Scaling issue, help fellow 09ers! (or fellow members) (2 Viewers)

[lyounamu]

I shall express my apologies in regards to my constant whinging. However, I would like to get this over and dealt with.

As they say, scaling is the last thing to consider when it comes to subject selection. However, I have to make a strategic move in regards to this to revive my HSC plan.

As you are already aware, I am currently undertaking few "low-scaling subjects" that happen to carry low average UAI between 20 and 25. Dropping Chemistry by the end of next term will leave my subjects line with these "low-scaling subjects". People will say, "Don't care about scaling, it changes all the time" but I am worried about that because there is simply no way in the world that the scaling of a certain subject will suddenly change by a large margin. On top of that, scaling issue became a crucial factor that I have to consider because I am performing quite equally in all my subjects.

Some people will then say, "As long as you perform well, you won't be affected by scaling system". But that statement does not seem to concur with Business Studies. In Business Studies, getting 95 aligned mark will only get about 89 scaled mark. I am not even sure if I can get more than 95. On top of that, getting average result in Biology will get another poor scaled mark. Considering all this, I am not even sure if I should drop Chemistry that seems to have a good scaling.

Again, I am deeply apologetic in regards to this. Please excuse my whinging and please refrain from spamming.

 

[Azamakumar]

Scaling's determined by how everyone in a subject performs in the english test (the reason that 2 units of english are compulsory). If people in say, biology, don't do as well as people that do say 4 unit maths (in a 1 on 1 comparison between english at the other subject), then bio will scale less. The comparison is used to gauge the difficulty of the subject, and as the material is the same for each syllabus (across a number of years), the amount which each subject is scaled does not tend to move much.

Ultimately you have no control over the scaling of the subjects you do, and they do seem to remain slightly consistent over the years. You should probably stick with your best subjects or the ones you enjoy I suppose (seeing as you're doing roughly the same in all your subjects), rather than keeping chemistry because it scales better. You'll end up hurting your UAI more if you mess up in a heavy scaling subject.

The last thing to remember is that it all rests on how much effort you are willing to put in to get good marks. Standing head and shoulders above the state mean (in any subject) will in no way harm your UAI.

 

[lyounamu]

Scaling's determined by how everyone in a subject performs in the english test (the reason that 2 units of english are compulsory). If people in say, biology, don't do as well as people that do say 4 unit maths (in a 1 on 1 comparison between english at the other subject).

Ultimately you have no control over the scaling of the subjects you do, and they do seem to remain slightly consistent over the years. You should probably stick with your best subjects or the ones you enjoy I suppose (seeing as you're doing roughly the same in all your subjects), rather than keeping chemistry because it scales better. You'll end up hurting your UAI more if you mess up in a heavy scaling subject.

The last thing to remember is that it all rests on how much effort you are willing to put in to get good marks. Standing head and shoulders above the state mean (in any subject) will in no way harm your UAI.

Greatly appreciate your word of advice. But I am still not entirely convinced. That is because the scaling of Business Studies is too low that 95 aligned mark won't even get you scaled mark of 90! (wth?) I really want to get over scaled mark of 90 in all my subjects to keep my UAI hope alive. Besides, I am not even sure if I can get over 95 in that subject even though I am quite good at it. On the other hand, Chemistry's scaling is quite decent. Getting Band 6 in Chemistry would bring about much higher scaled mark than Business Studies in general.

In terms of my affection-wise, I really like Business Studies. I love every piece of it. On the other hand, I possess extreme hatred against Chemistry but I am quite good at it. For my UAI, should I just stick to it? I am sorry for this repeated question. It seems quite rhetorical at times.

 

[lionking1191]

you pick subjects which would maximise your score in the hsc

that may be 4u maths where you get 80 for hsc mark which scales up to around 90 towards your final uai

or it could be business studies where you get 97 for your hsc mark which scales to 95ish towards your uai

now you decide if it's easier to get 80 in 4u maths or 97 in business studies. and yes, getting 80 in business studies is a lot easier a 80 in 4u maths

see, scaling is irrelevant after all

 

[lolokay]

I didn't think you really cared if you got a top UAI or not; just if you tried your best (correct me if I'm wrong about that) .
If that's the case I think you should only consider how much you enjoy the subject, not whether it scales better - even if you think that, all else considered, you would get a better UAI with chemistry.

 

[melanieeeee.]

