Higher School Certificate (HSC) and School Certificate (SC) Media Guide 1999
Guidelines for Media Access During Higher School Certificate Examinations
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Board of Studies NSW MEDIA GUIDE - Higher School Certificate
and School Certificate 1999
Published by
Board of Studies NSW
GPO Box 5300
Sydney NSW 2001
September 1999
ISBN: 0 7313 4332 8
Guidelines for Media Access During Higher School Certificate Examinations
Schools have asked that there be no media on school premises prior
to the commencement of an examination.
All media should notify the principal of their arrival on school
premises.
If you wish to have access to a government school for footage,
photos or student interviews during the Higher School Certificate
examination period you will need to contact a Department of Education
and Training media liaison officer on 9561 8501 at least 24 hours
in advance.
If you wish to have access to a non-government school you should
approach the school direct.
All HSC media enquiries to:
Media and Public Relations Branch
Office of the Board of Studies
117 Clarence Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9367 8250
Mobile 0418 418 053
Fax (02) 9367 8479
1999 Higher School Certificate
|
11 October |
HSC Advice Line opens |
|
|
|
|
30 October |
Shakespeare marking -- Bathurst |
|
6 November |
Contemporary English (Listening) marking -- Armidale |
|
20 November |
Agriculture marking -- Bathurst |
|
6 December |
DesignTech opens -- Powerhouse Museum |
|
16 December |
HSC results available to students over Internet / telephone |
|
21 December |
HSC results available by mail |
|
28 January 2000 |
ARTEXPRESS commences -- Art Gallery of NSW |
|
7-12 February |
OnSTAGE -- Seymour Theatre Centre |
|
17 February |
Premier's Awards for Excellence in the Higher School Certificate |
|
24 February |
Encore -- Sydney Opera House |
The Higher School Certificate: breaking records
This year a record 66,768[1] students
around the world will sit for the New South Wales Higher School
Certificate examinations -- an increase of 1,101 on last year's
figure of 65,667. The first HSC examination took place in 1967 and
since then more than one million people have been awarded this internationally
recognised credential.
In 1999, the HSC offers 73[2] subjects
organised into 153 courses.
The change in the student demographic has also led to a large
increase in the number of students choosing vocational education
and training courses. Altogether, 9,570 Year 12 students have chosen
to study such courses in 1999, with 2,884 studying the Industry
Studies course, 6,273 studying Content Endorsed Courses (see page
31), and 413 studying local school developed courses.
The introduction of the Pathways program in 1994 enabled students to take a more flexible approach to their HSC studies, giving Year 12 students up to five years to complete their HSC courses. This year 5,380 Year 12 students chose to use the Pathways model (see page 20) in pursuing the Higher School Certificate.
-
66,768 students are enrolled as HSC candidates this year.
-
The subjects with the largest candidatures are English, Mathematics, Biology, Business Studies, General Studies and Computing Studies (in descending order), while the subjects with the smallest candidatures are Maltese, Slovenian, Comparative Literature, Czech, and Filipino (in ascending order).
-
Numbers of students doing the Science subjects of Biology, Chemistry, Geology and Physics have been increasing consistently since 1997.
-
The number of girls doing 2 Unit Design and Technology has more than doubled since 1995 (617 in 1995; 1335 in 1999). There has also been a marked increase in girls doing 3 Unit Design and Technology.
-
Other trends in student numbers this year show continuing rises in numbers doing Industrial Technology, Industry Studies, Studies of Religion (1 and 2 Unit) and Visual Arts (2 and 3 Unit).
HSC postcards from across the world
-
There are 190 overseas students sitting the HSC in 1999. Most are nationals from other countries where there are Board-recognised independent schools offering the NSW HSC, while some are Australian exchange students studying overseas.
-
There are 14 HSC students in Tonga; 42 in Singapore; 118 in Malaysia and 16 at the Ukarumpa International School in Papua New Guinea.
-
Three students from Norfolk Island are completing their HSC.
-
There are four NSW students sitting their examinations at the Victorian Board of Studies: one male student is a rating in the Royal Australian Navy; two female students are currently studying at the Victorian Dance School and one actress is currently filming a children's show in Melbourne.
