Am I being realistic?

[myguypr3tty]

Hi Everyone,

I'm in year 12 at the moment, and am gunning to do B Commerce/Advanced Studies at USyd next year. However trials marks came back and..... well, not looking great to be honest. It’s a 95 ATAR course, with a 90 lowest admission last year.

My marks in the trials, and overall rank of internal assessments are:

English Advanced - 73/100 (Overall Internal Rank: 15/64)
English Extension 1 - 32/50 (Overall Internal Rank: 6/12)
Math - 58/100 (Overall Internal Rank: 24/52)
Studies of Religion - 32/50 (Overall Internal Rank: 18/42)
Economics - 66/100 (Overall Internal Rank: 5/9)
Legal studies - 68/100 (Overall Internal Rank: 4/13)
English Extension 2 [no trial, just major work, but my teacher thinks I sit at about an E3]

I did the CSSA Trials by the way

I am School captain at a top 100 school (in the 90s though), and have been nominated and signed up for the USyd Future Leaders Scheme. I’ve also completed my Gold Duke of Ed, which I think I can get consideration or something for.

I was enquiring to see if my goal course was at all likely or doable, or if I should shift my focus and expectations now. Some people and calculators say that I'm on track, but others say otherwise.

Thank you so much to anyone that can give an answer, it would be of great help!

[DrDusk]

Hi Everyone,

I'm in year 12 at the moment, and am gunning to do B Commerce/Advanced Studies at USyd next year. However trials marks came back and..... well, not looking great to be honest. It’s a 95 ATAR course, with a 90 lowest admission last year.

My marks in the trials, and overall rank of internal assessments are:

English Advanced - 73/100 (Overall Internal Rank: 15/64)
English Extension 1 - 32/50 (Overall Internal Rank: 6/12)
Math - 58/100 (Overall Internal Rank: 24/52)
Studies of Religion - 32/50 (Overall Internal Rank: 18/42)
Economics - 66/100 (Overall Internal Rank: 5/9)
Legal studies - 68/100 (Overall Internal Rank: 4/13)
English Extension 2 [no trial, just major work, but my teacher thinks I sit at about an E3]

I did the CSSA Trials by the way

I am School captain at a top 100 school (in the 90s though), and have been nominated and signed up for the USyd Future Leaders Scheme. I’ve also completed my Gold Duke of Ed, which I think I can get consideration or something for.

I was enquiring to see if my goal course was at all likely or doable, or if I should shift my focus and expectations now. Some people and calculators say that I'm on track, but others say otherwise.

Thank you so much to anyone that can give an answer, it would be of great help!

In terms of 'are you on track for a 95 atar', I would say no. Right now the estimate I would give for your atar is in the 70s to 80s. Keep in mind USYD is strict with their cutoffs as well so I at the moment I think it's being a bit too ambitious aiming for the 95 atar course. I had a look at that scholarship and it did say they still look at your academics so I would assume you would still need an atar above 90.

However you mentioned some calculators are saying your on track, so if you give us a rough idea of how many band 6s your school gets for those subjects and what marks you put in to the calculator, then we can give a much more accurate description.

Please don't take this to heart, I'm not trying to be mean or sound degrading, but I don't see a point in sugar coating my response, and I don't know any other way to put it

[myguypr3tty]

In terms of 'are you on track for a 95 atar', I would say no. Right now the estimate I would give for your atar is in the 70s to 80s. Keep in mind USYD is strict with their cutoffs as well so I at the moment I think it's being a bit too ambitious aiming for the 95 atar course. I had a look at that scholarship and it did say they still look at your academics so I would assume you would still need an atar above 90.

However you mentioned some calculators are saying your on track, so if you give us a rough idea of how many band 6s your school gets for those subjects and what marks you put in to the calculator, then we can give a much more accurate description.

Please don't take this to heart, I'm not trying to be mean or sound degrading, but I don't see a point in sugar coating my response, and I don't know any other way to put it

Thank you for your honesty, I think I need to just put my head down and work to get where I need to be. It's all been a bit of a wake up call.
In terms of the Band 6s my school gets, in 2018 (most teachers say our grade is better than last year's) we got 10 English Advanced Band 6s, 3 E4s in English Extension 1, none in Economics, 6 in SOR, 2 in Legal Studies, and 11 in Mathematics.

Thanks again for your response.

[DrDusk]

Thank you for your honesty, I think I need to just put my head down and work to get where I need to be. It's all been a bit of a wake up call.
In terms of the Band 6s my school gets, in 2018 (most teachers say our grade is better than last year's) we got 10 English Advanced Band 6s, 3 E4s in English Extension 1, none in Economics, 6 in SOR, 2 in Legal Studies, and 11 in Mathematics.

Thanks again for your response.

Yep I would say at the moment in the 70s to 80s.

Don't completely lose hope. There's many alternative pathways to get into the course you want. You can always transfer into it after and it's completely alright to do so.

[myguypr3tty]

Yep I would say at the moment in the 70s to 80s.

Don't completely lose hope. There's many alternative pathways to get into the course you want. You can always transfer into it after and it's completely alright to do so.

Is a 90 ATAR completely unachievable do you think?

Thanks again

[Coolmate]

Is a 90 ATAR completely unachievable do you think?

Thanks again

Hey myguypr3tty!

A B Commerce/Advanced Studies sounds like a great course! And with regards to your question, I am not sure..... But I have given some advice and exam suggestions below that may help you with the upcoming HSC exams.

Most of your internal ranks look really good and you are on track there! I don't know how much your trials are weighted at your school, but remember that the HSC external marks are worth 50% of your total atar rank, and you could completely turn all of your marks around from this!.

I would suggest that you track down as many resources as you can and get lots of help on subject matter where you are struggling from anyone (Who knows the content). Also, as your HSC exams are coming up you could do heaps of practice of exam style questions to revise over the exam technique and the ways you could possibly answer the questions.

Also, with regard to atar calculators, just remember that they are a guide and an estimate of where you are sitting within the marks that you have been getting internally (and externally once the HSC is over) but are great to look at for these estimations.

With all of that said , if you work on you exam technique and knowing the content in depth to be able to adapt to sophisticated questions that may appear in the exams. I do agree with what DrDusk has said with alternate pathways and transfers into the right course you want to do. And of course do not lose hope, your future has not been written yet!

I hope this helps goodluck!

Coolmate