Greatly appreciate your word of advice. But I am still not entirely convinced. That is because the scaling of Business Studies is too low that 95 aligned mark won't even get you scaled mark of 90! (wth?) I really want to get over scaled mark of 90 in all my subjects to keep my UAI hope alive. Besides, I am not even sure if I can get over 95 in that subject even though I am quite good at it. On the other hand, Chemistry's scaling is quite decent. Getting Band 6 in Chemistry would bring about much higher scaled mark than Business Studies in general.

In terms of my affection-wise, I really like Business Studies. I love every piece of it. On the other hand, I possess extreme hatred against Chemistry but I am quite good at it. For my UAI, should I just stick to it? I am sorry for this repeated question. It seems quite rhetorical at times.

lol get over the business scaling thing cause guess what it beats getting some shit mark in chem. a lot of subjects scale down (i think all subjects, not entirly sure) but guess what? you can still achieve a uai of 98+ with any subject combination. what would be a more better stratergy is to pick subjects that you are good at, ace them then get a good uai. good luck.

 

[lyounamu]

I didn't think you really cared if you got a top UAI or not; just if you tried your best (correct me if I'm wrong about that) .
If that's the case I think you should only consider how much you enjoy the subject, not whether it scales better - even if you think that, all else considered, you would get a better UAI with chemistry.

You are right. I forgot that all along. My UAI goal should be "any UAI with my top effort" not 100. However, choosing the right subject is one of the things that I need to do to assure myself that I "tried my best".

If I chose entirely wrongs subjects, worked really hard and got 30 UAI, I won't feel that I did enough because choosing right subject fits into that criteria.

However, thanks again for pointing that out. I forgot that. I will sincerely take your advice and try to put that into practice. Thanks!

 

[emytaylor164]

dont worry about scaling if you go good, you will go good. pick what you are good at and enjoy.

 

[lolokay]

You are right. I forgot that all along. My UAI goal should be "any UAI with my top effort" not 100. However, choosing the right subject is one of the things that I need to do to assure myself that I "tried my best".

If I chose entirely wrongs subjects, worked really hard and got 30 UAI, I won't feel that I did enough because choosing right subject fits into that criteria.

However, thanks again for pointing that out. I forgot that. I will sincerely take your advice and try to put that into practice. Thanks!

glad I could be of help

also, I personally wouldn't consider choosing poor scaling subjects that you love, to be 'not tryng your best'. I don't think that would be a very good way of viewing things. I'm sure you'll get well over 90 no matter what subjects you choose anyway.

 

[melanieeeee.]

If I chose entirely wrongs subjects, worked really hard and got 30 UAI, I won't feel that I did enough because choosing right subject fits into that criteria.

did you know you can get a UAI of 98+ with almost any subject combination.

 

[lyounamu]

did you know you can get a UAI of 98+ with almost any subject combination.

Yeah. I do. Thanks for reminding me of that. :uhhuh:

 

[me121]

Don't worry about what the scaled mark is, rather how this scaled mark compares with other scaled marks.

 

[shaon0]

I shall express my apologies in regards to my constant whinging. However, I would like to get this over and dealt with.

As they say, scaling is the last thing to consider when it comes to subject selection. However, I have to make a strategic move in regards to this to revive my HSC plan.

As you are already aware, I am currently undertaking few "low-scaling subjects" that happen to carry low average UAI between 20 and 25. Dropping Chemistry by the end of next term will leave my subjects line with these "low-scaling subjects". People will say, "Don't care about scaling, it changes all the time" but I am worried about that because there is simply no way in the world that the scaling of a certain subject will suddenly change by a large margin. On top of that, scaling issue became a crucial factor that I have to consider because I am performing quite equally in all my subjects.

Some people will then say, "As long as you perform well, you won't be affected by scaling system". But that statement does not seem to concur with Business Studies. In Business Studies, getting 95 aligned mark will only get about 89 scaled mark. I am not even sure if I can get more than 95. On top of that, getting average result in Biology will get another poor scaled mark. Considering all this, I am not even sure if I should drop Chemistry that seems to have a good scaling.

Again, I am deeply apologetic in regards to this. Please excuse my whinging and please refrain from spamming.

I would usggest you drop Chemistry because you can still do well with Business Studies by getting a mid 90s to high 90s opposed do to doing very badly inChemistry and not liking it.

 

[Azamakumar]

Greatly appreciate your word of advice. But I am still not entirely convinced. That is because the scaling of Business Studies is too low that 95 aligned mark won't even get you scaled mark of 90! (wth?) I really want to get over scaled mark of 90 in all my subjects to keep my UAI hope alive. Besides, I am not even sure if I can get over 95 in that subject even though I am quite good at it. On the other hand, Chemistry's scaling is quite decent. Getting Band 6 in Chemistry would bring about much higher scaled mark than Business Studies in general.

