Transitioning to a New School in Y11 and Impact of Ranking (1 Viewer)

[chrisyin]

Hi,
I'm a Y10 student from Parramatta High and I'm considering applying for Sydney Boys High into Y11 entry. I've got a couple of concerns in my transition to Sydney Boys, if successful. I don't have comprehensive knowledge in regards to the HSC as a whole however I wanted to ask, how much will my ATAR be affected in moving from Parramatta (around 100th rank school) where the school's internals are alot more easier to Sydney Boys where the internals can be expected to be much harder. Will my ATAR be affected given the fact that school marks count towards HSC and I'd achieve lower marks at Sydney Boys as it is harder?

Additionally, I've heard things about school rank playing a role in your ATAR depending on your circumstance. At Parra High, I'm a top 5 in all my subjects and I'm imagining at Sydney Boys, it will be hard to get a top 10, let alone top 30 rank. Will that change from a high rank at a partially selective school to a mediocre rank at a highly academically successful school affect my ATAR? Would i be better off staying at Parra where internals are easier and my rank is top 5 in all subjects.

 

[jazz519]

To be honest having a competitive environment like in a selective school could be good because it will push you to study more and efficiently. The difficulty of the exams also will probably prepare you better for the HSC. However, honestly I don't think there is much of a difference in the final ATAR if you go to a selective school or not, because in every school even if it isn't selective, there are always people who get high ATARs (overall school ranks are lower because the classes also feature people who wouldn't be regarded as higher achieving students), so it's expected selective schools will do better in terms of school rank because they choose certain students,, but the gap between those schools and others is pretty much the same at the top as a lot of people go to the same type of tutoring places.

 

[D94]

Hi,
I'm a Y10 student from Parramatta High and I'm considering applying for Sydney Boys High into Y11 entry. I've got a couple of concerns in my transition to Sydney Boys, if successful. I don't have comprehensive knowledge in regards to the HSC as a whole however I wanted to ask, how much will my ATAR be affected in moving from Parramatta (around 100th rank school) where the school's internals are alot more easier to Sydney Boys where the internals can be expected to be much harder. Will my ATAR be affected given the fact that school marks count towards HSC and I'd achieve lower marks at Sydney Boys as it is harder?

Just because it's harder, it doesn't mean you still can't get good marks. There are students who get 90%+ in hard assessments. The benefit with transferring to selective schools is that if you are a top student (we're talking top 10-20% of the state), you will be able to gauge where within that top band you fit in.

In schools that don't perform as well, being at the top doesn't really tell you if you are getting 99.95 or 80. There may be a misguided awareness of your abilities and that can be a shock to students who believe that just because they came top 5 in their subject at their school, it should mean they should get a Band 6. It doesn't work like that. You need to actually have an understanding of the subject in order to do well.

There is a relative understanding and an absolute understanding. A poor perception of your relative understanding will cloud your awareness of your absolute understanding. Just because you are doing better than your lower ranked peers, doesn't mean you actually understand the subject. It's that absolute understanding which matters much more than anything else. But to be able to be tested to a level which you can actually see how you're performing is hard to achieve at lower performing schools because assessments tend to cater for a very wide range of students, so they are likely to be easier.

At higher performing schools, because students are generally at the top percentiles of the state and there is already a history or precedence in the quality of the assessments, they can be made harder in order to truly differentiate the best from the best. That is where the benefit lies in undertaking assessments from higher ranked schools. This doesn't even begin to touch on the general academic culture which thrives within selective schools.

Additionally, I've heard things about school rank playing a role in your ATAR depending on your circumstance. At Parra High, I'm a top 5 in all my subjects and I'm imagining at Sydney Boys, it will be hard to get a top 10, let alone top 30 rank. Will that change from a high rank at a partially selective school to a mediocre rank at a highly academically successful school affect my ATAR?

As above. You still need to understand the content. Don't worry about rank. It plays no part in the actual calculation of your marks.

Would i be better off staying at Parra where internals are easier and my rank is top 5 in all subjects.

As above. What good is top 5 if you're the top 5 of the lowest group in the state (not saying Parra is, but just to give perspective of what 'top 5' can mean)?

You can certainly get a high ATAR at Parra or any high school. The challenge is actually understanding the content at a high level. This is a challenge for all students who aim for a high ATAR - after all, the ATAR is a rank - you are competing against everyone.