IF YOUR child is entering their senior years, you’ll need to understanding the grading system to help them make subject choices.The final mark a student receives at the end of Year 12 is their Higher School Certificate (HSC) which is a 50:50 combination of a student’s examination mark and school-based assessment mark for each course. The Board puts the marks through a process of moderation to allow a fair comparison of marks in each course across different schools. The examination mark for each course shows the student's performance in the HSC examination for that course. Each student's achievement is assessed and reported against set stand ards of performance. HSC marks for each course are divided into bands and each band aligns with a description of a typical performance by a student within that mark range. For a 2 unit course, Band 6 indicates the highest level of performance and the minimum standard expected is 50. The 'average' performance in most courses is usually a mark in the mid-70s (Band 4). The HSC results are used by the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC) to calculate a rank order of students known as the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR). The ATAR is a ranking system used to allocate university placements. To be eligible for an ATAR, students must satisfactorily complete at least 10 units of certain Board Developed Courses.
