ATAR planning Sydney Girls High School
Rule 1: Don t give up until you ve finished your externals.
Why English is important? English advanced 93 Extension 1 maths 97 Extension 2 maths 95 Economics 93 Physics 93 ATAR 99.70 The following ATARs are the averages calculated using the Matrix ATAR calculator 1 for 2009-2012. With all factors unchanged, English advanced is the only variable that is changed. English advanced 80 85 90 95 100 ATAR 98.5 99.125 99.5125 99.775 99.8875 Rule 2: English significantly improves your ATAR. Notice how getting a band 6 (90) improves your ATAR by one whole point. It is easier to improve a poor English mark than to add 1 or 2 marks to your maths marks. 1 http://www.matrix.edu.au/atar-calculator/
Underneath compares the above scenario with a hypothetical student A, who neglects English. Student A is a typical student who concentrates on the subjects that they deem are important or have high scaling. It is clear here that his ATAR could be significantly higher if he gave more attention to English Advanced. The student mentioned above instead tried to do well in ALL his subjects (including English) and performed much better. Subject Student Above Student A Student A with Student B improved English scores English advanced 93 85 90 95 Maths ext 1 97 99 99 99 Maths ext 2 95 96 96 96 Economics 93 96 96 96 Physics 93 96 96 96 ATAR average 99.70 99.6125 99.8625 99.95 (2009 2012) Rule 3: IT IS BETTER TO DO ABOVE AVERAGE IN EVERYTHING THAN TO DO VERY WELL IN A FEW SUBJECTS.
Approximate Marks you need for 99+ 2012 2011 2010 2009 Average English 93 92.1 92.7 92.5 92.575 advanced MX1 92.6 92.3 91.3 90.3 91.625 MX2 88 87.6 84.9 82.5 85.75 Economics 92.4 92.6 93.8 93.1 92.975 Chemistry 91.5 92.1 92.7 93.2 92.375 Raw marks for the above HSC marks The raw mark is the actual mark you receive in your examination. For example, if you received 70/80 then your raw mark is 87.5%. This mark is then processed and converted into the marks you see in the table above. These marks in the table above are scaled (complex process, ceebs explaining TL DR etc.). For each unit you will receive a scaled mark out of 50. Your best 10 units will mean that you will receive a final score out of 500. You will never see this score, it s calculated by UAC. You need approximately 470-480 for an ATAR of 99.95. In my opinion this scaled score in more important.
Raw marks for SGHS subjects There are raw marks databases out there which tell you the approximate raw mark you need in your external to achieve the above marks. These raw marks are approximations in which you should aim to beat. More information can be found at: http://rawmarks.info/ Unweighted raw mark refers to the actual mark received in the exam. Weighted raw mark refers to the adjusted raw mark taking into account option topics, strength of the grade and other extrinsic factors. I highlighted the range of marks you should pay attention to. English Advanced HSC aligned mark for 99+ 92.575 Approximate raw mark required
MX1 91.625 MX2 85.75
Economics 92.975 Chemistry 92.375
The table below outlines the approximate raw mark you should aim to beat based on the above table. These numbers are arbitrary and are sole based on my own interpretation. Notice how it is easy to reach the marks for maths. The study used for maths can me portioned for other subjects. Aligned mark for Raw mark approximation 99 English advanced 92.575 86+ (mark will vary according to options chosen. It will probably be less due to the new AOS Discovery) MX1 91.625 75+ (too easy) MX2 85.75 60+ (too easy) Economics 92.975 90+ Chemistry 92.375 82/83ish + (This one is hard to estimate)
SGHS Ranks for an ATAR of approx. 99+ The get an ATAR of approximately 99+ you would need to receive a little better than a band 6 for all your subjects. These ranks were compiled using topscores.info. I painfully went through years of information and averaged out the number of people who received distinguished achievements for the subjects below. I averaged the minimum ranks required to get a band 6 from 2007 to 2014. The third column is my recommendation of where you should be ranked in order to have the greatest possible chance of receiving a band 6 for that subject assuming you don t shit the bed in your externals. Note: These rankings are not exact but rather an estimate of where you should be ranked around. I will mention any trends that you should take note of. Write your current rank progressively throughout the year and try to beat the recommended ranks. Required rank for band 6 Recommended rank Current Rank English advanced 88.375 (But recently the numbers suggest that SGHS tends to frequently have approximately 93-103 students who receive a band 6. The years 2007-2009 skew the results away from this range. So aim to be in the top 100) Top 80 MX1 69.5 Top 60 MX2 32.375 Top 25 Economics 17.25 (2014 only 9 students received a band 6. This year is an outlier. The required rank should be a little higher). Top 10 Chemistry 31.625 Top 25