HSC Portuguese Continuers study guide
HSC Portuguese Continuers · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The HSC Portuguese Continuers course is a New South Wales senior secondary qualification for students who already have a working background in Portuguese - typically heritage speakers, students who have lived in a Portuguese-speaking country, or learners who have studied the language for several years before Year 11. It is not a beginner course: the syllabus assumes you can already hold a conversation, follow spoken texts at natural speed and write connected prose without translating word by word. The HSC Portuguese Continuers study guide has 5 sections and about 1,832 words.
01Interpersonal Communication: Listening and Responding
You must show that you can understand spoken Portuguese in realistic exchanges and respond appropriately. The exam typically plays recorded dialogues, announcements, interviews or phone messages, and asks for short answers, completion of notes, or a written reply.
403 words, about 2 min02Informational and Analytical Texts: Reading and Responding
You read articles, reports, letters, advertisements and opinion pieces in Portuguese, then extract information, interpret purpose and tone, and respond in writing. Texts may come from Portugal, Brazil or lusophone Africa and may include statistics or quotations.
378 words, about 2 min03Personal and Imaginative Writing in Portuguese
You produce a coherent text of roughly 150–250 words in Portuguese: a diary entry, letter, email, short narrative, description or opinion piece. Marks reward task fulfilment, range of language, accuracy and organisation.
367 words, about 2 min04Knowledge of Language Structures and Vocabulary
This domain underpins all others: accurate grammar, control of verb systems, pronoun use, agreement and a wide, precise vocabulary. It appears in discrete items, cloze passages and in the accuracy marks of written tasks.
345 words, about 2 min05Understanding Portuguese-Speaking Communities and Cultures
You show knowledge of the cultures, societies and contemporary issues of lusophone communities - Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe and Timor-Leste - and can discuss them in Portuguese. Geography and identity : the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), the concept of lusofonia , and the shared language with distinct national identities.
339 words, about 2 min