• 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

Does Rank Matter ? (1 Viewer)

xNinjax

New Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2009
Messages
23
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
I go to a non-selective school and is NOT in the top 200.

I'm worried about my Maths Extension 1 Rank as i got 68% and i am in the bottom 10 out of 60. The top mark was 98% (4 peoplel got that) . 35ish got over 80%


Will this affect me in the future and my final HSC mark? Because i want to get a E4. Is there a chance of me catching up to be in top 10 and getting an E4?
 

sannous1

Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2007
Messages
278
Gender
Female
HSC
2006
yes my school is ranked like 500 and sumthn, and a few girls have got that lastyr at my school and over the followin yrz , u will be okay. all that talk about ur school rank is bullshit it dosent matter. goodluck
 
K

Kozak92

Guest
School rank does not affect your ATAR at all! Those Math Extension 1 marks show that your school may be on the rise too.

Your class rank will affect you, but not your school.
 
Joined
Sep 11, 2008
Messages
130
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
^ Are you guys joking? Of course it matters!
YOUR rank will determine 50% of your H.S.C Mark, and this rank is derived from how well YOUR school performs. For instance, say you're coming 3rd in Advanced English. Sure it might look good on paper, but if your school does bad in the exam, and the 3rd best mark of the bunch ends up being 59/100, then you get the 59.

Why do you think parents strive to send their kids to James Ruse? It's because they know the students there will achieve high standards far more so than a regular school. This is what I mean:

No offence to any schools, but this is all hyopthetical:

Say a student at Granville High came 2nd, and a student at James Ruse came 80th. In the exam, James Ruse students all did will, and 80 students got higher than 85/100 for Advanced English. So you get an 85 in James ruse, even though YOU came 80th!

Now at Granville High, the highest mark was 75, then the second highest was 70. You came second, hence your school mark is a mere 70.

See? Big difference in rank, but clearly schools matter.

The newspapers publish the schools rank in order of how many students (percentage wise) got band 6. The more there are, the safer you will probably be, even if you have a mediocre rank.

Don't underestimate the H.S.C and think school doesn't matter. It's a load of crap to those who say it doesn't. If you know you are competing with such high standards, it will encourage you to push harder, and aim for that 1st rank across the board (as they ensures you get the highest mark as your school rank).
 
Joined
Dec 31, 2009
Messages
4,741
Location
sarajevo
Gender
Female
HSC
2015
Uni Grad
2017
^ Are you guys joking? Of course it matters!
YOUR rank will determine 50% of your H.S.C Mark, and this rank is derived from how well YOUR school performs. For instance, say you're coming 3rd in Advanced English. Sure it might look good on paper, but if your school does bad in the exam, and the 3rd best mark of the bunch ends up being 59/100, then you get the 59.

Why do you think parents strive to send their kids to James Ruse? It's because they know the students there will achieve high standards far more so than a regular school. This is what I mean:

No offence to any schools, but this is all hyopthetical:

Say a student at Granville High came 2nd, and a student at James Ruse came 80th. In the exam, James Ruse students all did will, and 80 students got higher than 85/100 for Advanced English. So you get an 85 in James ruse, even though YOU came 80th!

Now at Granville High, the highest mark was 75, then the second highest was 70. You came second, hence your school mark is a mere 70.

See? Big difference in rank, but clearly schools matter.

The newspapers publish the schools rank in order of how many students (percentage wise) got band 6. The more there are, the safer you will probably be, even if you have a mediocre rank.

Don't underestimate the H.S.C and think school doesn't matter. It's a load of crap to those who say it doesn't. If you know you are competing with such high standards, it will encourage you to push harder, and aim for that 1st rank across the board (as they ensures you get the highest mark as your school rank).
Incorrect.
 
K

Kozak92

Guest
Thats cohort ranking not school ranking. School ranking is only there to give you a general idea of how well your school does, it doesn't affect your ATAR/HSC at all.

Your cohort will affect your ranking not your school ranking.

