Rank between first and last - HSC not impacting? (1 Viewer)

[Mackenziea2017]

If I don't come first in a subject at school, and rank between first and last in the HSC exam, doesn't that mean that my HSC mark doesn't matter?
From what I understand, the top and bottom HSC exam marks determine the position of the class, and then everyone else is just allocated a mark inbetween according to their rank.
Is this correct? If it is (and I'm told it is), it means I can stress less about subjects where I rank around the middle, and focus on the stuff where I have a chance of getting the top HSC exam mark, so that our whole class will be lifted.

 

[A1P]

If I don't come first in a subject at school, and rank between first and last in the HSC exam, doesn't that mean that my HSC mark doesn't matter?

It does matter, a lot. Say you are in a cohort of 20 your exam mark will matter to about 55% of your HSC mark.

A key factor to remember is the total of cohort's internal marks will be adjusted to equal the total of their exam marks, so in a cohort of 20 your exam mark makes up about 1/20= 5% of that total. It then also contributes 50/50 to your HSC mark.

(You seem to think the exam mark that you get allocated is all that matters to you. That's not correct. Your *internal* mark is adjusted to approximately the corresponding exam mark, then it combines 50/50 with your own exam mark to give your HSC mark)

 

[Mackenziea2017]

It does matter, a lot. Say you are in a cohort of 20 your exam mark will matter to about 55% of your HSC mark.

A key factor to remember is the total of cohort's internal marks will be adjusted to equal the total of their exam marks, so in a cohort of 20 your exam mark makes up about 1/20= 5% of that total. It then also contributes 50/50 to your HSC mark.

(You seem to think the exam mark that you get allocated is all that matters to you. That's not correct. Your *internal* mark is adjusted to approximately the corresponding exam mark, then it combines 50/50 with your own exam mark to give your HSC mark)

That makes sense.
So a group with an HSC exam top to bottom range of 20 but with 90% of cohort in the top half of that will do considerably better than a cohort with the same range but most of the group in the bottom half?

 

[A1P]

So a group with an HSC exam top to bottom range of 20 but with 90% of cohort in the top half of that will do considerably better than a cohort with the same range but most of the group in the bottom half?

Yes, 90% in the top half will add up to a larger total than most in the bottom half.

Two ways to view how internal marks are adjusted. Either see it as each student's internal mark scales to a number such that their total will equal the exam total. Or take the pool of exam marks and redistribute to the cohort (roughly) proportionally with their internal marks. Either way, a larger total to scale to or a larger pool to share around is better than smaller.