How much does one assessment affect your overall ATAR? (1 Viewer)

whoknows5555

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Hey, so I’m wondering, how much will one assessment affect my overall atar mark? Because I just did my first physics assessment and I am feeling a bit screwed, the weighting was 15% and the mark I got was 78%. I still don’t know the rank yet, but I don’t feel like it’s going to be that good with my mark. I do know that the top mark was 93%. My atar aim is 99+, however, I’ll be fine with anything over 98. So I’m wondering, is that atar still achievable if I work hard now and get really good ranks for all my other assessments and for trials? Or is this one 78% percent going to drag my atar down by a lot?

Thanks guys
 

rumbleroar

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Your internal assessments only affect your internal rank, so if you did relatively well against the rest of your cohort, it should be fine. Your internal rank determines your internal assessment mark, which is 50% of your total HSC mark. Your total HSC mark is then scaled and contributed to your aggregrate, which will determine your ATAR. So, tbh, internal assessments have little correlation with your ATAR. edit: the marks OF your internal assessments, i.e. the %'s have little correlation on your final ATAR, i.e. your 78% will not have a severe impact on your ATAR.

Don't stress too much about your internal assessments, because it's different for each school. The only really important things are your internal ranks, which determine 50% of your final HSC mark.

What is your school rank BTW?
 

obliviousninja

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At the end of the day, it's your rank that matters and the percentage gaps in between.

So just stay consistent throughout the year.

Basically the most important thing is that you dont bomb you HSC exam.

In terms of affecting atar, holistically, considering the physics alignment and scaling, you atar is only gonna to change minimally. However you got the whole year ahead of you to improve
 

strawberrye

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Put it this way, you have screwed up your chance of getting your desired ATAR if you maintained the mentality you have screwed up and no matter how hard you try, there is no hope. Don't let how you do in 15% affect the rest 85% of your internal marks. There are still a LOT of opportunities for you to improve your internal rank.

The following are just some advice:
1)Stop panicking and be realistic-doing bad in one assessment for one subject is highly unlikely to wreck your chances of getting your desired ATAR
2)Learn from your mistakes and remember to read over the exam paper carefully-i.e. at least twice before you start doing the questions-it is ok to make mistakes, as long as you don't make the same mistake twice. Make sure you know why you have made mistakes in the EXAM you have done.

3) if there is anything you don't understand-ask your teacher-whether it is at the end of lesson, after school, before school-don't wait before it is too late. Make sure in the future you understand absolutely everything your teacher has taught you and is prescribed in the syllabus. Don't be shy

4)Study hard in the subject consistently, do the homework, complete assessment tasks to the BEST of your ability, make notes, practice past HSC questions under EXAM conditions, do text book questions, mark your answers, circle mistakes, repeat this process as many time as possible and with persistent effort-you will maximise your potential to get that band 6 you want.

5) You've got 6 weeks of summer holidays in which you can consolidate over the knowledge you learnt for physics and even study ahead to maximise your marks-it is never too late unless you think it is and you make it so.

My top 3 tips for preparing for physics assessments and exams:

1)Practical assessments-make sure you know reliability, validity, accuracy, sources of error, possible areas for improvement, independent/dependent/controlled variables, risk assessment for all the experiments you have done in class, make sure you can master basic science skills such as drawing line of best fit, drawing experimental set up accurately, using numbered points in writing a logical procedure, understand the requirements of the exam(I.e. how much time, how many parts) and allocate your time accordingly, make sure you understand the chemical principle/theory behind why you did each experiment

2)Theory assessments and exams-make sure you PERSONALLY write a set of summarised notes according to each dot point of the syllabus in a concise but detailed manner-make sure you include appropriate diagrams as well, after you wrote the notes, make sure to start practising questions and CHECKING YOUR ANSWERS in textbooks-ask your teacher for practice questions and make links between dotpoints and across modules to reinforce your understanding. Throughout the year, you should be progressively cutting down your notes as you store more things into your long term memory-revise regularly. Before your final trial exam-you should try to get your hands on as many preliminary exams as possible to practice-and look at the marking guidelines, remember to practice under EXAM CONDITIONS. Make sure when you make notes you are at least referring to 3 different sources to synthesise your information. (colour-code and use mind-maps to make your notes engaging and easy to remember). In your notes, don't neglect to include all your experiments and second-hand investigations.

