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The Higher School Certificate, or HSC, is the credential awarded to secondary school students who successfully complete senior high school level studies (years 11 and 12 or equivalent) in New South Wales, Australia.
Patterns of Study The majority of students undertake HSC-related courses over the final two years of high school, however it is possible to undertake different study patterns over different time periods or through different teaching organisations. There are a great number of possible courses students can study, totalling over 100 (including languages), in a wide range of subject areas. However, most schools offer students a smaller selection from which they must choose. The only compulsory subject area is English, with one of English Advanced, English Standard, English as a Second Language or English Life Skills required for the award of the HSC. Individual schools may require their students to undertake certain courses, as is the case with Studies of Religion in many religious schools or Agriculture in agricultural schools, however these are internal school requirements separate from HSC requirements. There are also three distance education distinction courses run through regional universities available to students who have finished 2 units ahead of their cohort. Most courses offered comprise a preliminary (Year 11) component and an HSC (Year 12) component. As a general rule the preliminary component must be completed prior to the HSC component. Furthermore, each subject is designated as either one or two "units". Each unit involves approximately two hours of formal tuition per week, and contributes a maximum mark of 50. The majority of courses are two unit courses, and thus students receive marks out of 100 in these courses. Extension courses, each with a value of one unit, may be included in the study program, meaning that a certain subject area may have up to four units, e.g. English (Advanced) (two units) plus English Extension 1 and English Extension 2 (each worth one unit). To be eligible for the award of the HSC a student must have satisfied the requirements in at least twelve preliminary level units, and at least ten HSC level units, with the additional requirements that: Further restrictions may apply in certain subject areas. Note that these requirements are for the award of the HSC. Further requirements regarding study patterns apply if the student wishes to apply for a separate University Admissions Index (UAI) rank based on their HSC performance. Available Courses There are two main types of courses available in the HSC: Board Developed Courses and Board Endorsed Courses. Board Developed Courses have a syllabus and final exam set by the Board of Studies, and generally may be included in the calculation of the UAI. Board Endorsed Courses are developed by the school, and may vary from school to school in regards to content and assessment. The following is a list of Board Developed Courses available to students. In addition, some VET (Vocational Education and Training) courses are offered. In addition to HSC credit, completion of these courses may earn an industry Certificate II. Ten of these are Board Developed Courses (BDC) Languages are also offered as Beginners, Continuers, Extension and Background Speakers courses. Only one course of any one language may be taken, with the exception of Extension, available only to students taking the Continuers course. Due to the large number of language courses, they have been listed separately. The letters B, C, E, and BS indicate which courses are available for study. For New South Wales' brightest students the Board of Studies offers Distinction Courses. These courses are offered in order to challenge academic high achievers as Distinction Courses are of first year university level difficulty. Typically, there are very few students invited to take a Distinction Course and to be considered, a student must have accelerated (i.e. sat for a subject in at least one year before they receive their HSC) in at least one two-unit HSC subject and received exceptional results. The three Distinction Courses are: Assessment A student's final mark in each subject is determined by a combination of in-school assessments conducted throughout the HSC component of a course, and externally-administered final exam(s) typically held in October or November of that year. In addition to comprising half of a student's final assessment result in a subject, external exam results are also used to statistically moderate in-school assessment results between different schools. These exams are administered by the Board of Studies, which is responsible for the overall oversight of the HSC. As of October 30, 2006, the 2006 HSC examinations are underway. Award Upon successful completion of a satisfactory pattern of study students are awarded the Higher School Certificate by way of a testamur. Whenever a student has completed a component of a course they also receive feedback regarding their results in that course, which typically includes exam results, school assessment results and the performance band in which their performance lies. HSC results may also be used to calculate the University Admissions Index (UAI). It was formerly called TER (Tertiary Entrance Rank.) This is a separate ranking calculated by another body, the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC), and is primarily used to determining university admissions for most undergraduate university courses. The UAI is not a part of the HSC itself, and since 1998 has been issued separately from the HSC notice in order to distinguish the two. Criticisms The HSC has been criticised for placing too much weight on the final exam, thus causing excessive stress to students and favouring those who cram for exams at the expense of those who work steadily throughout but do not cope well with pressure, even though 50% of the student's mark is based on in-school assessments which are subsequently modified according to the schools performance in an exam. Others argue that there is not enough emphasis on tests, and too many marks are taken from take-home assessment tasks. In mid 2005, there was media criticism regarding the involvement of tutors in the production of home-based assignments *. These allegations prompted the Board President, Gordon Stanley, to issue a reminder in June to all year 12 students of proper procedure and a warning against plagiarism *. Also in examinations, testing has been criticised , as the questions have been deemed in some cases very vague. Some argue that the policies of mandatory completion of two units of English and its compulsory inclusion in the calculation of the UAI disadvantage those without strong literary background, or those born in overseas. Those supporting the policies regarding mandatory completion of English point out, however, that the completion of English units is necessary for success in tertiary education and professional life. Another criticism is that the nature of the UAI scaling process sometimes encourage students to "play the system", taking subjects which make it easier to score the UAI they need to enter a course rather than subjects which might be more relevant to that course (the effect of taking courses with lower candidatures, a flaw abused in the older HSC, in order to achieve a higher percentile has been minimised by the capping of subjects in which a maximum scaled mark is placed lower than the norm). Criticism has been made by public figures such as Cardinal George Pell that the English course as a whole contains too much contemporary texts, such as the ATSIC website and the film The Fellowship of the Ring instead of more classical literature such as Paradise Lost or Bleak House *. Advocates of the course say that it offers a very broad selection of texts, ranging from classic books such as Brave New World to influential modern media such as Frontline. See also | ||||||||
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