I've failed three subjects spectacularly. (1 Viewer)

mutezarathustra

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I go to a top 10 school, but have failed six units spectacularly. (tl;dr at the bottom)

Advanced English: ranked ~130 out of ~200 (top 90 gets a B6)
Physics: ranked 100 out of ~120 (top 30 gets a B6)
Chemistry: ranked 100 out of ~130 (top 60 gets a B6)

Trials for all three subjects are worth 30%. Like everyone else, I am aiming to do very well in them, but am not sure whether even if I manage to pull full marks in everything, my ranks will still be salvageable or not. I've talked to teachers and career advisers, but they've been pretty unhelpful.

Honestly, I'm not convinced that my ranks will recover, no matter what I do, so I suppose I'm grasping at straws by asking this – but would it be doable for me to perform so well in trials so that I get within the top 90, 30, 60 respectively for those three subjects?

I think, if I do very well in trials, I stand a chance of getting in the top 90 for Adv Eng (my ranks dropped from 50 to 100 after half yearlies, where I got a result that was ~5% below the average - so even one mark could improve a rank by five, ten places)

These are some statistics (although to call them 'statistics' despite their unverified origins irk me) that I've amassed over the past two weeks:

1. A friend improved her rank by 14 places after an assessment, where she was above average by 6%. It was a VERY easy exam, however, and the average was something like 91% and the marks were very, very bunched up together; I believe a dozen students received full marks, and something like twenty people were one mark off.

2. In Advanced English, the average tends to be around 80-85%. After the very first assessment task, my rank was 50 with a mark of 13/15. (my school is pretty strong in English)

3. In physics, the average is usually pretty high – 80% at the minimum?

4. Averages in chemistry tend to centre around the 80% mark. I don't think I've seen it go higher than 83.

5. A lot of our assessments (excluding half yearlies) in both sciences were out of very little marks – around 30 – which I believe translates to a very dense cluster of marks, which would escalate the significance of every single mark received.

I feel compelled to mention, perhaps as a kneejerk reaction to the variations of "if you've done so badly this far, you won't do a lot better in trials" that I predict will flood the majority of the responses I receive, that I've entered every single one of my assessments since the beginning of year 12 without having studied, and with a disturbing lack of knowledge about the content being assessed. (or, in the case of English, entering exams without reading/watching the prescribed texts nor writing practice essays beforehand) This leads me to believe that with the appropriate amount of effort being put into my studies from this point onward, my performance will hopefully increase significantly. I've always done pretty well until the end of last year, which is motivation ran out for me and my results declined significantly.

I'm aware that no one can give me a definite answer regarding my question without more detail, but I've decided to pitch my question on here anyway, to see if anyone could provide first or second hand insight into the topic at hand. The biggest hope I have currently is that trials are marked out of 7-80 (as opposed to the assessments, which were mostly out of 30-40) and so a larger distribution of marks over the cohort is to be expected, which means that a score of 70/75, when the average is 60/70 will fare better than a score of 25/27, when the average is 22/27, simply because there are much more marks in between. (this is all pure speculation and therefore possibly completely wrong)

tl;dr Failed three subjects (= six units) and looking to improve ranks significantly in the upcoming trials (which are all worth 30%). Realistically possible? (read last paragraph though please)
 
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Drongoski

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Just put your head down and work your ass off! Also review the way you study - is there a more effective way?
 
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mutezarathustra

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Just put your head down and work your ass off! Also review the way you study - is there a more effective way?
I will "work my ass off" - but I'd still like to know if I can still get a B6 in those three subjects, assuming that I kill the actual HSC and trials.

As for the way I study - right now, I don't. ;P Hence the horrid ranks. I'm working on actually learning the content and doing a past paper or two for trials.
 

lightingbolt

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I know this guy how went to sydney boys, and had the shittest ranks like you but recovered his ranks in Trials and smash the HSC exam and still got 99.8 ATar.

So what I mean is it is still hope, who knows what my may happen on the day, those kids who get top 10 Atar your school, study as hell and goes tutoring all year.
 
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nerdasdasd

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I will "work my ass off" - but I'd still like to know if I can still get a B6 in those three subjects, assuming that I kill the actual HSC and trials.

As for the way I study - right now, I don't. ;P Hence the horrid ranks. I'm working on actually learning the content and doing a past paper or two for trials.
A paper or two?? Do more....

You are not doing enough revision.
 

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