HSC exams are over – how will girls and boys perform in key subjects?

New data revealed by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) shows that the gender gap in some humanities subjects is shrinking.

Claire Halliday
Claire Halliday

HSC exams are over for New South Wales’ students and with new data revealed by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA), it appears that the gender gap in some humanities subjects is shrinking.

The findings show girls continue to outperform boys in the majority of HSC courses, including in economics, history, and geography. Girls also still dominated all English courses, visual arts, biology, business studies, and music in 2022. In chemistry and some of the toughest maths subjects, though, boys are holding onto a narrow lead.

In physics – recognised as a male-dominated subject – boys and girls performed almost equally in the top HSC band in 2022, while female economics students eclipsed their male peers across both band five and six results.

It’s the first time NESA has released performance bands by location and socio-economic status. The research shows students in cities were more than twice as likely to score in the top two bands last year when compared with students attending schools in outer regional and remote parts of NSW.

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The state’s wealthiest students were three times more likely to achieve a band six result – with marks of 90-plus – compared with their disadvantaged counterparts.

The results highlight a long-running gender gap in education that remains at a tertiary level and follow news that the state’s girls outperformed boys in both numeracy and literacy across most year levels in the 2023 NAPLAN results.

Last year, the median ATAR for boys was 69.85, with girls achieving 72.45. University Admissions Centre analysis shows under-representation is also due to a higher number of boys choosing studies that make them ineligible for an ATAR or an HSC.

A NESA spokesperson says strong evidence suggests that “passion, interest, and ability drives engagement and positive academic outcomes” for students in the courses they study.

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Students who have completed their 2023 HSC exams results will receive their results on 14 December.

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Claire Halliday has an extensive career as a full-time writer - across book publishing, copywriting, podcasting and feature journalism - for more than 25 years. She lives in Melbourne with children, two border collies and a grumpy Burmese cat. Contact: claire.halliday[at]brandx.live