Desperate For Advice, So Scared Of The Trials (1 Viewer)

[Robbie_1988]

G'day folks I'm really in a rut and I need your help and this is urgent and related to Trials.

I am a repeat student (please don't ask why; it's a lot of personal/family related reasons). No offense intended. Last year I got an HSC advanced english mark of 74 although my rank in school was 53/59. This year I'm currently ranked 22 and i'm doing reasonably well says my teacher. But at the moment my marks are sitting around 70-75% and she says I can get better than last year's 74 and she feels my ranking will still go up. Trials are on Monday.

My ranking/marks this year are:
BIOLOGY - 1st and about 90%
PDHPE - 1st and about 95%
LEGAL STUDIES - 3rd and about 87-90%
GENERAL MATHS - dont know my rank but i'm getting 85-90%
ADV. ENGLISH - 22nd and about 70-75%

I've been busting my backside off to get the marks and rankings in BIOLOGY, PDHPE, LEGAL AND MATHS. With english even though i've spent heaps of time on it, it doesn't yield much reward like how my other subjects are. For me there's a lot that can go wrong in the english trial exams: I can be totally thrown off by the form asked to write in and on top of that my handwriting speed is just too slow for me to answer the same band 6 responses that I hand up to my teacher for study. To make matters worse i am denied handicap/extra time.

So do I take:
Option A (to drop this year's english, and devote all my energy in to the best 4 subjects)
74 for ADV. ENGLISH
90+ for LEGAL
90+ for BIOLOGY
90+ for PDHPE
85 - 90 for GENERAL MATHS

Option B (take a gamble with english and risk losing my first places and settling with 80s in my best 4 subjects?)
80 for ADV. ENGLISH
80s for LEGAL
80s for BIOLOGY
80s for PDHPE
80s for GENERAL MATHS


So the question is: TO DROP OR NOT TO DROP THIS YEAR'S ADV. ENGLISH?

It's really a tough decision for me to make cause the competition is intense in my school and any weakness means i'll lose my first places. Furthermore, I don't want to do worse than last year's 74. I just don't believe I have it within myself to be able to churn out my knowledge in time.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help me make this decision. I have to make my mind up my Monday morning before the English Exam.

 

[klaw]

Just because you are getting 70-75% in your internal assessments does not suggest that you will get a mark of around 70-75 as your HSC mark. Even if you get 70-75% in your external HSC it doesn't suggest that you will get a HSC mark of around 70-75. If that were to be the case, there would be very very few band 5s and 6s for subjects that many people get low marks in, such as Extension 2 Maths.

To make your decision, you will have to consider the intellectual ability of the people doing your subjects at your school. Will they scale you down if they end up overtaking you in rank? If you think that they will get around the same marks you'll get in the externals, then there is not much harm if they overtake you. On the other hand, if they are likely to perform poorly at the externals, they will drag you down. That being said, if they are likely to improve drastically between now and the externals and get a considerably higher external mark than you, they will drag your internal marks up if you outrank them internally. You must consider the opportunity costs with gaining/losing ranks in each subject and pick the option where you gain the most and sacrifice the least.

 

[priesty]

man, English is the one compulsory subject that has to go towards the calculation of your UAI. Getting a 74 or lower in English would be more harmful towards your UAI calculation than getting 80s in your other subjects.

But, in all seriousness.... if you are working consistently and according to a proper study timetable perhaps then it wont be hard for you to get into 80s for English AND keep your first place rankings for your other subjects! It's very do-able... You just have to set yor mind on it. To be getting high marks like that for your other subjects atm, means that you do have the grasp of the subject well.... and maybe you could sacrifice a little time for each of them evenly to go towards English... however, these subjects are also important and I doubt you'd drop majorly if you were to perhaps get a few marks less in your other subjects.

What Im trying to say is never give up on English. Its the one thing that you have to go on with, and doing well in it will reap plenty of rewards later.

Good Luck mate.

 

[lala2]

Since you've taken English so far, why don't you see how you go in the trial and then make up your mind? It's a hassle I know and means extra studying for you but you can drop up to even the day of the English external exam. Otherwise, if you really feel that your English is just gonna be such a burden it's gonna affect your marks (10 marks difference in each of your other subjects is a lot to lose, I know), then probably best to drop English.

 

[JhK89]

just keep prac.ing make a perfect essay and in the hsc u can actually change it into the form u want by planning it

 

[Mel_b]

Since you've taken English so far, why don't you see how you go in the trial and then make up your mind? It's a hassle I know and means extra studying for you but you can drop up to even the day of the English external exam. Otherwise, if you really feel that your English is just gonna be such a burden it's gonna affect your marks (10 marks difference in each of your other subjects is a lot to lose, I know), then probably best to drop English.

Uhh. You can't actually drop your 2 unit English class. I think what he means by 'drop' is 'stop busting my arse for results'.

In response to that, I'd say to look at the time you put in compared to the returns that you can get. If 3 hours of study in one subject will boost your mark by, lets say 5, but in english by only one, you're probably better off pushing up your other mark, even though english will definitely count - although it will definitely count, in your 10 units, it's not weighted any more heavily.

