Preliminary ranks - how drastically do they change in the HSC year? (1 Viewer)

[Hehehe22]

What has been everyone's experience? How reflective of your final ranks are your preliminary ranks, if you maintain a similarly high or higher level of effort? I've heard that a lot of people are able to turn their marks around during the HSC and clinch high marks despite flunking Year 11, but what about the other way around - if some go up, others have to go down, right?

I'm quite happy with my preliminary ranks but I feel like they're too good to maintain in the HSC year, particularly because everyone has ramped up their study habits. My results in the first term were decent, but they have low weighting, and it will only get harder from here. I do go to a selective school, so there will be a fair amount of competition. Do I need to try much harder to maintain or better my ranks?

 

[jimmysmith560]

You seem to have a good understanding of the potentially changing circumstances in year 12. Generally speaking, some students do not perform as favourably in year 11 as they do in year 12, which can be for one of two reasons:

• Lack of effort needed to ensure favourable performance
• Using year 11 to optimise study strategy, which may involve obstacles in terms of performance.

There are also students who may perform well in year 11 but end up performing at a lower standard in year 12. The number of such students is usually lower than that of those who make significant improvements in year 12, especially in the context of a selective school, the cohort of which would most likely be academically capable.

From your post, your year 11 performance was favourable. This is a good start. Maintaining and, if possible, improving your performance across your subjects will require you to maintain your commitment to your studies, meaning regular study and preparations. Year 12 is naturally more difficult and is as such a greater test of your ability to increase your efforts and be fully committed to your studies.

With that being said, a positive element to note is that while it would be good to place as high as possible, competition is an indication of a cohort's academic capability, and it is good for a cohort to perform well as a whole.

I hope this helps!

 

[Hehehe22]

You seem to have a good understanding of the potentially changing circumstances in year 12. Generally speaking, some students do not perform as favourably in year 11 as they do in year 12, which can be for one of two reasons:

• Lack of effort needed to ensure favourable performance
• Using year 11 to optimise study strategy, which may involve obstacles in terms of performance.

There are also students who may perform well in year 11 but end up performing at a lower standard in year 12. The number of such students is usually lower than that of those who make significant improvements in year 12, especially in the context of a selective school, the cohort of which would most likely be academically capable.

From your post, your year 11 performance was favourable. This is a good start. Maintaining and, if possible, improving your performance across your subjects will require you to maintain your commitment to your studies, meaning regular study and preparations. Year 12 is naturally more difficult and is as such a greater test of your ability to increase your efforts and be fully committed to your studies.

With that being said, a positive element to note is that while it would be good to place as high as possible, competition is an indication of a cohort's academic capability, and it is good for a cohort to perform well as a whole.

I hope this helps!

Thank you! I'll try my best

 

[appleali]

What has been everyone's experience? How reflective of your final ranks are your preliminary ranks, if you maintain a similarly high or higher level of effort? I've heard that a lot of people are able to turn their marks around during the HSC and clinch high marks despite flunking Year 11, but what about the other way around - if some go up, others have to go down, right?

I'm quite happy with my preliminary ranks but I feel like they're too good to maintain in the HSC year, particularly because everyone has ramped up their study habits. My results in the first term were decent, but they have low weighting, and it will only get harder from here. I do go to a selective school, so there will be a fair amount of competition. Do I need to try much harder to maintain or better my ranks?

yep you're doing great and keep pushing
just remember to not get complacent and start slacking off, this is something i did when i did accelerated SDD
i came 3rd in year 11 and got motivated to do better so i came 1st in the HSC year, 98 in the CSSA trial
then i flopped the hsc with a 90 (which is alright, but i could've done better) because i slacked off after trials with my high mark and got complacent

this is something i learnt from for my actual HSC year
also i was 44th/45 in adv eng in year 11, 59 average
i came 6th in year 12 with an 82 in trials (3rd, really good for me) and i got high band 5, which isn't great but far beyond what i thought i could get, especially with my year 11 results in mind

 

[Hehehe22]

yep you're doing great and keep pushing
just remember to not get complacent and start slacking off, this is something i did when i did accelerated SDD
i came 3rd in year 11 and got motivated to do better so i came 1st in the HSC year, 98 in the CSSA trial
then i flopped the hsc with a 90 (which is alright, but i could've done better) because i slacked off after trials with my high mark and got complacent

this is something i learnt from for my actual HSC year
also i was 44th/45 in adv eng in year 11, 59 average
i came 6th in year 12 with an 82 in trials (3rd, really good for me) and i got high band 5, which isn't great but far beyond what i thought i could get, especially with my year 11 results in mind

Thanks for your input! I'll try not to lose momentum throughout the year. English is also my least confident subject - do you mind sharing what you did to improve so much?

