nothing actually scales? (1 Viewer)

[frippyful]

i was told that no subjects actually scale up, but they can scale down. is this true?
if it isn't how much would i have to get in like adv. English, chem and MX1 for it to actually scale up, or stay stable, but not scale down

 

[Shadowdude]

MX2 scales up, usually.

 

[Bored_of_HSC]

If they scaled down why wouldn't they scale up?

 

[zeebobDD]

yea no subject is going to scale you up if you get like 20%.40%(xcept mx2 mabi ?) but for most subjects you need to be getting atleast 80+ to scale up, and it depends on your cohort and all this other bullshit

 

[ochaguy]

Everyone is on the right track here.


Essentially, most subjects scale down and only very few subjects scale up.
When a subject is described as a "good scaling subject" it refers to the magnitude and severity of the scaling. That is, how much does the subject scale down. The smaller the difference between the HSC mark and the scaled mark, the "better" the scaling.


UAC's table A3 is the best source of information:
http://www.uac.edu.au/documents/atar/2011_HSC_Table A3.pdf


A quick look at the "mean" column shows that only Maths Ext 2 "scaled" up for HSC 2011. Latin Ext. use to scale up but last year's results show likewise. Also, distinction courses such as cosmology and philosophy normally scale up as well (not shown in table A3 since they are run by universities, not BOS)


You should also look out for the P99 and P90 columns.


Using Aboriginal studies as an example:
P99: If a student got 48/50 (the top 1 percentile of the cohort/ better than 99% of the cohort ), scaling reduces this to 41.7/50
More disastrously, P90: If a student got 44/50 (top 10 percentile/better than 90% of the cohort) scaling reduces this to 32.1/50


Hence Aboriginal studies is a bad scaling subject.


While table A3 may depress most people once they calculate the total aggregate points that they receive (out of 500), bear in mind that your ATAR is a RANKING.
99.95 means that you are in the top 0.05 percentile of the grade, that is you are better than 99.95% of your HSC cohort.


Anywhere between 470-480/500 is normally considered to be the benchmark for a 99.95 ATAR. This varies year by year depending on how well the cohort does.


Hope this reply isn't too long and clears up any confusion.

 

[someth1ng]

between 470-480/500 is normally considered to be the benchmark for a 99.95 ATAR. This varies year by year depending on how well the cohort does.

Just adding on to this bit, around 450/500 is typically 99 ATAR flat.

Another thing is that when people talk about scaling, they refer to it relative to your HSC Mark NOT your RAW Mark. In MX1, you might get 55/84 (RAW Mark) which is 65% but this is approximately 45/50 HSC Mark and essentially the SCALED Mark will be roughly 90/100 per two units since it scales well.

 

[epicFAILx]

i was told that advanced english scales higher than standard..... yet the coordinator said 'it all scales the same'


-______________-

 

[Shadowdude]

They do scale the same. They align differently though.

 

[someth1ng]

There is aligning and scaling.

Scaling is what UAC does to the marks.
Aligning is what BoS does to the marks.

 

[twinklegal19]

99.95 means that you are in the top 0.05 percentile of the grade, that is you are better than 99.95% of your HSC cohort.

Actually, it's technically your Year 7 cohort, so they take in account the people who didn't do the HSC in the state.

BTW, does anyone know if UAC scales the raw or aligned marks?

 

[Riproot]

I got 45% in the MX2 test and 79 as a HSC mark and it was my second highest scaled mark after my 90 in mx1 so yeah.

I'm pretty sure mx1 and mx2 are the only two that might scale up.

 

[Aerath]

I got 45% in the MX2 test and 79 as a HSC mark and it was my second highest scaled mark after my 90 in mx1 so yeah.

I'm pretty sure mx1 and mx2 are the only two that might scale up.

And like Classical Greek Extension or something (maybe?)

 

[delian]

Yes, i think classical languages like Latin and Greek scale up.

 

[Demento1]

^ Yes, Classical Greek extension is the only subject which supposedly scales higher then 4 unit maths.

 

[someth1ng]

@twinkegal19 - UAC scales your raw marks but when talking about HSC, it's typically compared with your aligned marks.

 

[Shadowdude]

^ Yes, Classical Greek extension is the only subject which supposedly scales higher then 4 unit maths.

Yeah but that's not a mainstream subject and scaling changes wildly with them because you only have like 6 people doing it.

 

[D94]

They scale your raw HSC mark (ie. raw exam mark + moderated assessment mark). It doesn't matter if it scales up or down - your performance in the HSC determines this, so don't get carried away with the scaling. Once they do that, they just place you on a bell curve and see how much scaling is required in the course.

There isn't really a certain mark you need before it scales up or down. Scaling is carried out afresh each year and is determined by the performance of the cohort, so you can't determine it. UAC releases ATAR scaling reports each year - they will show you what raw HSC mark is required in order to scale up or down, or most of the time, stay fairly static. If you know your raw marks and HSC marks, you can determine your ATAR using those reports (easier as you get closer to 99.95), but obviously, you would have them already.

 

[Demento1]

Yeah but that's not a mainstream subject and scaling changes wildly with them because you only have like 6 people doing it.

True, hardly anybody does it.

 

[Riproot]

^ Yes, Classical Greek extension is the only subject which supposedly scales higher then 4 unit maths.

Only some years.
Sometimes Latin Extension scales better.