Is it worth ordering a mark recheck?? (3 Viewers)

[LoveHateSchool]

The DUX at my school already got a few scholarships for UWS. Then they asked my friend and he said no, and me and I said no, and then the other guy and he was like "yeah brah."

They give it to anyone at my school-though to be fair, as dux I would have turned it down as I probably wasn't going to UNSW at that point and also did not need like the bonus marks for comb law or something there.

Re OP's actual request:

As deswa1 said I doubt they'd make that many mistakes to allow you to bump up from .6 to .7...


Re AAA;

At my school, they asked people which unis they were interested in and awarded the AAA scholarship to the 'top' or predicted ATAR 'top' student who wanted to go to UNSW. My friend got it and he ended up with 99.25, Arts/Law at UNSW for him. Everyone above that is going to USYD (lol elitists).

They should have done this at my school-it was just the first person who asked the careers advisor who went around our year advisor in giving it to someone else.

And the rants about AAA: it is a scheme by the university. There is merit in being a top performing student at often a very low ranking and rurally isolated school. I don't think you comprehend how inherently advantaged one is in a selective school. I think it'd be better if they gave it to people based on the uni's assessment of their academics and extracurriculars etc. but it's their prerogative on how they award their scholarships.

To OP, you can try marks recheck for peace of mind, but it's doubtful to move your ATAR at all. Do they accept any bonus points for UNSW Law or is it only AAA? Do you have EAS?

 

[Magical Kebab]

It's not based on getting a 'higher' mark -- this implies that they did well despite going to a bad school. It's getting the top mark in that school (filtered by who has UNSW in their prefs), which could still mean not doing all that great. Getting the top mark in a shitty school deserves no more credit (in fact, probably less) than getting the top mark in a good school. It also gives an IMMENSE advantage to this possibly mediocre student, while a very good (but not top) student at a better school, who could have put in a lot more work and is arguably more deserving of that spot in their chosen course, would miss out. A friend of mine missed out on Combined Law at UNSW (by .05) because he only gets 3 bonus points, although his achievements in that area are substantial and notable; and yet they give out FIVE points, reserved in the EAP table for the highest echelon of international athletes and performers, to some more-or-less bright kid at a worse school.

I also disagree with the idea that the supposed top student at a school will be disadvantaged by their cohort. The assessment weighting scheme is very fair. If the rest of your cohort are bad enough that they have the potential to drag you down, then you should be consistently ranking higher than them in assessments anyway.

Lol

And

Lol

 

[goobi]

Wait what?

I know it's the principals decision but why wouldn't they award it to the DUX?

So if I get DUX at my school (ranked ~400), I wouldn't necessarily get the AAA scholarship?

Man oh man...

Well, the deadline for nominations for AAA was 31/10/2012. How did the principals know whom the DUX (very often chosen based on ATAR) would be when their students were still sitting the HSC exams?

 

[deswa1]

Completely nonsensical comment. Obviously their recognising that getting a higher mark at an under-achieving school deserves credit when considered against those inherently advantaged by a state-ranking cohort.

No. I disagree VERY strongly with this statement. Even ignoring the fact that the only reason you get scaled up by a stronger cohort is because its harder to get good ranks in the first place, the giving of 5 bonus is plainly stupid imo. Consider that someone with an ATAR of 95 gets into comm/law at UNSW whilst someone on 99.6 misses out. In terms of comparison, a 99.6 is in a completely different league to a 95.

Look at these mark comparisons:

95 ATAR:
MX1-> 87
MX2-> 83
English-> 85
Physics-> 85
Chemistry-> 87

99.6 ATAR:
MX1-> 96
MX2-> 92
English-> 93
Physics-> 93
Chemistry-> 94

Anyone who tries telling me that someone at a higher ranking school is advantaged THAT much has no idea. A school cannot impact you that much. Sure, I would not have gotten the same ATAR if I went to my local school instead of a selective school because the atmosphere would have been different, competition less etc. BUT, I would definitely not have gotten 5 ATAR points less, or anywhere near that much less. I am very against AAA because of this-> it disadvantages students that just miss out on their course because of inflated cut-offs.

Having said this, you can't change the system so you might as well make it work for you-> if you can get AAA, definitely take advantage of it.

Well, the deadline for nominations for AAA was 31/10/2012. How did the principals know whom the DUX (very often chosen based on ATAR) would be when their students were still sitting the HSC exams?

Its based on a combination of year 11 and 12 internal results. The school choses by their own mechanism.