In fact UAC even says that the school you attend will have no affect on the calculation of your marks:

Does the school I attend matter?
No. The school attended does not feature in the ATAR calculation. The ATAR calculation is based only on marks provided by the Board; no other information is used.
The BoS do not look at your school rank and say "hey he/she attends a school thats ranked 500th, lets take a few points off him/her".
 

twistedrebel

Active Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
1,502
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
^ Are you guys joking? Of course it matters!
YOUR rank will determine 50% of your H.S.C Mark, and this rank is derived from how well YOUR school performs. For instance, say you're coming 3rd in Advanced English. Sure it might look good on paper, but if your school does bad in the exam, and the 3rd best mark of the bunch ends up being 59/100, then you get the 59.

Why do you think parents strive to send their kids to James Ruse? It's because they know the students there will achieve high standards far more so than a regular school. This is what I mean:

No offence to any schools, but this is all hyopthetical:

Say a student at Granville High came 2nd, and a student at James Ruse came 80th. In the exam, James Ruse students all did will, and 80 students got higher than 85/100 for Advanced English. So you get an 85 in James ruse, even though YOU came 80th!

Now at Granville High, the highest mark was 75, then the second highest was 70. You came second, hence your school mark is a mere 70.

See? Big difference in rank, but clearly schools matter.

The newspapers publish the schools rank in order of how many students (percentage wise) got band 6. The more there are, the safer you will probably be, even if you have a mediocre rank.

Don't underestimate the H.S.C and think school doesn't matter. It's a load of crap to those who say it doesn't. If you know you are competing with such high standards, it will encourage you to push harder, and aim for that 1st rank across the board (as they ensures you get the highest mark as your school rank).
#1 no need to go big font, we can all read it
#2 SCHOOL DOES NOT EFFECT RANK, What if the granville high 2nd highest was 90? Who is better then? BoS doesnt even make the school ranks, private companies do, mainly media ones, to make a quick buck.
#3 Parents survive to send their kids to ruse because they are ill-informed or they more competition the harder the kid works, which is true to some extent.
 

Shadowdude

Cult of Personality
Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
12,145
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
^ Are you guys joking? Of course it matters!
YOUR rank will determine 50% of your H.S.C Mark, and this rank is derived from how well YOUR school performs. For instance, say you're coming 3rd in Advanced English. Sure it might look good on paper, but if your school does bad in the exam, and the 3rd best mark of the bunch ends up being 59/100, then you get the 59.

Why do you think parents strive to send their kids to James Ruse? It's because they know the students there will achieve high standards far more so than a regular school. This is what I mean:

No offence to any schools, but this is all hyopthetical:

Say a student at Granville High came 2nd, and a student at James Ruse came 80th. In the exam, James Ruse students all did will, and 80 students got higher than 85/100 for Advanced English. So you get an 85 in James ruse, even though YOU came 80th!

Now at Granville High, the highest mark was 75, then the second highest was 70. You came second, hence your school mark is a mere 70.

See? Big difference in rank, but clearly schools matter.

The newspapers publish the schools rank in order of how many students (percentage wise) got band 6. The more there are, the safer you will probably be, even if you have a mediocre rank.

Don't underestimate the H.S.C and think school doesn't matter. It's a load of crap to those who say it doesn't. If you know you are competing with such high standards, it will encourage you to push harder, and aim for that 1st rank across the board (as they ensures you get the highest mark as your school rank).
Incorrect.

The board maps the top mark of the school then correlates a quadratically increasing graph which will follow the same basic shape as the school assessment marks and/or the HSC exam marks (not sure which), for which students marks are placed upon.

What I'm saying is that if the school assessment marks are: 80, 59, 58, and the HSC marks are 95, 93, 91 - Person A gets 95, Person B will probably get around 80 something, but not 93.
 

darkcounty

thas unaustralian... hic
Joined
Aug 23, 2009
Messages
363
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2010
^ Are you guys joking? Of course it matters!
YOUR rank will determine 50% of your H.S.C Mark, and this rank is derived from how well YOUR school performs. For instance, say you're coming 3rd in Advanced English. Sure it might look good on paper, but if your school does bad in the exam, and the 3rd best mark of the bunch ends up being 59/100, then you get the 59.

