<%@LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" CODEPAGE="65001"%> Choosing Senior Subjects

Choosing Yr 11 & 12 Subjects

To understand the importance of carefully choosing your subjects for Years 11 and 12, you need to be aware of the qualifications to which Year 11 and 12 studies contribute.

Documents

At the end of Year 12, if you are eligible, you will receive a Higher School Certificate Portfolio, consisting of:

  • An HSC testamur
  • An HSC Record of Achievement
  • Course Reports
  • An HSC Result Summary
  • An AQF VET Certificate (if you have done VET courses)
  • A VET Statement of Attainment (if you have done VET courses)

For further information and to see what these documents look like, click here

 

Qualifications

  • To gain an HSC, students must have completed a minimum of 12 units of Preliminary courses and 10 units of HSC courses.

  • All courses in the HSC have a unit value. Most courses are 2 units.

  • Students must satisfactorily complete the Preliminary course (usually studied during Year 11) before they are eligible to commence the corresponding HSC course (usually studied during Year 12). English is the only compulsory subject for the HSC.

 

Tertiary Entrance Statement

Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR), for those who have entered courses which qualify them for tertiary education, is issued on a certificate by the University Admissions Centre (UAC) separately from the Board of Studies documents listed above.

  • The ATAR is a number (not a mark) that indicates a student’s position in relation to their Year 7 cohort, including students who did not complete Year 12.
  • The ATAR allows the comparison of students who have completed different combinations of HSC courses.
  • The ATAR is calculated solely for use by institutions, either on its own or in conjunction with other selection criteria, to rank and select school leavers for admission to tertiary courses.

 

Courses Available for Years 11 and 12 at SJC

You must study a minimum of 12 units in the Preliminary Course and a minimum of 10 units in the HSC Course. Both the Preliminary course and the HSC Course must include the following:

  • at least two units of English
  • at least four subjects
  • at least six of the mandatory 12 units must be Board Developed Courses
  • at least three of the courses must be of 2 unit or greater value
  • part time students must study at least six units for the first year of Year 11
  • no more than six units of Science courses may be selected
  • can include a combination of VET, TVET and SBAT

A complete handbook of available courses, and VET courses can be downloaded here.

In this chart you can see some possible pathways of study (from the Stage 6 Course handbook)

And here are some examples of patterns of study (from the Stage 6 Course handbook)