Every HSC past paper on this page is free on the NESA website. This page brings together syllabus years, exam structures and changeover dates for five subjects: English Advanced, English Standard, Biology, Chemistry and Physics, with a link to each of their NESA exam packs from 2019 to 2025.
The directory also includes six Mathematics Advanced exam packs from 2020 to 2025, with a separate guide to that course. We checked the 35 English and science links on 11 October 2026 and the six Maths links on 14 October 2026, read each subject’s 2025 paper cover and took the syllabus dates from NSW Curriculum. Each subject then hands off to our full guide for that exam.
Key Takeaways
- NESA publishes each HSC exam paper, its marking guidelines and its marking feedback free, in one exam pack per subject per year. The availability table below links 41 packs: 35 for English and sciences, plus six for Mathematics Advanced.
- Biology, Chemistry and Physics share one layout: one 3-hour paper, 5 minutes of reading time, 100 marks, split 20 and 80.
- English Advanced and English Standard share another: two papers, 3 hours 30 minutes of working time in total, five sections of 20 marks each.
- The 2019 to 2025 papers were set on the 2017 syllabuses, which the 2026 HSC also examines, but the changeover year differs: the first HSC on a new syllabus is 2027 for English, 2028 for Biology and Physics, and 2029 for Chemistry.
- Across 2019 to 2025, the share of marks in questions tagged with more than one module, in our tally of NESA’s Mapping Grids, was 5.1% in Biology, 10.3% in Physics and 11.1% in Chemistry.
- The English Standard and English Advanced Paper 1 essay, the Common Module question, was the same in both courses in all seven years.
Contents
- Key Takeaways
- Where to find official HSC past papers
- How the HSC exams compare by subject
- Which past papers match your syllabus
- Where the marks sit in the sciences
- HSC Chemistry past papers
- HSC Biology past papers
- HSC Physics past papers
- HSC English Advanced past papers
- HSC English Standard past papers
- HSC Maths past papers
- How to use past papers
- HSC tutoring in Blacktown
- The bottom line
- Frequently asked questions
Where Can You Find Official HSC Past Papers?
NESA keeps every subject’s papers on its HSC exam papers page. For each of our five subjects and each year from 2019 to 2025 there is one exam pack, holding the paper, the marking guidelines and the markers’ feedback on that year’s responses. Mathematics Advanced is included from 2020, the first HSC examination of its 2017 syllabus; 2019 belongs to the predecessor course. The table links each pack directly. Nothing here is re-hosted, so the papers stay © NSW Education Standards Authority.
If a link ever breaks, start from the subject’s page on NESA’s HSC exam papers list, which shows the current exam packs. Papers from 2018 and earlier sit in separate archive pages and were set on earlier syllabuses (see which papers match your syllabus).
How Do the HSC Exams Compare by Subject?
HSC exam timetable 2026 for these five subjects
NESA’s 2026 HSC Written Exam Timetable spread these five subjects across four weeks. It put Paper 1 for English Standard and English Advanced on the same morning, and Paper 2 for both on the next.
NESA timetabled Physics for Thursday 5 November, the last day of the 2026 written exams. If you take Chemistry and Physics, the timetable put Physics six days after Chemistry. The 2026 timetable PDF has every other subject and the start times.
HSC exam structure by subject
The three sciences use one layout and the two English courses use another. Within each group, the 2025 covers print the same reading time, working time, marks and sections.
In the sciences, Section I is 20 multiple-choice questions, and the Chemistry and Physics papers print a formulae sheet, data sheet and periodic table at the back. In English, every section is worth the same 20 marks, so the only marks that move are inside a section: how many short-answer questions Section I has, or whether Module C is one task or two parts.
Which HSC Past Papers Match the Current Syllabus?
For all five subjects, the 2019 to 2025 papers were set on the same syllabus as the 2026 HSC. The subjects part ways after that. Each is moving to a new NSW syllabus, and the first HSC on the new course falls in a different year.
So a student sitting the 2027 HSC in Biology or Physics is still on the 2017 syllabus, but a 2027 English student is not. For English, the new course keeps the same exam layout: NESA’s English Standard HSC examination specifications set out two papers with the same times and section marks. The prescribed text list and course descriptions change, while the focus-area headings retain the module titles. For the sciences, check the new syllabus before treating an old question as practice for the new course.
Where Do the Marks Sit in HSC Biology, Chemistry and Physics?
