HSC 2014 – The numbers

This page last updated 1 September 2014.

76 679 students are enrolled in at least one Higher School Certificate course. 37 731 or 49% are male and 38 948 or 51% are female.
69 346 students are completing their Higher School Certificate program this year.
314 candidates are enrolled in HSC courses outside of NSW, including in international schools in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Singapore.
HSC written exams will be held over 18 days between Monday 13 October and Wednesday 5 November. There are 116 different exam papers. The first exams are English Standard and Advanced and English as a Second Language (ESL), and the last are Entertainment Industry, French Extension, Information and Digital Technology and Retail Services.
There are more than 750 HSC exam centres in NSW.
The majority of HSC candidates in NSW come from the Sydney metropolitan area: 44 824 against 31 393 in the BOSTES' non-metropolitan regions.
Enrolments by BOSTES regions
English: 70 289 students are enrolled in at least one HSC English course.
These courses include: English Standard, English Advanced, English as a Second Language, English Extension 1, English Extension 2, English Life Skills and English Studies.
English is the only compulsory HSC subject.
Maths: 58 184 students are enrolled in at least one course from the Mathematics Key Learning Area. These courses include Mathematics, Mathematics Extension 1, Mathematics Extension 2, Mathematics General 2, Mathematics Life Skills, and Mathematics General 2. Mathematics General 2 is available for the first time in 2014 – and is a content endorsed course with no external examination.
Languages: 6 088 students are enrolled in at least one HSC language course.
Life Skills: 1 867 students are enrolled in at least one HSC Life Skills course.
Science: 34 605 students are enrolled in at least one HSC science course.
These courses include: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth and Environmental Science, Senior Science, and Science Life Skills.
VET: 23 686 students are enrolled in at least one HSC Vocational Educational and Training (VET) course. Of these, 21 212 are enrolled in one or more of the VET Industry curriculum frameworks.

Note: The numbers above may differ from total course enrolment numbers as a student, for example, can be enrolled in more than one course from a particular subject area.

15 most popular subjects (unique students)
1.	English	70 289
2.	Mathematics	58 184
3.	Biology	17 397
4.	Business Studies	16 316
5.	PDHPE*	15 572
6.	Studies of Religion	14 949
7.	Ancient History	11 414
8.	Chemistry	11 305
9.	Modern History	10 492
10.	Legal Studies	10 322
11.	Physics	9739
12.	Visual Arts	9480
13.	Hospitality	8363
14.	Community and Family Studies	7849
15.	Senior Science	7072

*Personal Development, Health and Physical Education

Note: These subjects include Life Skills enrolments where appropriate.

Enrolment by course

10 most popular Language courses
1.	French Continuers	800
2.	Japanese Beginners	699
3.	French Beginners	691
4.	Chinese Background Speakers	655
5.	Japanese Continuers	631
6.	Italian Beginners	355
7.	Italian Continuers	300
8.	German Continuers	278
9.	Arabic Continuers	214
10.	Spanish Beginners	203

Language course eligibility

Five most popular Language subjects
1.	French	1503
2.	Japanese	1363
3.	Chinese	914
4.	Italian	665
5.	Spanish	372

Enrolment by Language course

Five most popular VET Industry curriculum frameworks (unique students)
1.	Hospitality	8363
2.	Construction	3503
3.	Business Services	2361
4.	Retail Services	2185
5.	Metal and Engineering	1645

HSC Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses are delivered for the HSC by Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) including schools and colleges as part of a school system RTO, TAFE NSW Institutes and private providers.

Enrolment by VET Industry curriculum frameworks

Note: These statistics are based on a BOSTES enrolment snapshot, taken 1 September 2014.