The last miles of the HSC lap

[RuiAce]

Hi
I have a question, as the Hsc looms I begin to get more nervous and worry about the study time i have wasted (I have done some study though- just not as much as I should).
My main concern is i need about a 90- which my careers adviser says is completely reachable.
I go to a selective school and the trials exams were really hard :/
I have been doing biology practice papers and have only been averaging in the 70's. Is this a raw mark? Can a 70-80 raw mark potentially get a high band 5? Raw marks confuse me :/
I got 70/100 in my trials and am ranked 9th in my year.
I just need some advice or probably a pep talk !
Other Subjects I take are :
4 U English
Society and Culture
Legal Studies
Thankyou so much for any advice

Well the good thing about 4U English is that you no longer have to worry about that unit anymore. That's always a relief!

Depending on which selective school you go to, it's most likely going to set papers harder than the current HSC. In terms of past papers, during this period you need to have been more concerned with past HSC papers; those uploaded by BOSTES. Not your school's trials anymore. Because only past HSC papers can reflect the difficulty of the past HSC exam.

When they say it's reachable, they're not kidding. I bought my raw marks back and for English, my raw mark was 83.5/105 but this got aligned up to 90%. Things can happen.

With the aligning algorithm, biology aligns virtually the same as physics for marks above 70 raw. I'm sure you can get more than 70 on the day because you've been doing past HSC papers and improvement is a real thing so high band 5 should be a minimum.

That being said, if you want it to be reachable, you gotta keep working. It's hard now, no doubt about it, but you need to keep pushing forward. If you can do that, then nothing stops you from being unable to reach it.

Good luck

[kassidyfisher]

Well the good thing about 4U English is that you no longer have to worry about that unit anymore. That's always a relief!

Depending on which selective school you go to, it's most likely going to set papers harder than the current HSC. In terms of past papers, during this period you need to have been more concerned with past HSC papers; those uploaded by BOSTES. Not your school's trials anymore. Because only past HSC papers can reflect the difficulty of the past HSC exam.

When they say it's reachable, they're not kidding. I bought my raw marks back and for English, my raw mark was 83.5/105 but this got aligned up to 90%. Things can happen.

With the aligning algorithm, biology aligns virtually the same as physics for marks above 70 raw. I'm sure you can get more than 70 on the day because you've been doing past HSC papers and improvement is a real thing so high band 5 should be a minimum.

That being said, if you want it to be reachable, you gotta keep working. It's hard now, no doubt about it, but you need to keep pushing forward. If you can do that, then nothing stops you from being unable to reach it.

Good luck

Thankyou so much! This eases my fear a little

[ssarahj]

I bought my raw marks back and for English, my raw mark was 83.5/105 but this got aligned up to 90%. Things can happen.

How much was it to buy your marks back?

[studybuddy7777]

When they say it's reachable, they're not kidding. I bought my raw marks back and for English, my raw mark was 83.5/105 but this got aligned up to 90%.

This is offtopic but how did you get 83.5?? I thought the HSC didnt give half marks? Thats what people have been telling me since prelim

[RuiAce]

This is offtopic but how did you get 83.5?? I thought the HSC didnt give half marks? Thats what people have been telling me since prelim

I've wondered same

How much was it to buy your marks back?

$17 for the compulsory results confirmation
$6 for marks
$30 for the actual exam responses I wrote

May be a tad inaccurate but it was roughly around there

[lysscass]

Hi, not sure if this is exactly the right forum but I've been told that "you can only improve your marks from trials". I studied quite hard for trials and I'm studying even harder now so realistically I should do better, but what if my teachers marked easily? we sat the catholic college papers for physic, chemistry, biology and maths so they are standardised marks, but drama and english are up to the teachers. is it safe to assume that i'll get the same or better marks in my HSC?

[RuiAce]

Hi, not sure if this is exactly the right forum but I've been told that "you can only improve your marks from trials". I studied quite hard for trials and I'm studying even harder now so realistically I should do better, but what if my teachers marked easily? we sat the catholic college papers for physic, chemistry, biology and maths so they are standardised marks, but drama and english are up to the teachers. is it safe to assume that i'll get the same or better marks in my HSC?

That is something that is, in more powerful levels, known as paranoia.

Which is good, in ways. It means that you're conscious of your marks and the need for improvement. But it does not govern your life. If you had a chance to check with how, say, your physics paper was marked, and found out where you lost the marks and how you could've gotten them, then it's fine. Whilst some bias is inevitable, teachers are trained so that they never mark on a completely ridiculously different scale.

CSSA papers are, in general, in my honest opinion harder than the HSC. Not by a margin, but definitely noticeably. Some questions in papers are so weird to the point I wonder if they belong there (except maths - most maths papers are ordinary hard).

The only way you can drop marks from the trials is by not studying. If you have, then your marks go up. Studying doesn't exist as a joke; it exists because it is effective.

