Assessment moderation

Learn how the process of moderating school assessments works in the HSC, making it fair for students. 

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Calculating school assessment marks 

For most examined NSW Higher School Certificate (HSC) courses, a student’s final result is a combination of their HSC exam and school assessment marks. 

To determine the school assessment mark, the school runs an assessment program for each NSW HSC course. Each course follows NSW Education Standards Authority’s (NESA) requirements. For example, the number of assessment tasks for a 2 unit course is capped at 4.  

At the start of Year 12, the school will give students information about the assessment program for each course, including:  

  • a description of each task and its requirements  
  • how much each task is worth (its 'weighting')  
  • assessment/due dates. 

When the assessment program ends, the school will add up the student’s marks for each task and apply any weightings.  

The school sends this assessment mark to NESA. 

NESA does not release the final assessment marks submitted by schools. Students will instead receive a report showing their ‘rank’ (position in the school group) in each course. The report will be available on Students Online the last day of HSC written exams. This rank is based on the school assessment mark.  

The final mark students receive for their school assessment is moderated, based on the exam results.

Appealing school assessment ranks 

Students can ask the school to review the given rank if they don’t think it correctly reflects their performance. If students are not satisfied with the school's response, they can appeal to NESA. 

There are specific processes and requirements for reviews and appeals. For example, a student cannot appeal their marks for individual tasks. Read more about the appeals process in the HSC rules and procedures guide. 

About moderating school assessments marks 

To keep things fair, NESA moderates or adjusts the school assessment marks so they can be compared across schools. 

Schools set and mark assessment tasks differently. This means students from different schools experience different assessment conditions. NESA moderates school marks so that they can be compared across the state. 

Schools submit to NESA each student’s total assessment mark. This mark: 

  • shows each student’s performance when assessed under the same conditions as the others in their school-course group 
  • indicates the rank order of the students in the school-course group 
  • shows the relative gaps in assessment marks between students in the school-course group. 

 How NESA moderates

Watch this video to find out more about the moderation process.

3:00

Introduction to HSC Assessment Moderation

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Video transcript

Introduction to HSC Assessment Moderation

Moderation is the word we use to describe the process of adjusting school assessment marks so they can be placed on the same scale and can be compared across schools.

Your final exam mark doesn’t change but we do change school assessment marks to be fair to everyone.

While schools set assessment tasks based on the same syllabus, we can’t fairly compare school assessment marks between schools because the actual task and the way they are marked maybe different.

The only task that all students do that is the same, and is marked in exactly the same way is the HSC exam.

Which means that all the exam marks in the course can be fairly compared.

So we put the school assessment marks on the same scale as the HSC exam marks so they can also be fairly compared.

We use the HSC exam marks to adjust the school assessment marks in the school group. The highest assessment Mark is adjusted to equal the highest HSC exam mark of any student in the school group. The average of the school assessment mark is adjusted to reflect the average of the school HSC exam mark, and where possible, the lowest assessment mark is adjusted to equal the lowest HSC exam mark.

We adjust the school assessment mark for every student in the group.

This retains the group’s rank order and the relative gaps between students, so your assessment mark can now be compared with other students at other schools across the state.

To protect a school group from atypical HSC exam performances such as a student’s upheld illness or misadventure application. NESA disregards those HSC exam marks when working out these adjustments.

You can find out your rank on the last day of the HSC written exams by checking your student online account, your school will not tell you your final assessment mark, this is because your rank is the most important part of the moderation process.

It tells us how you performed compared to other students in your school group, It doesn’t matter if your school sets harder tasks than other schools because your assessment mark will be moderated. We have tried and true processes to keep it fair for all students.

Your final HSC mark for a course is made up of 50% HSC exam mark and 50% moderated school assessment mark.

With half of your final HSC mark coming from your moderated school assessment mark it is vital that this is fair.

That's why the moderation process is important and undertaken carefully to make sure that you and every other student get the mark you deserve.

Moderation adjusts school assessment marks based on the HSC exam, since all students complete the HSC under the same conditions. 

NESA's moderation process uses 3 anchor points for each school-course group. 

We adjust the mean of the group's assessment marks so that it equals the mean of the group's exam marks. 

Then we adjust the group's highest assessment mark so that it equals the group's highest exam mark. 

Where possible, we will adjust the lowest assessment mark obtained by any student in the group to match the lowest exam mark. (This is not always possible when the general shapes of school assessment marks and exam marks are very different.) 

If 2 (or more) students are tied on the highest assessment mark, NESA will moderate this mark to equal the mean of the highest 2 (or more) exam marks. This also applies if students are tied on the lowest assessment mark. 

Moderation exclusions

Various safeguards are in place to ensure moderation treats students fairly. 

Before finalising the 3 anchor points for each school-course group, NESA identifies and excludes students with an atypical exam performance. 

We exclude students: 

  • with an upheld illness/misadventure application and an exam mark lower than expected given their performance in the school assessment 
  • with a much lower exam mark than expected given their performance in the school assessment 
  • that we determine are special cases. 

Moderation steps for school-course groups with excluded students 

If NESA excludes at least one student in a school-course group, we will: 

  1. calculate the 3 anchor points using the rest of the group's students 
  2. adjust both the regular and excluded students' assessment marks using those 3 anchor points. 

Where a student has an upheld illness/misadventure application and their exam mark is lower than their moderated assessment mark, NESA may raise their exam mark to equal their moderated assessment mark. All other students retain their own exam marks. 

Moderation example 

The following table is an example of moderation for a school-course group with 6 students. The example shows school assessment marks, exam marks and moderated assessment marks for the group. The students’ rank order for each set of marks is also given.

StudentExam mark /50Moderated Assessment mark /50School Assessment MarkSchool Assessment RankExamination MarkExamination RankModerated Assessment Mark
A464690192192
B3638.578272377
C4036.975380274
D3029.558460459
E2528.555550657
F27.52540655550
Total204.5204.4396 409 409
Mean343466 68 68

Moderation example

Values changed during moderation 

Mean and total 

In the example: 

  • the group’s mean assessment mark increases from 66 to 68, which matches the group’s mean exam mark of 68 
  • the group’s total assessment mark increases from 396 to 409, which matches the group’s total exam mark of 409. 

Highest and lowest marks

In the example: 

  • the group’s highest assessment mark increases from 90 to 92, which matches the group’s highest exam mark of 92 
  • the group’s lowest assessment mark increases from 40 to 50, which matches the group’s lowest exam mark of 50. 

From a statistical point of view, it does not matter if the school assessment marks are ‘too high’ or ‘too low’, ‘too wide’ or ‘too narrow’. 

Values staying the same during moderation 

Rank order of assessment marks 

Each student’s rank stays the same when school assessments are moderated. (Students may perform differently in the exam to the way they performed in the school assessment. Their rank in the exam can therefore be different to their assessment mark rank.) 

Relative gaps between marks 

Relative gaps between students’ moderated assessment marks reflect the relative gaps between students in the school assessment marks. 

In the following example, after moderation: 

  • students B and C remain close together 
  • students D and E remain close together 
  • all other students remain further apart. 
     

The graph gives a visual representation of how NESA moderated the example school-course group. NESA uses 3 anchor points so that the group’s school assessment mark adjustments are based on a curve (a quadratic function) rather than a straight line.

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