Whether a student is a Top Achiever is not directly important, although it would indicate highly favourable HSC exam performance, which can be inferred from the highly favourable overall HSC mark that is used to determine the state rank. The element that matters in regard to the moderation process is HSC exam performance. Essentially, if a student achieves a highly favourable HSC exam mark, this will improve the cohort's HSC exam mark average, which is used as part of the moderation process. However, the extent to which it will improve that average also depends on the HSC exam performance of other students in the cohort. If only 1 out of 35 students does well in their HSC exam, that average will not improve by much, as opposed to most of the cohort doing well in their HSC exam, which would significantly improve that average.