Certified Resources

The official NESA documents for Software Engineering 11–12, and the standards bodies behind the concepts the syllabus names. Each one says which part of the course it supports.

Year 11 & 12 27 NESA documents 10 standards Links checked 30 September 2026
What "certified" means here The sections marked Official NESA are published by NESA or the NSW Curriculum website and define the course and its assessment. The last section links to the organisations that set each standard, such as the W3C for the web and OWASP for security; they are the primary source for that topic, not NESA endorsements of this site. Links open in a new tab.
Official NESA

The syllabus and course specifications

The documents the course and the HSC exam are written from. Start here.

Official NESA

Assessment and the HSC exam

The facts students and teachers need, each with its NESA source. Where NESA publishes nothing, this page says so.

School-based assessment

Components and weightingsIn both years two components are mandatory: knowledge and understanding of course content (50%) and knowledge and skills in the practical application of the content (50%).Source: School-based assessment (opens in a new tab)
Number and type of tasksSchools decide the number, type and weighting of assessment tasks, subject to a limit of one take-home task worth no more than 15%. NESA does not fix a number of tasks.Source: School-based assessment (opens in a new tab)
NESA guidance (not mandatory)Use a variety of tasks across the year, and give individual tasks a weighting between 10% and 40%.Source: School-based assessment (opens in a new tab)
Year 11 resultSchools submit a grade for each student at the end of the course, allocated by on-balance judgement using the Common Grade Scale for Preliminary courses.Source: School-based assessment (opens in a new tab) · Course standards (opens in a new tab)
Year 12 resultSchools submit a school-based assessment mark for each student, summing up achievement measured at several points through the course. Formal tasks should reflect the syllabus outcomes and content.Source: School-based assessment (opens in a new tab)
Notice and schedulesStudents must get sufficient written notice of a task, typically 14 calendar days. The notice states the weighting, the syllabus outcomes assessed, the type of task, the date and time, and the marking criteria where appropriate. The school gives the formal assessment program, with schedules, at the start of the course.Source: ACE rules 2.1 (opens in a new tab)
Generative AIMarks must reflect the student’s own knowledge, skills and understanding, not their use of generative AI. Schools decide whether generative AI is permitted in a task, and must not rely on software that detects generative AI to decide whether malpractice occurred.Source: ACE rules 2.1 (opens in a new tab) · ACE rules 10.1 (opens in a new tab)
The take-home task limit A school’s assessment program may have no more than one take-home task, worth at most 15%. NESA defines take-home tasks as those completed outside a classroom, a formal examination setting or teacher-approved monitoring conditions. The limit starts for HSC courses in Term 4, 2026 and for Preliminary courses in Term 1, 2027. Courses with a major project or an HSC practical exam are exempt, and Software Engineering is not on NESA’s list of exempt courses, so the limit applies to it. That last step is our reading of NESA’s published list; the school-based assessment page also states the limit for Software Engineering directly. NESA 34/26 changed the ACE rules that carry the limit. Source: School-based assessment (opens in a new tab) · NESA 29/26 (opens in a new tab) · NESA 34/26 (opens in a new tab) · ACE rules 2.1 (opens in a new tab)