Why do you think parents strive to send their kids to James Ruse? It's because they know the students there will achieve high standards far more so than a regular school. This is what I mean:

No offence to any schools, but this is all hyopthetical:

Say a student at Granville High came 2nd, and a student at James Ruse came 80th. In the exam, James Ruse students all did will, and 80 students got higher than 85/100 for Advanced English. So you get an 85 in James ruse, even though YOU came 80th!

Now at Granville High, the highest mark was 75, then the second highest was 70. You came second, hence your school mark is a mere 70.

See? Big difference in rank, but clearly schools matter.

The newspapers publish the schools rank in order of how many students (percentage wise) got band 6. The more there are, the safer you will probably be, even if you have a mediocre rank.

Don't underestimate the H.S.C and think school doesn't matter. It's a load of crap to those who say it doesn't. If you know you are competing with such high standards, it will encourage you to push harder, and aim for that 1st rank across the board (as they ensures you get the highest mark as your school rank).
Wow, 2 of my teachers told me the exact same thing. I don't know who to believe.
 
Joined
Sep 11, 2008
Messages
130
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
Wow, 2 of my teachers told me the exact same thing. I don't know who to believe.
It's amazing how students how are doing their H.S.C in Years 2010 and 2011, think they know more than a person whose actually gone through the whole process, asked as many teachers as he could, and talked to people from UAC.

#2 SCHOOL DOES NOT EFFECT RANK, What if the granville high 2nd highest was 90? Who is better then? BoS doesnt even make the school ranks, private companies do, mainly media ones, to make a quick buck.
School Ranks, as I stated, indicate the level of Band 6s schools achieve - the more indicate the safer you will be, the less, such as Granville, indicate that the lower you are ranked at these schools, the worse your mark will be. Here are the stats:

1. James Ruse Agricultural High School ............................. 1113 ........... 801 .... 71.97

So, that means, if you were in the Top 71.97% of the Grade, you got a Band 6.

Let's look at another school:

100.Marcellin College .................................................. ..... 797 .............. 110 ... 13.87

That indicates a Band 6 would equate to being in the Top 13.87%

So yes, schools do have a big impact on rank. The higher ranked your school, the higher that chance that YOU will get a higher mark, due to large % of band 6s.

Incorrect.

The board maps the top mark of the school then correlates a quadratically increasing graph which will follow the same basic shape as the school assessment marks and/or the HSC exam marks (not sure which), for which students marks are placed upon.

What I'm saying is that if the school assessment marks are: 80, 59, 58, and the HSC marks are 95, 93, 91 - Person A gets 95, Person B will probably get around 80 something, but not 93.
This is false information. Your school mark directly correlates with how well your school (peers) performs. Not only have I heard this from teachers/UAC advisors, but also experienced it first hand.

For instance, say I scored 96 in Modern History. After asking for everyone in my class, that turned out to be the highest mark. So my H.S.C EXAM Mark is 96. However, I was NOT ranked first, and the person who was, received an ASSESSMENT mark of 96 - MY Mark. Now, as I was ranked 4th, I received the 4th highest mark as my ASSESSMENT mark which as 91. SO that pulls down my Mark to a final H.S.C score of 94.

Why do you think teachers tell you RANK is important and not school marks?

How are the H.S.C markers supposed to know what to give you for your assessment marks? Each school is different, some marks more harshly, some more lenient. This is why they said, your RANK at school, will determine you assessment mark, which is also derived from the H.S.C Exam. This is also why, near the end of the trials, you are encouraged to AID one another. As you all want everyone to do well, so YOU are safer.