At the back of each science marking guidelines document, NESA prints a Mapping Grid that tags every question with its module. Our three science guides added up all seven grids for their subject. Putting the totals side by side compares, for each subject’s 700 marks over seven papers, the marks tagged solely to each module and the marks tagged to more than one module. Shared marks are not apportioned between modules: Chemistry has 78, Biology 36 and Physics 72.
What this compares. The three tallies use the same method: the same paper size, the same 20 and 80 split, modules numbered 5 to 8 and the same rule for shared questions. The modules cover different content in each subject, so the chart compares how each paper’s marks sit across its modules, not whether one subject’s Module 5 is worth more than another’s. English is left out because its sections are fixed at 20 marks each.
Two things stand out. Over seven papers, each module’s single-module questions took between 21.0% and 24.9% of the marks in all three subjects. And the shared share differs: 36 marks in Biology against 72 in Physics and 78 in Chemistry. In Biology, 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025 had no shared questions at all.
HSC Chemistry Past Papers (2019–2025)
Chemistry stays on its 2017 syllabus until the 2028 HSC, so its 2019 to 2025 papers match the course for a year longer than Biology’s and Physics’.
Counting questions shared between modules, each module was worth between 22 and 34 marks in any one paper. Eight content areas appeared in Section II of all seven papers, including static and dynamic equilibrium, solution equilibria, quantitative analysis and both analysis areas of Module 8. The guide’s module-by-module summary of the marking feedback centres on working and precision: show every step, use correct units and significant figures, and answer the exact question asked.
The shared marks ranged from 0 in 2025 to 21 in 2023. The largest single part in the seven papers was worth 9 marks (2023 Question 36), and it drew on Modules 7 and 8.
Read the full guide: HSC Chemistry past papers, topic by topic. If the papers expose gaps, our HSC Chemistry notes cover each module.
HSC Biology Past Papers (2019–2025)
Biology had the smallest shared segment of the three sciences on the chart above: 36 of the 700 marks. In 2023, 2024 and 2025, every module got between 23 and 26 marks.
Eight content areas appeared in Section II of all seven papers, from reproduction and DNA and polypeptide synthesis in Module 5 to epidemiology in Module 8. A recurring theme in the marking feedback, as our guide summarises it, is precision: naming the specific example, using the exact biological term, engaging with the stimulus and answering the verb the question uses.
Every module had at least one single-module question in both Section I and Section II of every paper. Each paper had exactly two single parts worth 7 marks or more; the largest was 9 marks (2021 Question 33 (c)), and from 2022 to 2025 no single part was worth more than 7.
The 2026 and 2027 HSC are the last two on the 2017 Biology syllabus. Year 11 starts the new course in Term 1 2027.
Read the full guide: HSC Biology past papers, module by module.
HSC Physics Past Papers (2019–2025)
In Physics, the shared questions follow a pattern. Of the 72 marks NESA tagged with more than one module across the seven papers, 42 joined Module 5 (Advanced Mechanics) with Module 6 (Electromagnetism): those questions were tagged with content from both modules.
Six content areas appeared in Section II in all seven papers: projectile motion, motion in gravitational fields, charged particles in fields, electromagnetic induction, the quantum model of light, and special relativity. The markers’ feedback, as our guide summarises it, asks for full working with the formula and substitution, correct units and prefixes, directions for vectors, and clear cause and effect.
Every module had 3 to 6 single-module multiple-choice marks in every paper, and each paper had exactly two Section II single parts worth 7 marks or more. The largest single part was 9 marks in each paper from 2019 to 2023 and 8 marks in 2024 and 2025. NESA’s Physics marking feedback has general comments and Section II comments, with no Section I comments in any year.
Like Biology, Physics changes syllabus for the 2028 HSC, so 2027 is the last HSC on the 2017 course.
Read the full guide: HSC Physics past papers, module by module.
HSC English Advanced Past Papers (2019–2025)
English Advanced has fourteen papers in this period, a Paper 1 and a Paper 2 for each year. The structure never moved, so the changes are inside the questions. Paper 1 Section I had five short-answer questions in six of the seven years. The Common Module essay was one question for every text in five years and text-specific in two. Module C was two parts in five years and a single 20-mark task in two, with splits ranging from 10 and 10 to 5 and 15. Section I used a poem every year and a visual text in three. Our guide’s summary of the markers’ feedback repeats one message every year: answer every part of the question, and analyse rather than describe.
The 2026 HSC is the last on the 2017 English Advanced syllabus. From 2027 the prescribed texts change, but NESA’s specifications keep the same two-paper layout, so the old papers still match the shape of the exam.
