Southern Cross

University HSC
Enrichment Day 2012
PDHPE Presentation by:
Janine Perry
Health and Physical Education Lecturer
Southern Cross University

Success in the HSC exam

depends on:

Level of knowledge

Capacity to demonstrate knowledge

Performance anxiety

The two key areas you need to be confident

with for success in the HSC exam are:
Syllabus and content knowledge
Examination technique

Increasing knowledge

You will build your basic content knowledge

from:
Syllabus terminology
Content from text books
Practical and relevant examples
Notes should reflect the syllabus structure,
summarise the text book content and integrate
relevant practical examples (min. expectation)
Use syllabus as a checklist for content coverage
and understanding

Content revision activity

Rules
No form or part of any word printed on the card may be given as a clue.
No gestures can be made.
No noises or sound effects can be made.
You cannot say sounds like or rhymes with another word.
No initials or abbreviations can be given if they represent a word on the card.
Example:
Words

Define and explain Adenosine triphosphate

you cannot say:

Energy system
Alactacid
Chemical compound
Creatine Phosphate
Fuel

Revision activity
Glycogen
Liver
Carbohydrates
Energy
Fuel
Muscle

Revision activity
Epidemiology
Incidence
Prevalence
Mortality
Morbidity
Disease

Revision activity
Ottawa Charter
Building healthy public policy
Creating supportive environments
Strengthening community action
Developing personal skills
Re-orienting health services

Revision activity
Training threshold
Aerobic
Anaerobic
Zone
Heart rate
Intensity

THE EXAM

Time Allocation

Exam length 3 hours + 5 minutes reading time

BOS recommended time breakdown (front page of
exam)
Note start and finish times and time breakdown for
each section of the exam.

Section 1:
Part A: multiple choice 20 marks (40 mins)
Part B: Q 21-26 40 marks (110 mins)
Section 2: OPTIONS
Option 1: 35 minutes
Option 2: 35 minutes

Time allocation

Some other ideas to consider:

It is important to check answers as markers are

looking for quality
Build time in for review e.g. 1 minutes per
question (i.e. a 10 mark qtn = 15 mins) allows
for 30 minutes review at the end of the paper.
It is a good idea to start with something you are
feeling positive and confident about answering.
Use the space provided as a guide to how much
you should write remember:
quantity is never a substitute for quality

Part A - Multiple Choice

Questions

Be prepared for stimulus material in approximately 4 of

the 20 questions (Graphs, tables and illustration are
commonly used as stimulus material)
Read the stem and try to answer the question before
reading the alternatives
If unsure of the answer, identify the most likely one and
use process of elimination to remove the others
NEVER leave a MC question unanswered
Essential to practice MC questions 20% of the paper

Part A - Multiple Choice

Questions

Practice answering these type of questions

Drawn from Core 1 and 2 ONLY
Questions will range in difficulty
Read each question carefully
Identify any qualifiers e.g. always, most, good,
best, more, little
Notice any negatives e.g. no, never
Choose the best response - quickly eliminate wrong
responses
Identify the distracter there is only ONE correct
response
Grammatical cues
Sweep through the questions first and answer those
which are obvious to you and eliminate obvious wrong
answers. On your second pass spend extra time trying
to figure out the best answer. With your third attempt
make a guess any answer is better than no answer!

Multiple choice examples

Which of the following is most likely to cause a
stroke?
(A) A reduction of blood supply to the legs
(B) Restricted oxygenated blood supply to the heart
(C) A clot interrupting the blood supply to the brain
(D) Cholesterol constricting the ventricles of the
heart
BOS (2011)

Multiple choice examples

Which of the following is most likely to cause a
stroke?
(A) A reduction of blood supply to the legs
(B) Restricted oxygenated blood supply to the heart
(C) A clot interrupting the blood supply to the brain
(D) Cholesterol constricting the ventricles of the
heart
BOS (2011)

Multiple choice examples

Which of the following are socioeconomic factors
that best explain the health inequities experienced
by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population
groups?
(A) Income and high-density living
(B) Media access and geographical location
(C) Religious and cultural influences
(D) Levels of education and employment

BOS (2011)

Multiple choice examples

Which of the following are socioeconomic factors
that best explain the health inequities experienced
by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population
groups?
(A) Income and high-density living
(B) Media access and geographical location
(C) Religious and cultural influences
(D) Levels of education and employment

BOS (2011)

Multiple choice examples

Which of the following principles of training would
best explain why an elite lawn bowler may not
necessarily be an elite basket baller?

(A) Progressive overload

(B) Reversibility
(C) Specificity
(D) Variety
BOS (2011)

Multiple choice examples

Which of the following principles of training would best
explain why an elite lawn bowler may not necessarily be
an elite basket baller?

(A) Progressive overload

(B) Reversibility
(C) Specificity
(D) Variety
BOS (2011)

Planning Your Answers to

Extended Response Questions

Identify the key word

Identify the syllabus content
Draw the links between syllabus content
Develop a scaffold for your response
Refer to the rubric for the marking criteria

ACTIVITY
LOOK

AT THE FOLLOWING PAST HSC

QUESTIONS AND:

Underlining

the key word

Circle the syllabus content
Highlight the links or relationships
that must be addressed in the
question.