#3 Parents survive to send their kids to ruse because they are ill-informed or they more competition the harder the kid works, which is true to some extent.
I sense denial. I went to a selective school, and we were all envious of Ruse, as we knew that they would pump out more Band 6s, which in turn leads to better marks overall. I'm not going to moan how it's misinformation or unfair. Ruse is a great high school that will ensure you get higher marks. However, that doesn't mean you can't do the same at another school. Ranking at 1st will give you a good striking chance at getting a great ATAR.


What if the granville high 2nd highest was 90?
If you're ranked below 1st, you're banking on the fact that your peers will do well. If you're ranked as first, you know 100% that you will get the highest mark, whether it be 90 or 70. I know of a girl who came 1st in all her subjects at a normal public school, and ended up with an ATAR of 95.1. You would expect a higher ATAR with her rank, but since her school did not perform at a high caliber, she was given what she was given. Likewise, a boy who was pulling mediocre ranks in Baulkham Hills managed an ATAR of 97.8, due to the fact that his school did better overall.

I'm saying is that if the school assessment marks are: 80, 59, 58, and the HSC marks are 95, 93, 91 - Person A gets 95, Person B will probably get around 80 something, but not 93.
Like I said, FALSE. Assessment marks are derived from your rank, and your peer's performance in H.S.C

So thus, whilst school ranks don't seem to matter explicitly per say (thus, no marks deduction or boost for which school you attend). They do indeed make a big impact in terms of performance.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Dec 31, 2009
Messages
4,741
Location
sarajevo
Gender
Female
HSC
2015
Uni Grad
2017
It's amazing how students how are doing their H.S.C in Years 2010 and 2011, think they know more than a person whose actually gone through the whole process, asked as many teachers as he could, and talked to people from UAC.



School Ranks, as I stated, indicate the level of Band 6s schools achieve - the more indicate the safer you will be, the less, such as Granville, indicate that the lower you are ranked at these schools, the worse your mark will be. Here are the stats:

1. James Ruse Agricultural High School ............................. 1113 ........... 801 .... 71.97

So, that means, if you were in the Top 71.97% of the Grade, you got a Band 6.

Let's look at another school:

100.Marcellin College .................................................. ..... 797 .............. 110 ... 13.87

That indicates a Band 6 would equate to being in the Top 13.87%

So yes, schools do have a big impact on rank. The higher ranked your school, the higher that chance that YOU will get a higher mark, due to large % of band 6s.



This is false information. Your school mark directly correlates with how well your school (peers) performs. Not only have I heard this from teachers/UAC advisors, but also experienced it first hand.

For instance, say I scored 96 in Modern History. After asking for everyone in my class, that turned out to be the highest mark. So my H.S.C EXAM Mark is 96. However, I was NOT ranked first, and the person who was, received an ASSESSMENT mark of 96 - MY Mark. Now, as I was ranked 4th, I received the 4th highest mark as my ASSESSMENT mark which as 91. SO that pulls down my Mark to a final H.S.C score of 94.

Why do you think teachers tell you RANK is important and not school marks?

How are the H.S.C markers supposed to know what to give you for your assessment marks? Each school is different, some marks more harshly, some more lenient. This is why they said, your RANK at school, will determine you assessment mark, which is also derived from the H.S.C Exam. This is also why, near the end of the trials, you are encouraged to AID one another. As you all want everyone to do well, so YOU are safer.



I sense denial. I went to a selective school, and we were all envious of Ruse, as we knew that they would pump out more Band 6s, which in turn leads to better marks overall. I'm not going to moan how it's misinformation or unfair. Ruse is a great high school that will ensure you get higher marks. However, that doesn't mean you can't do the same at another school. Ranking at 1st will give you a good striking chance at getting a great ATAR.




If you're ranked below 1st, you're banking on the fact that your peers will do well. If you're ranked as first, you know 100% that you will get the highest mark, whether it be 90 or 70. I know of a girl who came 1st in all her subjects at a normal public school, and ended up with an ATAR of 95.1. You would expect a higher ATAR with her rank, but since her school did not perform at a high caliber, she was given what she was given. Likewise, a boy who was pulling mediocre ranks in Baulkham Hills managed an ATAR of 97.8, due to the fact that his school did better overall.



