ATAR Notes: Forum

HSC Stuff => HSC Subjects + Help => Topic started by: worldno1 on October 27, 2018, 08:48:11 pm

Title: URGENT: wrote outside the corners of the page border?
Post by: worldno1 on October 27, 2018, 08:48:11 pm
hey guys!
feeling a little paranoid right now - would there be any issues if I wrote outside the border/corners of a HSC paper? would what I wrote still be read by the examiners?

any clarification would be appreciated!
Title: Re: urgent: wrote outside the corners of the page border?
Post by: angewina_naguen on October 27, 2018, 10:18:46 pm
Hey, worldno1!

Welcome to the forums! I'm glad you've expressed this concern because I was just about to ask the same question. I think that they will be cutting the borders regardless of whether there is writing so the likelihood of the examiner reading it is low. If majority of the words are written inside it, I'm sure the marker will make the effort to figure out what the sentence is (otherwise, really unfortunate  :'( ) It would be great if someone could confirm if this is true!
Title: Re: urgent: wrote outside the corners of the page border?
Post by: S200 on October 27, 2018, 10:22:26 pm
I am not 100% sure for HSC, but for VCE (Economics particularly) we were told that if it's not within the lines it isn't assessable... :-\
Title: Re: urgent: wrote outside the corners of the page border?
Post by: Chelsea f.c. on October 27, 2018, 11:00:44 pm
They scan your script books so if it isn't scanned it may be unclear but just remember your examiner is not a jackass
Title: Re: urgent: wrote outside the corners of the page border?
Post by: worldno1 on October 27, 2018, 11:14:12 pm
Can anyone confirm??? Very worried right now.
I asked the exam invigilator - she did say that I could write outside of the lines...but not 100% sure if that includes outside of the right-angle borders.
Title: Re: URGENT: wrote outside the corners of the page border?
Post by: alisoneom on October 28, 2018, 02:31:19 am
DISCLAIMER: This is just my personal understanding so I can't 100% verify this!!

This could depend on the type of booklet used for the exam; whether the response is directly written onto the exam paper (like Chemistry) or on a separate booklet (like English). But regardless, my general understanding is that the margin is basically 'extra space' to ensure that the boxed writing space isn't cut off by scanners cropping the edges! So the pages will be scanned in full, but parts of the margins might be cut off (depending on the orientation and setup of different scanners).

But I would imagine that the margins would still be there in most cases - especially because markers would find it diffiicult to read without any margins, and they would have raised that ;D Unless you wrote whole sentences in the margin, a few words should be fine and even if they were slightly cropped, I'm sure the examiner can figure it out from context - so don't worry too much about it! Hope this helped :D
Title: Re: URGENT: wrote outside the corners of the page border?
Post by: worldno1 on October 28, 2018, 08:27:49 pm
DISCLAIMER: This is just my personal understanding so I can't 100% verify this!!

This could depend on the type of booklet used for the exam; whether the response is directly written onto the exam paper (like Chemistry) or on a separate booklet (like English). But regardless, my general understanding is that the margin is basically 'extra space' to ensure that the boxed writing space isn't cut off by scanners cropping the edges! So the pages will be scanned in full, but parts of the margins might be cut off (depending on the orientation and setup of different scanners).

But I would imagine that the margins would still be there in most cases - especially because markers would find it diffiicult to read without any margins, and they would have raised that ;D Unless you wrote whole sentences in the margin, a few words should be fine and even if they were slightly cropped, I'm sure the examiner can figure it out from context - so don't worry too much about it! Hope this helped :D

Thank you so much for the reassurance! This sounds quite promising. I don't think I wrote too much outside the margins but had a tendency to during past papers. But, that's good, thank you!! :))
Good luck for the rest of your HSC.
Title: Re: URGENT: wrote outside the corners of the page border?
Post by: headsup on October 29, 2018, 07:35:16 am
Basically think what has been said above.... It is just to ensure that your hard work is not lost.... providing not too much is lost they markers should be able to interrupt it...

just remember... there is no problem asking for more booklets... I got 7 extra for maths  ;D
Title: Re: URGENT: wrote outside the corners of the page border?
Post by: worldno1 on October 30, 2018, 09:41:28 am
Basically think what has been said above.... It is just to ensure that your hard work is not lost.... providing not too much is lost they markers should be able to interrupt it...

just remember... there is no problem asking for more booklets... I got 7 extra for maths  ;D

Wait...you can get extra booklets for any subject and any section of the exam? (Currently in Y11). That's good to hear though, will keep in mind for next year!
Title: Re: URGENT: wrote outside the corners of the page border?
Post by: fantasticbeasts3 on October 30, 2018, 10:15:46 am
Wait...you can get extra booklets for any subject and any section of the exam? (Currently in Y11). That's good to hear though, will keep in mind for next year!

Indeed you can! Put your hand up, ask for extra paper and it'll be given to you :-)