HSC ‘mark adjustments’ for every NSW school revealed

Students at hundreds of schools across the state received “mark adjustments” in the HSC. Search every school in NSW here.

Extra marks given out for illness or misadventure surged after last year’s HSC exams while public school principals predict a rise in applications after students spent even more time in lockdown this year.

Students who were given what NESA calls a mark “adjustment” in their HSC final marks rose to a four year high of 5787 courses last year with fewer students having their applications for illness and misadventure rejected, according to official statistics.

While there were less applications for special consideration across the state last year, NESA appeared to be more sympathetic, with 80 per cent of them approved — an increase of nine percentage points compared to the previous year.

The adjustment means students who were awarded illness or misadventure consideration were given either their exam mark or school based assessment mark - whichever is higher for that course. Normally the final mark is half of a student’s exam mark while the remainder is based on performance in school based assessment.

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The school with the most approvals for special consideration was the IPEKA Integrated Christian School, which has numerous campuses across Indonesia. NESA data said 69 students sat HSC exams in 2020 and there were 377 applications for special consideration across numerous subjects.

The applications were upheld amid the widespread Covid outbreak in the country last year. Final results revealed the school had one of its best academic years on record when it came to mathematics in 2020.

The next school with the most applications was the North Shore’s Pymble Ladies College with 74 mark adjustments for students granted.

The cohort of 2020 was undoubtedly affected by the tragic suicide of some of their classmates earlier in the year.

That school was followed by Knox Grammar which had a cohort of 406 applications with a total of 55 mark adjustments issued to students.

A NSW Education Standards Authority spokeswoman said students this year should claim special provisions if a student felt unwell — or if they had been directed by NSW Health to self isolate.

“Students must not attend an exam venue if they are experiencing flu-like symptoms on the day of an exam and should get a Covid-19 test,” she said.

Secondary Principals’ Council President Craig Petersen.

Secondary Principals’ Council president Craig Petersen acknowledged some private schools had very legitimate reasons for applying for special consideration but said lodging applications was very time consuming for time poor principals in the public school system.

“We always keep a close eye on where they’re coming from because historically it seems to be more non-government schools that seem to be applying for misadventure than government schools,” he said.

“I have had colleagues who have estimated that if they were to make individual submissions for every student in every subject, they’re looking at 40-50 hours worth of work.”

This year, the NSW Standards Authority said schools in 12 LGAs could lodge cohort applications for their school providing students met certain criteria like not having access to a computer.

Association of Independent Schools of NSW chief executive Geoff Newcombe said that decision meant students, predominantly in southwest and western Sydney, were getting the provisions they needed.

“All schools in all sectors can apply for special consideration for individual students in the written exams. Schools in the 12 Local Government Areas of concern can make a group application,” he said.

More students are expected to apply for this year’s round of exams.

A Department of Education spokeswoman said public schools which received a high number of mark adjustments did so because they had a large cohort of students in their school.

“The most logical reason for the numbers is the school’s Year 12 population. All public schools listed have large Year 12 cohorts,” she said.

Some schools including Sydney Distance Education High school, which received 39 mark adjustments, 80 per cent of the Year 12 cohort had a disability.