ACTIVITY
a) Outline strategies that reduce the risk of skin
cancer. 3 marks
b) Breast cancer and lung cancer are two common
cancers in Australia. What are the determinants of
these cancers and why do they put some groups
more at risk than the general population? 7 marks
c) Evaluate the effectiveness of health promotion
initiatives based on the Ottawa Charter in
promoting the principles of social justice. 8 marks
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/hsc_exams/hsc2011exams/pdf_doc/personal-devel
opment-health-physical-education-hsc-sample-answers-11.pdf

Answer structure
Basic answer structure try being SEXY
S state the syllabus point (wording in question)
Eelaborate on & explain your point/s
Xrelevant examples to support your

point/s
Y give reasons why is this significant to
the question?

Meeting Rubric demands

In your answers you will be assessed on how well
you:
demonstrate knowledge and understanding of
health and physical activity concepts relevant to
the question (knowledge & relevant info only)
apply the skills of critical thinking and analysis
(key words)
communicate ideas and information using
relevant examples (practical application)
present a logical and cohesive response
(planning answers)

Notes from the Marking

Centre

marks allocated to the question and the answer space

are guides to the length of the required response.
longer response will not in itself lead to higher marks &
may reduce the time available for answering other
questions.
be familiar with the Boards Glossary of Key Words
be aware that not all questions will start with or contain
one of the key words from the glossary. Questions such
as how?, why? or to what extent? may be asked, or
verbs may be used that are not included in the glossary,
such as design, translate or list.
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/hsc_exams/hsc2011exams/notes/pdhpe.html

Features of a quality
response

Answers to the required depth of the key term

Covers all syllabus content
Addresses all aspects of the question
Includes accurate and relevant information
Illustrate answer with relevant examples
Presents ideas in a clear and logical way
Applies the skills of critical thinking and analysis

a) Outline strategies that reduce

the risk of skin cancer. 3 marks

http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/hsc_exams/hsc2011exams/pdf_do
c/personal-development-health-physical-education-hsc-sample-answers11.pdf

http://hsc.csu.edu.au/pdhpe/resources/2604/scaffolds.html

a) Outline strategies that reduce the

risk of skin cancer. 3 marks

Better responses:
identified and sketched in general terms strategies that
reduce the risk of skin cancer.
E.g.: applying sunscreen at regular intervals while
exposed to UV rays and avoiding going out in the sun
during the hours of 113pm when UV exposure is at its
peak.
Weaker responses:
identified only one strategy and how it reduced the risk of
skin cancer.
Or provided a list of strategies without stating a reason
why or how the strategy worked
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/hsc_exams/hsc2011exams/notes/pdhpe.html

2011 HSC EXAM

b) Breast cancer and lung cancer are two
common cancers in Australia. What are the
determinants of these cancers and why do
they put some groups more at risk than the
general population?
7 marks

b) Breast cancer and lung cancer are two common cancers

in Australia. What are the determinants of these cancers
and why do they put some groups more at risk than the
general population? 7 marks

http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/hsc_exams/hsc2011exams/pdf_doc/pers
onal-development-health-physical-education-hsc-sample-answers-11.pdf

NOTES FROM MARKING CENTRE

Better responses:
clearly identified the three determinants as socio cultural,
socio-economic and environmental.
provided features of each component of these
determinants such as employment, status, levels of
education (socio-economic), family, peers and the media
(socio-cultural).
referred to a number of groups, such as ATSI, rural and
remote, socio-economically disadvantaged or people from
non-English speaking backgrounds.
established a clear relationship between the determinants
and the susceptibility for each specific group.
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/hsc_exams/hsc2011exams/notes/pdhpe.html

NOTES FROM MARKING

CENTRE

Mid-range
responses:
Middescribed groups affected by either lung and/or breast
cancer then proceeded to list the risk factors that would lead
to this group contracting the disease.
did not clearly differentiate between determinants and risk
factors.
some demonstrated an understanding of determinants but
did not provide specific examples of groups that were
affected.
many referred to modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors
instead of determinants.
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/hsc_exams/hsc2011exams/notes/pdhpe.ht
ml

NOTES FROM MARKING CENTRE

Low range responses:
provided some relevant information about cancer
or groups at risk.
identified groups at risk for breast and/or lung
cancer and made mention of the risk factors, such
as being female for breast or smoking for lung.
attempted to make general links to an implied
determinant and made reference to simplistic
groups such as smokers for lung cancer.
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/hsc_exams/hsc2011exams/note
s/pdhpe.html

Marking guidelines
Excellent tool to use when revising with past

papers
Provides an understanding of what markers
expect from you to get in the top band
Good habit to use these to mark your own
work, or to mark a friends work
Accessed from the NSW BOS website:
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/hsc_exams

Marking guidelines
Outline strategies that reduce the risk of skin
cancer. 3 marks

http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/hsc_exams/hsc2011exams/pdf_doc/pdhpemarking-guide-11.pdf

Breast cancer and lung cancer are two common cancers in

Australia. What are the determinants of these cancers and
why do they put some groups more at risk than the general
population? 7 marks

Performance Band Descriptors 2010 HSC

Band 6 (9%)
Demonstrates extensive knowledge and understanding
of the range of concepts related to health and physical
performance.
Comprehensively applies theoretical principles to design
and evaluate specific strategies for improving health,
participation and performance.
Demonstrates a superior understanding of the
interrelated roles and responsibilities of individuals,
groups and governments in the management and
promotion of health.
Critically analyses movement and the range of factors
that affect physical performance and participation.
Provides relevant and accurate examples about health,
participation and performance to justify complex
arguments.

Any questions?