• Congratulations to the Class of 2024 on your results!
    Let us know how you went here
    Got a question about your uni preferences? Ask us here

Scaled marks (1 Viewer)

JessicaCaroline

New Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2007
Messages
29
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
Question:
If you're ranked first, but bomb out in the HSC exam, do you receieve the highest mark from your class in the exam anyway?
I have heard this, but it seems doubtful...
Someone please confirm/deny!
 

Ethanescence

Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2007
Messages
439
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
Question:
If you're ranked first, but bomb out in the HSC exam, do you receieve the highest mark from your class in the exam anyway?
I have heard this, but it seems doubtful...
Someone please confirm/deny!
No, you don't get the highest mark in the exam. If you get 40% in the HSC exam, you get 40% in the HSC exam (unless you had a illness form, etc).

However, if you're ranked first, your internal assessment mark is the same as the highest HSC exam mark. Meaning that if someone gets 97% in the HSC exam in your cohort, you get 97% in your internal mark for that subject (which is 50% of your overall mark).

Both internal mark and HSC mark are added together and averaged for your mark for that subject.

97 + 40 = 137. 137 / 2 = 68.5%

So even though you bombed out in the HSC exam, your marks don't suffer as much.
 
Last edited:

JessicaCaroline

New Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2007
Messages
29
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
No, you don't get the highest mark in the exam. If you get 40% in the HSC exam, you get 40% in the HSC exam (unless you had a illness form, etc).

However, if you're ranked first, your internal assessment mark is the same as the highest HSC exam mark. Meaning that if someone gets 97% in the HSC exam in your cohort, you get 97% in your internal mark for that subject (which is 50% of your overall mark).

Both internal mark and HSC mark are added together and averaged for your mark for that subject.

97 + 40 = 137. 137 / 2 = 68.5%

So even though you bombed out in the HSC exam, your marks don't suffer as much.

But what if your internal assessment mark was higher than the highest HSC exam mark? What if the highest exam mark was only 85%, but your internal assessment mark had been 95%... Does it still mean that your exam mark of 40% is added with the 85% and averaged... or do they use your 95%?
Thanks for clearing this up by the way..
 

mR sinister

Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2008
Messages
127
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
No, you don't get the highest mark in the exam. If you get 40% in the HSC exam, you get 40% in the HSC exam (unless you had a illness form, etc).

However, if you're ranked first, your internal assessment mark is the same as the highest HSC exam mark. Meaning that if someone gets 97% in the HSC exam in your cohort, you get 97% in your internal mark for that subject (which is 50% of your overall mark).

Both internal mark and HSC mark are added together and averaged for your mark for that subject.

97 + 40 = 137. 137 / 2 = 68.5%

So even though you bombed out in the HSC exam, your marks don't suffer as much.
This system is pretty NOOB,
im ranked around 25/50 for phyiscs in my school, i really stuffed up 1 assessment badly.
The gaps between everyone arent that big..
And i thing ill get a raw mark of around 83% , which i reckon would be top 10 definitely in my school..
Let's say the 25th best mark in the HSC was 60%. Does that mean my internal is gna be 60 :eek:
What happened to my overall assessment mark based on all my assessments?
 

Ethanescence

Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2007
Messages
439
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
But what if your internal assessment mark was higher than the highest HSC exam mark? What if the highest exam mark was only 85%, but your internal assessment mark had been 95%... Does it still mean that your exam mark of 40% is added with the 85% and averaged... or do they use your 95%?
Thanks for clearing this up by the way..
To my knowledge, if the highest mark is only 85%, you unfortunately only get 85% as your internal. This is essentially how the Board of Studies differentiates schools. Because the HSC is state-wide, this is the only way to compare the cohorts of schools.

Just because your teacher gives you 99% in your internal and first rank, doesn't mean you're going beat someone who got 60% in their internal and first rank at another school. Schools/teachers mark differently and have different standards, and the HSC attempts to even these differences out.
 

Ethanescence

Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2007
Messages
439
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
This system is pretty NOOB,
im ranked around 25/50 for phyiscs in my school, i really stuffed up 1 assessment badly.
The gaps between everyone arent that big..
And i thing ill get a raw mark of around 83% , which i reckon would be top 10 definitely in my school..
Let's say the 25th best mark in the HSC was 60%. Does that mean my internal is gna be 60 :eek:
What happened to my overall assessment mark based on all my assessments?
Not exactly. They do take into account the relative gaps in ranks, to my knowledge. So if the top 25 people in one school are all within 10 marks, this will usually be adjusted better than a school where the top 25 people in a subject differed by 30 marks. The top HSC mark only equals the top internal mark. All other ranks (except for last rank) are adjusted appropriately. You won't get the 25th best mark - you will likely get a scaled average according to the relative gaps in marks between the ranks.

Getting 25th best mark wouldn't be fair, as 24th best HSC mark might be 80%, but 25th best HSC mark might be 70%. But according to your internal rank, you might only be 2% below 24th. Thus the marks are adjusted according to relative gaps and average performance of the cohort.
 
Last edited:

JessicaCaroline

New Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2007
Messages
29
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
In that case, I am so very screwed. All that work throughout the year on assessments and internal exams counts for nothing, because I stuffed up a few HSC exams. That just seems so extremely unfair...
 