 

[rh_06]

Thanks for your input! I'll try not to lose momentum throughout the year. English is also my least confident subject - do you mind sharing what you did to improve so much?

Hi, I'll answer both questions in a 2 part reply.
Firstly, yes it is possible to get a high mark despite having a mediocre prelim or internal mark. For example, I took Studies of Religion I (I was forced to since its mandatory at my Christian school). TBH, I despised the subject and did not plan on including it in my HSC, thus I often left studying until the weeks leading up to the exams. I ended up getting an internal mark of 39/50 then 42/50 after trials. My rank was horrid. Probably around the 40th-50th percentile of my grade. I decided to put in some effort and got a 48 or 49/50 in the HSC exam which brought my total HSC mark to a 45/50 on the dot. Basically, my advice would be to not worry yourself too much about ranks and to focus on getting as high marks as you can. I've seen way too many people lose hope after seeing their ranks after an exam.

Secondly, I got a B6 in Eng Adv and 4U Eng so i might be able to help a bit. My Trial mark for ADV was abysmal (79/100) ;-; but my other internals and HSC were good enough to get me a B6. How I recovered? I pestered my teachers for feedback and i kept on writing essays, practice responses, ETA's etc. One thing I would strongly advise against is relying on memory/memorising base essay's. English is all abnout understanding the text and being able to adapt to the question. One way I did so was by getting past paper questions from THSC and either writing entire practice essays, writing bodies or just a mere thesis statement.
One thing that I think really helped me was this:
Sometimes writing an entire essay may seem a bit much right? Basically, I wrote numerous thesis statements answering different questions from multiple papers using various thematic concerns etc. You thesis statement is essentially the crux of your essay as it comes first and foremost and notifies the marker what you are talking about, how you will answer the question, and how you interpret its contents.

Here's some resources I used which helped significantly. I've thrown in some Mod A - Richard x LFR resources that I had on hand. If you want to share what modules you are doing I'd be happy to help.

Mod A:

Through a Marker’s Eyes: An Exemplar King Richard III x Looking for Richard Essay | Project Academy

Come along as Katriel dissects Riya's exemplar essay through a HSC marker’s eyes

projectacademy.nsw.edu.au

Free King Richard III and Looking for Richard Annotated Essay Downloadable

Don't know where to start with your King Richard III and Looking for Richard textual analysis? Download your free annotated essay!

www.matrix.edu.au

Richard III and Looking for Richard: State Ranker Essay Notes | JP English Specialist Tuition

When initially looking at the term ‘textual conversations,’ one can easily feel anxious. Yes- it may sound a bit convoluted and technical, however it really refers to the ways in which one text can create a dialogue- whether it be thematic, contextual, structural or paradigmatic- with another...

jpenglishtutoring.com.au

General resources

HSC RESOURCE SURVIVAL KIT – Google Drive

drive.google.com

HSC Textbook Library – Google Drive

drive.google.com

 

[Hehehe22]

Hi, I'll answer both questions in a 2 part reply.
Firstly, yes it is possible to get a high mark despite having a mediocre prelim or internal mark. For example, I took Studies of Religion I (I was forced to since its mandatory at my Christian school). TBH, I despised the subject and did not plan on including it in my HSC, thus I often left studying until the weeks leading up to the exams. I ended up getting an internal mark of 39/50 then 42/50 after trials. My rank was horrid. Probably around the 40th-50th percentile of my grade. I decided to put in some effort and got a 48 or 49/50 in the HSC exam which brought my total HSC mark to a 45/50 on the dot. Basically, my advice would be to not worry yourself too much about ranks and to focus on getting as high marks as you can. I've seen way too many people lose hope after seeing their ranks after an exam.

Secondly, I got a B6 in Eng Adv and 4U Eng so i might be able to help a bit. My Trial mark for ADV was abysmal (79/100) ;-; but my other internals and HSC were good enough to get me a B6. How I recovered? I pestered my teachers for feedback and i kept on writing essays, practice responses, ETA's etc. One thing I would strongly advise against is relying on memory/memorising base essay's. English is all abnout understanding the text and being able to adapt to the question. One way I did so was by getting past paper questions from THSC and either writing entire practice essays, writing bodies or just a mere thesis statement.
One thing that I think really helped me was this:
Sometimes writing an entire essay may seem a bit much right? Basically, I wrote numerous thesis statements answering different questions from multiple papers using various thematic concerns etc. You thesis statement is essentially the crux of your essay as it comes first and foremost and notifies the marker what you are talking about, how you will answer the question, and how you interpret its contents.

