Assessment
Course standards
Course standards are comprised of syllabus standards and performance standards. Syllabus outcomes and content form the syllabus standards that describe what students are expected to know, understand and do. Performance standards, including the Common Grade Scale for Preliminary courses, HSC Performance Band Descriptions and Achievement Level Descriptions (for HSC courses with grades only) describe how well students have achieved in relation to syllabus standards. Performance standards are used to report student achievement on NESA credentials.
Common Grade Scale for Preliminary courses
The Loading provides generic, holistic descriptions for performance at each of the 5 grade levels. It is used to report student achievement in Year 11 courses in all NSW schools.
Performance band descriptions for Biology
HSC performance band descriptions summarise the knowledge, understanding and skills typically demonstrated by students at each band level in a particular course. NESA uses these holistic descriptions to report a student's overall level of achievement in an HSC course.
Band 6
A student who performs at this level typically:
demonstrate extensive knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts in Biology
applies knowledge and understanding to unfamiliar situations to explain and propose solutions to complex scientific scenarios
designs and plans investigations to obtain accurate, reliable, valid and relevant primary and secondary data and information, evaluates and mitigates risks, and makes effective modifications in response to new evidence
selects, processes, interprets and represents data using a range of scientific formats to show patterns and relationships, derive trends, explain phenomena and make predictions
designs solutions to complex problems, questions or hypotheses using data and by applying scientific processes, modelling and formats
communicates scientific understanding succinctly, logically and consistently using accurate scientific terms in a variety of formats and contexts.
Band 5
A student who performs at this level typically:
demonstrates thorough knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts in Biology
applies knowledge and understanding to unfamiliar situations to explain scientific scenarios
designs and plans investigations to obtain accurate, reliable, valid and relevant primary and secondary data and information, evaluates and mitigates risks, and makes some modifications in response to new evidence
selects, processes, interprets and represents data using a range of scientific formats to show patterns and relationships, derive trends, describe phenomena and make predictions
designs solutions to problems, questions or hypotheses using data and by applying scientific processes, modelling and formats
communicates scientific understanding succinctly and logically using accurate scientific terms in a variety of formats and contexts.
Band 4
A student who performs at this level typically:
demonstrates sound knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts in Biology
applies knowledge and information relevant to scientific issues and scenarios
designs and plans investigations to obtain primary and secondary data and evaluates risks
processes, interprets and represents data using a range of scientific formats
uses scientific processes to address problems, questions or hypotheses
communicates scientific understanding effectively using scientific terms.
Band 3
A student who performs at this level typically:
demonstrates basic knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts in Biology
recalls scientific knowledge and information
implements scientific processes to obtain primary and secondary data and identifies risks
processes and represents data using scientific formats
responds to scientific problems, questions or hypotheses
communicates basic scientific understanding.
Band 2
A student who performs at this level typically:
demonstrates limited knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts in Biology
recalls limited scientific knowledge and information in Biology
outlines investigations to obtain data and information
provides simple descriptions of scientific problems
communicates limited scientific understanding.
Band 1
Performance reported as Band 1 indicates that the minimum standard expected was not demonstrated.