Like I said, FALSE. Assessment marks are derived from your rank, and your peer's performance in H.S.C

So thus, whilst school ranks don't seem to matter explicitly per say (thus, no marks deduction or boost for which school you attend). They do indeed make a big impact in terms of performance.
Still incorrect.
 

jet

Banned
Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Messages
3,148
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
It's amazing how students how are doing their H.S.C in Years 2010 and 2011, think they know more than a person whose actually gone through the whole process, asked as many teachers as he could, and talked to people from UAC.



School Ranks, as I stated, indicate the level of Band 6s schools achieve - the more indicate the safer you will be, the less, such as Granville, indicate that the lower you are ranked at these schools, the worse your mark will be. Here are the stats:

1. James Ruse Agricultural High School ............................. 1113 ........... 801 .... 71.97

So, that means, if you were in the Top 71.97% of the Grade, you got a Band 6.

Let's look at another school:

100.Marcellin College .................................................. ..... 797 .............. 110 ... 13.87

That indicates a Band 6 would equate to being in the Top 13.87%

So yes, schools do have a big impact on rank. The higher ranked your school, the higher that chance that YOU will get a higher mark, due to large % of band 6s.



This is false information. Your school mark directly correlates with how well your school (peers) performs. Not only have I heard this from teachers/UAC advisors, but also experienced it first hand.

For instance, say I scored 96 in Modern History. After asking for everyone in my class, that turned out to be the highest mark. So my H.S.C EXAM Mark is 96. However, I was NOT ranked first, and the person who was, received an ASSESSMENT mark of 96 - MY Mark. Now, as I was ranked 4th, I received the 4th highest mark as my ASSESSMENT mark which as 91. SO that pulls down my Mark to a final H.S.C score of 94.

Why do you think teachers tell you RANK is important and not school marks?

How are the H.S.C markers supposed to know what to give you for your assessment marks? Each school is different, some marks more harshly, some more lenient. This is why they said, your RANK at school, will determine you assessment mark, which is also derived from the H.S.C Exam. This is also why, near the end of the trials, you are encouraged to AID one another. As you all want everyone to do well, so YOU are safer.



I sense denial. I went to a selective school, and we were all envious of Ruse, as we knew that they would pump out more Band 6s, which in turn leads to better marks overall. I'm not going to moan how it's misinformation or unfair. Ruse is a great high school that will ensure you get higher marks. However, that doesn't mean you can't do the same at another school. Ranking at 1st will give you a good striking chance at getting a great ATAR.




If you're ranked below 1st, you're banking on the fact that your peers will do well. If you're ranked as first, you know 100% that you will get the highest mark, whether it be 90 or 70. I know of a girl who came 1st in all her subjects at a normal public school, and ended up with an ATAR of 95.1. You would expect a higher ATAR with her rank, but since her school did not perform at a high caliber, she was given what she was given. Likewise, a boy who was pulling mediocre ranks in Baulkham Hills managed an ATAR of 97.8, due to the fact that his school did better overall.



Like I said, FALSE. Assessment marks are derived from your rank, and your peer's performance in H.S.C

So thus, whilst school ranks don't seem to matter explicitly per say (thus, no marks deduction or boost for which school you attend). They do indeed make a big impact in terms of performance.
If you actually bothered to read what the Board of Studies has written about moderation and aligning of marks they DON'T merely map class marks to people with the equivalent ranks.

They equate the highest mark in the cohort for that subject to the person who is first, and then they move the school marks around until the mean of the exam marks for that cohort is equal to the mean of the school marks for that cohort. Then, if it's possible, they make the lowest mark equal to the lowest-ranked school mark.

It just so happens that -sometimes- it appears that they map marks to ranks, but this doesn't happen and this wouldn't be fair. The system they use is actually a lot fairer.
 

js992

Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2009
Messages
84
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
Hypothetically, what would happen if you were last in your cohort, but came first in externals?
 

twistedrebel

Active Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
1,502
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
It's amazing how students how are doing their H.S.C in Years 2010 and 2011, think they know more than a person whose actually gone through the whole process, asked as many teachers as he could, and talked to people from UAC.



