and weightings.
  2. Teachers must ensure the types of assessment tasks are appropriate to the outcomes being assessed.

Formal assessment tasks with multiple parts

  1. A formal assessment task:
    1. has one due date, and
    2. assesses student achievement at a single point in time, and
    3. may contain more than one part.
  2. A formal assessment task with more than one part:
    1. must have the same due date, and
    2. will contribute to the maximum weighting for that task.4
  3. A task that has parts, with multiple due dates spanning weeks or months, is not a single formal assessment task. Such tasks are separate individual formal assessment tasks, each with their own weighting. Each task is to be represented separately in an assessment schedule and each will contribute to the maximum number of tasks allowed for the course.

Task notifications

  1. Schools must provide students with sufficient written notice, typically 14 calendar days5, of an upcoming assessment task. The task notification must include the:
    1. course components and component weightings, and
    2. syllabus outcomes assessed, and
    3. type of the assessment task, and
    4. scheduled date and time for attempting or submitting the task6, and
    5. marking criteria (where appropriate).7
  2. For a formal assessment task with more than one part, the task notification must detail the requirements for each part, including that all parts are to be submitted and/or completed together.

Substituting assessment tasks

  1. Students are expected to attempt all assessment tasks.
  2. If a student has a valid reason for not completing an assessment task, schools must provide the student with an opportunity to attempt the assessment task by either:
    1. providing an extension of time to complete the original assessment task8, or
    2. providing the student with a substitute assessment task.9
  3. Schools must ensure the substitute assessment task is in accordance with the illness/misadventure provisions in the school’s policies and procedures for school-based assessment.10

Determining final grades for Preliminary courses

  1. Teachers must:
    1. give students the opportunity to demonstrate their full range of achievement relative to the Loading , and
    2. at the completion of the Preliminary course and using all available assessment information, make a valid judgement to assign a grade to each student that best matches an achievement description of the Common Grade Scale for Preliminary courses, and
    3. not restrict a student’s access to the full range of grades if an adjustment is provided.
  2. Schools must:
    1. have procedures for determining Preliminary grades, and final grade appeals.
    2. Loading  based on all assessment opportunities to NESA for all students completing any Preliminary Board Developed or Board Endorsed course, except VET courses, University Developed Board Endorsed courses, and Life Skills courses.
    3. Loading  for students assigned an ‘N’ for their achievement in a course. This is the grade that will be awarded to the student if they successfully appeal against the ‘N’ determination.

Online resources

Related ACE Rules

For further information

For enquiries about formal assessment programs, please contact Quality in Credentialling by email at qc@nesa.nsw.edu.au.

Footnotes

  1. Schools must retain all records of student assessment results as these may be used in the event of an appeal.

  2. There is no requirement for formal assessment of Life Skills outcomes.

  3. Formal assessment program requirements for VET courses differ from those for non-VET courses.

  4. All parts of the assessment task added together will contribute to the maximum weighting of the task.

  5. Students require sufficient written notice of assessment tasks. NESA recognises that in exceptional circumstances it may not be possible for schools to meet the two-week notice period.

  6. This may be a due date or an exam period. For an in-class test, the task notification must also include the time allowed to complete the task.

  7. For example, providing the marking criteria may be appropriate for an essay-type task, but not for a trial exam.

  8. An extension of time may be granted if it does not compromise the validity of the task and is in line with the school’s policies and procedures for school-based assessment.

  9. The substitute assessment task may include informal assessment task(s).

  10. In exceptional circumstances, where a student cannot complete the assessment task, schools may instead provide an estimate. For further information, email Quality in Credentialling at qc@nesa.nsw.edu.au.

Categories

HSC (assessment)HSC credentialHSC (curriculum)MalpracticeRoSA

About HSC school-based assessment

  1. Students, as well as their teachers and others who guide them, must comply with NESA’s requirements for upholding the integrity of HSC assessment and exams.
  2. The honesty of students in completing assessment tasks, exams, and tests underpins the integrity of the HSC. Dishonest behaviour carried out for the purpose of gaining unfair advantage in the assessment process undermines the standard of scholarship represented by the award of the HSC and constitutes malpractice, or cheating.
  3. Schools must record all malpractice offences in HSC school-based assessment tasks in the Malpractice Register in Loading .

