New HSC Mathematics Standard 2 syllabus (from the 2027 HSC): what's changed

The Mathematics Standard 11-12 Syllabus (2024) replaces the 2017 Mathematics Standard syllabus. It is one syllabus: everyone studies the same Year 11 course, then Year 12 is either Mathematics Standard 1 or Mathematics Standard 2. The 2027 HSC is the first exam on it, so if you are starting Year 12 Standard 2 in Term 4 2026, this page describes your course.

Most of Standard 2 is the same practical mathematics as before. The big moves are networks into Year 11, probability into Year 12, and no more common questions with Mathematics Advanced in the HSC. Everything below comes from reading NESA's 2017 and 2024 documents side by side.

Timeline

The new course structure

Standard 1 students do the same Year 11 course, then Algebraic relationships, Investment, Depreciation and loans, Right-angled triangles, Ratios and rates, Bivariate data analysis, and Relative frequency and probability in Year 12.

What moved

• Networks, paths and trees is now Year 11. Network terminology, minimum spanning trees and shortest paths were Year 12 in the 2017 course; now every Standard student learns them in Year 11. Year 12 Standard 2 keeps Network flow (now its own focus area, including the maximum-flow minimum-cut theorem) and Critical path analysis.
• Relative frequency and probability is now Year 12. It was a Year 11 topic. The Year 12 version includes sample spaces, arrays and tree diagrams, $P(A \text{ and } B) = P(A) \times P(B)$ for multistage events, expected frequency $np$, and Venn diagrams and two-way tables (Venn diagrams are new to Standard; see our new page on Venn diagrams and two-way tables).
• Simple interest and depreciation moved into Year 12. In 2017 they opened Year 11 (Interest and depreciation). Now simple interest, compound interest, straight-line and declining balance depreciation all sit in Year 12 Investment and loans.
• Energy (watts and kilowatts, energy consumption) moved from Year 11 measurement into Year 12 Ratios and rates.
• Money in Year 11 is now split into Earning money (wages, overtime, commission, piecework, leave loading, tax tables, the Medicare levy, tax returns) and Managing money (GST, buying on terms, the costs of buy now, pay later schemes, vehicle costs, household bills, and budgeting, including an emergency fund of 3 to 6 months of living expenses). Buy now, pay later and the emergency fund are new to the syllabus.

What is no longer listed

• Measurement error (absolute error, limits of accuracy, percentage error) from the 2017 Year 11 Practicalities of measurement.
• Reading timetables from the 2017 Year 11 Working with time. Time and location keeps latitude and longitude, time differences and UTC.

Unchanged in substance

Formulas (including blood alcohol content and medication dosages), linear and direct-variation models, data analysis and box plots, the trapezoidal rule, simultaneous equations and break-even, exponential, quadratic and reciprocal models, compound interest, shares, reducing balance loans and credit cards, annuities with interest-factor tables, the sine and cosine rules and bearings, ratios, scale drawings and rates, critical path analysis, bivariate data (Pearson's correlation and the least-squares line), and the normal distribution with $z$-scores and the empirical rule. Spreadsheets now appear throughout the content.

School-based assessment

• Components are "Knowledge and understanding of course content" (50%) and "Skills in Working mathematically" (50%).
• NESA's sample programs: Year 11, 3 tasks including a formal written examination, weighted 20% to 40% each; Year 12 Standard 2, 4 tasks including a formal written examination, weighted 10% to 40% each. Year 11 content is assumed knowledge and may be assessed in Year 12.
• One take-home task at most. From Term 4 2026 the updated ACE Rules allow no more than one take-home assessment task per HSC course, worth at most 15%. Mathematics Standard is not an exempt course, so almost all of your mark will come from supervised tasks.

The HSC exam

Mathematics Standard 2 keeps the 2017 format: one paper of 100 marks, 2 hours 30 minutes plus 10 minutes reading time, Section I 15 marks of objective-response questions, Section II 85 marks across 35 to 40 items, at least two items worth 4 or 5 marks, with a reference sheet and a NESA-approved calculator. The exam is based on Year 12 Standard 2 outcomes, with the Year 11 course assumed knowledge that may be examined.

The difference: the 2017 specification required 20 to 25 marks of items common with Mathematics Advanced and another 20 to 25 marks common with Mathematics Standard 1. The new specification has neither, and NESA's sample exam states that it "does not include items that are common with other Mathematics HSC examinations". NESA has also published a new Mathematics Standard reference sheet and an annotated sample Standard 2 exam.

(For Standard 1 students who choose to sit the optional exam, the paper stays at 80 marks and 2 hours, now with 15 marks of objective-response questions and 65 marks across 25 to 30 items.)

What this means if you are starting Year 12 now

1. Networks are Year 11 knowledge you will be examined on. Minimum spanning trees and shortest paths are assumed knowledge for Network flow and Critical path analysis, and may be examined directly.
2. Probability is new Year 12 work, even though you may remember parts of it from Stage 5. Our pages on tables and tree diagrams and expected frequency still match the mathematics.
3. Past papers remain the best practice. Skip measurement-error and timetable questions; everything else in the 2020 to 2025 Standard 2 papers is fair practice.
4. Plan for in-class assessment, because at most one task (worth 15% or less) can be take-home.

Our Standard 2 dot-point pages were written to the 2017 syllabus, and their module names follow the 2017 year split. For choosing between Standard 2 and Advanced, see HSC Maths Standard vs Advanced.