Fundamentally the Distinction and Extension courses in the HSC are meant to challenge students in new ways that the ordinary subjects do not - much like the Honours year at uni. However while Extensions are school based and build upon previous subjects, Distinctions are entirely new areas of learning which are in essence university units that contribute to your UAI and HSC. They should not be mistaken for preparatory courses for university, rather it is geniune university level study and as such can bestow Advanced Standing in various degrees at uni. It should also be noted that like Ext 2 English and Maths, and Ext History, Music, Visual Art and the Language Extensions there is no preliminary component whatsoever.
The 3 subjects on offer are Cosmology(Charles Sturt Uni), Philosophy(Charles Sturt Uni) and Comparative Literature(University of New England).
What you'll need to be considered for entry is:
1. Acceleration(in the vast majority of cases)
2. Reccomendation of your principal.
For more information click
here, the and the Syllabus for all Distinction Courses can be found
here
For those wishing to challenge themselves in areas not covered by Extension and Distinction courses, there are other subjects created by the universities similar to Distinctions, however they do not count toward the UAI, only the HSC unit requirement. Some of these are:
Advanced Mathematics at University of Newcastle - an additional 2 units in mathematics for accelerants of the Extension 2 Mathematics course.
Masculinity and Femininity: Explorations in Gender at University of Newcastle - a 1 unit HSC course which studies various social and cultural issues relating to gender.
More information on the above two courses can be found
here.
Visual Arts Extension at the National Art School - a 1 unit course in *drumroll* the visual arts - go
here for more info.
There are also HSC subjects offered by USYD:
Mind & Morality,
Problem Solving & Communication in Science, and
Archaeology: Past and Future. Further info on those can be found
here.
