ATARs, School Rankings and all that Jazz (1 Viewer)

[xMaFF]

What I'd like to know, is how your fellow cohort affects your ATAR?
How will the marks of others in your school affect your overall ATAR?


Consider this example...
STUDENT A
- A student from a high ranking school achieves 90+ in all his/her assessments in Yr. 12
- All students in his/her cohort achieve high assessment scores as well

STUDENT B
- Another student from a rather low ranking school achieves the same scores (90+) in all his/her assessments.
- All students in his/her cohort achieve low assessment scores (say, for argument's sake 60 or below)

BOTH STUDENTS
- Have the same subjects, for both Preliminary and HSC course
- Achieved the same marks in all assessments, including final HSC exam
- Assessment tasks between schools (despite rankings..) are very similar


If you know how they mark the HSC, or how school ranking/the performance of others in your cohort affects your HSC, please explain!
Any advice is appreciated. Thanks BOS.

 

[muzeikchun852]

What I'd like to know, is how your fellow cohort affects your ATAR?
How will the marks of others in your school affect your overall ATAR?


Consider this example...
BOTH STUDENTS
- Have the same subjects, for both Preliminary and HSC course
- Achieved the same marks in all assessments, including final HSC exam
- Assessment tasks between schools (despite rankings..) are very similar


If you know how they mark the HSC, or how school ranking/the performance of others in your cohort affects your HSC, please explain!
Any advice is appreciated. Thanks BOS.

obveriously student A would get a better ATAR than studnet B, because of the cohort, but i have read some study about it and the mark will only be about 0-5 HSC mark differences. here are the simple version:

the BOS looks at the cohort of the school and see whether there is a need of adjusting the internal mark. if the assessment tasks in internal was too hard (means that the ranking of the school doesnt correspond to the internal mark), the cohort's internal mark will automatically push up. thats why BOS ppl (bored of studies) asks for the ranking of the school for ATAR estimate.

please do correct me if im wrong.

ps. BOS will never know how "similar" the assessment tasks will be.

 

[xMaFF]

Hey muzeikchun852. Thanks for your response

You see, I've encountered a dilemma. I just thought it might be wise to consult others (well, BoS lol) before I make a decision.

Anyways, my entry into a rather 'high ranking school' has been accepted (after waiting, on the waiting list for over a year now? T.T). I've settled in quite well in my senior school, but I thought that moving to the higher ranking school might be a good move.

I don't know. But from what you've said;

obveriously student A would get a better ATAR than studnet B, because of the cohort, but i have read some study about it and the mark will only be about 0-5 HSC mark differences. here are the simple version:

the BOS looks at the cohort of the school and see whether there is a need of adjusting the internal mark. if the assessment tasks in internal was too hard (means that the ranking of the school doesnt correspond to the internal mark), the cohort's internal mark will automatically push up. thats why BOS ppl (bored of studies) asks for the ranking of the school for ATAR estimate.

please do correct me if im wrong.

ps. BOS will never know how "similar" the assessment tasks will be.

A potential 5 mark increase in my ATAR, just because I go to a higher ranking school could be a benefit. Hmm.

Thanks for your advice

 

[t00l]

what school did you get into

 

[Aquawhite]

There are so many threads on this, and I'm a little too tired to give the effort of searching for them for you; sorry. But, here's a quick summary.

It does not matter what your internal marks are, your ranks are far more important (or should I say the gaps between these ranks as these exact gaps are used to separate people in the HSC exams). In your example, Person A and B, doing the same subjects and say they got the same marks too: they would end up with the same ATAR if they were to get first rank at either school. If you get first rank internally, then it's really all you just to get your own ATAR (unless you flunk the exam big time).

Generally speaking, higher ranking schools will always produce better ATARs because the kids want to learn and because of that then the lower ranking kids will not be too far off those at the top (just a look at the rank gaps of any top 10 school will show a very small gap between 1st and last).

Going to a higher ranking school will most likely make you get a better HSC result and eventual ATAR, only if you put in the hard yards and the environment makes you work even harder than you already were.

For a run-down on how aligning and scaling works, just take a look in this forum topic: there are heaps.

Good luck in your HSC.

N.B. As a side note, your school rank has nothing to do with what marks you will achieve - it is not taken into consideration when marking because you are simply a number to BOS and UAC. Also, other people's marks in your cohort will affect you detrimentally if there are large rank gaps (if you are not first or last).