VCE vs HSC

[830cracker]

Hey everyone on AN, I’m wondering about what is the level of difficulty for both vce and hsc as my family seems like about to move states next year from Vic to nsw

so yeah I’m going to be year nine next year and I was going to do Chinese second language advanced unit 1/2, plus I’m kind of wanting to do methods and biology 1/2 in year ten, then probably English language, chemistry and possibly physics or spesh or uni extension investigation(haha ik that I might have done too much planning about the future due to my procrastination of studying); and I also have self studied the year ten math plus science excel book and I have a okay report at my current school

A little fact about me is that I have lived in Sydney for two years before I entered the high school here in melb; I have had difficulties with English that time since I came from a non-English speaking country, so I didn’t apply for the selective school test in year six; but I have heard that HSC is harder to do well in than vce if u don’t go to a selective school, and the competition gets more intense as there is many really intelligent ppl who start ahead of this REALLY EARLY, so there might be no chance for an ordinary kid like me to over compete those ppl that goes to James ruse-_- but hopefully this is not completely true

I considers myself doing fine academically at Melbourne, and I’m kind of looking for a high atar like 98 or at least 95 or above (haha hoping in reality I would not get a flat <30); but idk if I still have a chance to do well in hsc at a local non-selective high school as I always hearing ppl saying that hsc is more competitive than vce...

Thanks for reading and I will be more thankful if anyone can gives any tips or advices for this as I’m kind of lost and a bit desperate at the same time

[DrDusk]

HSC is much more academically rigorous and competitive. There is much much more competition here for the spots in the top universities and the courses generally tend to be harder.

Especially now that the syllabuses for the sciences have changed putting HSC Science on par with VCE science. HSC math is much harder than VCE, and the rest of the faculties are probably  about the same.

As I stated one of the biggest subject differences is the math. Be prepared because the NSW math curriculum will really test your ability.

Borderline difference yes HSC is definitely more competitive than VCE, and you don't need to go to the top selective schools to do well.

[Sine]

It shouldn't be too different victoria does have select schools and a few people do start quite early just as they would in other states.
In the end, they are both just ranking systems so the actual difficulty in subject content doesn't matter too much.

Not sure why you think you would get a <30 atar if you are doing fine academically.

Obviously there will be slight differences but not a large enough difference for it to be meaningful I think. Anyway, no one will be able to give you a proper answer to the question because basically no one will experience both VCE and HSC at the same point of their life and recieve an ATAR for both.

HSC is much more academically rigorous and competitive. There is much much more competition here for the spots in the top universities and the courses generally tend to be harder.

Especially now that the syllabuses for the sciences have changed putting HSC Science on par with VCE science. HSC math is much harder than VCE, and the rest of the faculties are probably  about the same.

As I stated one of the biggest subject differences is the math. Be prepared because the NSW math curriculum will really test your ability.

Borderline difference yes HSC is definitely more competitive than VCE, and you don't need to go to the top selective schools to do well.

the difficulty of math (or the subject) doesn't make it more competitive - students are given scores based on where they rank in their cohort

[Aaron]

HSC is much more academically rigorous and competitive. There is much much more competition here for the spots in the top universities and the courses generally tend to be harder.

is this your opinion or do you have anything to back these statements up? Have you experienced school systems in both states / unis in both states?
Genuinely interested since I don't know about the NSW system. Cheers

[aspiringantelope]

Are VCE students also ranked with HSC students with the ATAR thing?

[AngelWings]

Are VCE students also ranked with HSC students with the ATAR thing?

AFAIK, nope. We complete the VCE, HSC and other state equivalents completely separately and you’re only compared to the people in your state.

[aspiringantelope]

AFAIK, nope. We complete the VCE, HSC and other state equivalents completely separately and you’re only compared to the people in your state.

Okay, Thank you

[DrDusk]

is this your opinion or do you have anything to back these statements up? Have you experienced school systems in both states / unis in both states?
Genuinely interested since I don't know about the NSW system. Cheers

I base it of two things. First one is basically that NSW literally contains most of the selective schools in the country.

And secondly I do have 2 friends who came from VIC to NSW. One of them went to Melbourne High which I think is the top school there? He told me NSW is definitely more competitive, and my 2nd friend although not coming from Melbourne high said the same thing.

I know another person who isn't a friend but came from VIC to my school and he was one of the top students there(he had HD's in competitions and what not), and even though he did really well as expected, he didn't do as well as he was doing in VIC, especially in Math's.

Now obviously what I say isn't absolute, so I welcome anyone to tell me if I am wrong, but at the moment I do believe NSW is harder. I personally have not experienced VCE so it's just what I've seen from others =)

[830cracker]

Thanks for all the replies and advices

I have now decided to go to Sydney for another two years, and then possibly making my hsc/vce decision by seeing if I’m doing fine academically there to maintain a 98+, and probably trying out for selective year 10/11 entries in Sydney(ik it’s extremely hard but I’d like to at least have a go lol), and also EBSS or JMSS in Melbourne. Anyways, these plans are probably what I’m aiming to achieve in the next two years