The thing to bear in mind with this english thing is, though, that you have to work that much harder for each mark, because it's almost exclusively extended compositions - there aren't small marks to be picked up for knowing details, they all come from producing a cohesive, insightful piece of work. So it's going to take longer hours to really pick up the marks.

The advantage that you have, is that English is easier to cram for than the subjects that you're doing well in. You can work really intensively on an essay for a day, and that can get you into a really good headspace to take your understanding up to the next level. With legal and physics and bio, your mastery of the content will be best if it's a gradual build up.

I guess what I'm saying is, this far out from the HSC exams, spread your time evenly. But in those few weeks leading up to the big ones, really push your english work. It sounds to me like you've got reason to be confident in all your other subjects, so just keep up your normal revision there.

Other than that, all I can say is that hard work will be rewarded. If you don't get what you need (and I know I sound a little like one of those annoying motivational speakers schools get in) there are ways around it, especially if you've got a record of consistent effort. Don't let these be the defining months of your life, and don't work yourself into a panic. Life has gone on for many before you.

 

[lala2]

Uhh. You can't actually drop your 2 unit English class. I think what he means by 'drop' is 'stop busting my arse for results'.

Maybe, and please feel free to correct me on this, but since he had his previous English result, he can 'drop' and just have his previous mark counted.

 

[rnitya_25]

getting an internal assessment mark of 70-75 isn't horrible. if you work a bit harder than you are now, you'll get high 80's in the hsc, and with high 80s and eng and above 90 in everything else, you're guaranteed 98+, i've seen it happen. a friend of mine last year got above 90 in everything but english ang got 99.sumthin.

 

[timobr0]

Maybe, and please feel free to correct me on this, but since he had his previous English result, he can 'drop' and just have his previous mark counted.

or he could repeat English again

 

[Raginsheep]

Play around with SAM regarding your english marks however I'm probably right in saying that losing 1st place in some of your subjects would easily be made up by a decent gain in your english marks.

Then again its still your choice.

 

[lala2]

or he could repeat English again

Or he could too, but I personally wouldn't, just because you're "repeating" it. I know it's very tiring and demotivating to have to repeat something again, it was the case with one person in the year above me who repeated her HSC with us, and also non-academically, namely musically where a large amount of people fail to get their A.Mus's first time round and can't be stuffed doing it again. However, it really is up to the threadstarter--we can only give our opinions and advice on this.

 

[Robbie_1988]

G'day folks I guess I'm a little late on the replies to this matter.

But yes to clarify, I was considering dropping this year's english and reverting to last year's hsc mark of 74. However, my headmaster told me I should sit the trials and see how it goes and then make a decision after the trials of whether to drop.

So today I sat the area of study physical journeys. I started on the essay in section 3 first and I actually said all i wanted to say but went over time by like 10 minutes. So it took 50 minutes to do that essay. Then I did the creative writing and took about 40 minutes on that.

That left me with 30 minutes left to do unseen texts in section 1. !@$!@#!$ LOL I was actually on the last question (q. F) and half way through it when they said "pens down". It was almost perfect and I actually came close to finishing it. Maybe just another 5 minutes would have done the trick but yeah things went better than I expected.

But above all that, I still don't share my headmaster's optimism about my chances. The modules are on this Wednesday. We will see who is right. I said I should drop, and he says I should keep going with it. Let's just see if all this time and all the risks I'm taking with my 1st rankings in other subjects pay off.

If I end up sucking at english still and lose my 1st rankings still. I'm gonna be spewing. I shall keep you folks updated after I do it on Wednesday. (Not that this is some exciting tv show or anything).

Robert Vincent Ho.

 

[Robbie_1988]

Maybe, and please feel free to correct me on this, but since he had his previous English result, he can 'drop' and just have his previous mark counted.

Nah you don't need correcting LOL. UAC states on their site:

"If you enrol in a repeat course and subsequently withdraw, either officially by advising your principal or the Board of Studies, or unofficially by non-attendance at the appropriate examination, you will be considered as not having completed the course and it will be regarded as a non-satisfactory attempt. In this case, the marks from your previous satisfactory attempt in the course will be available for inclusion in the calculation of your UAI.

You can withdraw from a repeat course at any time up to and including the HSC examination paper, but you should notify your principal or the Board of Studies of your withdrawal."

Have a nice day

 

[Asheroth]

Why would improving in english mean that all your other ranks/mark drop so drastically? I say keep it, you're obviously ready to work and it's paid off for you (check out those ranks! ), and I think settling for a 74 would drag your UAI down more than (possibly) scoring 80s in your other subjects.

 

[Bubbleezy]

in all honesty, i think you should just keep going.
study hard and keep a clear mind set on your goals.
try working in a different environment or studying with friends, i really find that helpful in getting stuff into this brain of mine.
honestly, dropping something now after all the work youve put it in, is in my opinion not a very good idea.
dont put in all this effort and give up now, your so close to the end.

however, whatever is going to make the experience as painless as possible for you is a good choice, make your own decisions and think long and hard, and im sure you'll be fine.

goodluck with everything =]

keep smiling.

 

[Robbie_1988]

Awwwww... all this support is making my belly feel warm and fuzzy.

*Group hug*

But in all seriousness. Thank you.