Stage 6 Subject Selection Handbook

ASG offers a wide variety of courses to fulfil the needs of our students. Subject choices are made by students in Year 10 before going into Year 11 and 12. This information has been compiled to support all students to make informed choices of the courses they wish to study to attain the Higher School Certificate.

Please read this information carefully before you make your subject choices and make sure that you discuss it with you parents, teachers, careers advisor and other students in Years 11 and 12 before completing any subject selection forms.

Other useful websites that may assist in making your decision are listed below:

HSC Syllabuses at the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA)

About the ATAR at Universities Admission Centre (UAC)

Sydney TAFE

Careers information at MyFuture

Careers information at Job Outlook

Subject Selection

In the first round of subject selections, students indicate subject preferences by ranking them from most to least desirable. In the second round, students choose one subject from each group of subjects on each line.

In making subject choices, always consider that:

• the subject is of interest to you,

• it addresses your further study and career path ambitions, and

• you feel capable and confident of fulfilling the requirements of the course.

You should not be influenced by your peers or which teacher is taking the course when making your choices. You should instead talk to teachers, students in other courses, the careers advisor and family members and friends.

In offering subject choices for the Preliminary Course (Year 11) and the Higher School Certificate (Year 12), the School considers how the subjects can be managed using the resources available. The lines that form the basis of the timetable are based on student choices in rounds 1 and 2 of the subject selection process. The proposed courses may not run and the school will make a judgement on which courses will run based on course numbers, available resources and the nature of those courses. For a few students, some compromises may be necessary.

Extension courses may be timetabled outside the normal school hours (English Extension 1 and 2, Mathematics Extension 1 and 2, History Extension and Modern Greek Extension. TAFE and extension courses may require flexible timetable arrangements and, therefore, may not always run between the school hours of 8.30 am and 3.15 pm.

It is expected that students will stay with their courses until the end of Term 3 of the Preliminary course. If changes can be made they must be formally approved by the Head of Academic Innovation, usually in the first five weeks of Term 1.

Some courses offered by the school have additional costs involved.

All TAFE and TVET courses have additional costs for parents. This cost is determined by the TAFE and not the school. These courses are popular, so an early application is strongly recommended.

See more about subject selection on the NESA website

Higher School Certificate (HSC)

All students are required to have satisfactorily completed All My Own Work or its equivalent before any Preliminary or HSC course entries can be submitted. This will be completed in Term 4 of Year 10.

To qualify for the Higher School Certificate, you must satisfactorily complete a Preliminary pattern of study comprising at least 12 units and a HSC pattern of study comprising at least 10 units. Both patterns must include:

• at least 6 units of Board Developed Courses,

• at least 2 units of a Board Developed Course in English,

• at least three courses of 2 unit value or greater (either Board Developed or Board Endorsed Courses),

• at least four different subjects.

It should be noted that not all subjects that lead to the award of an HSC may necessarily qualify the student for an ATAR.

Students must complete the practical, oral or project works required for specific courses and the assessment requirements for each course. They must have sat for and made a serious attempt at the required HSC examinations.

All courses offered for the Higher School Certificate have a unit value. Courses may have a value of 1 unit or 2 units. Hence a,

• 2 unit course is 120 hours per calendar year and has a value of 100 marks

• 1 unit course is 60 hours per calendar year and has a value of 50 marks

Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR)

The University Admission Centre (UAC) is the central office that receives and processes applications for admission to most undergraduate courses offered by universities in NSW and the ACT and other participating institutions.

To be eligible for an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) a student must complete:

• a minimum ten units of Board Developed courses including a minimum two units of English

• a minimum three courses of two units (Board Developed Course)

• a minimum four subjects (eight units) of Category A courses must be satisfactorily completed.

Note that some universities require performance in Bands 5 or 6 to enter specific degree courses.