Ranks - Thoughts? (1 Viewer)

[ClassOf2019]

Hi. After receiving my ranks after the first assessments, I don't know how I feel about them. I'm trying to get an ATAR above 95 but I don't know if that's even possible with ranks like these. I go to a top 70 school.

Here are my ranks:

English Adv: Not known yet
3U Maths: 20/60
2U Maths: 35/145
Physics: 16/55
Chemistry: 15/50 (highest mark was 6 marks above mine, a lot of people tied 3rd and 9th - pushing me down to 15)
Economics: 7/29 (highest mark was 4 marks above mine, a lot of people tied 2nd and 4th - pushing me down to 7)

Since a lot of people tied in higher positions, I got pushed down severely. I know it's Term 1; but I'm not too happy with the ranks considering I could've been much higher in every subject.

Do note that our year has the largest amount of people in this school for the last 10 years or so (~250 students) and previous years did not have as much (~180-200)

So what I'm asking for is some advice and motivation, got drained out (didn't rest in the Term 3 holidays) and lost motivation after getting back rankings. Is it possible to get >95 ATAR? How did you guys utilise the summer break?

These are previous years' amount of B6's in my subjects

2018:

English Adv: 9
3U Maths: 23
2U Maths: 39
Physics: 9
Chemistry: 8
Economics: 3


2017:

English Adv: 7
3U Maths: 27
2U Maths: 31
Physics: 13
Chemistry: 9
Economics: 4

2016:

English Adv: 9
3U Maths: 22
2U Maths: 30
Physics: 10
Chemistry: 7
Economics: 6

2015:

English Adv: 13
3U Maths: 22
2U Maths: 20
Physics: 5
Chemistry: 4
Economics: 4

 

[Drdusk]

I was in a much worse position than you in a 250+ ranked school. So you can definitely do it

 

[notthedevil]

I would get those ranks as high as you can with as much effort as you can muster throughout the HSC year because a 95 ATAR is probably harder than you think. However, for a top 70 school, they are very commendable and you should be very proud of yourself; if you put in the right amount and type of effort, they will only get better. Also a 95 is definitely possible, just keep working and work all the way up until your very last HSC exam (with a few breaks of course haha). Don't worry about predicting your ATAR or getting people here to tell you what ATAR you'll receive, because in my personal experience, it did nothing to help my studies. It inflated my ego and made me complacent and thus made me stop studying as I thought i was doing so well. If I were in your position, I would just try as hard as I could without worrying about any predictions and ensure that I try my best throughout the whole entire year, not just the start and middle of the year.

I can't tell you what you should do during your summer holidays in terms of schoolwork, that is totally up to you to decide. If you wanna study all day and get ahead and remember stuff and get good at practice tests, then do it. But you said you were exhausted from not resting in the Term 3 holidays, so it may be good to rest. I personally found that studying during the summer holidays had a pretty minimal positive impact on my overall result, and actually probably worsened my overall result, because it exhausted me and made me lazy during the HSC exam period (ofc there were other factors but "burnout" is a real thing). Perhaps some light study here and there to keep your memory working? Maybe you could write out some study notes or find some on the internet, for topics that you'll learn in Term 1? Or solidifying past topics? Idk they're possible ideas.

You don't have any major works (lucky) so honestly lots of relaxing during the summer holidays is most definitely welcome.

I'll tell you what I did during summer holidays which was probably bad, despite good intentions. I studied 6-7 hours a day with only one day per week break. 3 hours of this time was spent on major works alone. I also wrote out lots and lots of study notes for upcoming topics. It was very rigorous and was pretty exhausting, considering I had another 3 terms plus HSC exams to complete. If I had relaxed more and perhaps only dedicated 3-4 hours a day for schoolwork during summer holidays, while giving myself more breaks, I may not have gotten so exhausted so quickly, and probably would have done better overall.

Moral of the story: spread your study time out, do less now so you have more energy to do more during your Trial exams and your HSC exams (and probably Term 2 holidays leading into Term 3). However, and yes I know I'm telling lots of things for you to possibly do, but feel free to disregard everything I said if you feel it wont work for you!!!! Don't let people discourage you from studying, and don't let people pressure you to study more than you feel is truly necessary. You need to listen to yourself and pay attention to how much information you feel you are retaining. It's only then that you will perform your best, because you yourself found exactly what worked for you in terms of studying, and the amount of studying you do. I say this because a lot of the people around pressured me into not studying as much, because they thought I was isolating myself and made me feel quite guilty for spending so much time doing work (they didn't understand the competitive nature of entry into law school, and my drive to become a lawyer, but I guess that's irrelevant moving forward, cant change that). Yes, I know I said that I may have exhausted myself, but overall it was the lack of competition around me that demotivated me and made me feel repulsed by schoolwork, as i had FOMO when I saw my friends having fun all the time. It would be advisable to perhaps find a couple friends, or people you know, who share the same generally high ATAR aspirations as you, as it may motivate you as you are surrounded by people who understand the situation that your'e in.

Also ranks change so so so so much during the HSC year! You only just started, so I believe in your ability to increase your ranks as you move forward. Just find a working pace that suits you, ride it out until the very end, and have faith in your ability to do well.

I recommend checking out many people's posts about the act of studying and how to do it essentially. Many on this site were written by 99 ATAR graduates, so they really fkn know what theyre taking about.

This probably solved none of your questions, even thought I set out to do that lol whoops. I didn't give you an ATAR estimate, but that's because there's no point. ATAR estimates pinned me at 98.65, and sometimes as high as 99+ (just some context my school is now ranked 170 as of 2018), but that didnt happen, and its not their fault. It's just predicting is volatile and often a waste of time. Just study, its much easier than worrying about those little details, to be honest.

Good luck, I hoped this helped at least a little, and I believe in you.

 

[HoldingOn]

I'd just rest up and psychologically prepare yourself for the rest of the year. In my opinion having a good mindset will help you achieve a much better result than hours and hours of studying.

In the summer holidays I did some light study for both 3U and 2U but really focused on other aspects of my life. To me the HSC was really a test of mental toughness and resilience rather than actual intelligence and so I tried to keep this intact- studying for 6 hours every day in the summer holidays would drive me insane. Leave the brunt of your study for term time and the ‘holidays’ throughout the year.

 

[D94]

Your ranks aren't nearly as important as actually understanding the content. What good is being top 5 if you and the rest of your cohort don't understand much? Best thing is to do past papers, even now (when the term starts - best to relax during your breaks). If you can't manage your way through the content you've already covered, then you don't understanding enough to achieve a high ATAR. Do past papers from schools (if you can somehow obtain them) that typically have high achieving students. Your school marks will determine your rank so if you know more than your peers and can apply that during the exam, you will naturally come first.