A Survey Of Australian NSW Higher School Certificate Examination

Higher school certificate examination is an important type in the world secondary education test system. Many countries are using this exam in the world, such as Britain, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia. Higher school certificate examination is used for testing the ability of senior high school students. Passing the exam, students can enter colleges. So, higher school certificate examination is equal to the college entrance examination in our country.The NSW higher school certificate examination is a distinctive style in the world secondary education test system. It has become a scientific examination system after forty years' development. Its advanced and successful experience is taking by many countries in the world. It can also give us some inspirations for the reform of college entrance examination.This paper has four parts. The first part is the general introduction about college entrance examinations in Australia. It includes the features and development of the exam in different states. The second part is mainly about the NSW higher school certificate examination. It contains the administrative organization and development of HSC. Also it introduces the contents of the procedures of HSC, such as its time table, forms, assessment style, mark reporting, etc. The last part analyzes the inspirations and advice that HSC offers to the reform of college entrance examination in China.