Developing an HSC school-based assessment program

  1. NESA’s Loading , including course-specific assessment and reporting information, indicate the mandatory components for HSC assessment and the weightings to be attached to those components.
  2. Schools must follow mandatory course-specific requirements when developing an HSC course school-based assessment program. These include but are not limited to course exclusions, course prerequisites and VET work placement requirements.
  3. Schools may follow the assessment program provided by NESA, but have the authority to determine the number, type and weighting of assessment tasks.
  4. Schools must have appropriate and valid procedures in place for marking, recording and reporting students' performance on all assessment tasks.
  5. Schools must, at the commencement of an HSC course provide students with written advice about the school’s policies and procedures for school-based assessment, which must include:
    1. the school’s malpractice policy and procedures for managing malpractice, and
    2. details of administrative requirements, including:
      1. student absence on the day of an assessment task, and
      2. late submission of assessment tasks, and
      3. the school’s illness/misadventure procedures for illness/misadventure suffered immediately before or during an assessment task; and
    3. procedures1 to be implemented if assessment tasks produce invalid or unreliable results, and
    4. procedures for reviewing student appeals arising from individual assessment tasks, and
    5. procedures for final rank order appeals, which must be:
      1. based on a student’s rank order placement during the course, and
      2. focused on the procedures for determining the final school-based assessment mark for the course; and
    6. procedures for final grade appeals for English Studies, Mathematics Standard 1, and Numeracy, which must be:
      1. based on a student’s final grade at the end of the course, and
      2. focused on the procedures used by the school for determining the grade(s) and whether they align with Loading  and the school’s policy regarding the grading of student achievement, and
      3. resolved within the school, where possible, and
    7. the formal assessment program for each of their HSC courses, excluding Life Skills courses.2 The formal assessment program must adhere to mandatory course-specific requirements, with assessment schedules that detail:3
      1. syllabus outcomes assessed in each assessment task, and
      2. the course components and component weightings allocated to each assessment task, and
      3. when each assessment task is to be attempted or submitted.

Setting formal HSC assessment tasks

  1. Schools must follow their school-based assessment program for each course, and set formal assessment tasks in accordance with the mandatory course-specific components and weightings.

Formal assessment tasks with multiple parts

  1. A formal assessment task:
    1. has one due date, and
    2. assesses student achievement at a single point in time, and
    3. may contain more than one part.
  2. A formal assessment task with more than one part:
    1. must have the same due date, and
    2. will contribute to the maximum weighting4 for that task.
  3. A task that has parts, with multiple due dates spanning weeks or months, is not a single formal assessment task. Such tasks are separate individual formal assessment tasks, each with their own weighting. Each task is to be represented separately in an assessment schedule and each will contribute to the maximum number of tasks allowed for the course.

Task notifications

  1. Schools must provide students with sufficient written notice, typically 14 calendar days5, of an upcoming assessment task. The task notification must include the:
    1. course components and component weightings, and
    2. syllabus outcomes assessed, and
    3. type of the assessment task, and
    4. scheduled date and time for attempting or submitting the task6, and
    5. marking criteria (where appropriate7).
  2. For a formal assessment task with more than one part, the task notification must detail the requirements for each part, including that all parts are to be submitted and/or completed together.

Marking formal assessment tasks

  1. Teachers must:
    1. assess the student's actual performance, not potential performance8, and
    2. provide students with feedback9 on their performance in each assessment task, and indicate the student's mark in the task, relative to the outcomes.

