i had the same perspective as you I was also mad that for my year the scaling was non-existant because the paper was so fucking piss easy (I got raw 96 and scaled 96 or something) but they really don't have a lot of options where people don't complain. Btw don't get me wrong I agree I wish it was all hard calculations but it just isnt plausible
doesn't even have to be extension 2 level hard. just look at vce for an example... even the old pre 2000s hsc syllabus was 80% calculations.
topics that were removed from the hsc exam such as conservation of energy and momentum are integral in a physics exam. they should've never moved them to prelim solely.
prelim physics is what high school physics is like elsewhere. So much quantitative stuff of topics from waves, optics, mechanics and circuits were never touched upon again in the hsc exam, despite being covered in prelim.