Hey Jamon! I was just wondering if you know how much your class's performance can affect your scaling? Some of my classes are pretty good but some (especially physics) are all pretty slack and don't really care about their atar that much except for me!
Hey Beth!
Okay so Rui alluded to some of this stuff, I'll give you the short and sort of inaccurate version, the proper thing is in the article above!
Big question, and all the details are in the article above. However, the short (and slightly inaccurate) answer is,
the better your class is, the lower your rank can be without adverse effect). Basically, if you are ranked 1st in a less than ideal class, it won't affect you, because you are first. If you are ranked low in a less than ideal class, then that is a bit more troublesome. This is because your rank plays a large role in determining your moderated school assessment mark.
If you are 4th, you (
roughly speaking) will get somewhere near the 4th highest HSC Exam mark in your cohort. If you are 11th, you'll get somewhere near the 11th, etc etc. So, the lower your rank, the more you rely on your classmates to perform.
In actual fact, your mark won't match exactly with the rank, everything is scaled to maintain mark separation as alluded to by Rui, but it's a good way to think about it nonetheless). Of course BOSTES has limits in place, this is not going to cost you like 30 marks. But it would be a noticeable impact.
Your aim should be to perform at your absolute best. Your class' performance just means you have to work a little harder yourself. As long as your rank is solid and/or you really smash out your HSC, then you'll have no adverse effects whatsoever (besides an annoying class driving you nuts)
EDIT: None of this affects your HSC exam mark, that is yours alone, it only affects your moderated school assessment mark!