New HSC English Extension 2 syllabus from 2027: what's changed

HSC English Extension 2 has a new syllabus, the English Extension 11-12 Syllabus (2024). The 2027 HSC is the first examined on it, and the 2026 HSC is the last on the 2017 syllabus. If you start Year 12 in Term 4 2026, this page is about your course. Everything here is based on NESA's published pages and notices (prescriptions and HSC examinations page last checked 7 October 2026), summarised in our own words.

Timeline

What changed compared with the 2017 course

A new Year 12 shape

Year 12 Extension 2 is now Author and authority, an author study of one of Henry James, Haruki Murakami or Alexis Wright, plus the Major work. NESA does not list prescribed author-study texts. It names the three authors and, for each one, areas of critical enquiry, rather than listing particular works: you investigate a range of complex texts by your author, and your teacher will confirm the works you study. Our pages cover each author: Henry James, Haruki Murakami and Alexis Wright.

No Reflection Statement in the new specification

The 2017 course marked a Major Work (40 marks) and a Reflection Statement (10 marks). No Reflection Statement appears in the new specification; check the Major work guidelines NESA publishes if your school says otherwise.

Shorter Major work limits

NESA's new limits are shorter than the 2017 ones:

NESA now lists seven forms for the Major work, and your work can draw on features of more than one form. The 2024 limits above are the ones NESA lists for the 2027 HSC. Confirm your form's rules against NESA's current Major work guidelines before you finalise a draft.

The exam and assessment

Result

The 2027 total is 100 marks. There is an online, computer-based exam worth 40 marks, lasting 1 hour 30 minutes plus 10 minutes reading time. It has two questions and a maximum of three items in total: Question 1 Author and authority (20 marks, with stimulus and/or unseen material) and Question 2 Author study (20 marks). NESA's specification says the questions can ask for a critical or creative response, or both, can be set in two parts or as one extended response, and can use stimulus or unseen material. NESA's sample marking guidelines show what that looks like: one sample question for Murakami has an 8-mark creative opening in the author's manner followed by a 12-mark reflection on how thinkers and critics shaped those choices, and one for James asks about narrative point of view using two short extracts. So reflecting on your own writing can be part of the exam (it appears in one sample item) even though the old Reflection Statement is gone. The Major work is marked out of 20 and converted to 60. The 2026 HSC timetable has no written English Extension 2 exam.

School-based assessment

The two components are weighted equally: knowledge and understanding of significant literary ideas and approaches (50%) and skills in extensive independent investigation, analysis, synthesis and sustained composition (50%). NESA's guidance is that individual tasks carry between 10% and 40%.

Take-home limit

From Term 4 2026 each HSC course may have at most one take-home task worth at most 15%. English Extension 2 is exempt from that limit, because it is a major project course. The rule that marks must reflect your own work, not generative AI, still applies.

What to do now

If you sit the 2026 HSC. Nothing changes. Keep to the 2017 rules for your Major Work and Reflection Statement.

If you sit the 2027 HSC.

1. Choose your author (James, Murakami or Wright) with your teacher and agree which of the author's works you will study, since NESA names the author and areas of enquiry but no particular works.
2. Plan the Major work against the shorter limits from the start. A tight 3,500-word story or a 1,500-word poetry set needs economy, not trimming at the end.
3. Practise the exam on a keyboard: timed, 20-mark responses on Author and authority and on your author study.
4. Practise every shape the exam can take. Besides the usual critical essay, NESA's sample papers show a creative opening (8 marks) followed by a reflection on your own choices (12 marks), and stimulus-based questions. Compose a short piece in your author's manner, then explain in writing which thinkers, critics and methods shaped it.

See also English Extension 1: what's changed and English Advanced: what's changed.

Official sources

Use the NSW Curriculum overview, school-based assessment and HSC examinations pages listed under sources, NESA notice 31/24 and the Major work marking guidelines NESA publishes with the sample exam materials. NESA says some dates are indicative and subject to change.