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How exactly important are the Trials ? - Advice and general discussion on Trials (1 Viewer)

kietkiet

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Well, being the typical procrastinator that I am, I decided to leave it until halfway through the 1st week of holidays to start my trial notes. I figured that I should make notes 1st week and do past papers 2nd week, that'd be more than enough time. Boy was I wrong ...

I ended up procrastinating even more throughout the holidays, although I did get all my Business Studies and English notes done. I still have 3 other subjects to create notes and do past papers for.

So now i've been justifying myself saying that i've done well for all my other assessments, and if I go mediocre for the trials .... would that really affect me ?

These are my current rankings:
English STD 6/132
Business Services 3/20
Business Studies 9/33
IPT 1/65
Maths Gen 13/152
School ranking: 491 (I think, It's Callaghan College Jesmond Campus)

So how affected would I be if I lets say .... get only band 4 and 5 in each subject.

P.S Wasn't sure if this thread should be posted here or ATAR and HSC marks, so I flipped a coin. Posted it here.
 

Makematics

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no don't do this to yourself, forget about the procrastination and get to work now! it's never too late! achieve your best and don't make any excuses. go get it!
 

kietkiet

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I was studying and I needed help on something. So I decided to go on Bored of Studies looking for the answers .... But ... My natural curiousity took over and i've spent the last 40 minutes just reading through random threads. Still haven't found what I was looking for aswell. hahahahahha
 

loversinjapan

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Keep going.

The trials are a great way to gauge your competency, skills and exam technique for each subject. Taking into account your school ranking, it'd be really advantageous for you to head into the external exams with the best rank possible. So I really encourage you to keep up this effort.

However, while your trials are indeed heavily weighted, remember that 50% is determined by your external performance. I know a lot of people that did well in the trials and had a post-trial slump. I also know many people who went completely shit/mediocre in the trials but overperformed in the external exams. It balanced out in the end.

You can do dis, just put in your best effort and deny the inner procrastinator! (lol i can't believe i'm giving this advice)
 

kietkiet

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Even though they are heavily weighed, i've been getting high band 6s for all my other assessments. So will it really affect my internal mark that much ?
 

Makematics

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Even though they are heavily weighed, i've been getting high band 6s for all my other assessments. So will it really affect my internal mark that much ?
well we dont rlly know how tight the ranks are. considering your school rank isnt too high, you want to be right up there to make sure you secure what marks you want.
 

loversinjapan

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Even though they are heavily weighed, i've been getting high band 6s for all my other assessments. So will it really affect my internal mark that much ?
Getting a 'high band 6' mark in an assessment that is 15% =/= the same for an assessment that is 35% - plus your internal marks may not be a direct reflection of external marking. Also, the trials will give you a more accurate gauge of how you'll go in the HSC because all topics across the course are being assessed in one exam, as opposed to you doing one or two topics at a time. e.g. getting 100% for module A in English is easier than getting 100% for the entirety of paper 2.
 
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kietkiet

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Okay, thanks that make's alot of sense.

Assuming both of you are good at maths.

If I wanted to figure out how much of a percentage that each mark is worth, what would be the formula for it ?

For example, My English Trial is out of 85 marks (both paper 1 and paper 2) and the English Trial is worth 25 % of my Total English mark.
How much will 1/85 mark be worth if the paper only weighs 25% ?

I hope you guys understand what i mean haha
 

RealiseNothing

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Okay, thanks that make's alot of sense.

Assuming both of you are good at maths.

If I wanted to figure out how much of a percentage that each mark is worth, what would be the formula for it ?

For example, My English Trial is out of 85 marks (both paper 1 and paper 2) and the English Trial is worth 25 % of my Total English mark.
How much will 1/85 mark be worth if the paper only weighs 25% ?

I hope you guys understand what i mean haha
0.3%
 

Spiritual Being

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Trials will sort out a lot of ranks and are not be ignored.

You can't redeem yourself after that, especially if you want to maintain first place at a low ranked school.
 

hsclover

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When you think about how many hours are in one day, I'm sure if you put your head down and work hard you can pull it off :) Just start now, it really is never too late :p
 

Spiritual Being

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Everyone pretty much started studying for trials at the beginning of this month due to previous assessments going on right until the end of school. So you're not at a massive disadvantage, and you shouldn't be making plans for failure or underperformance a few weeks before the exam.
 

enoilgam

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In most cases, the trials play a significant role in determining the final rankings. I remember when I did my HSC, there were a few people who dropped off with the trials, whilst a couple others came out of nowhere. So becoming complacent at this point would be a huge mistake.
 

kietkiet

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So what matters most from the outcome of the trial. My mark or my ranking ?

For example, What would be better ?

Let's say, everyone in all my classes get less than 50% and I got 60%. This would make me rank higher than them, but it still a bad mark.

OR

Some kids go good, some kids go bad, and I get 80%. The mark is higher, however my rank would be lower.
 

Spiritual Being

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So what matters most from the outcome of the trial. My mark or my ranking ?

For example, What would be better ?

Let's say, everyone in all my classes get less than 50% and I got 60%. This would make me rank higher than them, but it still a bad mark.

OR

Some kids go good, some kids go bad, and I get 80%. The mark is higher, however my rank would be lower.
A clustered group is always best i.e. perform in similar cluster in external exam with good marks. As to the internal, whether it is a mark of low or high numerical value is really irrelevant because it gets moderated.
 
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Spiritual Being

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What do you mean by moderated ?
Well your final raw internal mark is not going to be directly correlated into your moderated internal mark. (internal referring to all the exams/assignments you work on in school; constituting 50% of your ATAR).

What could be 30% in your school could be 90% in another, or 60% in another. The BOS uses the external exam and moderates the marks with accordance to the relative gaps between each rank.

So the highest exam mark would be first's internal and the last will be last's internal; with everyone in between, applied through the relative gaps.
 
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kietkiet

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Ahk dude, thanks for that :D

How did you go in your trials ?
 

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