Have you planned out what assessments you have, when they are, and what Module they are for? You’re not alone.
In this final part of the guide, we’ll give you an overview of the Year 12 English Assessments and different parts of the HSC for the 2019 syllabus. Students in Year 12 often lose sight of the bigger picture and don’t think about how all of their assessments fit together and how they should plan ahead to deal with them. This is especially true of the new cohort sitting the revamped HSC for English.
Most students get caught up in the immediacy of Year 12 and end up being reactive rather than proactive.
To succeed in Year 12, you really need to be on top of your assessments and schedule from day one. This may sound daunting, but we have your back.
Year 12 assessments are made up of internal and external assessments. The external assessment is the HSC which is comprised of Paper 1 and Paper 2. Your internal marks comprise 50% of your HSC Mark and your HSC Examination result comprises the other 50% of your HSC Mark. Your HSC mark will determine which performance band (out of 6) you will be placed in.
The internal assessments are now the same, all schools can only set 4 internal assessments for English Advanced. The policy of standard assessment and reporting is done so that all students in NSW in Year 12 undertake the same number of assessments with a specific weighting (meaning distribution) of marks. The rules around internal assessments and their weighting are a little complex. Let’s take a look at them:
At Matrix, we provide you with clear and structured lessons, quality resources, and personalised feedback from HSC English experts! Learn more about our Year 12 English Advanced Matrix course now.
The mandated 4 internal assessments have further rules around them. Let’s see what they mean for you:
You can see that there are quite a few variables in this schedule of assessment. A good way to get your head around this is with this flowchart:
That’s up to your school’s teachers and English Department.
NESA does not mandate which assessment will be had for which Module. The only thing you can take as a given is that Common Module, Module A, and Module B will be assessed in your HSC Trial Exam, while Module C may be assessed also.
This means that there may be inconsistencies between schools as to what Module will have a multimodal presentation or what you will do for Module C assessments.
Because Module C can be assessed concurrently with other units, you may well face assessments that come in several parts.
For example for the Common Module, you might study George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. For your assessment for this Module, you could be given the following assessment worth 40%:
This is a complex task, that would require a significant amount of work. Fewer assessments do not mean less work.
If you would like to know more about HSC marks, scaling, and learn how your ATAR is calculated, you should read our Beginner’s Guide to ATAR and Scaling. If you want to work out what marks you’ll need to for the ATAR you’re chasing, you should use our ATAR calculator.
All HSC students sit an HSC Trial examination. This is essentially a dry-run of the HSC that carries a much smaller weighting than the proper HSC Exam.
Depending on when your school sits the HSC Trial exam, not all the HSC English Modules may be assessed. You may or may not be assessed on Module C
The HSC Trial exam will have two papers:
The Trial papers will have the same structure as the HSC Paper which we will discuss in detail below.
The HSC Examination is sat by every student in Year 12. It is currently sat over two days, usually the first Monday and Wednesday during the examination period. The HSC Exam for English Advanced has two parts:
Let’s have a look at what is involved in these papers.
Paper One has two sections, all of which are focused on the Common Module. Each section assesses a particular skillset – essay writing and comprehension. Students receive 90 minutes of writing time and 10 minutes of reading time. This paper is worth 40 marks.
We’ve produced a practice Paper 1 that you can download, here. We’ll send you the marking criteria and sample answers after you’ve had a day to complete it, so you can see how you went.
If you need help getting your head around the unseen questions in Paper 1 Section 1, read our Ultimate Guide For Answering Common Module Unseen Questions!
You can find our Common Module Practice questions, here.
Paper Two also has 3 sections, each section focuses on a different Module. Students will get 5 minutes reading time and 2 hrs writing time. This equates to forty minutes per section. This paper is worth 60 marks.
To help you with paper 2, we’ve put together the following sets of practice questions:
Stage 6 English is large and complex. To be successful students should take advantage of as many resources as they can. Below are some free external resources that Matrix English Teachers and Students recommend.
We hope you found this guide and the links provided to be a useful resource for aiding your English Studies throughout Year 11 and 12. Matrix hopes that you are successful in achieving your academic goals for English for the coming year.
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