Overall HSC Thoughts (1 Viewer)

[qweeosh]

Can I just say the mood at the beginning of every exam where the NESA invigilators ask students to check that every page of the exam is so hilarious cuz in my experience everyone just flicks straight to the essay question they're most scared for and then looks around the room to their friends super worried

Mind you this always comes after you've already tried to peer through the transparency of the page and see if you can read the beginning questions of the exam while the invigilators read that excessively long speech about not having a phone or any other materials.

and it takes so long that we have to wait another minute overtime in order to start…

 

[lolcti]

and a 51/70 should be a 90 HSC mark on the dot anyway

Yeah I was thinking idk what they meant by saying 51/70 is a skill issue that’s literally an e4

 

[ralseiawesomefuntime]

and it takes so long that we have to wait another minute overtime in order to start…

ikr it begets so many minor inconveniences like I today I had to waste a smidge of mental energy looking at the clock and figuring out that I had to finish my elective essay at 3:03pm (so the mental math goes I have to be done with my first prescribed by 2:23, my related at 2:43 and so on and so forth) and considering I'm writing furiously right up to the end of every exam like shit gets scary

 

[coolcat6778]

ikr it begets so many minor inconveniences like I today I had to waste a smidge of mental energy looking at the clock and figuring out that I had to finish my elective essay at 3:03pm (so the mental math goes I have to be done with my first prescribed by 2:23, my related at 2:43 and so on and so forth) and considering I'm writing furiously right up to the end of every exam like shit gets scary

our school gets a large digital clock. who tf uses analogue these days?

 

[C2H6O]

and it takes so long that we have to wait another minute overtime in order to start…

The invigilator who reads every word on every page:

 

[ralseiawesomefuntime]

thus I arrive at my conclusion for the HSC: I wish it was less of a time trial and we had more time to write everything and I understand why we have such limited time and I still much prefer exams over hand-in assignments (Except Eng Ext2 ofc )

 

[ralseiawesomefuntime]

our school gets a large digital clock. who tf uses analogue these days?

my ass backward school ig

 

[coolcat6778]

Thus I arrive at my conclusion for the HSC: I wish it was less of a time trial and we had more time to write everything and I understand why we have such limited time and I still much prefer exams over hand-in assignments (Except Eng Ext2 ofc )

cause the dropkicks want to go home early I guess.

 

[coolcat6778]

View attachment 50402
just so you know, atar is calculated based on the year you get your hsc as far as I know - if you did english adv a year early but graduate this year, then your raw mark is only used in the 2025 calculations.
For example I got a low B6 in english adv (alignment) which means they use my raw mark (around 86 idk) to calculate my aggregate after scaling.
Also it looks like 2021 scaled worse than 2024, and in fact better than the rest in the low band 5 area.

Unfortunately the system is not perfect (no single system is) and comparing students who do different subjects in this way only perpetuates the idea that some people are smarter or dumber for doing certain subjects.

I heard that they are phasing out the atar in years to come. I do believe it will be better if universities stop considering atars entirely and look instead at how students do in the context of their educational environment - like in the US or UK (except without the unnecessary emphasis on extracurriculars).

Just some random thoughts, correct me if I made any errors

yeah I know
Notice how the scaling graph doesn't show for marks below 80, so I switched to standard english graph (they scale the same as advanced), where I noticed my year (2024) scaled my 73 hsc mark significantly worse (5 aggregate points less) compared to previous years.

Those 7 aggregate points certainly mean a difference between an 84.5 and 85. The stuff I'm looking for has a cut off of 85.

 

[Tryingtodowell]

yeah I know
Notice how the scaling graph doesn't show for marks below 80, so I switched to standard english graph (they scale the same as advanced), where I noticed my year (2024) scaled my 73 hsc mark significantly worse (5 aggregate points less) compared to previous years.

Those 7 aggregate points certainly mean a difference between an 84.5 and 85. The stuff I'm looking for has a cut off of 85.

do you have any tips for me for physics
I read somewhere that you said that you accelerated physics
and I genuinely believe what most of what you say is real so give me tips for physics please!!!

 

[coolcat6778]

do you have any tips for me for physics
I read somewhere that you said that you accelerated physics
and I genuinely believe what most of what you say is real so give me tips for physics please!!!

Don't rush the multiple choice section, it could make a difference between getting a band 5 or band 6.

Don't be verbose, being verbose doesn't get you any more marks.

 

[academicalwizard101]

Anyone know when HSC marking guidelines are released on nesa website?

 

[lolcti]

Anyone know when HSC marking guidelines are released on nesa website?

Day of atar release

 

[coolcat6778]

Day of atar release

nope, they release sometime in mid november. last year they released around that time, with english being the first MG released

 

[lolcti]

nope, they release sometime in mid november. last year they released around that time, with english being the first MG released

mb then. All Ik is marking feedback is released on atar release so I assumed it would be around then.

 

[JacquesPieface]

Is this ranking like standardised for all tests or is it how hard each test was respective to its subject (As in, a 3hr Math Adv paper would naturally be harder than 1hr 30min English Paper 1, so does the ranking consider the amount of content in each paper or is just about the raw difficulty of each exam)

Standardized I just ranked them based on how hard I found the actual exam compared to the others so yeah I see were you are coming from with the length stuff lol. Although I'm usually a lot better at Math than English so I usually find English papers harder but this time was different. But then again just because I thought it was easier doesn't necessarily mean I did better . Compared to every other subject that religion paper was so easy but I guess that's to be expected lol.

 

[BionicMango]

do you have any tips for me for physics
I read somewhere that you said that you accelerated physics
and I genuinely believe what most of what you say is real so give me tips for physics please!!!

What coolcat said BUT I just wanted to add that I did the multiple choice first and it helped me - in reading time I read the short answers first bu then I started answering the mc. Whatever you think suits you/what you have been doing over the last few weeks is best (sorry to make it more confusing).

Also she’s right don’t worry about being verbose BUT use scientific terminology where possible, and namedrop physics terms whenever it makes sense, e.g. mention the words Lenz’s Law in em braking questions, mention snell’s law in refraction index related questions.