History Extension Stage 6 Syllabus (2017) — HSC Year 12 course and examination structure (2026 HSC)
The HSC examination is a 50-mark written paper with 10 minutes reading time and 2 hours working time. Section I (25 marks) is one extended response on the key questions that may refer to one or two unseen passages. Section II (25 marks) is one extended response asking you to analyse an historiographical issue with specific reference to your case study. Each is expected to be about eight exam writing pages (approximately 1000 words) and is marked holistically in five mark ranges. The History Project is assessed by the school and is not part of the exam.
Past papers on this subject span more than one syllabus. Papers written under an older one still work as practice, but the modules they test have changed — the index labels every paper with the syllabus it was set under.
History Extension Stage 6 Syllabus (2017): the 2021–2025 HSC papers linked here and the 2026 HSC (this hub's syllabus) · 2021–2026
The modules, one by one
Each area below lists the concepts named in the syllabus, what the NESA exam asks of them, and the mistake that most often costs marks.
- Key question: Who are historians?
- Key question: What are the purposes of history?
- Key question: How has history been constructed, recorded and presented over time?
- Key question: Why have approaches to history changed over time?
- Constructing History – Case studies (choose ONE)
- History Project
Area 1 of 6
Key question: Who are historians?
The producers of history from ancient times to the present day; their identity (biographical details, personal values and beliefs, philosophy of history, approaches to the construction of history, bias); and their context (gender, class, ethnicity, time, place, social and economic structures and change, political constraints, official and unofficial status, academic background).
What the exam asks
Examined through Section I and through Section II's focus on the historians in your case study (2021 asked about the influence of context; 2024 asked how far historians' individual contexts shape the recording of history).
Where marks go missing
Treating context as biography: a strong answer shows how a specific context produced a specific interpretation.
Area 2 of 6
Key question: What are the purposes of history?
The aims and purposes of specific historical works and historians; changing interpretations and perspectives of the aims, purposes and role of history; and the use and misuse of history.
What the exam asks
Examined through Section I: 2025 asked students to evaluate one historian's view of the aims and purposes of history, using the passage and at least two other sources.
Where marks go missing
Listing famous statements about what history is for without judging the interpretation the question names.
Area 3 of 6
Key question: How has history been constructed, recorded and presented over time?
Changing methods of historians and how historians work; forms of historical communication (written, oral, visual, audiovisual, multimedia, digital); and types of history, from political, social, economic, environmental and military history to popular, national and local history, surveys, macrohistories, microhistories, biographies, psychohistories and historical fiction.
What the exam asks
Examined in both sections: 2021 Section I asked how certain historians can be about the past; 2023 Section II asked how the form of communication influenced interpretations; 2025 Section II asked about historians' methods.
Where marks go missing
Describing what an historian wrote instead of how and why their method produced that account.
Area 4 of 6
Key question: Why have approaches to history changed over time?
The availability of historical evidence; the contexts of historians; changing perspectives about approaches to the construction of history; changing philosophies of history; changing technology; and changing audiences.
What the exam asks
Examined through Section I: 2022 asked how far changing technology influenced approaches to history, 2023 asked about the role of historiographical debate (counterfactual history) and 2024 about the role of historians in changing interpretations.
Where marks go missing
A chronological survey of schools of history. Markers want an argument about causes of change, organised by idea, not by century.
Area 5 of 6
Constructing History – Case studies (choose ONE)
One case study is studied with reference to THREE areas of debate set by the syllabus and the key questions: historical and popular interpretations (including recent historiography), changing approaches, and how context, methodology, purpose, sources and form of communication shape interpretations. The 2017 list has 20 case studies (23 options) in five key areas: Ancient (Cleopatra VII; Athenian Democracy; Rome's Impact on the Provinces; The Origins of Early Christianity; The Collapse of the Western Roman Empire), Medieval and Early Modern (The Crusades; Witch Hunts and Witch Trials; Elizabeth I and the Elizabethan Age; Spain and the Aztec Empire), Modern (Napoleon; Western Imperialism in the 19th Century; Winston Churchill OR Margaret Thatcher; Appeasement; John Fitzgerald Kennedy), Asia (Genghis Khan; The Opium Wars; The Partition of India) and Australia (The Frontier in Australia; Women Convicts in New South Wales; Robert Menzies OR Gough Whitlam; Representations of Anzac).
What the exam asks
Section II (25 marks) is one question for every case study. You identify your case study and refer to at least ONE area of debate; recent questions focus on context, the role of the academic, the form of communication, historians' contexts and historians' methods.
Where marks go missing
Narrating the debate historian by historian. Better responses are driven by the question, select the most relevant historians, and sustain a judgement.
Area 6 of 6
History Project
An individual investigation into an area of changing historical interpretation: a proposal with a focus question, a process log, annotated sources (no more than 600 words), an essay of no more than 2500 words with consistent referencing, and a bibliography. The topic may grow out of the case study but must cover substantially different ground and must not overlap significantly with the examinable content of any Stage 6 course.
What the exam asks
School-based assessment only; it is not examined in the HSC paper.
Where marks go missing
Choosing a narrative historical topic rather than a genuinely historiographical question about how a topic has been interpreted.
Common questions
How is the History Extension HSC paper set out?
It is a 50-mark written paper: 10 minutes reading and 2 hours writing. Section I (Question 1, key questions) and Section II (Question 2, your case study) are each one 25-mark extended response of about 1000 words; allow about an hour for each.
Which syllabus does this hub follow?
The History Extension Stage 6 Syllabus (2017), which is examined in the 2026 HSC. A new syllabus, History Extension 11–12 (2024), is first examined in 2027; it keeps the same exam structure but changes the key-question wording and the case-study list.
Are the 2021–2025 past papers relevant?
Yes. They were set on the same 2017 syllabus, with the same 50-mark, two-section structure and the same 'areas of debate' wording you will see in 2026.
How many sources do I need in Section I?
Follow the wording on the day. Papers have asked you to use the unseen passages and at least ONE other source (2021, 2022) or at least TWO other sources (2023–2025). Integrate the passages throughout your argument rather than quoting them once.
Do I need to know every case study?
No. You study ONE case study and answer Question 2 on it, naming it at the start. The question is the same for every case study, so prepare all three of your areas of debate and their historians in depth.
Is the History Project in the exam?
No. The History Project (proposal, process log, annotated sources, an essay of no more than 2500 words and a bibliography) is assessed by your school. It is covered here in the notes only.
Are the practice papers official?
No. Every practice question, passage and marking guide is original ATARMAxxing material written to the NESA specifications. Passages are attributed to invented commentators, never to real historians.