In September 1997 the New South Wales government introduced a number of significant reforms to the Higher School Certificate (HSC). The broad objectives of the 'new' HSC, which was implemented for the first time in 2000-01, are to increase the rigour and quality of the HSC curriculum; ensure HSC marks fairly reflect the standards achieved by students; provide more informative reports of students' HSC achievements; and enhance the chances for more equitable educational outcomes. Although the new HSC incorporates reforms of both HSC curricula and methods of assessing and reporting student achievement, the focus of this review is on new HSC assessment and reporting procedures and, in particular, on the procedures used in 2001 to set examinations, mark student responses and report student results.