Is internal ranking really that important? (1 Viewer)

wjdyeon

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Hi,

So recently I discovered the importance of internal rankings and its impact on my final HSC mark/ATAR. I'm personally more of a science/math person, meaning that I will need to complete depth studies for two of my subjects (physics and chemistry). To be honest, depth studies are my weakest form of assignments, and I recently quit science tutoring because I thought it was a waste of 3 hours for each subject (physics and chemistry). But now, I'm starting to stress out because my first physics assignment is a depth study and I'm really, really not confident AT ALL to do well. I know this one assignment does not determine my overall ranking, but it's probably weighed heavier than other forms of assessment based on the time and effort that students will need to spend on the task (usually depth studies are heavily weighed at our school). Now, I'm just genuinely curious whether internal rankings are THAT important that it will affect my ATAR by a significant degree. Also, what happens if I don't do well in my internal rankings but (for example) get a high band 5 or band 6 for my actual HSC (and vice versa)? And could people please elaborate on what it means that my school cohort could potentially "scale" me down? I just thought scaling was based on the subjects you undertake and how well or bad you do in it.

Thank you!

Have a great day :)
 

idkkdi

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Hi,

So recently I discovered the importance of internal rankings and its impact on my final HSC mark/ATAR. I'm personally more of a science/math person, meaning that I will need to complete depth studies for two of my subjects (physics and chemistry). To be honest, depth studies are my weakest form of assignments, and I recently quit science tutoring because I thought it was a waste of 3 hours for each subject (physics and chemistry). But now, I'm starting to stress out because my first physics assignment is a depth study and I'm really, really not confident AT ALL to do well. I know this one assignment does not determine my overall ranking, but it's probably weighed heavier than other forms of assessment based on the time and effort that students will need to spend on the task (usually depth studies are heavily weighed at our school). Now, I'm just genuinely curious whether internal rankings are THAT important that it will affect my ATAR by a significant degree. Also, what happens if I don't do well in my internal rankings but (for example) get a high band 5 or band 6 for my actual HSC (and vice versa)? And could people please elaborate on what it means that my school cohort could potentially "scale" me down? I just thought scaling was based on the subjects you undertake and how well or bad you do in it.

Thank you!

Have a great day :)
Internal marks make up half your final HSC score. School cohort scaling you down is a pseudo-effect, don't worry about the nitty-gritty of it. Basically, it's a fair system for an able student. Theoretically if some dude, keeping all other variables constant, was at two different schools, his internal mark that attributes to HSC would be overall, the same.
 

beetree1

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just dont come bottom 10% and honestly nothing else matters but externals

i think your school scaling you down refers to how if your school is a really low ranking school, then if you do bad in internals, then your assessment mark would likely be a low score too just because your cohort cant carry you as compared to a selective school, where even if you do really bad, your score would likely be relatively OK because the average would have been high.

either way, scaling is out of your control so just do your best in all your subjects!
 

pikachu975

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Hi,

So recently I discovered the importance of internal rankings and its impact on my final HSC mark/ATAR. I'm personally more of a science/math person, meaning that I will need to complete depth studies for two of my subjects (physics and chemistry). To be honest, depth studies are my weakest form of assignments, and I recently quit science tutoring because I thought it was a waste of 3 hours for each subject (physics and chemistry). But now, I'm starting to stress out because my first physics assignment is a depth study and I'm really, really not confident AT ALL to do well. I know this one assignment does not determine my overall ranking, but it's probably weighed heavier than other forms of assessment based on the time and effort that students will need to spend on the task (usually depth studies are heavily weighed at our school). Now, I'm just genuinely curious whether internal rankings are THAT important that it will affect my ATAR by a significant degree. Also, what happens if I don't do well in my internal rankings but (for example) get a high band 5 or band 6 for my actual HSC (and vice versa)? And could people please elaborate on what it means that my school cohort could potentially "scale" me down? I just thought scaling was based on the subjects you undertake and how well or bad you do in it.

Thank you!

Have a great day :)
Your rank in your subjects is more important at lower ranked schools. For example if you're like 15th in James Ruse physics and you stuff up your physics exam, your internal mark will still be around the 15th highest external mark, so you'll probably get 90+ as an internal mark still due to your rank. But if you're 15th at like, a rank 100 school, the 15th highest external mark would be in the 80s probably so that would be your internal mark (approximately). Anyway lower rank school = more importance about your rank.
 

Lazzzzzyyyyyy...

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Internals and externals equally make up your final hsc mark. The school you go to may 'scale you down' because the internal part of your hsc mark is derived from your ranking within your cohort. All of the external hsc scores from your cohort are ranked and your external mark is basically the corresponding rank. E.g. If your rank is 4, your external hsc mark is 92 and the 4th external hsc mark is 95 then your mark would be (92+95)/2

The ranking of your school can matter because if you go to a well-ranked school, your cohort may be able to push you up (given you have a decent ranking), or if you maybe had a bad day on the external exam your internal ranking can act as a sort of safety net.
 

quickoats

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Seconding pikachu, rankings only really matter if you stuff up either internals or externals (which is rare). This is because the mark that NESA gives you for “stuffing up” is based on ranks may be affected by the spread of candidates at your school. Best practise to follow Rupaul’s advice and “dont f it up”
 

quickoats

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its still rank ~50. you would be lucky getting 10 band 6's at rank 50.
Really depends on the school and the subject. Usually these higher ranking schools finesse a whole bunch of maths band 6s whereas English is certainly lacking. Also some schools have giant cohorts so top 10 might be great, whereas top 10 could also mean dead last in a smaller school in an unpopular class.

Top 50 is a position where you don’t necessarily have to always aim for first, but aim as high as you can rather than saying “I want to be 5th” so you don’t limit yourself
 

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