Visual Arts

Official curriculum and assessment

To start HSC Visual Arts revision, open the 2025 Art criticism and art history. Use the official resources below to choose a task, attempt it independently and check your response against the available assessment guidance. The practice sequence below explains how to turn that review into a focused next attempt. Confirm the paper’s course and syllabus year before using it.

• 2025 Art criticism and art history (PDF)
• 2025 Marking guidelines (PDF)
• 2024 Art criticism and art history (PDF)
• 2024 Marking guidelines (PDF)

Editorial guidance prepared 3 November 2026.

How to practise this subject

These practice suggestions are editorial guidance from Australian Study Resources.

1. Open the 2025 Art criticism and art history, Section I Q1. Task focus — Describe the artmaking practice of a named British-Portuguese painter as it is represented in a single unseen plate. Attempt it before consulting the marking guidance, then identify the evidence or working that supports your answer.
2. Open the 2025 Art criticism and art history, Section I Q2. Task focus — Analyse the shared use of figures and leading lines across two unseen plates by different photographers to build meaning. Attempt it before consulting the marking guidance, then identify the evidence or working that supports your answer.
3. Open the 2025 Art criticism and art history, Section I Q3. Task focus — Analyse a large-scale pavilion's relationship with both its audience and its world across four unseen plates. Attempt it before consulting the marking guidance, then identify the evidence or working that supports your answer.
4. Record the specific point you missed, write a corrected response, and attempt another question that requires the same skill. Check older material against your current course before reusing it.