Your HSC mark · 3 min read · HSC Physics

Raw marks vs HSC marks: what your score really means

Why 68 on a hard paper is not a Band 3, and how NESA turns raw marks into bands.

Raw is not HSC
A raw mark is just what you scoredYour raw mark is what you earned on the paper. Your HSC exam mark is that raw mark placed on a fixed band scale: 90+ is Band 6, 80–89 Band 5, and so on.
Why
No two papers are equally hardSome years the paper is tough, some years kinder. Reported as-is, raw marks would reward the luck of your year. So a Band 6 means the same standard every year.
How
Expert markers recommend each cut-offAfter each exam, experienced HSC markers work out what a just-Band-6 student would score on every question, check it against real answers, and recommend a cut-off. A NESA committee decides the final one.
Then
Marks in between are stretched to fitEach raw mark is placed in proportion between the cut-offs. With Band 6 starting at 80, a raw 90 is halfway from 80 to 100, so it becomes 95.
What it means
Recent cut-offs, roughlyBand 6 has often started near 80–82 raw, and Band 5 in the low-to-mid 60s. 2019 was about 76; 2022 about 89. Estimates only: it changes every year.
Your HSC mark
Half exam, half school assessmentYour HSC mark averages your exam mark and your school assessment mark. NESA moderates the school mark using your school’s exam results, so your rank in your school’s course group carries through.
Use it
Every raw mark still countsNear the top, two raw marks can show as the same HSC mark. Your ATAR is worked out from raw marks, not the HSC marks on your report, so every mark counts.

Band 6 raw cut-off by year (HSC Physics)

Band	HSC exam mark	Raw mark on a recent HSC-standard paper
Band 6	90	about 80–82
Band 5	80	low-to-mid 60s
Band 4	70	low-to-mid 50s
Band 3	60	about 40
Band 2	50	mid-20s

Estimates from raw-mark reports students have shared. NESA doesn’t publish cut-offs, and they change every year.