3)For other types of assessments such as group presentations, individual research assignments, second-hand investigations-you should strive to always include a comprehensive bibliography that indicates you have sourced your information not only from websites, but from journals/books as well, you should understand how to evaluate accuracy/reliability/validity in relation to the sources of information you are using, like other types of assessment, pay close attention to the marking criteria and make sure you fulfil it as much as possible, make sure your information is comprehensive, non-repetitive and answers the verb of the question: i.e. discuss, evaluate, compare, contrast, assess, examine (so for that matter, memorise what the main verbs used in your exam questions means)

http://www.mathscience.com.au/student_resources.php-this is also a good link for some more practice on physics-attack the dot points that you are not confident in-under exam conditions and mark and evaluate your answers by comparing to the sample answer. Remember, keep a positive and focused mindset. Those who get the top ATARs don't just stop trying because they 'failed' an assessment task, they evaluate their mistakes and implement better studying strategies to achieve even greater results. By browsing through this forum, you will realise a lot of people shares the same anxiety as you, so you are not alone. Just keep working hard and you will maximise your chance of achieving your desired results at the end of the year-hope this helps and I wish you all the best for the rest of this year:)

One last tip: compete with yourself-not others, you should focus on YOUR OWN RESULTS and trying to IMPROVE to ACHIEVE YOUR OWN PERSONAL BESTS:)
 
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whoknows5555

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Thanks guys! I feel a lot better now knowing that it doesn't affect my atar that much and thanks for the tips strawberrye
I guess I just have to wait and see my rank, and if it's bad, I'll just have to make sure I do a lot better in my other assessments and my HSC.
By the way, does anyone know how the internal ranks are calculated? For example, if for this assessment worth 15% my rank is 30/70, and then for another assessment worth 25% my rank is 2/70, how do they determine my overall rank? I mean, they can't just average it because the weightings for each are different right?
@rumbleroar, I'm not sure of the exact rank but I know it's within the top 20
 

strawberrye

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Thanks guys! I feel a lot better now knowing that it doesn't affect my atar that much and thanks for the tips strawberrye
I guess I just have to wait and see my rank, and if it's bad, I'll just have to make sure I do a lot better in my other assessments and my HSC.
By the way, does anyone know how the internal ranks are calculated? For example, if for this assessment worth 15% my rank is 30/70, and then for another assessment worth 25% my rank is 2/70, how do they determine my overall rank? I mean, they can't just average it because the weightings for each are different right?
@rumbleroar, I'm not sure of the exact rank but I know it's within the top 20
Accumulated internal ranks are calculated on basis of accumulated internal marks which is gathered from the marks of the assessments you have done so far on a subject.
 

whoknows5555

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Right, so say if my ranking isn't good this time, but my rankings for my next few assessments are somehow amazing, then is it possible I can still be ranked within the top 5 for physics by the time I finish my assessments and trials?
 

rumbleroar

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Right, so say if my ranking isn't good this time, but my rankings for my next few assessments are somehow amazing, then is it possible I can still be ranked within the top 5 for physics by the time I finish my assessments and trials?
Yes
 

strawberrye

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Right, so say if my ranking isn't good this time, but my rankings for my next few assessments are somehow amazing, then is it possible I can still be ranked within the top 5 for physics by the time I finish my assessments and trials?
Stop worrying so much and speculating on hypothetical-just grasp what you have in the present-a commodity that is so valuable that once lost, it can never be purchased with any amount of money-TIME, you won't get from your ranking isn't good to somehow amazing by wishing and hypothesising, you should start implementing study plans to maximise your chance of getting the best internal rank and mark possible. PUT IN THE CONSISTENT EFFORT and BE REALISTIC AND OPTIMISTIC at the same time. Hope this helps and best wishes:)
 

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