If you are trying to find out whether Health and Movement Science scales well in the HSC, here is the honest answer: nobody knows yet, and anyone who quotes you an HMS scaled mark is guessing. Health and Movement Science is examined in the HSC for the first time in 2026, so no scaling data for it exists anywhere. What we can do is show you exactly what PDHPE, the course HMS replaces, scaled to in 2025, explain what actually drives a scaled mark, and help you make a subject-selection decision that does not hinge on a number that has not been published.
At NextStepAcademy we have spent a lot of time this year fielding the same question from Year 11 and Year 12 families across Sydney. This guide is what we tell them.
Does Health and Movement Science scale well in the HSC?
There is no answer to that question in 2026, because scaling is calculated after the exams from the actual cohort that sat them. The University Admissions Centre publishes its Report on the Scaling of the NSW HSC each year, and the first report that can contain a Health and Movement Science line is the one covering 2026, which will not be released until early 2027.
So if a website, a coaching centre or a forum post tells you “HMS scales to 24” or “HMS scales better than PDHPE”, they have invented it. There is no source they could be reading.
Why is there no HMS scaling data yet?
Scaling is not a fixed property of a subject. UAC works out, each year, how the students in a course performed across all their other courses, and uses that to place the course on a common scale. A course cannot be scaled before its first cohort has sat the exam, because the calculation needs those students’ results. We walk through the mechanics of this in our guide on how to read the HSC scaling report.
Health and Movement Science 11 to 12 was implemented in schools from 2025 for Year 11 and, per NESA, will be examined in the HSC for the first time in 2026. The 2026 cohort is the first data point that will ever exist.
What did PDHPE scale to in 2025?
PDHPE is the closest thing to a guide, because HMS replaces it and draws a similar student body. In the 2025 HSC, PDHPE had 17,852 students, which made it one of the largest courses in the state. Its mean HSC mark was 37.3 out of 50 per unit, and its mean scaled mark was 22.8 out of 50 per unit (UAC, Report on the Scaling of the 2025 NSW HSC, Table A3).
That is a scale-down of roughly 14.5 marks per unit from the raw HSC mark, which is why PDHPE has a reputation as a course that scales poorly.
How far did PDHPE marks move once they were scaled?
Averages hide what matters, so here is the full distribution for PDHPE in 2025. Every figure is per unit, out of 50, and comes from Table A3 of the UAC report.
| PDHPE 2025 (17,852 students) | HSC mark | Scaled mark |
|---|---|---|
| Mean | 37.3 | 22.8 |
| Standard deviation | 5.5 | 10.8 |
| Maximum | 49.0 | 48.6 |
| 99th percentile | 47.0 | 43.5 |
| 90th percentile | 44.5 | 37.3 |
| 75th percentile | 41.5 | 31.3 |
| 50th percentile (median) | 37.5 | 22.8 |
| 25th percentile | 33.5 | 14.2 |
Read the top row against the bottom row and the real story appears. A student at the 99th percentile of PDHPE lost only 3.5 marks per unit in scaling. A student at the 25th percentile lost 19.3. Scaling does not punish a course evenly. It compresses the bottom and leaves the top nearly intact, which is the pattern across almost every large course, as we show in our breakdown of the worst scaling HSC subjects.
Will Health and Movement Science scale like PDHPE?
Probably somewhere near it, but do not treat that as a prediction. Two things could move it.
The first is the cohort. Scaling reflects how a course’s students perform in their other courses. If HMS attracts more students who are also taking Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics Advanced, the scaled mean rises. If the cohort is broadly the same students who used to take PDHPE, it will land close to where PDHPE was.
The second is the course itself. HMS is a more scientific and analytical course than PDHPE was, with two depth studies across Years 11 and 12 and a formally assessed Collaborative Investigation in Year 11. A more demanding course can attract a stronger cohort over time. That effect, if it happens at all, takes several years, not one.
When is the first HMS HSC exam?
The first Health and Movement Science HSC examination is on Wednesday 28 October 2026, 9.20 am to 12.30 pm, per the NESA 2026 HSC written examination timetable. That is day 12 of the exam period, which runs from Tuesday 13 October to Thursday 5 November 2026. Our full HSC exam timetable guide for 2026 sets out how to build a study plan around those dates.
