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HSC practical exams

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Updated 16 Sep 2026

NESA has made changes to Rule 2.5.2 to include clarifying instructions for principals in the event a student’s project, submitted work or performance does not meet NESA’s certification criteria.  The clarification (paragraph 13) refers to supervising teacher’s consideration of whether the student has used generative AI for part of the student’s work.

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NESA is authorised under sections 20A and 95 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
  • approve HSC exam specifications.

About HSC practical exams

  1. Practical exams are for HSC courses with projects, submitted works and performances.

Categories

HSC (assessment)HSC (curriculum)MalpracticeSchools Online

Developing HSC practical exams

  1. Some Stage 6 courses require a student to Loading  (projects, submitted works and performances). Course specific details are outlined in the Assessment and Reporting information for that course.
  2. Students must not:
    1. submit a project, submitted work, or performance, either in part or in full, for a school-based assessment or HSC exam that has already been submitted in another Loading , or
    2. resubmit a practical component submitted and marked in a previous year without explicit permission from NESA.

Health and safety requirements

  1. Principals must ensure projects, submitted works and performances satisfy specific health and safety requirements as detailed in the syllabus or supporting documentation.
  2. When developing projects, submitted works and performances, schools and students must:
    1. refer to Assessment and Reporting information for each course
    2. operate within the guidelines and directives of the school
    3. take responsibility for knowing and adhering to relevant state and national legislation, regulations, standards, and other considerations, including those about:
      1. work health and safety (WHS)1 requirements detailed in the Assessment and Reporting information for each syllabus, and
      2. animal welfare, and
      3. dangerous goods, and
      4. hazardous substances and prohibited weapons2, and
      5. ethical considerations.
    4. take responsibility for knowing and accepting the consequences if NESA considers their practical component dangerous to health or safety, and
    5. take account of the needs of other students, teachers, markers and others3, including the general public and community standards.

Breaches of health and safety requirements

  1. Any HSC project, submitted work or performance that NESA considers dangerous to health or safety may not be marked in part, or in full.
  2. NESA will provide schools with a notification if a student from the cohort has produced an HSC practical component that breaches health and safety requirements.
  3. If the practical component does not comply with health and safety requirements, a student’s work will not be eligible for selection in showcases and/or exhibitions.

Online resources

Related ACE Rules

For further information

For enquiries about developing HSC practical exams safely, email studentsupport@nesa.nsw.edu.au.

Footnotes

  1. This includes taking responsibility for obtaining WHS certification by an accredited person in accordance with Australian Standards for works involving electrical voltages in excess of 32 volts and/or high currents, welded structures and components under load, vehicles and trailers, pressure vessels and flammable gases.

  2. Examples of prohibited weapons and their replicas include but are not limited to firearms; knives; cross-bows; archery bows and arrows; catapults; kung fu sticks or nunchaku; batons; spear guns; handcuffs; self-defence sprays; biological substances.

  3. This includes but is not limited to clerical staff, and audiences for performances or showcase events.

Categories

HSC (assessment)HSC (curriculum)MalpracticeSchools Online

Certifying and submitting HSC projects, submitted works and performances

  1. Supervising teachers must Loading  in each course. NESA requires supervising teachers to keep documented evidence to validate the authenticity and integrity of a student’s work.
  2. Supervising teachers must:
    1. observe and document each student’s progress in completing the project, submitted work or performance
    2. ensure that the content of each student’s project, submitted work or performance appropriately takes broad community standards into account
    3. confirm each student’s Declaration Form1 is signed
    4. keep documented evidence to validate the authenticity and integrity of each student’s work
    5. confirm that each student has followed the course requirements
    6. sign each student’s Student Declaration Form, and
    7. retain records and declarations until 30 June of the following calendar year.
  3. Students must:
    1. comply with course specific requirements and submit their work by the due date listed on the Loading 
    2. complete and sign the Student Declaration Form2, and
    3. acknowledge outsourcing3, where relevant.
  4. Principals must:
    1. certify, on the recommendation of the supervising teacher, a student’s Loading  in Loading  by the due date listed in the Loading ,4 and
    2. confirm it is the student’s own work, and has been developed in accordance with All My Own Work (or its equivalent), and
    3. verify that the content of a student’s project, submitted work or performance appropriately takes broad community standards into account.

Non-certification of HSC projects, submitted works and performances

  1. Principals must notify NESA in Loading  if a project, submitted work or performance does not meet NESA’s certification criteria. These include:
    1. late submission, and/or
    2. the supervising teacher is unable to certify that the work and/or a component of the work was completed by the student under their supervision, and/or
    3. the supervising teacher considers that the student has received unacknowledged assistance, including the use of generative artificial intelligence, for part of the work.
  2. A penalty may be applied to a student’s result for cases of non-certification of their project, submitted work or performance.
  3. Supervising teachers must:
    1. complete the non-certification form, and
    2. include all documented evidence of why they cannot validate the authenticity and integrity of a student’s work, and
    3. sign and provide a copy to the student.
  4. Students must:
    1. read and complete the form, and
    2. sign and return the form to their supervising teacher.
  5. Principals must sign and submit the non-certification form in Loading .

Submitting HSC projects, submitted works and performances

  1. Principals must:
    1. adhere to the collection dates published on Loading 
    2. ensure the works are prepared for submission, transportation (if applicable) and marking as per the Assessment and Reporting information for that course
    3. organise and pay to mail or transport an HSC submitted work to NESA for marking by the due date, as directed, and
    4. advise students there is no compensation for accidental loss or damage to a work while the submitted work is:
      1. with NESA, or
      2. in transit to and from marking.
  2. NESA will:
    1. publish the due dates for course submitted works annually on its Loading , and
    2. take every care with submitted works, but will not be held responsible for loss or damage to submitted works.
  3. Students may make special arrangements for the delivery and return of their own works at their own expense if they receive prior approval from NESA.
  4. For schools outside of NSW, please refer to your individual Memorandum of Understanding with NESA for submission, transportation, and marking.

Online resources

Related ACE Rules

For further information

For enquiries about certifying and submitting HSC projects, submitted works and performances, email studentsupport@nesa.nsw.edu.au.

Footnotes

  1. The Student Declaration Form states that the planning, development, content and presentation of the project, submitted work or performance is the students’ own work.

  2. For students with disability that prevents them from signing, schools must ‘record’ the student’s acknowledgment of the Student Declaration Form. Students with disability may have a parent/carer sign on their behalf.

  3. Students who outsource or require outside assistance for their project (eg specialised equipment, components or processes) must acknowledge this assistance where appropriate, including in their cover sheet, supporting documentation, project journal, folio, diary and/or log.

  4. Certification dates vary for each practical, each year. Certification occurs at the time of upload for projects, on the first day of marking commencement for performances, and 2 weeks prior to the marking period for practical works.

All My Own Work (AMOW)

An educational program designed to support students to follow the principles and practices of good scholarship before they are entered into Preliminary and/or HSC courses.

certification

Confirmation by schools that a student's HSC project, submitted work or performance is their own work.

integrity

The quality of being honest in the development of a student’s HSC project, submitted work or performance.

non-certification

A student's HSC project, submitted work or performance that a supervising teacher cannot certify.

practical component

Some HSC courses include an external practical or performance exam (or component) along with the written exam. This component makes up some or all of the final HSC exam mark.