if you do bad in HSC English external but had a good internal rank, would that help? (1 Viewer)

[sweetalmond]

Just did HSC English Advanced external. I've had sleeping problems for a while and the stress of HSC meant that I was doing my paper 2 English with basically 1 hour of sleep as I literally spent the whole night tossing and turning.
I haven't applied for any special access scheme or whatever for students who have suffered disadvantages during the year due to illness/ family issues etc. so that won't help. Besides no doctor took it serious enough to consider seeing a specialist and getting a medical certificate.
As a result in my English exam I don't think I performed as well as I think I could have on a clear mind. For example I kept writing the wrong word or name or something and crossing it out when I realised I was doing it wrong. I still was able to write three full booklets on Mod A and C (though quality may not have been that great) which unfortunately sacrificed Mod B and I was only able to write 3.5 pages!! I'm really upset because I've worked so hard throughout the year. I know even if I was alert I would have found the mod B section harder but I think with a clearer mind I could have written faster and thought through my ideas more clearly.
I'm basically reeling over this, as I really wanted a band 6 (though would be happy with a mid-high band 5) but now I'm basically am looking at a band 4.
However my ranking throughout the year wasn't that bad, I am 8/ 110-120 ish people in advanced and if for example most people surrounding my rank performed alright/ or well like band 5ish-6 would that help.
Also, I'm not sure how bad you have to do but if for example a student was ranked well throughout the year but didn't do very well in externals would they consider that the student had bad day or something and consider that they still did well rank-wise throughout the year they would moderate them higher because your marks do not align similarly. idk
Because they also look at 50% internal, but I know my internal mark wasn't super high but my rank was quite good so I'm unsure how this will factor in.

Just really disappointed and super tired and now have to study for two more exams tomorrow and thursday!

 

[freyamignot]

Re: if you do bad in HSC English external but had a good internal rank, would that he

Mm I'm wondering the same thing. I am ranked first, but I feel like I did the worst essay's of my short life on mon and yesterday. I finished on a 93 internal mark, which obviously means little before moderation. What I'd like to know is whether my 1st rank will pull me out of the depths of a sad score ? Anyone ?

 

[D94]

Re: if you do bad in HSC English external but had a good internal rank, would that he

Unless you are first or last, your rank is not important. What is important is how many school marks you're away from first, relative to the entire range of marks. Being 2% away from first puts you in a better position than if you were 15% away from first, with you being on the same rank in both scenarios. This demonstrates that rank is not a factor unless you are first or last. o

 

[freyamignot]

Re: if you do bad in HSC English external but had a good internal rank, would that he

So in my case, D94 ? as I am first, Is there hope?

 

[Flop21]

Re: if you do bad in HSC English external but had a good internal rank, would that he

So in my case, D94 ? as I am first, Is there hope?

What do you mean? If you're first internally then you get the highest external mark of your cohort as you INTERNAL mark. So if you really bombed out, then it's good you're first because lets hope the rest of your cohort did okay.

So yes if you've got a good internal rank, it might pull your overall mark up (since internal mark and external both get averaged).


As for OP, I really recommend you just forget this. Forget english, it's done you never have to do that shit again. I'm thinking that even if you received misadventure/illness, the estimate they give you would be lower than what you actually got in the exam. You can try if you want (just see another doctor), or go back to the doctor that you saw and ask him to fill out the forms (talk to your school).

But I think you need to try and forget about it, I know it's hard, but just accept what has happened. Tbh it sounds like to me you could easily get a 'good' mark, which will align upwards to a reasonably good mark, say band 5. So leave it at that and try to forget, listen to some music tonight or something to reset yourself and get your head in a non-stressed state. Do what you can to feel stress free, get a good nights sleep and smash your other exams.

If you really are only sleeping 1 hour a night, you can try taking some drowsy pills that night. But try these on a non-exam day as you might find you're still drowsy in the morning. phenergan is an anti-histamine which makes you tired. Night cold and flu pills will also make you tired. Take your pick and stick to recommended doses.

 

[freyamignot]

Re: if you do bad in HSC English external but had a good internal rank, would that he

Cheers Flop21

Only issue is that my school has 25 people in year 12, I had 4 in my modern history cohort, 15 in Eng Adv. etc. and there isn't much of a bell curve situation with mark distribution within my tiny classes. If I were at a large school where the top ranked people were sure to get great marks in the exam, I would feel much more at ease. I do believe the manufacturers of the ATAR and HSC system do endeavour to give out fair marks (well, I think that some days but nv), however, they work of assumptions and models of schools that are just not the case in my somewhat unusual situation. I'm just hoping that the peculiarity of my little hippy school doesn't fuck me too poorly come next wednesday. We shall soon see ...........