School Ranks, as I stated, indicate the level of Band 6s schools achieve - the more indicate the safer you will be, the less, such as Granville, indicate that the lower you are ranked at these schools, the worse your mark will be. Here are the stats:

1. James Ruse Agricultural High School ............................. 1113 ........... 801 .... 71.97

So, that means, if you were in the Top 71.97% of the Grade, you got a Band 6.

Let's look at another school:

100.Marcellin College .................................................. ..... 797 .............. 110 ... 13.87

That indicates a Band 6 would equate to being in the Top 13.87%

So yes, schools do have a big impact on rank. The higher ranked your school, the higher that chance that YOU will get a higher mark, due to large % of band 6s.



This is false information. Your school mark directly correlates with how well your school (peers) performs. Not only have I heard this from teachers/UAC advisors, but also experienced it first hand.

For instance, say I scored 96 in Modern History. After asking for everyone in my class, that turned out to be the highest mark. So my H.S.C EXAM Mark is 96. However, I was NOT ranked first, and the person who was, received an ASSESSMENT mark of 96 - MY Mark. Now, as I was ranked 4th, I received the 4th highest mark as my ASSESSMENT mark which as 91. SO that pulls down my Mark to a final H.S.C score of 94.

Why do you think teachers tell you RANK is important and not school marks?

How are the H.S.C markers supposed to know what to give you for your assessment marks? Each school is different, some marks more harshly, some more lenient. This is why they said, your RANK at school, will determine you assessment mark, which is also derived from the H.S.C Exam. This is also why, near the end of the trials, you are encouraged to AID one another. As you all want everyone to do well, so YOU are safer.



I sense denial. I went to a selective school, and we were all envious of Ruse, as we knew that they would pump out more Band 6s, which in turn leads to better marks overall. I'm not going to moan how it's misinformation or unfair. Ruse is a great high school that will ensure you get higher marks. However, that doesn't mean you can't do the same at another school. Ranking at 1st will give you a good striking chance at getting a great ATAR.




If you're ranked below 1st, you're banking on the fact that your peers will do well. If you're ranked as first, you know 100% that you will get the highest mark, whether it be 90 or 70. I know of a girl who came 1st in all her subjects at a normal public school, and ended up with an ATAR of 95.1. You would expect a higher ATAR with her rank, but since her school did not perform at a high caliber, she was given what she was given. Likewise, a boy who was pulling mediocre ranks in Baulkham Hills managed an ATAR of 97.8, due to the fact that his school did better overall.



Like I said, FALSE. Assessment marks are derived from your rank, and your peer's performance in H.S.C

So thus, whilst school ranks don't seem to matter explicitly per say (thus, no marks deduction or boost for which school you attend). They do indeed make a big impact in terms of performance.
Currently it seems i know more than you when it comes to this matter, if you have done the HSC it does not necessarily mean you know more than me int his regard.
Ruse gets more band 6's because they have a higher caliber of students, compared to any another school in the state (you need like 247/300 or something in the selective school test, which very hard to get, considering people getting 170 can get into selective system )
So according to your logic if i go ruse, i m more likely to get a band6 then if i go to a comprehensive high school, when putting in the exact same effort?
Ranks are important, but its your fault that you did not put the effort in during the year so you were ranked 1st internal so you could get the highest external mark. Its the best way BoS can moderate the internal marks so they are all in align with every school in the state.
The kid at bauklo was most likely of higher caliber then the girl at a comprehensive high school, remember their selective schools for a reason, and they usually take the cream of the milk.
 
Joined
Dec 20, 2008
Messages
207
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
School rank doesnt directly apply but kinda indirectly applies. The ranking of the school does tell you how strong your cohort is.
 

x_symphonic

Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2009
Messages
116
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
get around 75% and try raise your rank. You can have a chance at E4
 

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

Top