Class of 2025 (2025 HSC CHAT) (21 Viewers)

[Study to success]

I love numbers

unfortunately studies is non-ATAR and therefore we must suffer so that we may get into university

No u can do atar Eng studies

 

[Clai]

yeh mine just sit there n talk to eachother

nahhh its so annoying bc in our exam hall, it echoes. and throughout our paper 1, like halfway through until the end, some of the invigilators were straight up yapping to each other like

 

[parmesean]

cos it’s just the hsc it’s not even that serious

they need to get back to their blanket knitting clubs

 

[Cute-Duckie]

amazing taste at nesa this year

why was this kinda fire though

 

[killer queen]

why was this kinda fire though

big band jazz makes everything better

 

[bustygint]

Why the HSC Is Broken and How We’re Pretending It’s Fair

Look, I’m going to say this once: the HSC is nowhere near the meritocratic, fair exam system it claims to be. I’ve spent the last two years grinding through Mathematics Advanced and Extension 1, slogging through Physics and Chemistry, reading uni-level physics books for fun, and yet, somehow, the system still thinks it’s perfectly acceptable to use English as the baseline for scaling. Let me just stop you there — if you’re seriously going to claim that someone’s ability in reading comprehension dictates their skill in solving a second-order differential equation or understanding Newtonian mechanics, I don’t even know what to say. It’s lazy, it’s dumb, and it’s infuriating.


The biggest issue is that ATAR scaling doesn’t measure ability — it measures compliance. You can be a physics genius, a mathematician in the making, capable of solving integrals that make the average teacher sweat, and still have your marks deflated because English is “too hard” for your cohort. Meanwhile, someone who barely learned how to integrate, but somehow got a lucky cohort average in English, is now sitting with a higher ATAR. This isn’t just unfair — it’s psychologically insulting. It tells high-performing students that the effort they put into actually understanding the subject doesn’t matter. What matters is luck and how “well your peers do in English.”


Honestly, I’ve tried explaining this to people before. You’d think it would be obvious, right? But the standard response is usually some half-hearted “well, that’s how scaling works” or “it evens things out.” Yeah, it evens things out for mediocrity. That’s great if your goal is to keep everyone moderately satisfied while punishing anyone who actually wants to excel. It’s like the system is designed to be average, and if you’re above average, it hates you.


And let’s talk about Maths Advanced and Extension 1 for a second. People complain that these subjects are hard. Good. That’s the point. If everyone could do it, it wouldn’t be advanced. But what the HSC fails to acknowledge is that difficulty should be rewarded, not punished. The scaling system often rewards English — and by extension, people who spend their time writing essays rather than actually thinking analytically — more than subjects that require genuine problem-solving skills. Want to measure intelligence? Want to see who can actually think logically, solve a problem, and apply concepts creatively? Maths and Physics are where you start. Not by memorising quotes or interpreting literature like some medieval scholar.


Now, I know some people like to throw around IQ as if it’s the final word. I get it, I get it — it’s controversial and overused. But I’ll say this: there is a reason that the smartest students in the cohort tend to dominate in subjects that actually require reasoning rather than rote memory. This isn’t a conspiracy theory. It’s observable. And it’s precisely why the ATAR system frustrates me. It’s supposed to identify the best students and rank them fairly, but it conflates hard work, natural ability, and arbitrary subject weighting in a way that often makes no sense.


Let’s be real — the NESA website and the bureaucracy behind this whole process don’t help either. They’ve recently made “changes to cater to disabled people” or whatever, which I guess is fine in principle. Accessibility is important. But the way it’s implemented is clunky, confusing, and makes you want to scream. Half the time, I’m navigating menus that make no sense, trying to find scaling data, only to realize the information is outdated, mislabelled, or buried under three layers of “helpful” text that isn’t helpful at all. And don’t even get me started on the forums, where every thread is either people whining about marks or asking questions that have been answered a million times. I love helping others — I do — but it’s exhausting to constantly correct misinformation while also trying to survive the actual HSC.


Here’s another thing people don’t like to admit: stress isn’t evenly distributed. There are students with perfect lives, tutors, extra classes, and supportive parents who can afford all the resources. Then there are students who do everything themselves, manage part-time jobs, and still somehow manage to grasp concepts that take a lot of tutoring for others. But in the end, the system treats everyone like they had the same starting point. That’s not fairness. That’s a cruel joke masked as equality.


