NESA Investigating Science Stage 6 Syllabus (2017) — HSC 2026
The HSC exam is one written paper worth 100 marks: 3 hours plus 5 minutes reading time, with NESA-approved calculators allowed. Section I has objective-response (multiple-choice) questions worth 20 marks (Questions 1-20; allow about 35 minutes). Section II is worth 80 marks: questions may contain parts, there are 20 to 25 items, and at least two items are worth 7 to 9 marks (allow about 2 hours and 25 minutes). The paper gives approximately equal weighting to Modules 5 to 8, and Working Scientifically skills are examined throughout, so expect to write methods, draw graphs, judge the validity of an investigation and analyse claims in stimulus. Every question is compulsory. In school-based assessment the mandatory Year 12 components are Skills in working scientifically (60%) and Knowledge and understanding of course content (40%), and 30 hours of the course are spent on depth studies.
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.
Investigating Science Stage 6 Syllabus (2017) · 2019–2026
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.
- Module 5: Scientific Investigations
- Module 6: Technologies
- Module 7: Fact or Fallacy?
- Module 8: Science and Society
Area 1 of 4
Module 5: Scientific Investigations
Module 5 asks why investigations begin and how they are judged. You study what prompted Marshall and Warren (peptic ulcers), Von Helmont (plant growth) and Spencer (microwaves) to investigate, the hypotheses they tested and where they departed from the tidy linear model of scientific method — Marshall famously experimented on himself. You evaluate the objectives, data and methodology of Eratosthenes, Doppler, Priestley and Marshall and Warren, and justify choosing experimental testing, fieldwork, surveys, information sources or modelling. Then you design your own investigation: variables and controls, sample size and selection, materials, ethics, time frame, and whether to work alone or collaboratively. The module ends with validity, reliability and the structure of a peer-reviewed report.
What the syllabus lists under this area · 5 points
- Practical Investigations to Obtain Primary Data
- Different Types of Scientific Investigations
- Student Investigation
- Reliability and Validity
- Reporting
What the exam asks
Expect to write a valid method for an unfamiliar hypothesis (5 marks in 2025), evaluate the validity of a described experiment, choose the right sample or graph type in Section I, and explain how a named scientist's methodology differed from the traditional model.
Where marks go missing
Treating repetition as the same thing as reliability, or validity as the same as accuracy. Reliability is the consistency of results; validity is whether the test measured what it was meant to; accuracy is closeness to the true value.
29 real NESA questions indexed on this area →
Area 2 of 4
Module 6: Technologies
Module 6 examines the two-way relationship between science and technology. Practically, you design investigations that measure both variables quantitatively — temperature and reaction rate, temperature and gas volume, speed and distance, pressure and gas volume — and evaluate the measuring devices: resolution, random and systematic error, calibration, and the accuracy of analogue against digital instruments. You assess safety with safety data sheets and Work Health and Safety guidelines. Conceptually, you trace the continuous cycle: X-ray diffraction revealing DNA's structure, radiation detectors and atomic theory, the Large Hadron Collider and the Higgs boson, and geological simulations; and in the other direction optics laws leading to microscopes and telescopes, radioactivity to radiotherapy and nuclear weapons, DNA to genetic modification, and Newton's laws to earthquake-resistant buildings. The module also covers scientists' growing respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples' knowledge of plants and ethical bioharvesting.
What the syllabus lists under this area · 2 points
- Scientific Investigation and Technology
- A Continuous Cycle
What the exam asks
Data questions compare digital and analogue readings against a true value, classify random and systematic errors, and ask for a graph with a line of best fit. The final extended response is often on the science-technology cycle (8 marks in 2025, 7 marks in 2023).
Where marks go missing
Saying a digital instrument is always more accurate. Accuracy depends on calibration; a miscalibrated digital probe gives precise but inaccurate readings, and recording more decimal places than the instrument's uncertainty is an error in itself.
25 real NESA questions indexed on this area →
Area 3 of 4
Module 7: Fact or Fallacy?
