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Preliminary and HSC course commencement

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NESA is authorised under section 95 of the Education Act 1990 (NSW) to prepare and distribute to schools information relating to HSC eligibility and courses of study for candidates for the HSC.

Categories

HSC (curriculum)PreliminaryVET

Starting Preliminary courses

  1. The delivery of Preliminary courses must not commence before Day 1, Term 1 of Year 11, except for students studying under a compressed curriculum model. While Stage 6 VET courses do not distinguish between Preliminary and HSC courses the course commencement rules still apply.
  2. Schools delivering compressed curriculum must not begin teaching Preliminary courses before Week 6, Term 4 of Year 10.

Online resources

Related ACE Rules

For further information

For general curriculum enquiries contact curriculum@nesa.nsw.edu.au.

For advice about starting Preliminary or HSC courses please contact Manager, Liaison Unit on (02) 9367 8387 or by email at liaisonteam@nesa.nsw.edu.au.

Categories

HSC (curriculum)PreliminaryVET

Starting HSC courses

  1. Schools must not commence the delivery of HSC courses before Day 1, Term 41, except for students undertaking a compressed curriculum delivery model. While Stage 6 VET courses do not distinguish between Preliminary and HSC courses the course commencement rules still apply.
  2. Schools must be satisfied that students, including those undertaking a compressed curriculum delivery model, have satisfactorily completed the Preliminary course before commencing the HSC course.

Prescriptions

  1. In Stage 6, schools must not teach any HSC course prescriptions until the commencement of the HSC course(s).

Related ACE Rules

For further information

For general curriculum enquiries contact curriculum@nesa.nsw.edu.au.

For advice about starting Preliminary or HSC courses please contact Manager, Liaison Unit on (02) 9367 8387 or by email at liaisonteam@nesa.nsw.edu.au.

Footnotes

  1. Topics from the Mathematics Extension 1 HSC course may be taught before all the topics of the Mathematics Extension 1 Preliminary course have been taught.

compressed curriculum

The delivery and completion of a Stage 6 Preliminary and HSC course in one calendar year, instead of 2 years.

prescriptions

Text requirements for HSC study, assessment and exam in Stage 6 courses in the learning areas of English; Languages and Creative Arts; and for the Dance and Drama Stage 6 syllabuses. Stage 6 prescriptions in English comprise a list of texts from which texts are chosen, along with requirements around text types and content, with no single text on the list being compulsory. For Stage 6 Languages, Dance and Drama courses, text prescriptions comprise a compulsory list of texts to be studied by students.