Year 12 students will no longer use pen and paper in extension English examinations and instead write essays on a computer in one of the most significant changes to the HSC in its 57-year history.
HSC mathematics will also undergo an overhaul after exam bosses decided to scrap highly contentious “common” questions answered by both advanced and standard students after teachers said they confused too many students.
Hornsby Girls High School English head teacher Richard Strauss with year 12 students. Credit: Louise Kennerley
Final exams for the extension 1 and extension 2 English courses will take place online from 2027. The English standard and advanced courses will remain pen and paper.
“We want to be clear that handwriting is still a vital skill, while continuing to modernise the HSC exam experience for students,” NSW Education Standards Authority head Paul Martin said.
The exam for science extension is already online, while enterprise computing and software engineering exams will be sat on computer next year. But English extension students will be the biggest cohort sitting an HSC exam online, with about 5000 students each year across both courses.
Other major changes for the extension 1 course include a shift away from postmodernist literary theory. The previous syllabus instructed students to find multiple meanings in a text and examine a “a range of conceptual frameworks”.
Extension 1 and extension 2 students will no longer use pens from 2027.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
Martin said the study of English had to be rooted in the actual contents of the texts being studied.
“There is some accuracy and reasonableness about interrogating the text outside of the time that the person wrote it, but it can go to a point where your own reaction and response becomes more important than the intent of the author and what the text is trying to convey,” he said.
“It’s my strong view that students should know the plot and the themes and the characters and the quotes and the symbolism. ”
The new syllabus asks students to “evaluate the ways meaning is made through an author’s choice of textual form and language features”.
Hornsby Girls High School head of English Richard Strauss said he found the new syllabus to be a lot clearer.
“The key phrases are authors, text, readers and context,” he said. “There are theorists who deal with that, but it is a not a tour of the great ‘isms’ of literary theory.”
English extension 2, a subject created by the Carr government in 1997 where students complete a 6000-word major work, will be cut back in scale to include an online exam.
Instead of having months to just write their major work, students will spend some of the year completing a depth study called author and authority – a move welcomed by Strauss, who said the current system with everything due at the end was “actually quite a dangerous way to run an HSC” for those who procrastinate.
The new exam will be worth 40 per cent of their final mark, and the smaller major work will be worth 60 per cent.
In mathematics, the standard, advanced and extension courses will all stay largely intact, but controversial “common” questions between the standard and advanced courses will be scrapped from 2027.
Standard students previously complained they were blindsided by the daunting questions in the exams.
The move is designed to be more upfront with students about exactly what to expect in exams, in a bid to increase enrolments in the subject.
About 22 per cent of HSC students opted out of maths last year, compared with 6 per cent in 2000.
North Sydney Girls maths teacher Madhu Narayanan said the new maths syllabus provided more clarity for teachers.
“With new teachers entering the profession, it is really good that the new syllabus is a lot more specific,” she said.
Education Minister Prue Car said the release of the new “rigorous” curriculum was a significant milestone in NSW education.
“We need NSW students developing foundational understanding and skills in maths in primary school, and building on these strong foundations in years 7 to 10 to equip them to pursue maths in Years 11and 12 and beyond,” she said.
“I thank the teachers from all school sectors who played a role in developing these new syllabuses, which will ensure our students get a world-class education in NSW schools.”
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