• 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

Need Help Understanding HSC Marks (1 Viewer)

letoatreides

New Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2011
Messages
10
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Hey there

In my school everyone including my English teacher says that your HSC mark is based off your school ranking. So for example lets say Paul after doing all the assignments and school tests is ranked 100th for maths and 1st for English. Now in the HSC Paul trys his hardest at the Maths exam and ends up getting the top HSC mark but has a brain fart and comes 100th for English. According to my school Paul would get the HSC mark from the HSC test that corresponds to his school rank so he would still get the top english mark and the lowest maths mark. Now this doesn't make sense to me because then whats the point of the HSC.

So how does it work. Also how does your schools ranking affect your final mark and where can I find my schools rank.

Sorry for huge wall of text and the stupid question but I can't find anything on the internet.
 

Absolutezero

real human bean
Joined
Nov 17, 2007
Messages
15,077
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
You get two things that make your total. Your internal mark, and your external mark.

Your internal mark is actually the external mark of the person who got the same external rank that you got internally. Your external mark is just whatever you get in the exam.

So if you got first internally, the mark you would get internally is the highest mark someone got on the exam (within your cohort). If you ranked, say 20th internally, the internal mark you would get would be the 20th highest external mark.
 

Absolutezero

real human bean
Joined
Nov 17, 2007
Messages
15,077
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
In your example

English
Paul would get his own external mark (it would be bad)
His internal mark would be the highest mark another student achieved in the exam

Math
Paul would get his own external mark (it would be good)
His internal mark would be the 100th highest mark (achieved by another student) in the exam
 

noddis911

Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2010
Messages
60
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Uni Grad
2014
Does that mean that if a Student A is coming second in a subject internally, gets to the HSC and receives the highest mark for his school, while Student B was coming first in the same subject internally but got the second highest mark HSC, that they both receive an equal mark? Because from what I understand, Student A will get Student B's external mark for his internal mark, while Student B will get Student A's external mark for his internal mark. Then they would both have each other's mark and their own... :S
 

letoatreides

New Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2011
Messages
10
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Thanks absolutezero for the clarification :)
Are the external and internal marks equal when calculating your HSC

How well do the following subjects scale English advanced, english extension 1, Studies of religion, Business Services, Modern Histroy, Ancient History

How does scaling work

what happens to my HSC If i do pretty well in all my subjects except for English in which I do average, by how much will that bring my mark down

So sorry about all the questions, but if someone could answer them i would really appreciate it
 

enoilgam

Moderator
Moderator
Joined
Feb 11, 2011
Messages
11,906
Location
Mare Crisium
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2010
Does that mean that if a Student A is coming second in a subject internally, gets to the HSC and receives the highest mark for his school, while Student B was coming first in the same subject internally but got the second highest mark HSC, that they both receive an equal mark? Because from what I understand, Student A will get Student B's external mark for his internal mark, while Student B will get Student A's external mark for his internal mark. Then they would both have each other's mark and their own... :S
This is how I always thought it was worked out, but it is much more complicated than this. This is how it is explained on BOS http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/hsc-results/moderation.html
 
Last edited:

cem

Premium Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2005
Messages
2,438
Location
Sydney
Gender
Female
HSC
N/A
First off one big mistake made here.

Except for first and last the other marks do NOT necessarily correspond to the ranks. The top exam mark becomes the top assessment mark for the student ranked first and the bottom exam mark becomes the assessment mark for the student ranked last by the school. After that it is more complicated than 2nd ranked student gets 2nd exam mark as their assessment mark as that mightn't actually reflect their school efforts.

A very simple example:

Students: A school mark = 98, B school mark 87, C school mark 75 and D school mark 74

Exam marks - A 99, B 96, C 61, D 74

Now obviously A gets (98+99)/2 = 99 but B was sent in 11 marks behind A so their assessment mark has to reflect that gap as well as their second rank so an assessment mark of closer to 90 giving B (90+96)/2 = 93n rewarding both students for their efforts throughout the year but also penalising B for not working as hard all year as they did simply for the exam. C and D you will notice have swapped ranks but C has also dropped a long way behind D but that wouldn't be fair to D to have the gap too wide there so C would get an assessment mark closer to D's 61 and so would get a mark around 65.

The relative gaps between the ranks must be also be maintained to be fair. If you beat the next student by 10 marks then that should still be in the final assessment marks even if they work their tails off and only get 2 marks behind you in the exam.
 
Last edited:

enoilgam

Moderator
Moderator
Joined
Feb 11, 2011
Messages
11,906
Location
Mare Crisium
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2010
First off one big mistake made here.

Except for first and last the other marks do NOT necessarily correspond to the ranks. The top exam mark becomes the top assessment mark for the student ranked first and the bottom exam mark becomes the assessment mark for the student ranked last by the school. After that it is more complicated than 2nd ranked student gets 2nd exam mark as their assessment mark as that mightn't actually reflect their school efforts.

A very simple example:

Students: A school mark = 98, B school mark 87, C school mark 75 and D school mark 74

Exam marks - A 99, B 96, C 61, D 74

Now obviously A gets (98+99)/2 = 99 but B was sent in 11 marks behind A so their assessment mark has to reflect that gap as well as their second rank so an assessment mark of closer to 90 giving B (90+96)/2 = 93n rewarding both students for their efforts throughout the year but also penalising B for not working as hard all year as they did simply for the exam. C and D you will notice have swapped ranks but C has also dropped a long way behind D but that wouldn't be fair to D to have the gap too wide there so C would get an assessment mark closer to D's 61 and so would get a mark around 65.

The relative gaps between the ranks must be also be maintained to be fair. If you beat the next student by 10 marks then that should still be in the final assessment marks even if they work their tails off and only get 2 marks behind you in the exam.
This.
 

Riproot

Addiction Psychiatrist
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
Messages
8,228
Location
I don’t see how that’s any of your business…
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Uni Grad
2017
Hey there

In my school everyone including my English teacher says that your HSC mark is based off your school ranking. So for example lets say Paul after doing all the assignments and school tests is ranked 100th for maths and 1st for English. Now in the HSC Paul trys his hardest at the Maths exam and ends up getting the top HSC mark but has a brain fart and comes 100th for English. According to my school Paul would get the HSC mark from the HSC test that corresponds to his school rank so he would still get the top english mark and the lowest maths mark. Now this doesn't make sense to me because then whats the point of the HSC.

So how does it work. Also how does your schools ranking affect your final mark and where can I find my schools rank.

Sorry for huge wall of text and the stupid question but I can't find anything on the internet.
Fuck off. This is how my English teacher explained it. I wanted to punch her in the face because everyone is ranked really low in my English class except for me and 1 other guy and if they do nothing for Hsc I'm fucked.
I'm sure someone here has already explained it, but if any of your teachers ever say anything like this to you laugh in their face and yell "LIES!!!" for 2 hours.
 

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

Top