Higher School Certificate (New South Wales)
To be eligible for the award of the HSC a student must have:[9] Some courses have certain rules and prerequisites such as:[9] Further restrictions may apply in certain subject areas.Schools are responsible for setting assessment tasks such as exams, assignments, fieldwork or practical activities, as well as deciding due dates.[11][12] Upon successful completion of a satisfactory pattern of study, students are awarded the Higher School Certificate by way of a testamur.HSIE (Human Society and Its Environment): [20] Mathematics: [21] Science: [22] TAS (Technological and Applied Studies): [23] Creative Arts: [24] PDHPE (Personal Development, Health and Physical Education): [25] Content Endorsed Courses (CEC) fall under Board Endorsed Courses.[26] Languages are also offered as Beginners, Continuers, Extension, Background Speakers and recently, Heritage courses.The letters B (beginners), C (continuers), E (extension), BS (background speakers), H (heritage) indicate which courses are available for study.[34] The following courses have a Life Skills choice:[35] A major HSC Syllabus reform was executed in 2019.[citation needed] Changes introduced to compulsory English discontinued the field of study "Discovery" as NESA discovered students would simply hire and pay off third party tutoring companies and/or private tutors in order to completely memorise and regurgitate essay information, in turn causing an imbalance in advantage towards the state of NSW."[39][41]A NSW Health report found that 1 in 11 adolescents who committed suicide had experienced significant levels of HSC-related stress.It has been suggested that the ATAR system associated with the completion of the HSC is a major cause of mental health issues amongst young people.