New HSC English Standard syllabus from 2027: what's changed

HSC English Standard has a new syllabus, the English Standard 11-12 Syllabus (2024), and a new list of prescribed texts for 2027 to 2030. The 2027 HSC is the first exam on both, so if you start Year 12 in Term 4 2026 this is your course.

The course and the exam look much the same as they have since 2019. What changed is the texts, the rules about which texts you study, The craft of writing (no prescribed texts), and school assessment (one take-home task at most). Everything below comes from NESA's syllabus, assessment and sample exam documents.

Timeline

The course: same shape, new names

Year 11 (120 indicative hours). Reading to write: Transition to English Standard (40 hours, taught first), Contemporary possibilities (40 hours) and Close study of literature (40 hours). No prescribed texts in Year 11.

Year 12 (120 indicative hours).

Each focus area is now written as "Understanding" and "Responding" content. The ideas are familiar: how texts represent human experiences; how language shapes individual and community identity (one prescribed text studied in detail); a close study of one literary text; and developing your own imaginative, discursive, persuasive and reflective writing.

New text requirements

So poetry is now compulsory for English Standard, and drama now sits in the third category with film, media and nonfiction.

The 2027-2030 prescribed texts

From NESA's prescriptions (check the NESA list for editions and the exact poems or stories set):

Texts and human experiences (the same list as English Advanced): Jessica Au, Cold Enough for Snow; David Malouf, An Imaginary Life; Henry Lawson, short stories; Rosemary Dobson, selected poems; Gwen Harwood, selected poems; Samuel Wagan Watson, Love Poems and Death Threats; Richard Flanagan, Question 7 (nonfiction); Michael Gow, Away (drama); Rachel Perkins, One Night the Moon (film).

Language, identity and culture (study one): Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake; Tara June Winch, Swallow the Air; Raymond Antrobus, The Perseverance (poems); Contemporary Asian Australian Poets (selected poems); Colm Bairéad, The Quiet Girl (film); Alana Valentine, Shafana and Aunt Sarrinah (drama).

Close study of literature (study one): M. T. Anderson, Feed; Robbie Arnott, Limberlost; Carol Ann Duffy, selected poems; Oodgeroo Noonuccal, My People (selected poems); Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing; Denis Villeneuve, Arrival (film).

A few titles carry over from 2019-2026 (for example Feed, Shafana and Aunt Sarrinah and Contemporary Asian Australian Poets), but most are new.

School-based assessment

• Components: knowledge and understanding of course content (50%) and skills in responding to texts and communication of ideas appropriate to audience, purpose and context across modes (50%).
• Year 11 is reported as a grade. NESA's sample program is 3 tasks, including a formal written examination, weighted 20% to 40% each (the 2017 sample also listed a multimodal presentation).
• Year 12: NESA's sample program is 4 tasks, including a task assessing The craft of writing weighted 20% to 30% and a formal written examination, each weighted 10% to 40%. The 2017 sample fixed Module C at 25%, capped the formal exam at 30% and required student-selected related material in the Common Module; the new sample does not.
• One take-home task at most. From Term 4 2026 NESA's ACE Rules allow no more than one take-home assessment task per HSC course, worth at most 15%. English Standard is not exempt, so most of your tasks will be written in class or under exam conditions.

The HSC exam

NESA's sample papers say both papers keep the structure used since 2019.

• Paper 1: Texts and human experiences (40 marks, 1 hour 30 minutes plus 10 minutes reading). Section I: 5 to 6 short-answer questions on stimulus and/or unseen texts, at least 3 items common to English Advanced (20 marks). Section II: one extended response on your prescribed text, common to English Advanced (20 marks). Under the 2017 specification, Paper 1 also shared items and the Section II question with English Studies; the new specification does not.
• Paper 2 (60 marks, 2 hours plus 5 minutes reading): Section I Language, identity and culture, Section II Close study of literature, Section III The craft of writing, 20 marks each.
• The craft of writing question may be in two parts and asks for an imaginative, discursive, persuasive and/or reflective response. The 2017 specification also listed "informative" responses and allowed the question to require reflection on your prescribed texts; the new specification drops both.

What this means if you are starting Year 12 now

1. Find out your school's 2027-2030 texts for each focus area. Notes and practice answers on 2019-2026 texts help with skills only, unless your text carries over.
2. Past papers still help. Paper 1 Section I and Paper 2 Section III questions from 2019 to 2025 remain very good practice; essay questions from those years show the style, to be answered on your new texts.
3. Poetry is guaranteed. One of your three prescribed texts will be poetry, so practise analysing poetic techniques early.
4. Plan for supervised tasks with at most one take-home task worth 15% or less.

Our English Standard guides, such as Language, Identity and Culture and Close Study of Literature, were written for the 2017 syllabus and the 2019-2026 texts. English Advanced students should read what's changed in English Advanced.