What does the HMS exam actually look like?
The HSC examination is a single written paper worth 100 marks, running three hours plus 10 minutes reading time. Per the NESA examination specifications it has three sections:
- Section I, 20 marks: objective response questions.
- Section II, 56 marks: short-answer questions, 9 to 12 items, including at least three worth 6 to 8 marks each.
- Section III, 24 marks: two extended-response questions of 12 marks each, one on Health in an Australian and Global Context and one on Training for Improved Performance.
The two Year 12 focus areas carry roughly equal weight, and the Year 11 course is assumed knowledge for Year 12. That last point catches students out every year in every new course.
Should you drop HMS because of scaling?
Almost certainly not, and the reasoning is the same one we give every family who asks about a low-scaling subject. Your scaled mark depends far more on your position within the course than on the course’s scaled mean. A student in the top 1 per cent of PDHPE in 2025 walked away with 43.5 per unit. A student in the middle of a higher-scaling course did worse than that.
Dropping a subject you are strong in for one you will be middling in is usually a net loss. Our guide to HSC subject selection and the ATAR works through how to make that trade honestly, and our data-backed ranking of the hardest HSC subjects shows how differently difficulty and scaling behave.
What should a Year 10 student choosing subjects in 2026 do?
Here is an illustrative example of the decision we see most often. Two students are picking between HMS and Biology. Student A loves anatomy, trains four times a week, and finds extended-response writing straightforward. Student B is taking Chemistry and Mathematics Advanced and wants a third science that supports them.
Student A should take HMS. Student B should take Biology, not because Biology scaled to 26.2 against PDHPE’s 22.8, but because Biology sits alongside the rest of their pattern and they will rank higher in it. The scaled means are a tie-breaker at best. Compare that with the way we treat the science courses in our comparison of whether Physics or Chemistry scales better.
How do you study for a course with no past papers?
This is the genuine disadvantage of being in a first cohort, and it is bigger than the scaling question. There are no HMS HSC past papers, no marking guidelines and no examiners’ notes. What you can do:
- Work from the NESA sample examination materials and the syllabus outcomes rather than from PDHPE papers, because the focus areas have changed.
- Use PDHPE extended-response questions only for the skill of structuring an answer, never for content coverage.
- Treat your school’s assessment tasks as your best available signal, since your teachers have seen the sample materials.
- Practise the 12-mark extended responses under timed conditions early, because Section III is a quarter of the paper.
The same principle applies to any HSC course in a transition year, and it is why our guide to the highest scaling HSC subjects stresses execution over course choice.
How can a tutor help in a first-cohort year?
Where a tutor earns their keep in 2026 is not predicting scaling. It is closing the gap that missing past papers leaves: building answer structures for the extended responses, marking practice under the syllabus outcomes, and keeping Year 11 content live because it is assumed knowledge. Our HSC tutoring in Sydney and Year 12 HSC tutoring pages set out how we work with students in that position.
If you want to see whether it fits before committing, our First Lesson Guarantee means that if you do not love the first lesson, you do not pay for it. Book a lesson today.
Frequently asked questions
What is the mean scaled mark for Health and Movement Science?
It does not exist yet. HMS is examined for the first time in the 2026 HSC, so the earliest UAC scaling report that can include it is the one covering 2026, published in early 2027.
Does HMS scale well compared with PDHPE?
There is no comparison to make yet. PDHPE’s mean scaled mark in 2025 was 22.8 out of 50 per unit from 17,852 students. HMS has no published figure, and the cohort that determines it has not sat the exam.
Is Health and Movement Science harder than PDHPE?
It is structured differently rather than simply harder. HMS takes a more scientific and analytical approach and requires two depth studies plus a Collaborative Investigation in Year 11, which is formally assessed. Whether that makes it harder depends on the student.
When is the 2026 HMS HSC exam?
Wednesday 28 October 2026, 9.20 am to 12.30 pm, according to the NESA 2026 HSC written examination timetable. The full exam period runs 13 October to 5 November 2026.
Should I choose HMS if I want a high ATAR?
Choose it if you will rank well in it. A strong position in a lower-scaling course beats a middling position in a higher-scaling one, and PDHPE’s own 2025 figures show the top of the course lost only 3.5 marks per unit in scaling.