-
The current Australian Youth Sailboarding Champion will be doing his HSC while competing in the World Sailboarding title in Noumea. This event is also being used as a trial for the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
-
Other students sitting the HSC overseas include: a country high school student sitting the HSC in the USA while on a basketball tour with the Australian Basketball Association; one of our nation's figure skaters will be in Russia and Croatia competing at the time of her examinations; three students in Turkey and Saudi Arabia; and another student in Africa on a Police Legacy Tour will be flying from Douala, Cameroon to Harare, Zimbabwe at the time of her examination.
-
There are also students sitting for the HSC in Sri Lanka, Norway, Germany, the United Kingdom, Papua New Guinea, France, Switzerland, Qatar, Fiji, Chile, New Zealand and the Solomon Islands.
-
There is a 13-year-old student from Sydney doing the HSC in Physics 2 Unit.
-
A 14-year-old student from the Central Coast is doing English 2 Unit, English 3 Unit and Modern History 2 Unit.
-
There are seven other 14-year-olds throughout the state studying HSC subjects: a boy from Padstow is doing Mathematics 3 Unit and 4 Unit; a boy from Caringbah is doing Computing Studies 2 Unit and 3 Unit; a boy from Goulburn is doing Computing Studies 2 Unit; a girl from Bonnyrigg is doing General Studies; a boy from Raby is doing English (General) 2 Unit; a girl from Sandy Point is doing Biology; and a boy from Epping is doing Chemistry.
-
The oldest HSC candidate this year is an 84-year-old student from Sydney's North Shore who is studying Business Studies 2 Unit.
-
There is a 75-year-old student from the Hunter region studying Aboriginal Studies 2 Unit, and a 71-year-old student from Sydney's west who is studying English (General) 2 Unit.
Please contact the Media and Public Relations Branch on (02)
9367 8250 if you would like more information regarding these students.
Examination papers for everyone
-
Six students sitting the HSC this year will have specially produced braille examination papers. The papers are an equivalent transcription of the standard examination papers but use a variety of techniques, including tactile diagrams.
-
Thirty-four students sitting this year's HSC will have examination papers that are specially designed to enable them to read the examination questions easily. As some students find it difficult to read text printed on paper of a certain colour, these papers have been printed in colours different from the standard papers.
-
There will be approximately 552 large-print examination papers produced for students with visual impairment. The papers' type size ranges from 18pt to 48pt and most of them are printed on A3-sized paper.
-
Approximately 28 hearing-impaired or deaf students sitting the listening paper examination in Contemporary English -- which is aimed at testing student comprehension -- will watch an Auslan, Signed English or subtitled video instead of listening to the usual audio tape.
There are 36 languages on offer in the 1999 HSC. Languages are
studied in both government and non-government schools, TAFE NSW,
and through approved outside tutors.
Many languages are studied through the Saturday School of Community
Languages, which had 2,219 students enrolled this year, or the Open
High School and other Distance Education Centres run by the Department
of Education and Training.
Japanese is still the most popular language, with 1,624 students
-- in 1979 there were only 56 students studying Japanese in NSW.
Languages that have been popular in the past, such as French, German
and Italian, continue to have appeal.
This is the first year that HSC candidates have undertaken Khmer.
Filipino (Tagalog) was examined for the first time last year. Other
recent languages in the HSC include Hindi, Persian and Portuguese.
Twenty-six languages are supported under the National Assessment Framework for Languages at Senior Secondary Level (NAFLaSSL). All are developed according to a common structure emphasising the ability to communicate in varied contexts, flexibility to accommodate all students in all areas of Australia, and emphasis on cultural awareness.
Release of HSC results information to the media
The Board of Studies will provide the media with the HSC Course
Merit List -- a list that details the students who have achieved
a mark of 90% or more for each course. This mark is a composite
of both the examination mark and the moderated school assessment
mark.
The Board of Studies does not have access to students' UAI information from the Universities Admissions Centre. Individual results are confidential and will not be provided to parties other than the student, the Universities Admissions Centre and the universities to which the student has applied.
Helping students to help themselves
The HSC Advice Line first opened in October 1995 to offer HSC students
advice and information from highly qualified teachers, prior to
the examinations.
In its first year of operation, 23,849 students called the HSC
Advice Line. Last year 35,048 students called. The average call
is approximately ten minutes in duration. The Advice Line has received
very positive feedback from students, parents and teachers since
its inception.
The Advice Line is designed to give support and advice to students
at times when students cannot access their own teachers -- on weekends
and after school hours throughout the examination period. It opens
on Monday 11 October 1999, nine days before the examinations begin,
and concludes on Tuesday 16 November.
