HSC Maths Advanced: Course, Assessment and Exam Guides (NESA)
HSC Mathematics Advanced is assessed 50:50 by school tasks and a 3 hour, 100 mark exam, under the 2024 syllabus.
About the course
HSC Mathematics Advanced is a 2 unit course whose result is half your school-based assessment mark and half one written exam. The exam is a 100 mark paper with a reference sheet, and the school mark is built equally from knowing the content and working mathematically with it.
Revise Year 11 content alongside Year 12, because it can be examined. Past papers from earlier cohorts (see HSC past papers) were set on the 2017 syllabus.
Which syllabus does the 2027 cohort sit?
The 2027 HSC cohort sits Mathematics Advanced 11-12 (2024). NESA says it is implemented from 2026, that Year 12 teaching of it starts in Term 4 2026, and that its first HSC examination is in 2027. It replaces the Mathematics Advanced Stage 6 Syllabus (2017), which cohorts up to and including 2026 sit. For how the maths syllabuses are changing across the HSC, see the HSC syllabus guide.
How is HSC Mathematics Advanced assessed?
Your HSC mark in each course is a 50:50 combination of your HSC exam mark and your school-based assessment mark. NESA moderates the school marks against how your school group performs in the exam, so your rank within your school matters. How the HSC works explains moderation.
| Assessment | Weighting | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| HSC exam | 50% of the HSC mark | One written paper worth 100 marks |
| School-based assessment | 50% of the HSC mark | Your school's Year 12 tasks, summed into one mark |
| Component: knowledge and understanding of course content | 50% of the school mark | Mandatory, set by NESA |
| Component: skills in working mathematically | 50% of the school mark | Mandatory, set by NESA |
Schools decide the number, type and weighting of tasks, with NESA's limits on take-home tasks and task weightings set out in how the HSC works. Formal school tasks focus on Year 12 outcomes, and the Year 11 course is assumed knowledge that can be assessed. For what each band from 6 to 1 means, see HSC bands.
What does the course cover?
The Year 12 course has seven focus areas, grouped into five areas of study:
- Functions: further graph transformations and modelling, including transformations of the sine, cosine and tangent functions and logarithmic scales.
- Sequences and series: arithmetic and geometric sequences and series. It is now its own area of study.
- Calculus: differential calculus (exponential, logarithmic and trigonometric functions, and the product, quotient and chain rules), integral calculus (primitives, the definite integral and areas), and applications of calculus (turning points, optimisation and rates of change).
- Statistical analysis: random variables, covering discrete and continuous random variables and the normal distribution.
- Financial mathematics: reducing balance loans and annuities.
The Year 11 course comes first and covers working with functions, graph transformations, trigonometry, an introduction to differentiation, exponential and logarithmic functions, and probability and data. The Year 12 exam focuses on Year 12 outcomes, but Year 11 content may be examined.
What is the HSC Mathematics Advanced exam like?
NESA's specification is one written paper worth 100 marks, with 3 hours plus 10 minutes of reading time and a reference sheet provided.
| Section | Marks | What it holds |
|---|---|---|
| I | 10 | Objective-response questions |
| II | 90 | Questions that may have parts, 37 to 42 items in all, with at least two items worth 4 or 5 marks |
NESA-approved calculators may be used. They must not be programmable, graphing or CAS models, and NESA also excludes inbuilt financial functions, so check your model against the approved calculator list. NESA says the paper contains no items common with other Mathematics HSC exams. Check the NESA exam timetable for your date.
NESA has published a sample 2027 paper as one way the new syllabus could be examined. It is a sample, not an HSC paper, and no marking feedback exists yet for a cohort assessed under the 2024 syllabus.
In 2025, the median HSC mark in Mathematics Advanced was 80 out of 100, which UAC scaled to 66.4. Scaling changes every year. See how any result scales in the HSC ATAR calculator.
Common questions
Can you use a calculator in HSC Mathematics Advanced?
Yes, but only a NESA-approved calculator. Programmable, graphing and CAS calculators and ones with inbuilt financial functions are excluded.
Sources
- Mathematics Advanced 11-12 (2024) Syllabus, NESA, 2024, pp. 5, 7-8, 28-40, 43-45. Implementation dates, the Year 12 course structure and topics, the two mandatory school-based components at 50% each, and the HSC exam specification.
- Understanding your HSC results, NESA, 2026. The HSC mark as a 50:50 combination of the exam mark and the school-based assessment mark.
- Approved calculators, NESA, 2026. Approved calculator rules, including the ban on programmable, graphing, CAS and financial-function models.
Syllabus and assessment material referenced in this guide is used under licence, © Copyright NSW Education Standards Authority. See our NESA licensing notice. The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) does not endorse this product or service. NESA takes no responsibility for any errors in the reproduction of NESA Materials. Any sample examination papers or model answers accompanying the NESA Materials are not part of the NESA Materials and are in no way endorsed or authorised by NESA.