{"id":3468,"date":"2026-04-12T17:02:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T07:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newington.nsw.edu.au\/academic-guides\/academic-guide-years-11-12\/comparing-pathways\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T15:32:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T05:32:30","slug":"comparing-pathways","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.newington.nsw.edu.au\/academic-guides\/academic-guide-years-11-12\/hsc\/hsc-subjects\/comparing-pathways\/","title":{"rendered":"Comparing pathways"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"page-intro wp-block-paragraph\">Progressing from Year 10 into the senior years of schooling is an exciting time, irrespective of whether that involves moving towards the Higher School Certificate, the IB Diploma or a vocational qualification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">At a glance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table  table-banded\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newington.nsw.edu.au\/academic-guides\/academic-guide-years-11-12\/hsc\/\">HSC<\/a><br><\/strong><\/span><\/td><td><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newington.nsw.edu.au\/academic-guides\/academic-guide-years-11-12\/ib\/\">IB<\/a><br><\/strong><\/span><\/td><td><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newington.nsw.edu.au\/academic-guides\/academic-guide-years-11-12\/vet\/\">VET<\/a><br><\/strong><\/span><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Broad-based pattern of study leading towards university matriculation in Australia and overseas, vocational pathways and work.<\/span><\/td><td><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Broad-based pattern of study leading towards university matriculation in Australia and overseas.<\/span><\/td><td><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Broad-based pattern of study for students who are looking to combine senior study with a pathway into work or TAFE.<\/span><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Allows students to specialise in disciplines or ways of learning (only compulsory subject is English)<\/span><\/td><td><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Requires students to study a broad range of academic disciplines<\/span><\/td><td><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Allows students to study in areas that provide advanced standing or pathways into a range of vocations.<\/span><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Assessed through internal assessments and the external HSC Examinations<\/span><\/td><td><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Assessed through externally moderated internal assessments, an extended essay, and external IB examinations<\/span><\/td><td><span style=\"font-size: small;\">VET subjects assessed through competency-based assessments, work placements and (in some cases) an external examination<\/span><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Can include a vocational (VET) subject<\/span><\/td><td><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Does not include vocational (VET) subjects<\/span><\/td><td><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Include traditional academic HSC subjects<\/span><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Leads to the award of the NSW Higher School Certificate<\/span><\/td><td><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Leads to the award of the IB Diploma<\/span><\/td><td><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Leads to the award of the NSW Higher School Certificate and nationally recognised Certificate II\/III qualifications<\/span><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Subject results provide students with an ATAR to provide access to university<\/span><\/td><td><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Overall result (out of 45) provides students with an ATAR to provide access to university<\/span><\/td><td><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Students may or may not receive an ATAR (depending on their specific pattern of study)<\/span><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Progressing from Year 10 into the senior years of schooling is an exciting time, irrespective of whether that involves moving towards the Higher School Certificate, the IB Diploma or a vocational qualification. At a glance HSC IB VET Broad-based pattern of study leading towards university matriculation in Australia and overseas, vocational pathways and work. Broad-based [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"parent":3402,"menu_order":42,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-3468","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newington.nsw.edu.au\/academic-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newington.nsw.edu.au\/academic-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newington.nsw.edu.au\/academic-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newington.nsw.edu.au\/academic-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newington.nsw.edu.au\/academic-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3468"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.newington.nsw.edu.au\/academic-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3713,"href":"https:\/\/www.newington.nsw.edu.au\/academic-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3468\/revisions\/3713"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newington.nsw.edu.au\/academic-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newington.nsw.edu.au\/academic-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}