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 Agriculture
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:
demonstrates extensive knowledge and understanding of the complex factors associated with sustainable and commercial agriculture
demonstrates skilful analysis of the influence and interaction of natural capital, plants, animals and microbes on agricultural production
demonstrates highly developed skills in justifying and applying research methodologies in agricultural investigations
skilfully integrates appropriate data and evidence from a range of sources to effectively communicate agricultural concepts
Band 5
A student who performs at this level typically:
demonstrates thorough knowledge and understanding of the complex factors associated with sustainable and commercial agriculture
demonstrates effective analysis of the influence and interaction of natural capital, plants, animals and microbes on agricultural production
demonstrates well-developed skills in justifying and applying research methodologies in agricultural investigations
effectively integrates appropriate data and evidence from a range of sources to communicate agricultural concepts
Band 4
A student who performs at this level typically:
demonstrates sound knowledge and understanding of the factors associated with sustainable and commercial agricultural production
demonstrates sound analysis of the influence and interaction of natural capital, plants, animals and microbes on agricultural production
demonstrates sound skills in justifying and applying research methodologies in agricultural investigations
clearly integrates appropriate data and evidence from a range of sources to communicate agricultural concepts
Band 3
A student who performs at this level typically:
demonstrates basic knowledge and understanding of one or more factors associated with sustainable and commercial agricultural production
describes the influence and interaction of natural capital, plants, animals and/or microbes on agricultural production
demonstrates basic skills in using research methodologies in agricultural investigations
describes data and evidence to communicate agricultural concepts
Band 2
A student who performs at this level typically:
demonstrates elementary knowledge and understanding of sustainable and commercial agricultural production
outlines the influence or interaction of natural capital, plants, animals or microbes
demonstrates limited skills in using research methodologies in agricultural investigations
outlines data and evidence or agricultural concepts
Band 1
Performance reported as Band 1 indicates that the minimum standard expected was not demonstrated.