Changes to HSC English exams will 'fuel tutoring industry'

Leading English academics and former HSC chief examiners have warned that plans to make HSC English exams shorter and put word limits on answers will make it easier for students to game the system and will "further fuel the HSC tutoring industry".

From 2019, the NSW Education Standards Authority will change the way it tests HSC English, with plans for a reduction in the exam times, word limits and multiple-choice questions for English Studies, the lowest level course which will now count towards an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR).

In a scathing submission to NESA on the planned changes, a group of English academics, including two recent former chief HSC examiners, warn that HSC English will now be a "significantly less rigorous intellectual challenge" than the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE), Britain's General Certificate of Education (GCE) and the International Baccalaureate.

The submission warns of "diminishing the status, integrity and intellectual challenge of HSC English".

"Given the depth and intellectual rigour of the syllabus has been denuded in terms of the content and text requirements, the proposed examination specifications compound this dumbing down," the submission says.

The new exam specifications propose the time limits of exams be cut by 25 per cent, which will be "a narrowing of the scope for students to reasonably demonstrate their learning under examination conditions," the submission says.

The submission also warns that the tutoring industry would benefit from the introduction of shorter answers because students would pay to be taught how to "memorise and then reproduce" 600-word responses for their exams.

"Less accomplished writers will be encouraged to seek such 'quick fix' assistance, rather than persevering with their own writing," the submission says.

Sydney University academic Janet Dutton, who was chief HSC English examiner for the standard and advanced courses until last year, said there appeared to be no justification for the introduction of word limits on answers, which would make it difficult for students to answer complex material.

Word limits were proposed for English exams in 2008 but were rejected after English experts warned that students could be "anxiously counting words under exam conditions, thus distracting and detracting from the real purpose of the exam".

"This is a significant change in how we do English," Dr Dutton said.

Dr Dutton said students were required to provide complex answers to questions, such as comparing a Shakespeare text with "27,000 plus words" with a script which could have 13,000 words. In her time as chief examiner, an answer scoring an A grade would be between 1200 and 1500 words, she said.

A spokesman for NESA said advice around the length of responses are a guide. "Responses are marked on their merits."

"The word counts and page lengths proposed are based on typical past performance of students. They are based on what can be reasonably expected of a well-prepared student to answer a given question within the time allocated. It is guidance only and not mandated," he said.

The academics' submission's conclusion says: "Research should be undertaken to provide evidence of the potential impact of the proposed changes to HSC English examinations on less advantaged students and schools prior to any such proposals being approved.

"Anything less amounts to an unethical experimentation on future students."