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Electrotechnics N6: where the marks actually are
The final Electrotechnics subject. Its syllabus is unusual in splitting each module explicitly into calculation and theory marks.
N6 is being phased out. DHET is closing the NATED Report 191 programmes and replacing them with occupational qualifications. Its teach-out schedule (DHET TVET Circular TC 0134, 24 July 2025) gives the last national N6 examination for Engineering Studies as Trimester 3 2027. The last cohort gets a first sitting in Trimester 2 2027 and one repeat trimester — two chances, not the usual open-ended ones.
This is not a reason to stop. The National N Diploma can still be awarded up to 30 June 2029. Complete before 30 June 2026 and you receive the certificate exactly as now; after it, a DHET Statement of Results, which still counts toward the diploma. The Minister confirmed in June 2026 that qualifications already achieved stay valid and enrolled students should carry on.
Check your own dates with your college. The Department has since issued a revised circular, TC 0134(b), which it has not published, and further extensions were gazetted in June 2026 — so the date above is what DHET last put in writing publicly, not a promise about your intake.
What the exam is worth, module by module
These are DHET's own weight values. The syllabus states that a module's weight value gives the time to be spent teaching it and its share of the marks in the final exam — so this table is, in effect, the mark allocation of your paper. It totals 100.
| Module | Weight | |
|---|---|---|
| AC machines | 30 | |
| Generation and supply of AC power | 25 | |
| DC machines | 15 | |
| AC Theory | 15 | |
| Transformers | 15 |
How to spend your time
- AC machines at 30 and Generation and supply at 25 are 55 marks between them. Both were minor or mid-weight earlier in the ladder; in N6 they dominate.
- Generation and supply of AC power goes from 5 marks in N4 to 25 in N6 — a fivefold jump. It is the single biggest change in emphasis across the whole ladder.
- Roughly four marks in five are calculation. Reading theory notes without working problems is close to useless preparation for this specific paper.
The paper is 100 marks in 3 hours — about 1.8 minutes a mark. If a question is worth 10 marks and you are 25 minutes in, you are losing marks elsewhere by staying on it.
Getting in
You must have passed Passed Electrotechnics N5.
Full time: 6 hours per week for 10 weeks (one trimester). Also offered part time.
How you are assessed
Two things have to go right, and students lose the year on the first one more often than the second.
1. Your college (ICASS) mark
You need at least 40% to qualify to write the final exam at all. Your final mark is 40% college mark plus 60% exam, so what you do before the exam is 40% of the subject.
2. The final examination
3 hours, closed book, out of 100 marks. You pass at 40%.
- Your promotion mark is 40% of your ICASS mark plus 60% of your exam mark, so college work counts for two fifths of the subject.
- The syllabus splits the paper roughly 78% calculation questions to 22% theory questions (drawings included) — this is a calculation paper first.
- Scientific calculators are allowed. Programmable calculators and references are not.
Also doing N6 this trimester?
These are the other N6 subjects we have syllabus breakdowns for.
- Mathematics N6Integration techniques carries the most marks (18 of 100)
- Industrial Electronics N6Ultrasonics, X-rays and radioactivity carries the most marks (15 of 100)
- Mechanotechnics N6Kinematics carries the most marks (20 of 100)
- Power Machines N6Air Compressors carries the most marks (20 of 100)
- Fluid Mechanics N6Pumps carries the most marks (22 of 100)
- Entrepreneurship and Business Management N6International business plan carries the most marks (20 of 100)
- Computerised Financial Systems N6Salaries and wages system: payroll package carries the most marks (25 of 100)
Source: DHET — Electrotechnics N6 Syllabus (Report 191, 2025–2026). Module names, weight values, admission requirements and assessment rules on this page are transcribed from that document. The study advice is ours.