In terms of my affection-wise, I really like Business Studies. I love every piece of it. On the other hand, I possess extreme hatred against Chemistry but I am quite good at it. For my UAI, should I just stick to it? I am sorry for this repeated question. It seems quite rhetorical at times.

It really depends how committed you'd be to keeping up with it. When I hit year 12 my science teachers were shit (worst two in the department) and I started losing interest and fell heaps far behind. I'm not saying it'll happen to you, I'm just saying its easier to commit to something you enjoy.

But as a direct reply, I'd say you should stick to it if you're doing as well as you say you are. If you think that your marks in other subjects stand to gain a significant amount by dropping chem, I'd probably recommend you do that for the smaller workload.



:/

 

[Doctor Jolly]

Here's my 2 cents:

Are you considering dropping Studies of Religion? I think that you should drop that instead of Business if you really like it, but I'm prejudiced against SOR, so yeah

And I also, I'd keep Chemistry. Hey, I know that you might not like and all, but you're performing well in it and it's just a matter of coping with it for one year, it's not too hard. My sister wanted to drop Economics for Biology back in Prelims, but I told her not to because the scaling was better in Eco than Bio, although she hated Eco. But at the end of Year 12, she Duxed Eco and loved it (she's persuing an Eco related course now at Uni). So you never know Namu, you might end up loving Chem. Just sit through with it

Also, with me when choosing my subjects, I honestly HATED Physics. I could not imagine myself doing the damn subject, but I did it out of scaling and I love it now. It's so much better than Japanese Cont. which I chose out of love and performance. Anyways, i don't know if that related to you, but I just wanted to get the message across that you might change your mind about Chem after Year 12 so therefore you should just stick with it.

 

[FuseNick]

I would keep chemistry, if it is not hurting your study time for other subjects. Stop regreting what subjects you chose and finding out what mark you will get if you get this mark, and start studying instead.

 

[midifile]

In Business Studies, getting 95 aligned mark will only get about 89 scaled mark. I am not even sure if I can get more than 95. On top of that, getting average result in Biology will get another poor scaled mark. Considering all this, I am not even sure if I should drop Chemistry that seems to have a good scaling.

You say that you are not sure if you can get more than 95, but remember that 95 has already been aligned (I know you know this). So your raw mark could be substantially lower than this. As for the marking of the HSC also realise that HSC exams tend to be easier than most in school exams (this does not go for all schools but a lot of them), so even if your average in a particular subject is not as high as you want, your HSC results may be higher. Have a look at the HSC papers from the past few years and compare the difficulty of the questions to that of your school (this will be a bit harder because you are in year 11 and you can't directly compare, but it will give you an idea of the standard of the tests). Also HSC exams are marked easier than most school exams (again this has to do with the school). HSC markers are looking to give you marks, while at my school, teachers are looking to take off marks. Plus with all the study time before the HSC, chances are your HSC marks will be higher than you are expecting at the moment. A lot of people are surprised about how well they are doing, especially people who go to better performing schools as they compare themselves to other students in their school rather than the whole state.

 

[Doctor Jolly]

Also HSC exams are marked easier than most school exams (again this has to do with the school). HSC markers are looking to give you marks, while at my school, teachers are looking to take off marks. Plus with all the study time before the HSC, chances are your HSC marks will be higher than you are expecting at the moment. A lot of people are surprised about how well they are doing, especially people who go to better performing schools as they compare themselves to other students in their school rather than the whole state.

Yeah that's a good point there.

In the 2007 Year 12 Class in my school, I know of a girl who averaged 60% in her English exams and I think her final mark for it was 62% for Advanced English. But in the HSC exam she ended up getting 85%, so that just shows the standard of which my school was marking English exams and how HSC marking can differ.

 

[fOxYcLeOpTrA89]

i checked on the uac website and all your subjects (except for business) scale up. i wouldnt be too disappointed with your subject choice if i were you

 

[selablad]

i checked on the uac website and all your subjects (except for business) scale up. i wouldnt be too disappointed with your subject choice if i were you

:uhhuh:

Also, are you planning on doing 4U maths? I can't remember if you are or not but all those accelerated maths courses seem to indicate that you might From what I can gather that has nice-ish scaling, right? Maybe?