General Information:
In 2005 if you are doing no more than 4 subjects, the fee will be $306 for the year along with an additional materials fee of $50(this was the materials fee at my TAFE at others they charged different amounts all roughly equalling $15 materials fee per subject), amounting to $356 which should be paid at enrolment. If you are doing more than 4 subjects, the fee is $562 plus $60 for materials, amounting to $622. You may pay in 2 instalments. If you receive any benefits from centrelink you may be exempt from course fees.
In order to enrol in the HSC at Tafe you must you must attend an information session held on campus. Information sessions dates for campuses may vary, so contact the TAFE campus of your interest.
In order to complete the HSC you must accumulate 12 preliminary units and 10 HSC units, 2 of these units must be English. In order to gain entry to university you must complete a minimum of 8 category A HSC units with a maximum of 2 category B HSC units. Your achievement in these units is calculated in order to determine a rank known as a UAI which determines which courses in university you may access. Further certain courses in university require completion of certain HSC subjects before you may access them so subjects must be chosen with care.
There are 2 ways in which the HSC is delivered at TAFE. The first is where the preliminary (year 11) subjects and HSC (year 12) subjects are taught separately in a similar fashion to a school. The second is where the preliminary and HSC components of a subject are compressed into approx. 9 months, this allows you to complete the HSC in 1 year or 5 years if you so wish. The second is the most common form taught at TAFE. It should be noted that within this program classes typically range from an hour and a half to four hours. Classes may also be day or night.
Also you may undertake a TVET subject which allows you to undergo part of a TAFE industry course as part of your HSC which will give you advanced standing in a TAFE qualification; however with a few exceptions the majority of TVET subjects do not contribute to the UAI.
If a subject of your interest is not at a particular TAFE, you may co-enrol with a number of campuses with no extra enrolment fee. However OTEN is the only TAFE to offer even a limited amount of language subjects and then only in a two year course, so if you desire to study a language you may have to co-enroll with Open High School or Saturday School. Upon enrolment in the HSC at TAFE you will also be enrolled for free in the ILC ; a tuition program for those needing help in Maths or English, Science or Computing.(this is statewide ie I enroll in Gymea HSC and can use Blue Mountains ILC as well for no extra cost)
The Limited UAI
The Limited UAI is an option for mature age students (aged 21 and over) which grants you a UAI with a lesser amount of studies( between five and nine Board Developed units, two of which must be english) in a single year. You cannot accumulate a Limited UAI.
While most universities will accept the Limited UAI for admission into many courses, competitive courses such as Medicine and Veterinary Science and others will not accept the Limited UAI. Students are advised to check with universities if they admit students into a course on the basis of a Limited UAI.
TVET
TVET courses are Tafe modules or Certificates that you can undertake that count as units in the hsc or preliminary years. They also may give credit and advanced standing in some Tafe courses. A handful of these courses also contribute to your UAI and may also be offered in some schools, these are industry framework courses and I will list them here:
Information Technology
Hospitality
Entertainment
Primary Industries
Construction
Metal & Engineering
Retail
Tourism
Business Services
The rest of the courses are not industry framework and don't contribute to the UAI, apart from Accounting which does.
The non framework courses are listed here:
https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/vetinschools/tvet/tvetcourseinfo/prg_vt_2153_status05.htm
In order to enroll in a TVET course at Tafe, you should either speak to your year advisor or VET co-ordinator if you go to a school, or if you are completing your HSC at Tafe then contact the Tafe that runs your desired TVET course in order to co-enroll.
Locations: TAFEs that run Category A HSC subjects
Albury, Bankstown, Blacktown, Bradfield, Condoblin, Cowra, Forbes, Gymea, Granville, Hornsby, Liverpool, Meadowbank, Nepean, Newcastle, Northern Beaches, North Sydney,Orange, OTEN, Parkes, Randwick, Ultimo,Wagga Wagga, Wollongong
Subject Offerings
Bradfield - English(Standard), English(Advanced) English Extension 1 English Extension 2, English Fundamentals, General Maths, Mathematics, Mathematics Extension 1, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Legal Studies, Business Studies, Geography,Ancient History, Modern History, History Extension, Information Technology, Ceramics, Photography, CAFS, Dance, Design & Technology, Drama, Food Technology, IPT,Music 1, PDHPE, Society & Culture, SDD, Visual Arts, Visual Design, Work Studies, Hospitality, Business Services, Entertainment, Media & Performance, Music Industry, Retail, Tourism
Cessnock- Biology, English Standard, General Mathematics, Modern History, PE/PD Health, Society and Culture, Information Technology; Primary Industries; Child Studies; Hospitality.
