Hi there friends, as I have had some time to reflect on my HSC results and this past year as a whole, I just thought that I would make a post sharing my experience as a student with dyslexia going through the HSC. For context, I have always known I was dyslexic and often found it very difficult to come to terms with, in year 11 I finally accepted it and decided to tell my school formally about my dyslexia. My school was incredibly supportive and often times forgot that I had dyslexia as my internal marks and essays were fantastic; side-note, you can see all my internal essays and assignments under the notes I have uploaded if you would like to
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Whilst some students and staff were a bit shocked that I decided to undertake the subjects I did, I was never really discouraged from taking 4 unit English and all essay-based subjects. I am also incredibly stubborn and when I want something, I go out and do it lol. As all my subjects were primarily assignment-based, I had the time to account for my dyslexia, however often struggled with exams. I remember vividly my advanced teacher coming up to me after marking my trial exams and telling me that whilst my essays were brilliant, she worried that my handwriting and issues with spelling would bring down the mark I deserved to get based off of what she knew I could do during the HSC exam.
Unfortunately, despite providing evidence and undertaking a reading comprehension exam for NESA, my dyslexia provisions were denied, I tried to appeal them and they were denied for a second time. Meaning I had to undertake my HSC exams without any provisions to accommodate for documented dyslexia. It sounds awful, but I have come to learn that this is unfortunately the case for thousands of students around NSW seeking provisions for their learning disabilities and/or individual circumstances. As a result I very much feel like my results and overall outcome of my HSC were affected, however there is not much I can do about this and have come to terms with this fact and my results as a whole. Life is not fair, especially when you have a learning or reading disability/difficulty. Overall I am incredibly proud of my ATAR and results, I received a 94.30 and a band 6/E4 for Society & Culture and English Extension 1, receiving high band 5's (3x cusp band 6's, so ANNOYING HAHA!) for the rest of my subjects.
I achieved this whilst dyslexic without any dyslexia provisions whatsoever .
I wanted to write this to share my experience with other students who will be or are currently undertaking their HSC and also have a learning disability, reading comprehension difficulties or dyslexia. More selfishly, I also wanted to write this as a cathartic release of my frustration surrounding my situation. What happened to me sucks, but unfortunately it is not uncommon. If you are currently undertaking your HSC and are in a similar situation, I just want to let you know that you are not alone in this and I promise you that you can and will succeed. You might have to work twice as hard and put in triple the effort, but I promise that if my experience can teach you anything, you can achieve anything you put your mind to. Also remember that despite the 'ranking' and thus inherently competitive nature of the ATAR and HSC, life nor academia are races. Take it at your own speed, try your very hardest and I promise that you can and will get to where you want to be one day.
Good luck