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Power Machines N5: where the marks actually are
Thermodynamics and the plant that applies it — compressors, boilers, condensers, gas turbines and renewable energy systems.
N5 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 N5 examination for Engineering Studies as Trimester 1 2027. The last cohort gets a first sitting in Trimester 3 2026 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 | |
|---|---|---|
| Thermodynamics | 20 | |
| Steam generation and nuclear power plant | 20 | |
| Gas turbines and governors | 20 | |
| Air compressors | 15 | |
| Condensers | 15 | |
| Renewable Energy Systems | 10 |
How to spend your time
- Thermodynamics is 20 marks in its own right and is also the theory every other module applies. It is the highest-leverage module on the paper.
- Steam generation and gas turbines are 20 each. With thermodynamics that is 60 marks in three modules — a pass, if you get them right.
- You are given the steam tables, so the marks are in knowing which property to look up and why. Practise with the tables in front of you from the first week.
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 need one of these:
- Passed N4 with Engineering Science
- A relevant skills programme registered on the NQF with at least 120 credits
Full time: 7.5 hours per week. 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.
- A formula sheet and steam table BOE 173 (Properties of Water and Steam) are supplied with the question paper — learn to read them fluently before the exam, not during it.
Also doing N5 this trimester?
These are the other N5 subjects we have syllabus breakdowns for.
- Mathematics N5Integration techniques carries the most marks (24 of 100)
- Industrial Electronics N5Alternating Current Theory carries the most marks (15 of 100)
- Electrotechnics N5DC machines carries the most marks (20 of 100)
- Mechanotechnics N5Conveyor belts and belt drive calculations carries the most marks (20 of 100)
- Fluid Mechanics N5Simple hydraulic systems carries the most marks (12 of 100)
- Strength of Materials and Structures N5Temperature-induced stresses carries the most marks (14 of 100)
- Entrepreneurship and Business Management N5Specific management: Control carries the most marks (18 of 100)
- Computerised Financial Systems N5Financial reports (report writer) on an accounting package carries the most marks (20 of 100)
Source: DHET — Power Machines N5 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.