The HSC examination

FormatOne written examination, taken by students on a computer. It is worth 80 marks. The time allowed is 2 hours 30 minutes, including 10 minutes reading time.Source: HSC examinations (opens in a new tab)
StimulusQuestions may contain stimulus material. Headphones are required for questions with video and audio stimulus.Source: HSC examinations (opens in a new tab)
Objective-response itemsAbout 20 marks. There are 14 to 18 items, each worth 1 to 4 marks, and they may share stimulus with other items.Source: HSC examinations (opens in a new tab)
Short-answer itemsAbout 60 marks. There are 16 to 18 items, and at least three are worth 4 to 8 marks. They may share stimulus with other items.Source: HSC examinations (opens in a new tab)
SectionsNESA describes two types of test item. It does not describe the paper as having sections.Source: HSC examinations (opens in a new tab)
Assumed knowledgeQuestions may ask you to combine knowledge, understanding and skills from across the course. The Year 11 course is assumed knowledge for Year 12, and an understanding of the Python programming language is also assumed. The Course Specifications say students are expected to be able to code in Python.Source: HSC examinations (opens in a new tab) · Course Specifications (opens in a new tab)
Notation and depthThe Course Specifications are an integral part of the course content and indicate the depth of study required for some concepts. The syllabus must be applied in conjunction with them.Source: Course structure (opens in a new tab) · Course Specifications (opens in a new tab)
Online exam toolsThe online exam has a code editor, a drawing tool and a screen design tool. NESA publishes a video and a transcript for each.Source: HSC examinations (opens in a new tab)
Practice materialNESA provides online familiarisation questions, with marking guidelines. An online sample exam is available to schools through Schools Online; only its marking guidelines are public.Source: HSC examinations (opens in a new tab) · Familiarisation questions (opens in a new tab)
Past papersThe 2025 exam is the only Software Engineering pack published. It has the online exam, marking guidelines, marker feedback by question and sample full-mark responses. NESA states there is no downloadable paper.Source: 2025 exam pack (opens in a new tab) · Exam papers index (opens in a new tab)
How answers are markedMarking guidelines are based on criteria that relate to the quality of the response. Achievement is reported against the HSC Performance Band Descriptions for Software Engineering (Bands 1 to 6).Source: HSC examinations (opens in a new tab) · Course standards (opens in a new tab)
Marker advice (2025)Read the question carefully, show you understand the key words and what the question requires, engage with any stimulus material, use course-specific terms, and practise the online tools with the familiarisation questions and past exams.Source: 2025 exam pack (opens in a new tab)
Exam provisionsSome students with disability may be eligible for HSC exam provisions.Source: Exam provisions (opens in a new tab)
One paper, not a rule The 2025 marking guidelines show 27 numbered questions worth 80 marks in total (our sum of the marks in NESA’s mapping grid). Every question is mapped to Year 12 outcomes and none to a Year 11 outcome, although NESA states the Year 11 course is assumed knowledge. Responses included Python code, SQL, pseudocode and a class diagram. This describes one exam. It is not NESA’s specification of future papers. Source: 2025 marking guidelines (opens in a new tab) · 2025 exam pack (opens in a new tab)
What NESA does not publish
  • No mandatory project task, project weighting, length limit or submission for Software Engineering. There is no HSC practical exam or submitted major work: the HSC is a single online written exam. Whether and how the project is assessed at school is the school’s decision within the rules above.
  • No split between the school-based mark and the HSC examination mark appears on the Software Engineering pages, so this page does not state one.
  • Sample assessment schedules and task notifications have headings but no files. NESA says they are being updated to align with the new ACE rules.
  • No downloadable Software Engineering HSC paper. The Software Design and Development archive is for the earlier course.
  • NESA’s cross-course glossary of key words is not linked from the Software Engineering pages. The syllabus glossary defines only evaluate and collaborate, so treat other command verbs as unofficial for this course.
Source: School-based assessment (opens in a new tab) · HSC examinations (opens in a new tab) · Exam papers index (opens in a new tab)
Official NESA

Assessment documents, exam papers and the online exam

The official pages behind the facts above, and NESA’s own practice material. There is no downloadable Software Engineering paper: the exam is online.

Web

HSC examinations (opens in a new tab)

NSW Curriculum · NESA

The exam specification (80 marks, 2 hours 30 minutes, online), the exam tools and the sample exam materials.

Links toWhole course
Official NESA

Planning and support materials

Sample programs NESA published alongside the syllabus.

Standards body

Standards and official documentation behind the syllabus

Primary sources for concepts the syllabus names. These organisations are not NESA; each is the authority on its topic.