Gosford: Biology, Business Services, English Standard, General Maths, Geography, Information Technology, Modern History(alternating each year with Ancient History), Society and Culture
Newcastle - Ancient History, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Design and Technology, English( Standard), English(Advanced), Geography, Information Technology, IPT, Legal Studies, General Maths, Mathematics, Modern History, Physics, Senior Science, Society and Culture, Studies of Religion, VET subjects
Visual Arts
Wyong-Biology, Business Studies,English Fundamentals,English Standard
General Mathematics, Geography,Information Technology,Modern History,TVET Options
Bankstown:ESL, English Fundamentals,Ancient History, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, English(Standard), English(Advanced), Geography, Information Processes & Technology, Legal Studies, General Maths, Mathematics, Mathematics Extension 1, Mathematics Extension 2, Modern History, Physics, Senior Science, Society & Culture, Information Technology,
Sutherland (Gymea & Loftus)- Ancient History, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, English(Standard), English(Advanced), English Extension 1, Geography, Information Processes & Technology, Legal Studies, General Maths, Mathematics(Advanced), Mathematics Extension 1, Modern History, Physics, Society & Culture, Accounting, Automotive, Beauty Therapy, Business Services, Electro technology , Information Technology, Music Industry, Tourism
Wollongong: English Fundamentals, English (Standard), English (Advanced), General Maths, Mathematics, Modern History, Biology, Geography, Economics, Legal Studies, Chemistry, Physics, English Extension 1, English Extension 2, Ancient History, Accounting, Automotive, Business Services Industry, Children’s Services, Construction, Electro-technology, Hospitality, Information Technology Industry, Music Industry, Nursing
Granville-Ancient History, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Economics, English(Standard), English Fundamentals, Geography, Information Processes & Technology, Legal Studies, General Maths, Mathematics(Advanced), Mathematics Extension 1, Modern History, Physics, SDD.
Hornsby - English Fundamentals, Ancient History, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Economics, English(Standard), English(Advanced), English Extension 1,English Fundamentals, Information Processes & Technology, Legal Studies, General Maths, Mathematics(Advanced), Mathematics Extension 1, Modern History, Physics, Senior Science, Visual Arts
Liverpool – English Fundamentals, Ancient History, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, English (Standard), Geography, History Extension, Legal Studies, General Maths, Mathematics (Advanced), Mathematics Extension 1, Physics, Modern History
Meadowbank: English Fundamentals, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, English (Standard), English (Advanced), ESL, Geography, IPT, Legal Studies, General Maths, Mathematics, Mathematics Extension 1, Mathematics Extension 2, PDHPE, Physics, Senior Science
North Sydney: English Fundamentals, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Earth Science, Economics, English(Standard), English(Advanced),ESL, English Extension 1, English Extension 2, Geography, Information Processes & Technology, General Maths, Mathematics, Mathematics Extension 1, Mathematics Extension 2, Modern History, Physics, SDD, Studies of Religion
Northern Beaches: English Fundamentals, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, English (Standard), English (Advanced), Geography, Information Processes & Technology, Legal Studies, General Maths, Mathematics, Physics
Randwick: Ancient History, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Drama, Economics, English(Standard), English Fundamentals, Geography, Information Processes & Technology, Legal Studies, General Maths, Mathematics, Modern History, Physics, Senior Science, Society & Culture, Visual Art, English(Advanced)
Ultimo: Biology, English (Standard), English Fundamentals, Information Processes & Technology, General Maths, Mathematics, Mathematics Extension 1, Physics, Society & Culture, Ancient History, Business Studies, Chemistry, Economics, English (Advanced), ESL, English Extension 1, Geography, Legal Studies, Modern History, SDD, Visual Art, PE
OTEN-Accounting, Ancient History, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Childrens’ Services, Earth and Environmental Science, Economics, English Advanced, English Standard, Fundamentals of English, Food Technology, French (Beginners), Geography, German (Beginners), Information Technology, Italian (Beginners), Japanese (Beginners), Marine Industry,Mathematics, Mathematics Extension 1, General Maths, Modern History, PDHPE, Physics, Property Services, Senior Science, Spanish (Beginners), Textiles and Design,Visual Arts
NOTE: This list is far from complete as there are other campuses I cannot ascertain the subjects for, also I have refrained from posting a total list of TVET colleges as that would be endless and have instead provided links below to some TVET pages. I would also appreciate input from any other students of the tafe hsc program who have any relevant knowledge they think is not in this guide.
