National Senior Certificate


The National Senior Certificate or NSC is a high school diploma and graduate certificate of South Africa. This certificate is commonly known as the matriculation certificate, with grade 12 as the matriculation grade. The NSC, previously known as the Further Education and Training Certificate or FETC, replaced the Senior Certificate effectively in 2008, was phased in starting with grade 10 in 2006.

Curriculum

Students study at least seven subjects: each of the two compulsory official South African languages, either Mathematics or Mathematical Literacy, Life Orientation, and three elective subjects. Students have the option of either taking the NSC or the NCV.

Standards

Subjects are taken on the same level – the earlier higher/standard grade split is obsolete. The three pass levels have different requirements. The higher certificate requires 40% or higher in the home language as well as in two other subjects and at least 30% in three other subjects. Students who pass the matric with a higher certificate level cannot enroll for a university degree nor a diploma at any institution of higher learning. The mean mark in any subject is approximately 55. Only a small proportion of candidates score an 'A' in any subject. A further 8 – 15% are likely to gain a 'B' and about 20 – 25% achieve a 'C' grade. The National Senior Certificate is a group certificate and records an aggregate mark.

Regulations

The Department of Basic Education is responsible for general educational policy to be implemented by nine provincial education departments and private providers such as the Independent Examinations Board. Nine provincial examination boards and three independent boards, of which the IEB is the biggest examine students. The IEB operates on a national level, catering primarily to independent schools.

Subject requirements

Students study at least 7 subjects: 4 compulsory and 3-4 optional. All subjects are set at one grade only and are no longer set at Higher or Standard Grade. Not all schools offer the full range of elective subjects as listed here. Each school may offer subjects specific to its academic orientation. For example, agriculture schools will offer agriculture-oriented subjects whereas technical schools will offer practical and mechanical-oriented subjects.

Group A: Fundamentals (Compulsory)

Learners must study 4 compulsory subjects:
Learners must also study at least 3 subjects from the following:
Life Orientation has been introduced into the senior high school phase as an examination subject and is designed to cover non-academic skills needed in everyday life such as:
There are three types of subjects:

General Subjects

Continuous Assessment includes all the tests, examinations, tasks, activities, orals and projects done throughout the year. Results are usually out of 400 marks.

Level system (1 to 7)

Language compensation attempts to adjust for the difficulties faced by students whose mother tongue is neither English nor Afrikaans. It is described by several sources:
"To the final mark is added the language compensation, which is 5% of the mark attained by the candidate for all non-language subjects, for candidates whose mother tongue is not English or Afrikaans. The 5% compensates learners for the disadvantage suffered by these candidates being instructed in a language that is not their mother tongue."
"The compensation applies to learners whose first language is neither
English nor Afrikaans and who offer an African language as their first
language. They receive an additional 5% on their non-language
subjects. The measure was first introduced in 1999 by the South
African Certification Council."
Dr. Sizwe Mabizela, Chairperson of Council, Umalusi has provided a further explanation: "This is the most misunderstood concept in this country. In terms of the policy on language compensation, learners who offer an African language as Home Language and do not offer Afrikaans or English as Home language qualify for a 5% language compensation on the mark they have obtained in a non-language subject. For example a learner who obtains a mark of zero out of 300 will obtain 5% of zero for language compensation; a learner who obtains 10 out of 300 will receive 5% of 10, which is 0,5 marks, for language compensation; a learner who obtains 100 out of 300 marks will obtain an additional 5 marks for language compensation."
This kind of compensation impacts pass rates, but provides a significant impact at the upper end of the scale, affecting those applying for admission to university. For example, a qualifying learner obtaining 95% would receive 95 x 1.05 = 99.75%. A learner obtaining 40% would receive 40 x 1.05 = 42.0%.

University entrance

In addition to minimum grades required in each subject, universities either set their entrance tests and/or use the National Benchmark Tests. To study for a bachelor's degree at a South African university requires that the applicant has at least an NSC endorsed by Umalusi, with a pass of 30% in the chosen university's language of learning and teaching, as well as a level 4 or higher in the following list of designated, 19-credit subjects: