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2026 HSC Legal Studies exam: What to learn from last year's mistakes
Hi all, in preparation for the upcoming exam, here's what to learn from last year's mistakes.
Exam: Monday 2 November 2026, 9:25 am to 12:30 pm. All times are NSW local time.
The 2025 exam was 100 marks: 20 multiple choice, 15 in human-rights short answers, 15 for Crime and two 25-mark option responses.
This review covers the compulsory Q21 (3 marks), Q22 (5), Q23 (7) and Q24 (15), plus Q25a as a Consumers example.
NESA does not publish question averages here. The recurring weakness was stating legal knowledge without explaining what the legal response achieved.
1. Q21: Show how recognition of peace rights developed
Where students went wrong
Students did not establish the key features of peace rights or how responsibility for achieving and maintaining peace had evolved.
What they should have done
Identify peace as a collective right and show the development in its recognition. The 1945 UN Charter established a framework for maintaining international peace and security. The 1984 Declaration on the Right of Peoples to Peace expressly recognised peoples’ right to peace and states’ responsibilities towards it. Explain that progression rather than just listing the dates; recognition does not guarantee compliance.
2. Q22: Explain how media pressure can lead to change
Where students went wrong
Answers described a human-rights issue but did not explain the media’s influence on change.
What they should have done
A concrete example is Four Corners’ 25 July 2016 investigation of Northern Territory youth detention, followed by the announcement of a royal commission. The Prime Minister’s 26 July statement expressly linked the inquiry to what the program exposed. Explain the pathway from public exposure to scrutiny and an institutional response. An inquiry is a step towards accountability, not proof that every rights violation has been resolved.
3. Q23: Explain how the measure protects the right
Where students went wrong
Students needed clearer identification of human-rights characteristics, a range of domestic and international legal measures, and an example developed through the response.
What they should have done
Name the right and the relevant measure, then explain the protection or remedy it can provide. Distinguish international recognition from domestic enforcement. State sovereignty and enforceability matter because an international commitment does not automatically provide an individual with an effective domestic remedy. Apply that distinction to your studied example rather than listing conventions.
4. Q24: Cover domestic and transnational crime
Where students went wrong
Some responses addressed only one. Others discussed policing or punishment without connecting the measure to protection of the community.
What they should have done
For each type of crime, explain a relevant legal measure and how it protects community interests. A transnational investigation may depend on cooperation across jurisdictions; that can expand enforcement but create practical limits if cooperation fails. For domestic crime, use your evidence to analyse the effect on victim safety or broader community protection. The question needs both areas, not two examples from the same one.
5. Q25a: Non-compliance does not automatically prove the law fails
Where students went wrong
Consumers responses sometimes listed breaches without judging whether enforcement or remedies made the law effective despite those breaches.
What they should have done
Use the statement to weigh compliance and enforcement together. Identify the consumer protection, show evidence of a breach and explain the response. Then judge whether that response provides redress or deters further non-compliance, and where it remains limited. This is a Consumers option example; apply the same standard of supported judgement to the option questions you actually studied.
Source: NESA 2025 Legal Studies exam, marking guidelines and feedback.
Use the Legal Studies hub and past papers and marking guides alongside this.
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