 

[Riproot]

No. I disagree VERY strongly with this statement. Even ignoring the fact that the only reason you get scaled up by a stronger cohort is because its harder to get good ranks in the first place, the giving of 5 bonus is plainly stupid imo. Consider that someone with an ATAR of 95 gets into comm/law at UNSW whilst someone on 99.6 misses out. In terms of comparison, a 99.6 is in a completely different league to a 95.

Look at these mark comparisons:

95 ATAR:
MX1-> 87
MX2-> 83
English-> 85
Physics-> 85
Chemistry-> 87

99.6 ATAR:
MX1-> 96
MX2-> 92
English-> 93
Physics-> 93
Chemistry-> 94

Anyone who tries telling me that someone at a higher ranking school is advantaged THAT much has no idea. A school cannot impact you that much. Sure, I would not have gotten the same ATAR if I went to my local school instead of a selective school because the atmosphere would have been different, competition less etc. BUT, I would definitely not have gotten 5 ATAR points less, or anywhere near that much less. I am very against AAA because of this-> it disadvantages students that just miss out on their course because of inflated cut-offs.

Having said this, you can't change the system so you might as well make it work for you-> if you can get AAA, definitely take advantage of it.



Its based on a combination of year 11 and 12 internal results. The school choses by their own mechanism.

I think you severely underestimate how shit shit schools are.

If you went to a shit school and only got 97-low99s you would be the one that would want the AAA.

It's nearly IMPOSSIBLE to get 99.95 coming from a school like mine. We had one guy who got a 100 UAI like 7 years ago, but he was a boarder back when the brothers taught so he had classes like ALL THE TIME, but the teaching at my school has downgraded so much since then that it would be impossible to do again without outside tutoring for all your subjects.

 

[alstah]

My principal didn't even know AAA existed lol and one of my friends asked him to nominate him for it and my principal did lol. My friend ended up with a 94.7 ATAR and got into UNSW Law and pocketed $4k lol. It is bull, but oh well, it's just decreasing the prestige of UNSW Law degrees.

At the OP: Go to USyd and transfer into Law after a year.

 

[Omnipotence]

Meshy have you called about the Duke of Edinburgh mishap?

 

[Spiritual Being]

No. I disagree VERY strongly with this statement. Even ignoring the fact that the only reason you get scaled up by a stronger cohort is because its harder to get good ranks in the first place, the giving of 5 bonus is plainly stupid imo. Consider that someone with an ATAR of 95 gets into comm/law at UNSW whilst someone on 99.6 misses out. In terms of comparison, a 99.6 is in a completely different league to a 95.

Look at these mark comparisons:

95 ATAR:
MX1-> 87
MX2-> 83
English-> 85
Physics-> 85
Chemistry-> 87

99.6 ATAR:
MX1-> 96
MX2-> 92
English-> 93
Physics-> 93
Chemistry-> 94

Anyone who tries telling me that someone at a higher ranking school is advantaged THAT much has no idea. A school cannot impact you that much. Sure, I would not have gotten the same ATAR if I went to my local school instead of a selective school because the atmosphere would have been different, competition less etc. BUT, I would definitely not have gotten 5 ATAR points less, or anywhere near that much less. I am very against AAA because of this-> it disadvantages students that just miss out on their course because of inflated cut-offs.

Having said this, you can't change the system so you might as well make it work for you-> if you can get AAA, definitely take advantage of it.



Its based on a combination of year 11 and 12 internal results. The school choses by their own mechanism.

good post but you'd be surprised

 

[jenslekman]

No. I disagree VERY strongly with this statement. Even ignoring the fact that the only reason you get scaled up by a stronger cohort is because its harder to get good ranks in the first place, the giving of 5 bonus is plainly stupid imo. Consider that someone with an ATAR of 95 gets into comm/law at UNSW whilst someone on 99.6 misses out. In terms of comparison, a 99.6 is in a completely different league to a 95.

Look at these mark comparisons:

95 ATAR:
MX1-> 87
MX2-> 83
English-> 85
Physics-> 85
Chemistry-> 87

99.6 ATAR:
MX1-> 96
MX2-> 92
English-> 93
Physics-> 93
Chemistry-> 94

Anyone who tries telling me that someone at a higher ranking school is advantaged THAT much has no idea. A school cannot impact you that much. Sure, I would not have gotten the same ATAR if I went to my local school instead of a selective school because the atmosphere would have been different, competition less etc. BUT, I would definitely not have gotten 5 ATAR points less, or anywhere near that much less. I am very against AAA because of this-> it disadvantages students that just miss out on their course because of inflated cut-offs.

Having said this, you can't change the system so you might as well make it work for you-> if you can get AAA, definitely take advantage of it.



