• Best of luck to the class of 2024 for their HSC exams. You got this!
    Let us know your thoughts on the HSC exams here
  • YOU can help the next generation of students in the community!
    Share your trial papers and notes on our Notes & Resources page
MedVision ad

Standard English (1 Viewer)

fizzfuzz

New Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2017
Messages
14
Location
sydney
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
Hey can someone please clear this up for me cause everyone at school and even online are saying doing standard English will stuff up my atar and that I won’t be able to get 90+ and my goal is 97+ and can someone PLEASE tell me what I can do to study for English and get my English skills up.
 

Lumenoria

Active Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2017
Messages
126
Location
Avalon Beach, NSW
Gender
Female
HSC
2018
Yes it seems notoriously difficult getting a Band 6 for Standard when given the fact that less than 1% of the cohort each year in NSW receive it, but it's not impossible. This statistic is predominantly due to the fact that most of the high calibre English students take Advanced, and the 'dropkicks' are left in Standard. Though theoretically, you're marked on the same scale as Advanced, rather the difference lies in the modules and the diminished complexity of your prescribed texts. So, in order to get a Band 6, your essays must be written at the same level as a Band 6 Advanced student about much easier texts. In order to do this, I'd suggest reading your texts, have a really solid thesis—even if it means refining it 4.5 million times—it is literally what drives your essay. Get lots of drafts into your teacher and improve it with the feedback you're given. Do heaps of past papers for discovery and know the rubric inside out. Practise writing your generic essays to potential questions within exam conditions. I'm an Advanced/Extension English student, and this is what I do to achieve 85+. It's tough, but you've gotta persevere in order to reap the rewards! Are you going into Year 12 or are you in the current 2017 cohort?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Sp3ctre

Active Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2016
Messages
187
Location
NSW
Gender
Male
HSC
2017
It is true. Standard is an ATAR killer, tbh I haven't seen anyone who got over a 97+ ATAR who did standard. If you're already sitting standard for the HSC it's not a big deal, but you certainly need to work very hard to nail standard.
 

jazz519

Moderator
Moderator
Joined
Feb 25, 2015
Messages
1,955
Location
Sydney
Gender
Male
HSC
2016
Uni Grad
2021
Yeah the amount of people with standard English and higher ATARs is quite low, but if you're aiming for a 97 then it is pretty possible, we had one kid in the year before us who practically did the worst scaling subjects you could think of senior science, business studies, SOR 1, general maths, standard English and like some history subject, and he ended up getting like a mid 97 ATAR. It is probably unlikely you will get a 99+ ATAR with standard (as you will probably have to get very high marks in everything else to make up for it), but a 97 with standard is difficult but certainly possible
 

fizzfuzz

New Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2017
Messages
14
Location
sydney
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
Yes it seems notoriously difficult getting a Band 6 for Standard when given the fact that less than 1% of the cohort each year in NSW receive it, but it's not impossible. This statistic is predominantly due to the fact that most of the high calibre English students take Advanced, and the 'dropkicks' are left in Standard. Though theoretically, you're marked on the same scale as Advanced, rather the difference lies in the modules and the diminished complexity of your prescribed texts. So, in order to get a Band 6, your essays must be written at the same level as a Band 6 Advanced student about much easier texts. In order to do this, I'd suggest reading your texts, have a really solid thesis—even if it means refining it 4.5 million times—it is literally what drives your essay. Get lots of drafts into your teacher and improve it with the feedback you're given. Do heaps of past papers for discovery and know the rubric inside out. Practise writing your generic essays to potential questions within exam conditions. I'm an Advanced/Extension English student, and this is what I do to achieve 85+. It's tough, but you've gotta persevere in order to reap the rewards! Are you going into Year 12 or are you in the current 2017 cohort?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Your tips are amazing and my hsc is next year


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

fizzfuzz

New Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2017
Messages
14
Location
sydney
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
Yeah the amount of people with standard English and higher ATARs is quite low, but if you're aiming for a 97 then it is pretty possible, we had one kid in the year before us who practically did the worst scaling subjects you could think of senior science, business studies, SOR 1, general maths, standard English and like some history subject, and he ended up getting like a mid 97 ATAR. It is probably unlikely you will get a 99+ ATAR with standard (as you will probably have to get very high marks in everything else to make up for it), but a 97 with standard is difficult but certainly possible
I want to get 99+ [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23] I’m fucked....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

tommo727

Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2015
Messages
32
Gender
Male
HSC
2016
It's definitely possible, it is marked on the same level as advanced. The only disadvantage you have is the strength of the cohort in standard is low so you have to be at the very top to get good marks. I did 4u maths, chem and physics and standard English, mainly because I simply hated English haha and didn't want the workload of advanced. I wasn't bad at English but didn't enjoy it. Anyway I just studied hard for each English exam, it's a subject where the 2-3 weeks before the exams is the most important. I got 91 exam mark and 87 assessment mark(rank 2/70 ) for Standard and I was disappointed with paper one as well. Ended up getting 99.10 atar and although it was my worst mark it hardly dragged my atar down.
Just give it that extra bit of effort around exams and make sure you are right up the top in internals and it might even bump up your atar :)
 

freshoffthehsc

New Member
Joined
May 8, 2017
Messages
13
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
As long as you do well in other subjects and get a band 5 in Standard English, you'll get that 90+
My friend did...
 
Joined
Dec 8, 2016
Messages
95
Location
Darlington
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2017
It's definitely possible, it is marked on the same level as advanced. The only disadvantage you have is the strength of the cohort in standard is low so you have to be at the very top to get good marks. I did 4u maths, chem and physics and standard English, mainly because I simply hated English haha and didn't want the workload of advanced. I wasn't bad at English but didn't enjoy it. Anyway I just studied hard for each English exam, it's a subject where the 2-3 weeks before the exams is the most important. I got 91 exam mark and 87 assessment mark(rank 2/70 ) for Standard and I was disappointed with paper one as well. Ended up getting 99.10 atar and although it was my worst mark it hardly dragged my atar down.
Just give it that extra bit of effort around exams and make sure you are right up the top in internals and it might even bump up your atar :)
omg u are a beast at english! A 91 EXAM MARK!! That's like 96/105 raw, meaning you practically got full marks for all of your sections!! I can't understand how people like u exist...
 

pikachu975

Premium Member
Joined
May 31, 2015
Messages
2,739
Location
NSW
Gender
Male
HSC
2017
omg u are a beast at english! A 91 EXAM MARK!! That's like 96/105 raw, meaning you practically got full marks for all of your sections!! I can't understand how people like u exist...
I doubt a 91 exam mark is 96/105 raw
 

Martin_SSEDU

Active Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2015
Messages
256
Location
Fairfield
Gender
Male
HSC
2013
It's definitely possible, it is marked on the same level as advanced. The only disadvantage you have is the strength of the cohort in standard is low so you have to be at the very top to get good marks. I did 4u maths, chem and physics and standard English, mainly because I simply hated English haha and didn't want the workload of advanced. I wasn't bad at English but didn't enjoy it. Anyway I just studied hard for each English exam, it's a subject where the 2-3 weeks before the exams is the most important. I got 91 exam mark and 87 assessment mark(rank 2/70 ) for Standard and I was disappointed with paper one as well. Ended up getting 99.10 atar and although it was my worst mark it hardly dragged my atar down.
Just give it that extra bit of effort around exams and make sure you are right up the top in internals and it might even bump up your atar :)
Was just about to say that it helps if you did 4U haha, OP I hope your other subjects are good scaling!
 

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

Top