No matter where a student is calling from in New South Wales, the cost is that of a local call. The phone-in service is staffed by more than 700 teachers who are chosen on the basis of their experience and expertise in their subject areas. The service will offer advice for the following large candidature subjects:
|
Ancient History (all courses) |
Geology |
|
Biology |
Legal Studies (2/3 & 3 Unit) |
|
Business Studies (2/3 & 3 Unit) |
Mathematics (all courses) |
|
Chemistry |
Modern History (all courses) |
|
Computing Studies (all courses) |
PDHPE |
|
Economics (2/3 & 3 Unit) |
Physics |
|
English (all courses) |
Science (all courses) |
|
General Studies |
Studies of Religion (1 & 2 Unit) |
|
Geography (2/3 & 3 Unit) |
Visual Arts (2/3 & 3 Unit) |
The Advice Line will operate up until, and including, the night
prior to the final examination in each of the above subjects.
The hours of operation will be Monday to Friday 4 pm-10 pm, Saturday
10 am-6 pm and
Sunday 10 am-10 pm.
The Advice Line telephone number is 13 11 12.
Students with hearing difficulties
Students with hearing difficulties have access to the HSC Advice Line through a teletypewriter facility. A letter is sent to all students with a hearing impairment advising students of a direct number to call if they need to access the teletypewriter.
The website address is http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au
Since the Board of Studies launched its website on the World Wide
Web in September 1995, the site has opened direct communication
channels for 100,000 teachers and one million students.
The website receives an average of 60,000 `hits' a day throughout
the year. This is an extraordinarily high rate for an Australian
non-entertainment site. The Australian web-statistics site (www.top100.com.au)
records that the BOS NSW website is among the top 20 websites in
the Education and Government categories of all sites accessed by
Australians.
With more and more schools accessing the Internet, students and
teachers can link up to the Board's site to find out important information
relating to syllabuses, the School Certificate, the Higher School
Certificate and Board publications. Many teachers and students regard
the BOS website as their `filing cabinet online', as it contains
so many important documents that they can refer to frequently.
Students doing the Higher School Certificate are able to access
a calendar of important dates leading up to the examinations, as
well as the Higher School Certificate examination timetable. They
can download or view copies of all the past HSC examination papers
from 1995-98 (over 800 multi-page document files); they can download
HSC examiners' reports on those past HSC papers as well as their
own copies of their subject syllabuses.
Students and teachers are also able to access Board of Studies
publications such as Board Bulletin, which offers important
news and updates about Board requirements and On Board, a
magazine for students in Years 10, 11 and 12 that is written and
designed by students in Years 10, 11 and 12.
The average visitor to the Board website views seven pages. In
the weeks following the launch of the final new HSC syllabuses,
more than 5,000 copies of syllabuses a day were being downloaded
by parents, teachers and the interested public. Many of these documents
are over a hundred pages in size.
The site offers a sample of Board products, including access to
extracts from some of the educational CD-ROMs produced by the Board
of Studies. About 70 e-mails a day are received on the Board website
with orders for Board products, inquiries about the availability
of particular documents and requests for general information. These
are directed to the appropriate Board officer for attention. The
Board of Studies updates its site frequently (daily at busy times),
adding new announcements, syllabuses and support documents and other
useful information. The process for the web publication of documents
has been refined so that now the document may appear on the website
within an hour of the final version being authorised for publication.
A list of links to school websites throughout Australia is maintained (now over 1,100). Schools are listed at their request only.
Accessing the Board of Studies website
Users of the Board's website gain access in the following ways:
80% from their own bookmarking of the Board's website
10% from key-word searches in a search engine
5% through the Board's linking with the Department of Education
and Training and Charles Sturt University HSC On-line website
(http://hsc.csu.edu.au)
5% through the hundreds of other link pages where the Board site
is listed (such as the Macquarie University Library Link Pages).
HSC On-line: http://hsc.csu.edu.au
The HSC On-line website gives students sitting for the HSC access
to a wealth of HSC resources and support, no matter where they live.
HSC On-line's materials have been developed by highly experienced
HSC teachers and examiners. Each subject site is broken into Tutorials,
Exams and Resources, and provides detailed information on core and
elective topics. The HSC On-line site also includes Study and Exam
techniques, information for teachers on on-line teaching techniques
and research, links to schools, and a segment called `Broadening
Horizons', where students can find information on post-HSC options
and careers.