Substituting assessment tasks

  1. Students are expected to attempt all assessment tasks.
  2. If a student has an upheld illness/misadventure application, schools must provide the student with an opportunity to attempt the assessment task by either:
    1. providing an extension of time to complete the original assessment task10, or
    2. providing the student with a substitute assessment task.
  3. Schools must ensure the substitute assessment task is in accordance with the illness/misadventure provisions in the school’s policies and procedures for school-based assessment.
  4. In exceptional circumstances11 where a student cannot complete the assessment task, schools may provide an estimate based on completed comparable assessment tasks which contain comparable outcomes12, approved by the principal and in line with the school’s policies and procedures for school-based assessment.

Completing formal assessment tasks, appealing and resolving disputes over marks

  1. Students are:
    1. expected to complete all assessment tasks
    2. responsible for submitting an appeal about marks allocated for an individual assessment task using the school's policies and procedures.
  2. Schools must resolve individual student appeals13 over marks allocated for an individual assessment task within 2 weeks of the task being returned. 
  3. If a student does not complete a task by the due date or attend a scheduled assessment task, and has their illness/misadventure application declined, the school must record a zero mark for the assessment task.

Maintaining records of assessment marks

  1. Schools must retain records of marks awarded for each assessment task as part of the assessment program of an HSC course for 24 months. NESA may request these marks for rank appeals.
  2. NESA may request work samples for grade monitoring purposes.

Starting HSC assessment

  1. Schools must not commence assessing an HSC course until after the completion of the Preliminary course.
  2. Principals may allow a student who has received a 'N' determination in a Preliminary course to proceed to the HSC course provisionally while concurrently satisfying any outstanding Preliminary course requirements.

Mathematics Extension 1 – starting HSC assessment

  1. Schools may base their formal assessment program for the Mathematics Extension 1 HSC course on the whole of Mathematics Extension 1 (both Preliminary and HSC courses).
  2. Schools should not begin formal assessment for the Mathematics Extension 1 HSC course until the school program of HSC assessments for other courses begins.14

Students accelerating into HSC courses

  1. Students accelerating into an HSC course must complete all formal assessment tasks that are scheduled for that course.

Restrictions on reporting final school-based assessment results

  1. At the end of the course, schools must:
    1. provide students with their final course rank, and
    2. not provide students with their final submitted school-based assessment mark that schools enter in Loading .

Online resources

Related ACE Rules

For further information

For enquiries about formal assessment programs, please contact Quality in Credentialling by email at qc@nesa.nsw.edu.au.

Footnotes

  1. Schools must retain all records of student assessment results as these may be used in the event of an appeal. The results of assessment tasks that have been completed by students must be retained by schools for 24 months.

  2. There is no requirement for formal assessment of Life Skills outcomes.

  3. Formal assessment program requirements for VET courses differ from those for non-VET courses.

  4. All parts of the assessment task added together will contribute to the maximum weighting of the task.

  5. Students require sufficient written notice of assessment tasks. NESA recognises that in exceptional circumstances it may not be possible for schools to meet the two-week notice period.

  6. This may be a due date or an exam period. For an in-class test, the task notification must also include the time allowed to complete the task.

  7. For example, providing the marking criteria may be appropriate for an essay-type task, but not for a trial exam.

  8. For example, not modifying assessment marks. Schools must follow their I/M policy to determine if a student’s performance was impacted before making adjustments to assessment marks.

  9. Typically, this includes a mark, comments about the student’s progress against outcomes, and the student’s cumulative rank order.

  10. An extension of time may be granted if it does not compromise the validity of the task and is in line with the school’s policies and procedures for school-based assessment.

  11. Principals may contact Quality in Credentialling to ascertain whether a circumstance is considered exceptional or not.

  12. A comparable task assesses the same or similar outcomes as those of the original task, and uses the same or similar marking guidelines.

