Standard English dragging down my ATAR (1 Viewer)

[integral95]

So yeah I'm doing some of the higher scaling subjects like 4U maths and chemistry and I'm doing great with those, but I can't simply deal with english.
I'm doing English standard and my rank is maybe just in the top 15 after doing pretty bad in my half yearlies. I currently attend a school that was ranked in the 300s in 2012.

How badly can your ATAR get dragged down from English despite the fact you get like E4s in both maths and band 6 in chemistry?

Current rankings:

4U maths (2/5)
3U maths (1/12)
Chem (1/14)
Music 1 (5/14)
English std (15/40)

 

[madharris]

Well English is that one subject that has to count (not that it matters since you're doing 10 units)
If you get say a band 4 in English then it can really affect your atar quite a lot

What i suggest you do for english is:
- Practice an AOS reading and viewing section regularly! Learning how to answer each of these sections effectively as well as being able to quickly find techniques quickly will enable you to do well in this section! This section is important as both advanced and standard kids do it, so if you get 13-15/15 then that's already an amazing mark!
- Write essays to various questions and get your teachers to mark it! By showing your work to your teacher, they can show you what you're doing wrong and may even suggest improvements! Keep getting them to mark most/all of your essays so you can continue to improve your essay writing skills for the exam!
- What i did was, 1 month before the hsc exams (i wish i did it earlier like before trials), i put 3 AA batteries at the end of my pen and i used it for everything, whether it was for writing essays, past papers for other subjects or even just in general like doodling! Although in the first week it may feel uncomfortable, it will allow you to develop strength and endurance in your hand, and when you take the batteries off, you will be able to write a lot faster for longer periods of time (my hand didn't hurt at all while writing during the hsc). caution: your writing will be shit during the first week or so that you're using it!

Also music is a pretty unreliable subject, just learn your concepts of music really well and try to get your rank as high as possible before the hsc!

Good luck!