SuchSmallHands
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 13, 2012
- Messages
- 1,391
- Gender
- Female
- HSC
- 2014
Hey everyone!
So basically as I’ve looked around this forum I’ve noticed that the general answer given to anyone considering 12 or more units (especially 13/14) for the HSC is something along the lines of ‘try it out until you have a clear idea of what to drop’, ‘don’t’ do it, just focus really hard on 10/11 units’ or ‘r u insane?’ While all of these are pretty valid in a way, the other side of this argument isn’t often seen on BoS, so I thought I’d put it out there for anyone considering 12 or more units.
Firstly, I finished my HSC in 2014. I did 14 units all the way up to the exams. I accelerated none of them. However, I took one unit of non-ATAR religion (Catholic Studies) due to the fact I attended a Catholic School, so essentially there were 13 units able to count toward my ATAR.
Half way through year 11 I started to realise that I actually loved the subject I’d always planned to drop (chemistry), and I started considering keeping it for the HSC. I thought I’d do relatively poorly in it though, since science was never really my thing in junior years, so I wanted to keep the rest of my subjects to boost my ATAR. I was also expecting to do pretty badly in Advanced English, I was so sure of that I basically only came to class when we were watching Blade Runner, so I picked up EE1 and EE2 expecting them to be my two units of English. 13 HSC units allowed enough space for two units of Advanced English and one of chemistry (I wasn’t expecting to smash it or anything but I still knew I had a good shot at a band 6) to not count toward my ATAR.
However, that’s not exactly how things turned out. I was really shocked by my results when they were released. Despite chemistry being not only the subject in which my actual grades were the lowest but the subject in which there was the smallest margin between me and second in the class (small school, my ranks were first in everything internally), it was my highest result in the end. My EE2 major work which had been given a mark of 50/50 by my teacher had scored only a 44 externally, and I did even worse (43) in EE1, despite having strong marks for two years. In Advanced English, into which I put next to no work, banking on it not counting toward my ATAR, I got a 90. It ended up being my highest result of any of my English units, despite comparatively low marks all year and very poor attendance. Modern history, which I had always considered to be my best subject, ended up not counting toward my ATAR. After two years of results consistently in the high 90s I got a HSC mark of 88.
Basically, if I’d been forced to drop down to 10 units for year 12 the first subject I’d have thought to drop would have been chemistry. All evidence available to me before December 2014 indicated it was the subject most likely not to count toward my ATAR. The last subject I’d have dropped would be modern history, since I was ranked first in it by the largest margin and had a trial mark of 96. If I had done this, according to Matrix for 2012, my mark would have dropped by 1.5 points (97 to 95.5 in that year’s scaling).
What I’m trying to say is that it’s easy enough to say ‘drop your worst subject and just focus on the ones you’re better at’, but how sure are you of the subjects you’re best at? I know my idea of where my strengths were was completely the opposite of reality. Keeping an extra subject (or even two) isn’t just as a backup for if you screw up on the day of a HSC exam, or in the trials, it’s also there for if you suddenly realise you didn’t know your relative abilities as well as you thought you did. I’m not saying 12+ units is for everyone, I’m just offering this as something to think about for people considering taking it on, since doing 14 units hands down saved my ATAR and my chances at getting into the degree I want to do.
So basically as I’ve looked around this forum I’ve noticed that the general answer given to anyone considering 12 or more units (especially 13/14) for the HSC is something along the lines of ‘try it out until you have a clear idea of what to drop’, ‘don’t’ do it, just focus really hard on 10/11 units’ or ‘r u insane?’ While all of these are pretty valid in a way, the other side of this argument isn’t often seen on BoS, so I thought I’d put it out there for anyone considering 12 or more units.
Firstly, I finished my HSC in 2014. I did 14 units all the way up to the exams. I accelerated none of them. However, I took one unit of non-ATAR religion (Catholic Studies) due to the fact I attended a Catholic School, so essentially there were 13 units able to count toward my ATAR.
Half way through year 11 I started to realise that I actually loved the subject I’d always planned to drop (chemistry), and I started considering keeping it for the HSC. I thought I’d do relatively poorly in it though, since science was never really my thing in junior years, so I wanted to keep the rest of my subjects to boost my ATAR. I was also expecting to do pretty badly in Advanced English, I was so sure of that I basically only came to class when we were watching Blade Runner, so I picked up EE1 and EE2 expecting them to be my two units of English. 13 HSC units allowed enough space for two units of Advanced English and one of chemistry (I wasn’t expecting to smash it or anything but I still knew I had a good shot at a band 6) to not count toward my ATAR.
However, that’s not exactly how things turned out. I was really shocked by my results when they were released. Despite chemistry being not only the subject in which my actual grades were the lowest but the subject in which there was the smallest margin between me and second in the class (small school, my ranks were first in everything internally), it was my highest result in the end. My EE2 major work which had been given a mark of 50/50 by my teacher had scored only a 44 externally, and I did even worse (43) in EE1, despite having strong marks for two years. In Advanced English, into which I put next to no work, banking on it not counting toward my ATAR, I got a 90. It ended up being my highest result of any of my English units, despite comparatively low marks all year and very poor attendance. Modern history, which I had always considered to be my best subject, ended up not counting toward my ATAR. After two years of results consistently in the high 90s I got a HSC mark of 88.
Basically, if I’d been forced to drop down to 10 units for year 12 the first subject I’d have thought to drop would have been chemistry. All evidence available to me before December 2014 indicated it was the subject most likely not to count toward my ATAR. The last subject I’d have dropped would be modern history, since I was ranked first in it by the largest margin and had a trial mark of 96. If I had done this, according to Matrix for 2012, my mark would have dropped by 1.5 points (97 to 95.5 in that year’s scaling).
What I’m trying to say is that it’s easy enough to say ‘drop your worst subject and just focus on the ones you’re better at’, but how sure are you of the subjects you’re best at? I know my idea of where my strengths were was completely the opposite of reality. Keeping an extra subject (or even two) isn’t just as a backup for if you screw up on the day of a HSC exam, or in the trials, it’s also there for if you suddenly realise you didn’t know your relative abilities as well as you thought you did. I’m not saying 12+ units is for everyone, I’m just offering this as something to think about for people considering taking it on, since doing 14 units hands down saved my ATAR and my chances at getting into the degree I want to do.