Module 7 is about separating evidence from persuasion. You plan and run an investigation to test a claim, judging validity, reliability and accuracy and the effect of sample size and selection, and you compare emotive advertising with evidence-based claims on food packaging and products. You justify placebos, double-blind trials and control groups, and evaluate how societal and economic pressures can shape data on climate, health remedies and statistics. You analyse correlation mistaken for causation (the Hawthorne effect, the 1991 hormone replacement therapy study, the Mozart Effect), media reporting of a contemporary debate, the words theory, hypothesis, belief and law, conflicts of interest (tobacco, fossil fuels, asbestos, commercial research), the halo effect, and pseudosciences such as astrology, numerology and iridology. Finally you ask whether peer review can find the truth: fraud, publish or perish, cold fusion, hoax papers and fake journals.
What the syllabus lists under this area · 5 points
- Testing Claims
- Impacts on Investigations
- Evidence-based Analysis
- Reading Between the Lines
- Science as Self-correcting – the Issues
What the exam asks
Short explanations of named examples (the Mozart Effect, astrology, numerology, conflicts of interest) and stimulus-based analysis of a company's graphs or claim. Section I regularly tests the halo effect, emotive advertising and the abstract of a journal article.
Where marks go missing
Naming a fallacy without linking it to the stimulus. Markers reward answers that point to specific features of the claim, graph or source and explain why they mislead.
27 real NESA questions indexed on this area →
Area 4 of 4
Module 8: Science and Society
Module 8 looks at science in its social, ethical, economic and political setting. Case studies of nuclear meltdowns, the smallpox vaccine, the development of flight and the damming of rivers show how events change the public image of science. You investigate why research is regulated — embryo and sex-cell modification, biotechnological weapons, drug testing, the nuclear industry and Indigenous cultural and intellectual property — and evaluate international codes of conduct on cloning, stem cells, surrogacy, GM foods and organ transplantation. You weigh space exploration against spending on poverty and food supply, evaluate research that aided economic development (nuclear power, antimicrobials, GM foods, petroleum products, robotics and drones) and world health (surgical devices and procedures, water treatment, vaccination), and analyse how governments, corporations, research budgets, benefit-sharing and cultural perspectives steer research.
What the syllabus lists under this area · 3 points
- Incidents, Events and Science
- Regulation of Scientific Research
- Influence of Economic, Social and Political Forces on Scientific Research
What the exam asks
Evaluate and Discuss questions on a specific device, code of conduct or research example (4-7 marks), often with a graph or table — world death rates, government spending or dam impacts — to be referred to explicitly.
Where marks go missing
Writing a general essay on 'science is good for society'. Name a specific device, code, event or program, give concrete effects, and make a clear judgement when the command word is Evaluate or Assess.
26 real NESA questions indexed on this area →
Common questions
How long is the Investigating Science HSC exam and how many marks is it worth?
One written paper worth 100 marks, with 5 minutes reading time and 3 hours working time. Section I is 20 marks of objective-response questions (Questions 1-20) and Section II is 80 marks of written responses. NESA-approved calculators may be used.
Is there any choice on the paper?
No. Every question in both sections is compulsory. Section II had 16 questions in 2025, 15 in 2024 and 16 in 2023, worth between 2 and 11 marks each.
Which syllabus will the 2026 exam be based on?
The Investigating Science Stage 6 Syllabus (2017), first examined in 2019. NESA's 2025 notice on new Science 11-12 syllabuses covers Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Earth and Environmental Science, not Investigating Science, so the 2017 syllabus applies to the 2026 HSC.
Are the modules weighted equally?
NESA's exam specifications say there will be approximately equal weighting given to Modules 5 to 8, with Working Scientifically skills integrated throughout. In 2025 the four modules carried 26, 23, 25 and 26 marks, according to the mapping grid in NESA's marking guidelines.
Do I need to know the named scientists and case studies?
Yes. The syllabus names specific investigations and cases, and recent papers have asked directly about Marshall and Warren, Eratosthenes, Doppler, Priestley, Spencer, van Helmont, the Mozart Effect, the smallpox vaccine and nuclear meltdowns. Learn what each investigated, how, and why it matters.
Is Year 11 content examined?
The exam assesses Modules 5 to 8, but NESA states the Year 11 course is assumed knowledge. Ideas such as scientific models, theories and laws, and inference from observation, can appear inside Year 12 questions — the 2023 paper asked for an example of a scientific law and a theory.
When is the 2026 exam?
NESA's 2026 HSC Written Exam Timetable lists Investigating Science on Tuesday 3 November 2026 from 1.55 pm to 5.00 pm, with the start time being when reading time begins. Check your personalised timetable on Students Online in case of changes.