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Note: you can select multiple courses and topics. Left-click to include, right-click to exclude.
Difficulty ratings help you target questions at the right level for your class. Always apply your own judgement based on context. A HSC question used with a Stage 5 class will be much harder than its rating suggests, while an Advanced question used with an Extension class may feel easier than its rating suggests.
HSC questions are rated using state-wide average mark data. For example, if students averaged 1.8 out of 3 marks (60%), that question is rated Development. Note that these averages reflect students at the end of a full 2-year course.
Where a question has moved between courses (e.g. harder integration questions, previously in Extension 2, now classified under Advanced), difficulty has been adjusted upward to reflect the higher demand.
Non-HSC questions are rated manually using the criteria below.
| Difficulty | Approx. success rate | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation | 75%+ | Routine questions with up to 3 steps |
| Development | 50 - 75% | Routine multi-step questions (3+ steps) |
| Mastery | 20 - 50% | Non-routine multi-step questions, often unscaffolded; requires reasoning |
| Challenge | <20% | Unfamiliar multi-step questions, often almost beyond syllabus scope |