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HSC · HSC Year 12 · official past papers

HSC History Extension past exams 2021–2025, by year and topic

The official NESA exams, marking guides and examiner reports we index, organised by topic and subtopic and labelled with the study design it was written under. Open the official paper, work the question in your own workspace, or bring a tutor into it live.

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ATARMAxxing indexes 5 official NESA History Extension papers from 2021 to 2025, with 10 questions mapped to 4 topics. Every paper opens on the NESA website.

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History Extension Stage 6 Syllabus (2017): the 2021–2025 HSC papers linked here and the 2026 HSC (this hub's syllabus) · 2021–2026

HSC History Extension exams by year: official papers & marking guidance

Past exams indexed: 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021. Open the official NESA papers, with marking guidance where available.

YearStudy designOfficial paper(s)Marking guidance
2025 HSC History Extension examHistory Extension Stage 6 Syllabus (2017) — the syllabus this hub follows (also examined in the 2026 HSC)History Extension HSC examination ↗Marking guidance ↗
2024 HSC History Extension examHistory Extension Stage 6 Syllabus (2017) — the syllabus this hub follows (also examined in the 2026 HSC)History Extension HSC examination ↗Marking guidance ↗
2023 HSC History Extension examHistory Extension Stage 6 Syllabus (2017) — the syllabus this hub follows (also examined in the 2026 HSC)History Extension HSC examination ↗Marking guidance ↗
2022 HSC History Extension examHistory Extension Stage 6 Syllabus (2017) — the syllabus this hub follows (also examined in the 2026 HSC)History Extension HSC examination ↗Marking guidance ↗
2021 HSC History Extension examHistory Extension Stage 6 Syllabus (2017) — the syllabus this hub follows (also examined in the 2026 HSC)History Extension HSC examination ↗Marking guidance ↗

5 official papers across 5 years (2021–2025), 5 with marking guidance, published by NESA.

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Key questions · 4 mapped questions

Aims, purposes and role of history

  • 2025History Extension Stage 6 Syllabus (2017) — the syllabus this hub follows (also examined in the 2026 HSC)History Extension HSC examination 125 marksEvaluate one Australian historian's 2024 presidential-address view of what history is for (history's civic and public role, its past service to power, and the 'post-truth' era), using that passage and at least two other sources. Markers rewarded responses that evaluated this specific interpretation rather than the aims of history in general.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Methods, evidence and objectivity

  • 2021History Extension Stage 6 Syllabus (2017) — the syllabus this hub follows (also examined in the 2026 HSC)History Extension HSC examination 125 marksJudge how far historians can be certain about the past, integrating a passage on historians as expert witnesses in court and Richard J. Evans's defence of objective history after a libel trial, plus at least one other source.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Evidence, contexts, perspectives and philosophies

  • 2024History Extension Stage 6 Syllabus (2017) — the syllabus this hub follows (also examined in the 2026 HSC)History Extension HSC examination 125 marksEvaluate the role of historians in changing interpretations and perspectives of history, integrating two passages (one on history as narrative with plots and the critical questions put to documents; one on disciplinary history as ongoing argument and rebuttal) and at least two other sources.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Technology and audiences

  • 2022History Extension Stage 6 Syllabus (2017) — the syllabus this hub follows (also examined in the 2026 HSC)History Extension HSC examination 125 marksJudge how far changing technology has influenced approaches to history over time, integrating a passage on Web 2.0 and public participation in history-making and a passage on revision as an essential but uneven feature of history, plus at least one other source.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Also in this topic: Producers of history over time · Identity and context of historians · Use and misuse of history · Forms of communication and types of history — question-level mapping in progress; the year table above links every official paper.

Historians · 1 mapped question

Feminist, postcolonial, public and digital history

  • 2023History Extension Stage 6 Syllabus (2017) — the syllabus this hub follows (also examined in the 2026 HSC)History Extension HSC examination 125 marksEvaluate the role of historiographical debate in approaches to constructing history over time, using two passages on counterfactual history (an interview with Niall Ferguson on choice and determinism, and a critique arguing counterfactuals are themselves constructed narratives) and at least two other sources.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Also in this topic: Ancient and medieval producers · Enlightenment and nineteenth century · Twentieth-century schools and postmodernism — question-level mapping in progress; the year table above links every official paper.

Exam & project · 5 mapped questions

Section II technique

  • 2025History Extension Stage 6 Syllabus (2017) — the syllabus this hub follows (also examined in the 2026 HSC)History Extension HSC examination 225 marksJudge how far a published claim that historians can draw ever-closer to truth through analysis applies to the methods of historians in the student's case study, with at least one area of debate. The source is withheld from NESA's public PDF for copyright. Markers wanted analysis of specific methods (selection of evidence, questions asked, feminist, comparative, demographic or interdisciplinary approaches), not context or purpose.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
  • 2024History Extension Stage 6 Syllabus (2017) — the syllabus this hub follows (also examined in the 2026 HSC)History Extension HSC examination 225 marksDecide how far the recording of history is shaped by historians' individual contexts, with explicit reference to one area of debate in the case study. No stimulus.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
  • 2023History Extension Stage 6 Syllabus (2017) — the syllabus this hub follows (also examined in the 2026 HSC)History Extension HSC examination 225 marksExplain how the form of communication has influenced historical interpretations, with at least one area of historical debate in the case study. No stimulus.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
  • 2022History Extension Stage 6 Syllabus (2017) — the syllabus this hub follows (also examined in the 2026 HSC)History Extension HSC examination 225 marksRespond to a one-line view from Mary Beard that the academic's role is to make things less simple, judging how far it holds for the case study, with at least one area of debate.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
  • 2021History Extension Stage 6 Syllabus (2017) — the syllabus this hub follows (also examined in the 2026 HSC)History Extension HSC examination 225 marksEvaluate the influence of context on the construction of historical interpretations, with reference to Source C (a stimulus that did not extract as text; the marking guidelines list issues such as perspective, audience, form of communication, gender and technology) and at least one area of debate.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Also in this topic: Section I technique · History Project — question-level mapping in progress; the year table above links every official paper.

The rest of the syllabus

Question-level mapping for this area is still being verified. Every official paper covering them is in the year table above.

  • Case studies — Ancient case studies · Medieval and early modern case studies · Modern case studies · Asia case studies · Australia case studies

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