• 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

My School is ranked below 600th..... (1 Viewer)

Rohanco

Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2012
Messages
230
Location
Sydney, NSW
Gender
Male
HSC
2013
Okay I know I shouldn't worry too much about my Schools ranking, but When it's as incredibly low as it is (ranked just under 600) it's hard no to. I mean, I'd even bee happy with 400, maybe 300, but <600 is just woeful. Is this going to kill my ATAR? Sorry for another whiny generic question, just freaking out here now that I'm a bit into yr12 now. Anyone got any uplifting success stories about students in shit Schools? I doubt there are very many people on this forum who's schools rank below 300, sigh :/
 

Absolutezero

real human bean
Joined
Nov 17, 2007
Messages
15,077
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
Okay I know I shouldn't worry too much about my Schools ranking, but When it's as incredibly low as it is (ranked just under 600) it's hard no to. I mean, I'd even bee happy with 400, maybe 300, but <600 is just woeful. Is this going to kill my ATAR? Sorry for another whiny generic question, just freaking out here now that I'm a bit into yr12 now. Anyone got any uplifting success stories about students in shit Schools? I doubt there are very many people on this forum who's schools rank below 300, sigh :/
It depends what you're aiming for. For high nineties you basically need to be topping every subject.
 

Rohanco

Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2012
Messages
230
Location
Sydney, NSW
Gender
Male
HSC
2013
It depends what you're aiming for. For high nineties you basically need to be topping every subject.
What would you say to this

Eco 3rd
Gen Math 2nd
Modern 1st
Eng Adv 1st
Bio 1st

I'm working to maintain my 1st places, I'm confident I can end up 2nd, maybe even first in Eco, but it looks like the guy who's topping my Math class will stay there until HSC, is 95ish possible?
 

Absolutezero

real human bean
Joined
Nov 17, 2007
Messages
15,077
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
What would you say to this

Eco 3nd
Gen Math 2nd
Modern 1st
Eng Adv 1st
Bio 1st

I'm working to maintain first in my subjects, I'm confident I can end up 2nd, maybe even first in Eco, but it looks like the guy who's topping English will stay there for the rest of the year, is 95ish possible?
95 is plausible, but you want to be doing extremely well in those subjects. I know people who were top three in their school in every subject they did, and only got mid 80s. You want to be getting as high up in ranks as possible, and nailing the exam.
 

Rohanco

Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2012
Messages
230
Location
Sydney, NSW
Gender
Male
HSC
2013
95 is plausible, but you want to be doing extremely well in those subjects. I know people who were top three in their school in every subject they did, and only got mid 80s. You want to be getting as high up in ranks as possible, and nailing the exam.
Gah! Yeah a friend of mine in a similar position as me last year scored two first places, two second places, and a third, and she still only got an 86. Guess I'm just going to have to kill it Haha. Scaling is general pretty fair, but I think for students like me in my situation, it can actually be a bit of a let down.
 
Joined
Apr 1, 2011
Messages
1,012
Location
District 12
Gender
Male
HSC
2013
I wouldn't be TOO worried about your school rank if I were you. Basically since your band 6s percentage is so low in the rankings, gaining an extra band 6 or two in one year can make a MASSIVE difference i.e. the rankings get less and less accurate/more volatile as you move up in the hundreds. Just do your best and top every single subject and then you'll only have to worry about the HSC where it all counts.
 

Shadowdude

Cult of Personality
Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
12,145
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
My school was ranked over 600. I still got over 95. Dux got 98.

It's just being in the very top of your class, and doing very well.


