External Assessment Specifications 2025

Ancient History (ANH315117)

• Correction of a minor typographical error in the title of Section B.
• Removal of a sentence under Section B ‘Nature of Questions’ to improve clarity.

Business Studies (BST315116)

• Change to the mark allocation for Criteria 2 and 4 in the exam: both are now allocated 50 marks in total.
• Change to the exam structure: there is now one stimulus piece, in a separate booklet, that students will refer to when completing Sections B and C.

Computer Science (ITC315118)

• The exam is now being marked numerically instead of using alpha ratings.

Drama (SDD315120)

• Inclusion of a penalty for undertime performances. Students will receive a ‘t’ rating for any performance less than 1 minute 45 seconds in duration.
• Changes made throughout EAS to improve clarity around expectations for students and providers.

Engineering Design (EDN315123)

• Changes include re-naming of Criteria 2 and 8 to align with recent course changes, changes to which criteria are assessed against specific folio pieces and some minor inclusions to folio presentation requirements.

English Literature (ENL315114)

• It is now specified in the EAS that students cannot use the text they studied as part of their Independent Study as the basis for any of their answers in the written exam.

General Mathematics (MTG315123)

• Update to the Information Sheet: credit card interest free cycle and unit cost depreciation have all been removed, and the annuities in arrears/advance equations from page 2 have also been removed.

Geography (GGY315120)

• It is now specified in the EAS that, in Section A of the exam, Question 1 assesses Criterion 4 and Question 2 assesses Criterion 6. This will also be included in subsequent written exam papers.

Housing and Design (HDS315118)

• Update to which criterion elements are assessed for each component of the folio and inclusion of additional advice to students to support folio topic choice.

Media Production (MED315117)

• Minor updates to the minor and major pro-forma documents, including specific mention of referencing AI-generated content.

Music (MSM315120)

• Inclusion of penalties for undertime performances: if performances are 9-10 minutes in duration, students will have one rating deducted; if performance are less than nine (9) minutes in duration, students will incur a ‘t’ rating on Criterion 8.
• If less than two (2) minutes of a student’s program is performed as per the written score, students will be penalised one (1) rating on Criterion 7.
• Changes throughout EAS to improve clarity for students and providers and updated performance pro-forma.

Psychology (BHP315116)

• Independent Project topic rotation has been updated.
• APA referencing guidelines have been updated to reflect the new version.

Theatre Performance (SDP315120)

• Inclusion of penalties for undertime performances: monologues less than three (3) minutes in duration will incur a ‘t’ rating against Criterion 2 (Element 5) and Criterion 3 (Element 5).
• Change to submission process: the Independent Reflective Study (IRS) will now be submitted via TRACS.
• Changes throughout EAS and the IRS cover page to improve clarity around expectations for students and providers.

Transdisciplinary Science (TDS315123)

• Update to folio components: students to now submit their completed folio checklist and a screenshot of their poster in addition to their finalised inquiry question and context and their scientific paper.
• The duration of the oral presentation has been increased from three (3) minutes to a minimum of eight (8) minutes and a maximum of ten minutes, which is to then be followed by 12-15 minutes of questions and discussion between the student and the markers.
• Inclusion of additional advice to students and teachers.

Biology (BIO315124)

• Inclusion of a Codon chart to the Information Sheet.
• Minor updates to the Content Mapping attachment to the EAS for clarity.

Contemporary Art Practice (CAP315124)

• Change to the folio components: students are now required to submit a contemporary art inquiry and a student-produced example of art curation or art criticism.

Dance (DNC315124)

• The two topic choices for the analytical essay have been updated and a new process to change these two (2) choices every three (3) years has been implemented.

Electronics and Advanced Technologies (EAT315124)

• Correction of minor typographical error in the descriptor for Criterion 3.

English Inquiry (ENT315124)

• Inclusion of a word limit of 600-750 words for poetry responses.
• Update to wording to provide greater clarity to students and providers on the purpose of the reflective statement component of the folio.

English Studio (ENS315124)

• Changes throughout EAS to improve clarity for students and providers.
• Changes to penalties for not adhering to the stated presentation requirements: students to now be penalised if they do not adhere to two (2) or more requirements instead of just one (1).
• Inclusion of formatting samples/templates to the Folio Contents List to support students with adhering to the formatting requirements.