I’ve seen it over and over. People get obsessed with marks rather than learning. They panic over trial papers, obsess over mini-differences in marks, and forget the actual point: developing real skills. And the irony is that, when it comes to university-level subjects, those skills matter far more than some artificially inflated ATAR. You want to succeed in Engineering or Science? You need problem-solving, logical reasoning, and persistence. Not the ability to write an essay about the symbolism of a poem in Year 12 English.


So what’s the solution? Honestly, I don’t have one that will satisfy everyone. You could revamp scaling entirely, reward genuine difficulty, weight subjects according to cognitive demand rather than cohort averages, and maybe, just maybe, you’d get something approaching fairness. But in the meantime, we deal with what we have. And that means pushing ourselves to excel regardless, learning for the sake of understanding, and trying not to let bureaucratic nonsense crush our motivation. If you’re going to be punished for being good at Maths and Physics, you might as well be exceptionally good, because mediocrity is the only thing that’s truly rewarded.


At the end of the day, I guess my point is this: the system isn’t broken because students fail; it’s broken because it fails to recognize genuine ability. And if you’re reading this and thinking “wow, she’s bitter” — maybe I am. But bitter is better than oblivious. I’d rather know the system is flawed and work to navigate it than be blissfully unaware while it quietly destroys ambition. That’s the reality, and anyone who’s serious about their HSC, ATAR, or just actually learning something, needs to accept it.

Is this ai generated

 

[parmesean]

yes, much like the 2024 english hsc

 

[bustygint]

yes, much like the 2024 english hsc

hot take but id pick the ai generated computer image over four full-page, densely-worded prose fiction excerpts

 

[parmesean]

hot take but id pick the ai generated computer image over four full-page, densely-worded prose fiction excerpts

honestly valid. i was just pissed that we couldn’t use the fact it was AI as irony given the question was about individuality

 

[gabbabobo]

Genuine question, how important is it to put the numbers of scripture in SOR???? Because these numbers just aren't getting in my head

 

[Study to success]

Genuine question, how important is it to put the numbers of scripture in SOR???? Because these numbers just aren't getting in my head

lowkey I don't think the markers will be searching up the exact numbers so as long as ur not using a really popular one that they'll know the chapters and verses to I think u should be fine. Just make it sound believable lol

 

[Benson714]

Anyone started math prep yet?

 

[Baliistic]

Anyone started math prep yet?

I've been trying to do an hour a day for the past 2-3 weeks but I havent in a while cause of english

 

[Pumpkinssssss]

I know they wouldn't do back to back 1 topic SOR but the thought of it drives me crazy, just give me holistic im begging

 

[bob25]

I know they wouldn't do back to back 1 topic SOR but the thought of it drives me crazy, just give me holistic im begging

1 topic on ethics would be a blessing

 

[JacquesPieface]

Holistic or ethics would be amazing

 

[Kat.crazi]

Does anyone have tips for nausea during and before (mainly before) exams lol it’s really messing me up. I’ve experienced it a lot in the past and still now even though I’ve managed to get my stress levels down a bit. Most of the time it goes away during the exam but it’s just soooo annoying

 

[yourbestfriend]

Genuine question, how important is it to put the numbers of scripture in SOR???? Because these numbers just aren't getting in my head

no trust me just make them up. i got a band 6 in sor and i literally made up the number and half my quotes lol

 

[cloudqlia]

Does anyone have tips for nausea during and before (mainly before) exams lol it’s really messing me up. I’ve experienced it a lot in the past and still now even though I’ve managed to get my stress levels down a bit. Most of the time it goes away during the exam but it’s just soooo annoying

oh girl im exactly the same. i just always bring cold water and chewing gum (helps calm me down depends if it works for you too). and just focus on your breathing and try to talk to your friends to distract u a lil. but yea it always goes away for me during the exam too but thats what helps me beforehand

 

[Kat.crazi]

oh girl im exactly the same. i just always bring cold water and chewing gum (helps calm me down depends if it works for you too). and just focus on your breathing and try to talk to your friends to distract u a lil. but yea it always goes away for me during the exam too but thats what helps me beforehand

Thank youuu I find distraction really helpful too so I’ll try that