How do you analyse a performance, apply a focus-area concept, implement an improvement strategy and evaluate its impact?
Plan and complete a Performance Improvement task by analysing a performance, applying a concept, implementing a strategy and evaluating its effect with evidence.
How to structure the 20 percent Performance Improvement task: analysing a performance, applying a focus-area concept, implementing an improvement strategy and evaluating its effect with evidence.
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What this dot point is asking
You must plan and complete a Performance Improvement task that analyses a performance, applies a relevant concept, implements a strategy and evaluates the impact with evidence.
What the task is
The Performance Improvement task is a school-assessed component worth 20 percent. It connects the focus-area theory to your own (or a group's) practical performance. It is a cycle: analyse, apply, implement, evaluate. The evidence you collect, such as test scores, video and observation, is what your analysis and evaluation are built on.
Step 1: analyse the performance
Gather baseline evidence and use it to identify a specific, well-defined area to improve.
- Use objective data (fitness test scores, GPS, timing) and qualitative data (video, observation against a model, peer or coach feedback).
- Analyse against a benchmark or model technique to pinpoint the weakness, rather than choosing a vague goal.
- Choose one focused target so the improvement can be clearly measured.
Step 2: apply a focus-area concept
Justify your improvement using theory.
- A fitness weakness points to training principles and methods and energy systems.
- A technique weakness points to biomechanics or skill acquisition.
- A pressure or consistency problem points to sport psychology (arousal, motivation, goal setting).
The concept must explain why the chosen strategy should work.
Step 3: implement the strategy
Carry out the intervention over an appropriate period.
- Apply the relevant principles (for example overload and progression for a fitness goal, or appropriate practice and feedback for a skill goal).
- Keep the implementation realistic and document what you actually did, including any adjustments.
Step 4: evaluate the impact
Re-collect evidence under the same conditions and judge the result.
- Compare post-intervention data with the baseline.
- Explain why the strategy did or did not work, linking back to the concept.
- Acknowledge limitations (small sample, confounding factors, reliability) and suggest improvements for next time.
Evaluation, the genuine judgement of effectiveness against evidence, is where the highest marks sit.
A common way to strengthen the evaluation is to quantify the change and weigh it against likely confounding factors. If a sprint time improved from 4.2 to 4.0 seconds, state the gain as a percentage and ask whether the training, rather than maturation, familiarity with the test or measurement error, best explains it. The most convincing tasks isolate the strategy as the probable cause by holding test conditions constant, then connect the size of the change back to the focus-area concept, for example attributing a fitness gain to progressive overload acting on the relevant energy system.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of SACE Board exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
SACE 20226 marksA student improving free-throw consistency recorded a baseline of 28 out of 50 and a post-intervention score of 39 out of 50. Analyse the improvement and evaluate the strategy used.Show worked answer →
A 6 mark task needs the data analysed and the strategy judged against theory.
Analyse the change. State the improvement of 11 out of 50, a rise of percentage points, citing the figures.
Link to the concept. Explain the gain through biomechanics (a more consistent release point) and skill acquisition (a pre-shot routine and feedback aiding consistency).
Evaluate. Judge whether the evidence supports the strategy causing the change, noting limitations such as a single tester and no game-pressure testing.
Markers reward exact use of the before-and-after data, the concept applied and a weighed evaluation rather than description.
SACE 20238 marksExplain how a focus-area concept is used to design an improvement strategy in the Performance Improvement task, using an example.Show worked answer →
An 8 mark explain task needs the analyse-apply-implement-evaluate cycle tied to a concept.
Analyse. Identify a specific, measured weakness from baseline evidence, for example poor repeat-sprint ability.
Apply the concept. Justify the strategy with theory: a fitness weakness points to training principles (overload, progression) and energy systems.
Implement. Design the intervention from those principles over an appropriate period.
Evaluate. Re-test under identical conditions and judge effectiveness against the baseline. Markers reward the concept explaining why the strategy should work and a cycle grounded in evidence.