Its based on a combination of year 11 and 12 internal results. The school choses by their own mechanism.

mate... "I think you severely underestimate how shit shit schools are." ... for starters, at some schools, doing MX1 is virtually impossible.

on a completely unrelated note, check the high scores for snake deswa1 and you'll be surprised!

 

[nerdasdasd]

mate... "I think you severely underestimate how shit shit schools are." ... for starters, at some schools, doing MX1 is virtually impossible.

on a completely unrelated note, check the high scores for snake deswa1 and you'll be surprised!

There are no " shit schools ", all schools are the same ( in regards to their purpose ) ,and the students learn the same things , except maybe at different rates.

 

[Magical Kebab]

It's up to the student, not the school.

Those who blame their school just simply underachieved.

 

[Riproot]

There are no " shit schools ", all schools are the same ( in regards to their purpose ) ,and the students learn the same things , except maybe at different rates.

no, some of my classes skipped stuff that was in the HSC exams.

Awkies.

Lol

 

[GoldyOrNugget]

It's up to the student, not the school.

Those who blame their school just simply underachieved.

I agree completely. Our school never had a student get an ATAR over 99.8 before 2012, and we had 2 99.9+s last year. Your school is only a limitation if you choose to let it be so.

If you're concerned about your cohort pulling you down, work harder in assessments and rank 1st in every subject. If you did not manage this, then the people who ranked higher than you are presumably comparable to you in skill level and won't pull you down much (if at all).

no, some of my classes skipped stuff that was in the HSC exams.

Awkies.

Lol

Same. Our maths ext 1 and SDD teachers taught us fuck all, we just chatted and messed about and learnt nothing, and yet my cohort kicked ass in those subjects because we were motivated enough to learn them on our own. If you aren't learning from you teachers, all you need is a decent textbook and you're set.

 

[tarod]

In my opinion, AAA would be fair if it was restricted to rural school and schools comparable to these. The current system just seems ridiculous. Students in schools such as Ashfield Boys and Canterbury Boys are only disadvantaged because they don't have a competitive study environment (though often the top 5 of the cohort is in fact competitive).

There quality of teachers and learning environments would be more or less equal. They also have access to more or less equal resources (my selective school never provided me with extra resources, extra classes, etc.)

However, AAA which is supposed to 'bridge' the gap between disadvantaged comprehensive schools means that the hard work of a student whom is seeking a spot in law is in part discredited.

 

[Riproot]

I agree completely. Our school never had a student get an ATAR over 99.8 before 2012, and we had 2 99.9+s last year. Your school is only a limitation if you choose to let it be so.

If you're concerned about your cohort pulling you down, work harder in assessments and rank 1st in every subject. If you did not manage this, then the people who ranked higher than you are presumably comparable to you in skill level and won't pull you down much (if at all).


Same. Our maths ext 1 and SDD teachers taught us fuck all, we just chatted and messed about and learnt nothing, and yet my cohort kicked ass in those subjects because we were motivated enough to learn them on our own. If you aren't learning from you teachers, all you need is a decent textbook and you're set.

look, it's all good to say all this, but I know, as do many others on here, that teachers have their favourites, and regardless of how much hard work you do it's hard to outrank them.

 

[RealiseNothing]

If you're concerned about your cohort pulling you down, work harder in assessments and rank 1st in every subject. If you did not manage this, then the people who ranked higher than you are presumably comparable to you in skill level and won't pull you down much (if at all).

This is not entirely true. The teachers at "shit schools" usually set easy assessments and try and make the average as high as possible so that they look good as a teacher. In my chemistry class, in an assessment worth 35% of our internals, the majority of kids got atleast 90% just because of how insanely easy the assessment was. I was amongst the marks and ranks (note I did not top it) of kids who would barely manage a band 4 in HSC chemistry even though I can get much higher.

Other times this comment is justitified, for example maths at my school sets tasks that do differentiate the students, but really only because I ask them too.

 

[goobi]

Its based on a combination of year 11 and 12 internal results. The school choses by their own mechanism.

Yeah I know and that's what I mean. I was only trying to clarify that the one being nominated for the AAA scholarship isn't necessarily the DUX (determined by ATAR).

 

[Chazure]

the problem might not be the AAA itself, but the fact it is allowed to be used on extremely competitive courses where every decimal point counts. it seems fine in the context of every course outside the magic 2 (law/med)

In fact, i'm sure people would still be happy to receive the AAA just for the extra pocket money.

 

[Meshy590]

Hmm yea, didn't get into Law at UNSW or USyd...I might do the mark recheck tomorrow for some of my subjects.

Just to confirm, they can't take marks away right?? They can only give marks??

 

[asianese]

Yes - if there is an error but the 'correct' mark is lower then the original, they cannot take marks off.