Ethanescence

Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2007
Messages
439
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
In that case, I am so very screwed. All that work throughout the year on assessments and internal exams counts for nothing, because I stuffed up a few HSC exams. That just seems so extremely unfair...
You shouldn't be so hard on yourself. Your ranks from your internal assessments do count for a lot, and even if you did stuff up a few HSC exams (which you can't know for sure until the results), other people in your class wouldn't have stuffed them up, and this means their good marks still push up your internal.

What was the difference between your trials marks and the trial marks of other people in your classes?
 

JessicaCaroline

New Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2007
Messages
29
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
You shouldn't be so hard on yourself. Your ranks from your internal assessments do count for a lot, and even if you did stuff up a few HSC exams (which you can't know for sure until the results), other people in your class wouldn't have stuffed them up, and this means their good marks still push up your internal.

What was the difference between your trials marks and the trial marks of other people in your class?

Well in one subject, there was quite a significant gap between 1st and 2nd - about 8% - in trials and assessments. But I know in this subject my exam mark would have been far surpassed by the 2nd person because I completely stuffed up, at least 25 marks were a write off.. So even though the 2nd person may only have gotten 85%, but that would still have beaten me. And now I'll be getting that 85%, in conjunction with the probably 70% I achieved.. Even though my internal assessment mark was high 90s.. Depressing much...
 

Freakstyler09

Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2009
Messages
324
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
In that case, I am so very screwed. All that work throughout the year on assessments and internal exams counts for nothing, because I stuffed up a few HSC exams. That just seems so extremely unfair...
Yeh I reckon, don't really think it works like that, it'd will be really slack I mean, just from one test after a years of hard work.But I will be dead if it does X(
 
Last edited:

Freakstyler09

Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2009
Messages
324
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
Not exactly. They do take into account the relative gaps in ranks, to my knowledge. So if the top 25 people in one school are all within 10 marks, this will usually be adjusted better than a school where the top 25 people in a subject differed by 30 marks. The top HSC mark only equals the top internal mark. All other ranks (except for last rank) are adjusted appropriately. You won't get the 25th best mark - you will likely get a scaled average according to the relative gaps in marks between the ranks.

Getting 25th best mark wouldn't be fair, as 24th best HSC mark might be 80%, but 25th best HSC mark might be 70%. But according to your internal rank, you might only be 2% below 24th. Thus the marks are adjusted according to relative gaps and average performance of the cohort.
How do u know this stuff
 

Ethanescence

Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2007
Messages
439
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
How do u know this stuff
Reading the procedures on the Board of Studies website, listening to independent HSC lectures and from my teachers. People in my classes have asked this throughout the year, so most of this information has been drilled into my mind.

I'm not saying it's 100% correct, but that's what I understand it to involve.
Is there anything specifically that doesn't make sense? I could be wrong in certain areas.
 
Last edited:

JessicaCaroline

New Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2007
Messages
29
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
I wish you were, but it does seem the most plausible explanation i've heard thus far. Feel I am forced to believe you and accept my own inevitable disappointment on the 16th December!
 

Freakstyler09

Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2009
Messages
324
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
I wish you were, but it does seem the most plausible explanation i've heard thus far. Feel I am forced to believe you and accept my own inevitable disappointment on the 16th December!
ah dw about it, there's nothing u could do about it anyways. Just look at ur life in the long term and know that the HSC is not the end of the tunnel, I mean I know some uni students that got like 90+ a few years back n now their unemployed, anything could happen and if u know u did ur best then that's probably something u should be proud of.
 

Freakstyler09

Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2009
Messages
324
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
Reading the procedures on the Board of Studies website, listening to independent HSC lectures and from my teachers. People in my classes have asked this throughout the year, so most of this information has been drilled into my mind.

I'm not saying it's 100% correct, but that's what I understand it to involve.
Is there anything specifically that doesn't make sense? I could be wrong in certain areas.
Just Curious with another note, what if I don't chose to include my external unit for a subject which I bombed out in, in the HSC, would that still affect my internal mark.:confused:
 

katef72

New Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2009
Messages
7
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
hey,
I am still unsure how scaling works. I know we never get our raw marks back but just say I thought I would be able to get a band 6 in a subject yet my rank was only 7/30 would I still get a band 6 in the subject or would I not get it because my assessments werent that good?
thanks guys.x
 

youngminii

Banned
Joined
Feb 13, 2008
Messages
2,083
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
Just Curious with another note, what if I don't chose to include my external unit for a subject which I bombed out in, in the HSC, would that still affect my internal mark.:confused:
The process is independent for each subject.
So each of your subjects get aligned separately, they don't affect each other.
Also: Yes ethan is right. When people give the "5th rank gets 5th mark etc." example, it's a simplified version as it's hard to understand.
 

JordaneVG

Member
Joined
Apr 3, 2009
Messages
123
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
The process is independent for each subject.
So each of your subjects get aligned separately, they don't affect each other.
Also: Yes ethan is right. When people give the "5th rank gets 5th mark etc." example, it's a simplified version as it's hard to understand.
So Youngminii are u saying that if I get an internal mark of 74% in a subject and if I get a 50% for the Externals, it will not affect my internal mark in any way form or shape right?
 

youngminii

Banned
Joined
Feb 13, 2008
Messages
2,083
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
So Youngminii are u saying that if I get an internal mark of 74% in a subject and if I get a 50% for the Externals, it will not affect my internal mark in any way form or shape right?
Not exactly what I said but that is sort of correct
It will affect your internal mark in that your external mark contributes to the entire 'rank + relative gap' process, but yeah your external mark won't really affect your internal mark that much
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top