Important links:
http://www.bradfieldcollege.info/ This is for Bradfield College which is located in North Sydney, it is essentially a TAFE run high school and has separate procedures to the run of the mill TAFE.
http://www.oten.edu.au/oten/home.htm This is the OTEN institute of TAFE which is the correspondence TAFE.
http://wsi.tafensw.edu.au/courses/tvetCourses/tvet2005/welcome.asp This is the Western Sydney Institute of TAFE's TVET index
http://www.illawarra.tafensw.edu.au/TVET/index.htm
This is the Illawarra Institute's TVET page
http://huntertvet.tafensw.edu.au/tvet_external/index.aspx
This is the Hunter Valley Institute's TVET page.
http://www.nci.tafensw.edu.au/tvet/default.htm This is the North Coast's TVET page.
https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/hsctafe/new/index.htm
This page talks about credi transfer between Tafe courses and HSC courses and vice versa.
https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/vetinschools/tvet/tvetcourseinfo/prg_vt_2153_status05.htm
This page lists the TVET non framework courses you can take as part of your HSC.
https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/vetinschools/tvet/tvetcourseinfo/prg_vt_2153_icfintro_05.htm
This page lists the TVET framework courses you can take as part of your HSC.
http://www.sit.nsw.edu.au/tvet/courses.php
This is the sydney institute's page for TVET.
FAQS
Q. Will TAFE affect my scaling or marks?
A. No, it will not. When marking HSC papers, markers do not know from which class or campus the paper originates and so must mark the same whether the paper comes from James Ruse or TAFE. The scaling also will not be affected as that is derived from the whole of the candidature in your subjects.
Q. I've heard everyone at TAFE is like really dumb, so if I never turn up won't I still top the class?
A. In general, no. TAFE has its mix of people like anyone else and you would be foolish to assume that the relative stupidity of your class members whether real or not will improve your HSC.
Q. What dates does the TAFE HSC/Preliminary courses run?
A. For non-correspondence TAFEs the program starts in February and runs through to either your HSC in October/November or your End of term exams in Term 3 for Prelim. For those doing a matriculated program(HSC combined with Prelim) then most of you will begin in February, complete your prelims in term 1 or early term 2 depending on your subjects and sit the HSC with everyone else that year, a handful of TAFEs however do not function under this timetable such as Gosford which commences in term 4, but holds no assesments in this period so that those enrolling in term 1 arent disadvantaged. For OTEN(correspondence TAFE), the dates are more flexible as there are no classes and you may start your course at similar dates to a school, and they may accept later enrollment up until sometime in April of the year you wish to sit the exam for.
Q. What does "framework" and "non framework" mean?
Framework means that you must undertake work experience in the field of your TVET course as a component of this course, non framework means that you don't.(there are a handfull of exceptions to this)
Q. If I want to do a new subject in the HSC, do I have to do the year 11 bit?
While you do have to satisfy the preliminary requirements, TAFE has classes where the year 11 is integrated into the year 12 in the same year.
If there are any queries ask away in the "HSC at Tafe?" thread:
http://www.boredofstudies.org/community/showthread.php?t=50109