Here's some resources I used which helped significantly. I've thrown in some Mod A - Richard x LFR resources that I had on hand. If you want to share what modules you are doing I'd be happy to help.

Mod A:

Through a Marker’s Eyes: An Exemplar King Richard III x Looking for Richard Essay | Project Academy

Come along as Katriel dissects Riya's exemplar essay through a HSC marker’s eyes

projectacademy.nsw.edu.au

Free King Richard III and Looking for Richard Annotated Essay Downloadable

Don't know where to start with your King Richard III and Looking for Richard textual analysis? Download your free annotated essay!

www.matrix.edu.au

Richard III and Looking for Richard: State Ranker Essay Notes | JP English Specialist Tuition

When initially looking at the term ‘textual conversations,’ one can easily feel anxious. Yes- it may sound a bit convoluted and technical, however it really refers to the ways in which one text can create a dialogue- whether it be thematic, contextual, structural or paradigmatic- with another...

jpenglishtutoring.com.au

General resources

HSC RESOURCE SURVIVAL KIT – Google Drive

drive.google.com

HSC Textbook Library – Google Drive

drive.google.com

Thank you so much for your honest advice and for all the resources! This is actually amazing and really nice of you to help all of us HSCers out. I will make sure your survival kit is put to good use

I'm doing The Crucible, T. S. Eliot and The Tempest/Hag-seed. Anything that could help with those would be greatly appreciated

 

[rh_06]

Thank you so much for your honest advice and for all the resources! This is actually amazing and really nice of you to help all of us HSCers out. I will make sure your survival kit is put to good use

I'm doing The Crucible, T. S. Eliot and The Tempest/Hag-seed. Anything that could help with those would be greatly appreciated

Hi! Glad to know I was able to help.
I can also assist u with mod B Eliot since that's what I also did.
Clickview has a pretty good/extensive series on the major poems:

Perfecting Poetry: T.S. Eliot

Our videos introduce TS Eliot, including his personal and contextual influences. In each lesson, we’ll break down the main ideas in each poem. The line-by-line ...

www.clickview.net

- Keep in mind that english is subjective and some of eliots poems/lines are open to interpretation given that you can explain your view.

Some Mod B essays that I read through:

The Ultimate TS Eliot Cheatsheet | Mod B: The Critical Study of Literature

The Ultimate TS Eliot Cheat Sheet identifies the main themes and commonly used techniques in his Eliot's poetry, and provides you with examples of each from every poem.

www.matrix.edu.au

T.S. Eliot Exemplar Essay - Module B HSC English Advanced | Project Academy

The following essay was written by Fenna Kroon, Project's English Resourcer!

projectacademy.nsw.edu.au

- You can also find some on studocu or this forum

Finally, my key advice would be to focus on form... or at least consider/be prepared for it. Form drives purpose which in turn gives value/textual integrity. E.g. Eliots use of enjambment/free verse in select poems can reflect the disillusionment/internal chaos etc

 

[Hehehe22]

Hi! Glad to know I was able to help.
I can also assist u with mod B Eliot since that's what I also did.
Clickview has a pretty good/extensive series on the major poems:

Perfecting Poetry: T.S. Eliot

Our videos introduce TS Eliot, including his personal and contextual influences. In each lesson, we’ll break down the main ideas in each poem. The line-by-line ...

www.clickview.net

- Keep in mind that english is subjective and some of eliots poems/lines are open to interpretation given that you can explain your view.

Some Mod B essays that I read through:

The Ultimate TS Eliot Cheatsheet | Mod B: The Critical Study of Literature

The Ultimate TS Eliot Cheat Sheet identifies the main themes and commonly used techniques in his Eliot's poetry, and provides you with examples of each from every poem.

www.matrix.edu.au

T.S. Eliot Exemplar Essay - Module B HSC English Advanced | Project Academy

The following essay was written by Fenna Kroon, Project's English Resourcer!

projectacademy.nsw.edu.au

- You can also find some on studocu or this forum

Finally, my key advice would be to focus on form... or at least consider/be prepared for it. Form drives purpose which in turn gives value/textual integrity. E.g. Eliots use of enjambment/free verse in select poems can reflect the disillusionment/internal chaos etc

Thanks again! We're actually doing Mod B last, which is odd, so I'll keep this in mind and come back to it in due time Poetry is actually my favourite out of the modules, or at least the most bearable.