It makes help available to students in most major HSC subjects,
including Aboriginal Studies, Agriculture, Ancient History (all
courses), Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computing Studies,
Cosmology, Design and Technology, Drama, English (all courses),
French, Geography, Japanese, Mathematics (all courses), Modern History
(all courses), Music, PDHPE, Society and Culture, Studies of Religion,
and Visual Arts. The site is constantly being updated and expanded,
with Dance, Economics, Food Technology, German, Indonesian and Physics
all being added in the last 12 months.
The HSC On-line project is a joint venture between the Department of Education and Training and Charles Sturt University. It is supported by the Board of Studies NSW and the Professional Teachers' Council.
The CD-ROM contains Higher School Certificate examination papers
and selected examination reports from 1995-1998. Schools are provided
with all the HSC examination papers on CD-ROM in Adobe Acrobat Reader
format (except those languages with non-Romanic scripts, subjects
with small candidatures, and music or language tapes). Acrobat allows
access across Macintosh and Windows computers and is provided to
schools at no charge.
This allows ease of access to the HSC papers and reports when it is difficult to download them from the Board of Studies NSW website. This initiative was developed in 1996 in response to schools' requests to provide past papers early in the new year.
Candidates by geographical location
|
Category of candidates |
Candidate number |
Proportion of total |
|
Metropolitan |
42,113 |
63.07% |
|
Country |
24,462 |
36.64% |
|
Interstate and overseas |
193 |
.29% |
|
School students |
63,867 |
95.65% |
|
TAFE students |
2870 |
4.30% |
|
Self-tuition students |
31 |
.05% |
|
Total |
66768 |
100% |
Geographical Location[3]
|
Female |
Male |
Total |
% of total students |
|
|
Metropolitan Categories |
||||
|
Metropolitan East |
5576 |
4912 |
10,488 |
15.71% |
|
Metropolitan North |
3694 |
3767 |
7,461 |
11.18% |
|
Metropolitan South West |
5172 |
4729 |
9,901 |
14.83% |
|
Metropolitan North West |
5759 |
5362 |
11,121 |
16.66% |
|
Total |
20,201 |
18,770 |
38,971 |
58.37% |
|
Country Categories |
||||
|
Hunter |
3604 |
3190 |
6,794 |
10.18% |
|
North Coast |
2682 |
2308 |
4,990 |
7.47% |
|
North West |
1266 |
992 |
2,258 |
3.38% |
|
Riverina |
1874 |
1584 |
3,458 |
5.18% |
|
South Coast |
3390 |
3051 |
6,441 |
9.65% |
|
Western |
1952 |
1679 |
3,631 |
5.44% |
|
Total |
14,768 |
12,804 |
27,572 |
41.29% |
|
Overseas Categories |
||||
|
All overseas |
98 |
95 |
193 |
|
|
Total |
98 |
95 |
193 |
.29% |
|
Other Categories |
||||
|
All other |
16 |
16 |
32 |
|
|
Total |
16 |
16 |
32 |
.05% |
|
Total of all categories |
35,083 |
31,685 |
66,768 |
100% |
Subjects with the largest candidatures
|
Subject |
Candidates |
|
English |
60,496 |
|
Mathematics |
59,676 |
|
Biology |
15,754 |
|
Business Studies |
15,656 |
|
General Studies |
15,110 |
|
Computing Studies |
15,024 |
|
Chemistry |
10,734 |
|
Modern History |
10,704 |
|
Visual Arts |
10,211 |
|
PDHPE |
9,470 |
|
Physics |
9,400 |
|
Studies of Religion |
9,025 |
|
Geography |
8,998 |
|
Legal Studies |
7,701 |
Subjects with the smallest candidatures
|
Subject |
Candidates |
|
Maltese |