But as said before, these rankings are volatile at that "level". So my year had the ranking jump to 230-odd, the year before that was like 600 (I think it was something like 587 exactly) and then the year before that like 632, and then the 2011 HSC was... well, I'm going to assume in the 600 range again.
 

btx3

Active Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2012
Messages
385
Gender
Male
HSC
2012
Uni Grad
2018
It's gonna be pretty hard to achieve something over 95 but it's doable. i went to a school in the 600s and got 89.70, 2 people got 91.8.

you're gonna have to be ranked 1-2 in everything if you want 95 though. I was first in 2 subjects, second in 2 and third in 1 if that helps you
 

cerebellum

Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
54
Gender
Female
HSC
2012
I wouldn't be TOO worried about your school rank if I were you. Basically since your band 6s percentage is so low in the rankings, gaining an extra band 6 or two in one year can make a MASSIVE difference i.e. the rankings get less and less accurate/more volatile as you move up in the hundreds. Just do your best and top every single subject and then you'll only have to worry about the HSC where it all counts.
Yeah, ranking well at your school does not necessarily mean you'll get a high atar. Why not go to a tutoring college at an asian suburb (Chatswood, Hurstville etc). They usually give you mock tests and rank their students every week. This is so you can see how you perform amongst kids from other schools.
 

Helvetica

New Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2013
Messages
24
Location
Sydney
Gender
Male
HSC
2013
The worst thing is if there is a really smart kid in your classes and you can't get rank 1. In your case there will be a massive difference between rank 1 and 2.
 

Spiritual Being

hehehehehe
Joined
Jan 10, 2012
Messages
3,054
Location
Sydney, Australia
Gender
Male
HSC
2013
Uni Grad
2018
You can still do well. It depends on the quality of your cohort, look at previous school ranks. If its a recurring thing so your cohort isn't that strong, just aim for top (or close to it) in every subject for 90's.
 

Helvetica

New Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2013
Messages
24
Location
Sydney
Gender
Male
HSC
2013
Remember that ATAR doesn't mean anything, you can always transfer into whatever course you want. If you really want to.
A user on MSO (I myself am a 10K poster on MSO) called riproot got into MEDICINE after two years of medical courses so yeah, just do your best and know what you truly want.
 

Dedication_

Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2012
Messages
151
Gender
Male
HSC
2012
At my school. which was ranked 455th this year the highest ATAR was like, 87~ and this person topped 4/5 subjects.

My friend who was ranked first on 3 subjects and top 10'd in 3 others only got 77...

School rank can be pretty detrimental..
 

Helvetica

New Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2013
Messages
24
Location
Sydney
Gender
Male
HSC
2013
At my school. which was ranked 455th this year the highest ATAR was like, 87~ and this person topped 4/5 subjects.

My friend who was ranked first on 3 subjects and top 10'd in 3 others only got 77...

School rank can be pretty detrimental..
That means these people did really really bad in the externals lol
A girl from Fairfield HS which is ranked like 600 got a state rank in physics last year so if you get top all subjects internally there is absolutely nothing preventing the student from getting 99.95 so it depends on the student.
If school rank affects all students and prevents them from getting 99.95 given they get the marks then the system is not fair.
 
Last edited:

Rohanco

Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2012
Messages
230
Location
Sydney, NSW
Gender
Male
HSC
2013
That means these people did really really bad in the externals lol
A girl from Fairfield HS which is ranked like 600 got a state rank in physics last year so if you get top all subjects internally there is absolutely nothing preventing the student from getting 99.95 so it depends on the student.
If school rank affects all students and prevents them from getting 99.95 given they get the marks then the system is not fair.

Haha Thanks for the calming news :S
 

Rohanco

Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2012
Messages
230
Location
Sydney, NSW
Gender
Male
HSC
2013
So Far I'm not hearing a whole lot of good news, Is there anyway I could possibly get any bonus points with any Uni's, seeing as I'm coming from somewhat of a "disadvantaged School"?
 

Helvetica

New Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2013
Messages
24
Location
Sydney
Gender
Male
HSC
2013
So Far I'm not hearing a whole lot of good news, Is there anyway I could possibly get any bonus points with any Uni's, seeing as I'm coming from somewhat of a "disadvantaged School"?
What course do YOU want to do?
Make a decision now and work on getting into that course.
 

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

Top