Assuming marks for the HSC doesn't help either. You may choose to set goals, but going in there and 'expecting' to achieve something is just risky. You go in and count on your efforts, and if you put in the efforts it will pay off. (Even if you come out of an exam feeling shattered, you may find on results day you outperformed yourself.)

[lysscass]

That is something that is, in more powerful levels, known as paranoia.

Which is good, in ways. It means that you're conscious of your marks and the need for improvement. But it does not govern your life. If you had a chance to check with how, say, your physics paper was marked, and found out where you lost the marks and how you could've gotten them, then it's fine. Whilst some bias is inevitable, teachers are trained so that they never mark on a completely ridiculously different scale.

CSSA papers are, in general, in my honest opinion harder than the HSC. Not by a margin, but definitely noticeably. Some questions in papers are so weird to the point I wonder if they belong there (except maths - most maths papers are ordinary hard).

The only way you can drop marks from the trials is by not studying. If you have, then your marks go up. Studying doesn't exist as a joke; it exists because it is effective.

Assuming marks for the HSC doesn't help either. You may choose to set goals, but going in there and 'expecting' to achieve something is just risky. You go in and count on your efforts, and if you put in the efforts it will pay off. (Even if you come out of an exam feeling shattered, you may find on results day you outperformed yourself.)

I probably am a bit paranoid, thanks for the reply! i'll keep up the study and i suppose that way, whatever my results are they'll be the best i could do. thanks again!

[RuiAce]

I probably am a bit paranoid, thanks for the reply! i'll keep up the study and i suppose that way, whatever my results are they'll be the best i could do. thanks again!

It's normal to be paranoid but have a bit of faith on top of it. Studying will pay off. Best of luck

[chloeannbarwick]

Kinda scared about starting out in the real world 

[sophiemacpherso]

Ahhh I have 6 HSC exams in 10 days for all my subjects... I'm stressed to say the least ahahh, do you have any tips for managing my time throughout the 10 days?

[RuiAce]

Ahhh I have 6 HSC exams in 10 days for all my subjects... I'm stressed to say the least ahahh, do you have any tips for managing my time throughout the 10 days?

It's going to be intense for sure. My advice depends mostly on how early/late in the HSC exam block they are

[jamonwindeyer]

Ahhh I have 6 HSC exams in 10 days for all my subjects... I'm stressed to say the least ahahh, do you have any tips for managing my time throughout the 10 days?

You should begin studying for the exams in the order they'll be sat - So start English first, then the next, etc etc aim to stagger your starts so that you have a similar amount of time to study for each subject (more for the ones you struggle with the most) - You'll want to be super organised with all your subject study blocks timetabled. Really easy to miss a subject in all the rush!

Beyond that, just study how works best for you. Past papers should play a big role, as should marking those papers and working on areas that need improving!

Look on the bright side - You'll be done after the second week!

[michelleh]

Hi guys!

I've recently got my rankings together for my subjects and I was still wondering if I still have hope of getting a 90+ atar.

Ext 2 Eng: 1 / 4
Ext Eng: 1 /8
Adv Eng: 1/69
Legal: 4 / 19
Biology: 20 / 53
Chem: 21/ 26
Adv math: 54 / 60

As you can see, I clearly do atrocious in my science and math subjects and I'm not even hoping adv math will count. For chemistry, I bombed a 15% weighting test, moving me from a rank 12 to 21. My overall school ranking is around 150.

I haven't done my trials but I don't think that would make much difference since everyone would be studying equally hard.

So, for my atar, what am I looking at here?

Thanks!

[jakesilove]

Hi guys!

I've recently got my rankings together for my subjects and I was still wondering if I still have hope of getting a 90+ atar.

Ext 2 Eng: 1 / 4
Ext Eng: 1 /8
Adv Eng: 1/69
Legal: 4 / 19
Biology: 20 / 53
Chem: 21/ 26
Adv math: 54 / 60

As you can see, I clearly do atrocious in my science and math subjects and I'm not even hoping adv math will count. For chemistry, I bombed a 15% weighting test, moving me from a rank 12 to 21. My overall school ranking is around 150.

I haven't done my trials but I don't think that would make much difference since everyone would be studying equally hard.

So, for my atar, what am I looking at here?

Thanks!

I'm not a fan of giving ATAR estimates, because there is literally no way to get close to your 'real' result. You still have so many more assessments to sit (importantly, Trials), and obviously the HSC itself.

However, I can tell you FOR SURE that a 90+ ATAR is achievable. Like, without a doubt. You would need to put in a lot of work, particularly for your maths and sciences, to try and ensure you are more comfortable with the topic areas. Even if you don't perform incredibly in Trials, you HSC mark itself makes a huge difference to your final result. So, if you study hard, both now and before the HSC, 90+ is within your grasp for sure. Also, congrats on you're incredible results for Englishes and Legal! Absolutely killing it