2 |
|
Slovenian |
2 |
|
Comparative Literature |
3 |
|
Czech |
3 |
|
Filipino |
3 |
|
Latvian |
3 |
|
Dutch |
6 |
|
Hindi |
8 |
|
Ukrainian |
8 |
|
Hungarian |
10 |
Entries by Course and Subjects
|
Course Name |
Units |
Male |
Female |
Total |
|
Aboriginal Studies |
2 |
129 |
355 |
484 |
|
Accounting |
2 |
199 |
218 |
417 |
|
Agriculture |
2 |
1069 |
706 |
1775 |
|
Agriculture |
3 |
128 |
101 |
229 |
|
Ancient History |
2 |
1345 |
2078 |
3423 |
|
Ancient History |
3 |
474 |
870 |
1344 |
|
Ancient History (Personalities & Times) |
2 |
1162 |
1738 |
2900 |
|
Applied Studies |
1 |
477 |
541 |
1018 |
|
Arabic |
2 |
13 |
11 |
24 |
|
Arabic |
3 |
58 |
58 |
116 |
|
Arabic (General) |
2 |
91 |
169 |
260 |
|
Arabic Z |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Armenian |
2 |
9 |
8 |
17 |
|
Biology |
2 |
5550 |
10204 |
15754 |
|
Business Studies |
2 |
6604 |
5903 |
12507 |
|
Business Studies |
3 |
1617 |
1532 |
3149 |
|
Chemistry |
2 |
5726 |
5008 |
10734 |
|
Chinese |
2 |
26 |
24 |
50 |
|
Chinese |
3 |
13 |
17 |
30 |
|
Chinese (BS) |
2 |
103 |
75 |
178 |
|
Chinese (BS) |
3 |
175 |
201 |
376 |
|
Chinese Z |
2 |
3 |
5 |
8 |
|
Classical Ballet |
2 |
0 |
21 |
21 |
|
Classical Ballet |
3 |
1 |
21 |
22 |
|
Classical Greek |
2 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
|
Classical Greek |
3 |
6 |
0 |
6 |
|
Comparative Literature- Distinction Course |
2 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
|
Computing Studies |
2 |
4759 |
2477 |
7236 |
|
Computing Studies |
3 |
1518 |
264 |
1782 |
|
Computing Studies (General) |
2 |
3092 |
2914 |
6006 |
|
Contemporary English |
2 |
12435 |
8408 |
21843 |
|
Cosmology -- Distinction Course |
2 |
15 |
12 |
27 |
|
Croatian |
2 |
23 |
18 |
41 |
|
Czech |
2 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
|
Dance |
2 |
12 |
281 |
293 |
|
Design and Technology |
2 |
2872 |
1335 |
4207 |
|
Design and Technology |
3 |
305 |
274 |
579 |
|
Drama |
2 |
979 |
2736 |
3715 |
|
Dutch |
2 |
4 |
2 |
6 |
|
Economics |
2 |
2712 |
1887 |
4599 |
|
Economics |
3 |
843 |
575 |
1418 |
|
Electronics Technology |
2 |
163 |
3 |
166 |
|
Engineering Science |
2 |
1195 |
75 |
1270 |
|
Engineering Science |
3 |
159 |
7 |
166 |
|
English |
2 |
2430 |
4423 |
6853 |
|
English |
3 |
437 |
1106 |
1543 |
|
English (General) |
2 |
13284 |
16973 |
30257 |
|
Estonian |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Filipino (Tagalog) |
2 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
|
Food Technology |
2 |
660 |
2568 |
3228 |
|
Food Technology |
3 |
45 |
363 |
408 |
|
French |
2 |
55 |
153 |
208 |
|
French |
3 |
49 |
93 |
142 |
|
French (General) |
2 |
111 |
444 |
555 |
|
French Z |
2 |
87 |
358 |
445 |
|
General Science |
2 |
1232 |
856 |
2088 |
|
General Studies |
1 |
7111 |
7999 |
15110 |
|
Geography |
2 |
3798 |
3130 |
6928 |
|
Geography |
3 |
1016 |
1054 |
2070 |
|
Geology |
2 |
133 |
145 |
278 |
|
German |
2 |
53 |
102 |
155 |
|
German |
3 |
61 |
74 |
135 |
|
German (General) |
2 |
120 |
224 |
344 |
|
German Z |
2 |
38 |
104 |
142 |
|
Hebrew |
2 |
4 |
5 |
9 |
|
Hebrew |
3 |
12 |
6 |
18 |
|
Hebrew (General) |
2 |
20 |
19 |
39 |
|
Hindi |
2 |
1 |
7 |
8 |
|
Hungarian |
2 |
5 |
5 |
10 |
|
Indonesian |
2 |
34 |
103 |
137 |
|
Indonesian |
3 |
11 |
38 |
49 |
|
Indonesian (BS) |
2 |