All subjects

Creative Arts

Music 2

UNITS

What this subject builds

Music 2 is for committed musicians — high-level performance, composition and aural skills.

Creativity & making

Performing and composing at a high level.

Analytical reasoning

Advanced aural skills and score analysis.

Independent research

Sustained, independent musical preparation.

Full skill profile

Writing & expression

Argument & persuasion

Analytical reasoning

Numeracy & modelling

Practical & lab craft

Independent research

Creativity & making

Detail & recall

Filled dots = how strongly this subject develops each quality. What do these mean?

Effort & difficulty

INTENSITY

High

TYPICAL LOAD

4–6 hrs/wk

For committed musicians — performance and composition demand steady, serious practice.

Where students struggle

The standard expected in performance and the depth of aural analysis.

Who it suits

Tends to thrive

Strong musicians who want to be properly stretched.

May find it a grind

Students not already playing at a confident level.

How it scales

Scaled mean (per unit)

34.1 / 50

3-YEAR STABILITY

Very stable

Scaled mean by year: 2023 34.1 +0.4 2024 34.5 −0.4 2025 34.1

This is the spread of scaled marks across everyone who took the subject — not how hard it is. A high mean usually means a strong cohort sat it. The figures are from UAC’s latest scaling report (2025), with the year-by-year trend above.

821

sat it in 2025

47.9%

female

99.95

highest ATAR

Mark explorer

Where might my mark scale to?

Set the HSC mark you’re aiming for. We’ll show a band of where that tends to scale — never a single number, never a prediction.

Expected HSC mark 85 / 100

4070100

Your course mark, out of 100 — a 2-unit course.

A mark in the high 80s tends to scale to roughly

30–33 per unit / 50

Scaled marks are measured per unit, out of 50 — the standard UAC scale. There’s no exact conversion, so this is a zone, not a pinpoint.

There’s no exact HSC-to-scaled conversion. Scaling depends on how the whole cohort performs each year, so treat this as a feel for the range — not a calculator.

Common questions

How does HSC Music 2 scale?

In the UAC Preliminary Report on the Scaling of the 2025 NSW HSC, Music 2 had a scaled mean of 34.1 out of 50 per unit, and its scaled mean has been very stable over recent years. Scaling reflects how academically strong the cohort is — not how hard the subject is — and there is no exact HSC-to-scaled conversion, so it's best read as a range, never a single number.

How hard is HSC Music 2, and how much work is it?

Music 2 is high effort — typically 4–6 hrs/wk. For committed musicians — performance and composition demand steady, serious practice. Where students most often struggle: The standard expected in performance and the depth of aural analysis.

What does HSC Music 2 build?

Music 2 is for committed musicians — high-level performance, composition and aural skills. It especially develops creativity & making, analytical reasoning, and independent research.

Who should take HSC Music 2?

Strong musicians who want to be properly stretched. It may be more of a grind for students not already playing at a confident level.

Where’s this data from?

Scaling figures are from the UAC Preliminary Report on the Scaling of the 2025 NSW HSC (Tables A1, A3). Scaled marks are out of 50 per unit.

There is no exact HSC-to-scaled conversion — for any one HSC mark there is a range of scaled marks, which is why we only ever show a band.

The skills, effort and “who it suits” notes are Intuition Education’s editorial guidance, not UAC data.

Why we don’t do an ATAR calculator →