No worries, I can definitely understand since there's a lot of myths around school mark.
So after the HSC exam, you'll receive three marks
1. Exam mark - This is a scaled mark based on how you went on the day.
2. School mark - This mark, contrary to popular belief, is not a scaled/moderated mark of your school assessments. This is simply the nth highest mark achieved by your school cohort where n is your rank.
3. HSC mark - An average of Exam and School marks.
When I was accelerated, I was rank 3 in school. My school mark was the 3rd highest mark achieved by someone in my school cohort for Mathematics Advanced (100). Still with me? Now here's the confusing part, my friend was also rank 3. This means we had the same school mark of 100. However, he must had made a few silly mistakes and ended up with an Exam mark of 99.
From the average of Exam and School, we have the same HSC mark. However, due to differences in our Exam mark, he got a lower state rank.
2015 HSC State Ranks
| Exam
(How well you do on the day) | School
(Comes from your rank) | HSC
(Average of Exam and School) |
Me | 100 | 100 | 100 |
My friend | 99 | 100 | 100 |