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ACE Rules

NESA has published clarified ACE Rules on the NSW Curriculum website. Stay up to date with the clarified ACE Rules by visiting this website. 

The clarified rules come into effect from 14 October 2024. Schools must not implement the clarified rules before this date. Schools must use the current ACE Rules on Loading... until 14 October 2024.

To learn more about how NESA has clarified the ACE Rules, refer to the information sheets.

Formal assessment programs and tasks

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Updated 25 Oct 2023

Developing a Preliminary course school-based assessment program rule has been updated to fix a data entry error in which text from the rule was duplicated in a footnote. 

The following footnote has been deleted: "The results of assessment tasks that have been completed by students should not be discarded."

This change applies to formal assessment programs for Preliminary courses only.

View all changes

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. Candidates for the HSC, 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.
  3. Schools must record all malpractice offences in HSC school-based assessment tasks in the Malpractice Register in Loading....

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 all course-specific requirements when developing a Preliminary course school-based assessment program, and have appropriate and valid procedures in place for marking, recording, and advising students of their achievement in all assessment tasks.
  3. Schools must, at the commencement of a Preliminary course:
    1. 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 the assessment task; and
      3. procedures to be implemented if assessment tasks produce invalid or unreliable results. The results of all assessment tasks that have been completed by students should not be discarded. This includes marks declared invalid, as they may be used in the event of an appeal; and
    2. provide students with the formal assessment program for each of their Preliminary courses (excluding Life Skills and VET courses).1 The formal assessment program must adhere to course-specific requirements, including assessment schedules that detail:
      1. the number and type of assessment tasks2, and
      2. syllabus outcomes assessed in each assessment task, and
      3. the components and weightings allocated to each assessment task, and
      4. the dates for 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 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.
  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 days3, of an upcoming assessment task. The task notification must include the:
    1. components and weighting, as per the assessment schedule, and
    2. syllabus outcomes assessed, and
    3. type of the assessment task, and
    4. scheduled date and time for attempting or submitting the task4, and
    5. marking criteria (where appropriate).5
  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 a substitute assessment task.6
  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.7

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. 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.
    2. 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. VET-specific school-based assessment requirements differ from those for non-VET courses. There is no requirement for formal assessment of Life Skills outcomes.

  2. For example, an essay.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

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

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

  7. In exceptional circumstances, where a student cannot complete a substitute task, schools may provide an estimate instead.

Categories

HSC (assessment)HSC credentialHSC (curriculum)MalpracticeRoSA

About HSC school-based assessment

  1. Candidates for the HSC, 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 all course-specific requirements when developing an HSC school-based assessment program for a course, and have appropriate and valid procedures in place for marking, recording and reporting students’ performance on all assessment tasks.
  3. Schools must, at the commencement of an HSC course provide students with:
    1. 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 the assessment task; and
      3. procedures to be implemented if assessment tasks produce invalid or unreliable results1, and
      4. procedures for reviewing student appeals arising from assessment tasks. The school’s internal review procedures 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
    2. the formal assessment program for each of their HSC courses (excluding Life Skills and VET courses).2 The formal assessment program must adhere to course-specific requirements, including assessment schedules that detail:
      1. the number and type of assessment tasks3, and
      2. syllabus outcomes assessed in each assessment task, and
      3. the components and weightings allocated to each assessment task, and
      4. the dates for 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 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. components and weighting, as per the assessment schedule, 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 feedback on their performance in each assessment task, and indicate:
      1. the student’s mark in the task, relative to the outcomes, and
      2. the student’s rank for the task.

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 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 circumstances9 where a student cannot complete a substitute assessment task, schools may provide an estimate based on completed comparable assessment tasks which contain comparable outcomes10, approved by the principal and in line with the school’s policies and procedures for school-based assessment.
  5. If a student does not complete a task or attend a scheduled assessment task, and has their illness/misadventure application declined, the school must record a zero mark for the assessment task.

Students are expected to complete all formal assessment tasks

  1. Students:
    1. are expected to complete all assessment tasks
    2. must resolve disputes over marks allocated for an individual assessment task:
      1. within 2 weeks of the task being returned, or
      2. the end of the term that the task was conducted in, whichever comes first.

Restrictions on reporting school-based assessment results

  1. Schools must only provide students with their final course rank.
  2. Schools must not make available to students:
    1. their final submitted school-based assessment mark, or
    2. their final raw assessment mark.

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 in 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.11

Students accelerating into HSC courses

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

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. The results of assessment tasks that have been completed by students should not be discarded.

  2. VET-specific school-based assessment requirements differ from those for non-VET courses. There is no requirement for formal assessment of Life Skills outcomes.

  3. For example, an essay.

  4. For example, a formal written exam assessed in conjunction with the development of an individual project cannot exceed 30%.

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

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

  11. 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.