Read the full guide: HSC English Advanced past papers, every module. For Section I technique, see our guide to answering HSC English short answer questions.
HSC English Standard Past Papers (2019–2025)
The Paper 1 Section II question, the Common Module essay, was the same in English Standard and English Advanced in all seven years, so the English Advanced exam packs give Standard students a second set of marking feedback on the same seven questions.
The rest of the exam is its own. Section I had five questions in six of the seven years, a poem every year and a visual text in four. Module A was one shared question for every text in five years, and Module B in four (2019, 2023, 2024 and 2025). Every year’s Module A feedback asked students to respond to the whole question, and every year’s Section I feedback asked for explanation instead of recount. Module C came in four arrangements: one 20-mark piece, or two parts split 12 and 8, 5 and 15, or 15 and 5. Our guide also sets out what NESA says changes with the new English Standard syllabus, first examined in 2027.
Read the full guide: HSC English Standard past papers, every module.
What About HSC Maths Past Papers?
Our HSC Maths Advanced past-papers guide links the official 2020–2025 papers and marking guidelines, explains the 2027 syllabus boundary and includes selected topic references from NESA’s 2025 Mapping Grid. Mathematics Standard and the Extension courses have separate papers; the new guide covers Advanced only.
The new Mathematics Advanced 11–12 Syllabus (2024) is first examined in the 2027 HSC. For structured support, see our HSC Maths Advanced classes.
How Should You Use HSC Past Papers?
The method is the same in every subject, even though the papers differ:
- Learn the content first. A past paper tests what you know; it doesn’t teach it. Early in Year 12, do questions by module or section as you finish each one.
- Sit full papers under exam conditions. Use the real working and reading times from the structure table above. Stopping halfway hides the timing problems that cost marks late in the paper.
- Mark against the marking guidelines. Check each criterion, not just the final answer.
- Read the marking feedback for the questions you dropped. It sits on each exam pack page.
- Log every lost mark by module or section, and revise those areas before your next paper.
Seven years of papers is not many. Save some complete, untouched papers for timed practice closer to the exam.
On NESA’s 2026 timetable, English came first of these five exams and Physics last, so spread your timed papers across subjects.
HSC Tutoring in Blacktown
Past papers show you where the marks go. Earning them takes explanation, practice and feedback. At Lux Tuition in Blacktown we run small classes of 1 to 5 students for HSC Chemistry, Physics, Biology, English Advanced and English Standard, taught by tutors who average a 97.1 ATAR. Check our pricing, or book a free trial with no obligations.
The Bottom Line
NESA’s past papers are free. This page adds the comparison across five subjects: one link per subject per year, two exam layouts and three syllabus changeover years. Pick your subject, open its full guide, and use the papers the way the markers’ feedback suggests.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I download HSC past papers?
NESA publishes them free on its HSC exam papers pages. Each subject has one exam pack per year with the paper, the marking guidelines and the marking feedback. The table at the top of this page links every 2019 to 2025 pack for English Advanced, English Standard, Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
Which HSC past papers match the current syllabus?
For these five subjects, the 2019 to 2025 papers were all set on the 2017 syllabuses, which the 2026 HSC also examines. The change comes at different times: the first HSC on the new syllabus is 2027 for English Advanced and English Standard, 2028 for Biology and Physics, and 2029 for Chemistry.
Do HSC past papers come with answers?
Each exam pack includes marking guidelines, which set out the marking criteria, and in the sciences they also give the multiple-choice answers. The marking feedback on each pack page describes what better responses did. They aren't full worked solutions, so if you can't see why you lost a mark, ask a teacher or tutor to go through it with you.
Is the HSC exam format the same every year?
For these five subjects, the papers from 2019 to 2025 kept the same marks and sections. Biology, Chemistry and Physics are one 100-mark paper split 20 and 80. English Advanced and English Standard are two papers, 40 and 60 marks, with every section worth 20. What changes is the questions inside each section.
Are HSC past papers from before 2019 still useful?
They were set on earlier syllabuses, so they can include content that is no longer in the course and a different structure. Use them for extra topic practice after you've worked through 2019 to 2025, and check each question against your syllabus first.
What dates did NESA set for the 2026 HSC exams in English, Biology, Chemistry and Physics?
NESA timetabled English Paper 1 for Tuesday 13 October and Paper 2 for Wednesday 14 October 2026 (both courses), Biology for Wednesday 21 October, Chemistry for Friday 30 October and Physics for Thursday 5 November, the last day of the written exams.
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