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Mathematics N6: where the marks actually are
The final Mathematics subject of the N4–N6 ladder. Passing it completes the mathematics requirement for the National N Diploma.
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 | |
|---|---|---|
| Integration techniques | 18 | |
| Areas and volumes | 15 | |
| Second moment of area, moment of inertia and centre of fluid pressure | 15 | |
| Partial fractions | 12 | |
| Differential equations | 12 | |
| Combinations of differentiation and integration | 12 | |
| Centroids and centre of gravity | 10 | |
| Differentiation | 6 |
How to spend your time
- N6 is an applications paper. Areas and volumes, second moment of area, and centroids are 40 marks between them — all of them integration applied to a physical shape.
- Differentiation drops to 6 marks here because N6 assumes you already have it from N5. If differentiation is still shaky, fix it before term starts, not during.
- Partial fractions is 12 marks and is a technique, not a topic — it exists to make the integration questions solvable. Drill it early; it pays out inside other modules.
The syllabus prices the paper at 1 mark = 1.8 minutes. 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 N5 Mathematics.
One trimester, full time, part time or distance learning.
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.
2. The final examination
3 hours, closed book, out of 100 marks, written in April, August, November. You pass at 40%.
- The ICASS trimester mark comes from two formal class tests (or two assignments for distance learners), covering 30% and 70% of the syllabus respectively. Marks stay valid for one year.
- Calculators are allowed. Unless a question says otherwise, round only the final answer, to three decimal places — not during the calculation.
The paper is built to a fixed cognitive split: Remember 20, Understand 20, Apply 20, Analyse 10, Evaluate 20, Create 10 marks per 100. Only 20 marks are pure recall, so memorising worked examples caps you well short of a pass.
Also doing N6 this trimester?
These are the other N6 subjects we have syllabus breakdowns for.
- Industrial Electronics N6Ultrasonics, X-rays and radioactivity carries the most marks (15 of 100)
- Electrotechnics N6AC machines carries the most marks (30 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 — Mathematics 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.