  13. Any appeals must be dealt with using the school’s policies and procedures for school-based assessment. 

  14. Usually this is no earlier than Term 4 of Year 11 for non-accelerated students.

Categories

HSC (assessment)HSC (curriculum)Life SkillsPreliminary

Adjustments to assessment tasks for students with disability

  1. Teachers must make reasonable adjustments to assessment activities if required, to enable access and equitable opportunity for students with disability to demonstrate what they know and can do in relation to syllabus outcomes and content.
  2. Schools are responsible for any decision at the school level to provide adjustments to coursework, assessment activities and tasks, including in-school tests. Providing an adjustment does not restrict a student’s access to the full range of grades or marks.
  3. Schools must:
    1. ensure that assessment tasks are accessible to students with disability, and
    2. make decisions regarding adjustments in the context of Loading , and
    3. not restrict a student’s access to the full range of grades or marks if an adjustment is provided.

Online resources

Related ACE Rules

For further information

For enquiries about formal assessment programs, please contact Quality in Credentialling by email at qc@nesa.nsw.edu.au.

For enquiries about adjustments for students with disability, please contact Diversity, Curriculum Standards by email curriculum@nesa.nsw.edu.au.

adjustments

Actions taken to enable a student with disability to access and participate in education on the same basis as other students, in accordance with the Disability Standards for Education 2005.

assessment activities

The varied types of activities that enable a student to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding so that a teacher can gather evidence on student performance relative to the syllabus outcomes.

Board Developed course (BDC)

A course developed by NESA, that includes general education courses, Life Skills courses and VET Industry Curriculum Framework courses.

Board Endorsed course (BEC)

A course that caters to the learning needs of students in specific areas of need not served by Board Developed courses. Before they can be taught in NSW schools, they must be endorsed by NESA. These courses count towards the HSC but do not have an HSC exam and do not contribute towards the calculation of the ATAR. There are four types: Content Endorsed courses (CECs), School Developed Board Endorsed courses (SDBECs), University Developed Board Endorsed courses (UDBECs), and VET Board Endorsed courses (VET BECs).

collaborative curriculum planning

The process to determine the most appropriate curriculum options and adjustments for a student with disability. It should take place within the broader context of personalised planning that includes interventions and other supports to address identified student learning and support needs.

Common Grade Scale

Generic, holistic descriptions of typical performance at each of 5 grade levels that can be used to identify and report student achievement in both primary and junior secondary years in NSW schools.

comparable assessment

A similar summative assessment task. A comparable assessment task or activity will assess the same or similar outcomes as those of the original task, and uses the same or similar marking guidelines.

final course rank

A student's final position within a school/course group. This is determined by a student's final submitted school-based assessment mark, provided by the school.

formal assessment program

A program of assessment established by a school prior to the start of each Preliminary and HSC course and shared with students. NESA requires that the program comprises: school-based assessment policies and procedures; course-specific assessment schedules; assessment tasks; and retained documentation.

formal assessment task

A task that students undertake as part of the school-based assessment program, reflecting specific course requirements, components and weightings.

illness

A medical incident or condition which allegedly impacted the student’s performance in the exam. For example, an asthma attack or bleeding nose during the exam.

invalid or unreliable results

Invalid results occur when an assessment does not measure the learning that it intends to. For example, if a maths task relies heavily on reading it may be assessing literacy and not maths. Unreliable results occur when the marking criteria does not align with the task or is not applied consistently. 

malpractice

Any attempt and/or dishonest behaviour to gain an unfair advantage over other students, and/or knowingly assisting other students to engage in malpractice.

mandatory components

Syllabus components that must be taught and assessed.

misadventure

An incident or event that is unexpected; and is beyond a student's control; and prevents attendance or diminishes exam performance.

substitute assessment task

A task that can be used as a replacement, if necessary, for another. It must assess the same outcomes and apply the same marking guidelines.

University Developed Board Endorsed course (UDBEC)

A course designed by a university and endorsed by NESA that supplements and extends HSC curriculum in areas not covered by Board Developed courses or other types of Board Endorsed courses. Intended for high-achieving students in Stage 6 (Year 11 and/or Year 12). UDBECs count as Board Endorsed unit credit for the HSC but do not contribute towards an ATAR.

work sample

Any item of work completed by the student and graded by the teacher.