2020 HSC+ ATAR results discussion Thread (2 Viewers)

[Trebla]

so if the aligned marks this year for extension 2 maths was high than previous years it means that the test was relatively easier

Technically it is because a selection of 'judges' behind the marking process have determined that the cut-off is higher. If the process is consistent then yes it should be correlated to the relative exam "difficulty" between the years.

 

[Maurice69]

Hi everyone!!! Not sure if anyone is still posting marks but here I go~

2019 HSC
Software Design and Development [94]

2020 HSC
Mathematics Extension 2 [94]
Mathematics Extension 1 [94]
Physics [91]
Chemistry [85]
English Advanced [91]

Additionally, I got the HSC All rounders award (thanks, Software!) (though not sure how it may be entirely useful) and achieved an overall ATAR of 98.70.

Thoughts:
Definitely there were times I should’ve studied more this year. This would’ve helped me to solidify my marks and score higher. I was a little disappointed at my HSC results and honestly expected higher of myself.

A bit salty about my Chemistry because I worked so hard for it and I ended up not doing well on it. Granted, it was considered a hard exam, but honestly looking back, if I simply just studied more consistently through the year for Chemistry I would’ve done so much better.

As for English Advanced, I’d thought I’d end up with 93-94 but guess not. Turns out my final story really was that bad. Though my weirdest achievement was I did score higher than all of the English Extension 1 kids; two of whom were rank 1 and 2 in my school, making me the sole person to achieve B6 in English Advanced at my school. Yikes...I felt like the markers were really mean or something...

For Physics...yikes. I predicted I’d get like 94-95 raw or something, but turns out I got more wrong than I expected. Possibly the most disappointed mark I have and because I loved and worked so hard for the subject. I feel it is my fault because I blitzed through the Phys exam so hard and confident with an hour to spare but did not check my responses properly....Well, looks like I’ll be applying to Clown College next year...

My most impressive mark for me is Extension 2. Whilst not the highest, my first ever assessment on it I got 72% at last Rank. I worked so hard on this subject and was so nervous about it so many times. I ended up getting Rank 1 and I was so estatic. I studied my guts out for the exam and it was a breeze. Granted I was silly and missed that Jn question because I wasn’t thinking, which could’ve given me 3 more marks. Overall, however, I was impressed by my score.

In the same boat for Physics. Loved that subject, predicted 94-95, ended up with 90 :/

 

[Husky]

A quick survey of the data up suggests band 6 cutoffs (plus or minus 2) about the following:

English Advanced 83
Extension 2 Maths 80
Extension 1 Maths 70
Biology 72
Chemistry 79
Physics 80

It's official...Math extension 1 aligned far better than math extension 2.

How do some raw marks and aligned marks contain decimals for subjects that are out of 100?

 

[quickoats]

How do some raw marks and aligned marks contain decimals for subjects that are out of 100?

MX1 is out of 70 but they convert it to a number out of 100 (hence the decimal)

 

[Husky]

MX1 is out of 70 but they convert it to a number out of 100 (hence the decimal)

Some subjects like MX2 have aligned marks in decimals though which aren't out of 70.

 

[Trebla]

Some subjects like MX2 have aligned marks in decimals though which aren't out of 70.

It is because aligned marks are based on linear interpolations of the band cut-offs.

For example if the band E4 cut-off is 79 that means that a raw mark of exactly 79/100 aligns exactly to a mark of 90/100. Since 100/100 aligns exactly to a mark of 100/100 then a raw mark of say 84/100 aligns to roughly 92.4/100.

 

[Saint Dev]

On the subject of scaling. In the UAC scaling report, they have a table that shows the varying HSC and Scales Mark at given percentiles for each subject. UAC states that you can't use the HSC and corresponding Scaled Marks as a simple conversion because there are a range of raw marks for each HSC, can someone explain this and would the range in scaled marks be significant?

 

[Trebla]

On the subject of scaling. In the UAC scaling report, they have a table that shows the varying HSC and Scales Mark at given percentiles for each subject. UAC states that you can't use the HSC and corresponding Scaled Marks as a simple conversion because there are a range of raw marks for each HSC, can someone explain this and would the range in scaled marks be significant?

Perhaps best to illustrate on a table below. Using my earlier example, suppose that the Band E4 cut-off was 79/100. The aligned marks between 90 and 100 are determined by linear interpolation as shown below (green to amber columns). This is how you get decimal points on the aligned marks.

However, what you see on your HSC results is the rounded value (red column). In Table A3 of the UAC scaling report, the aligned HSC marks being shown are the rounded ones (red column) corresponding to the particular percentiles.



As you can see this means that for the same rounded aligned HSC mark there can be more than one raw mark mapped to it. For example, a rounded aligned HSC mark of 96.0 can correspond to a raw mark of either 91.0 or 92.0 (i.e. not a one-to-one relationship).

Scaled marks are a function of the raw marks (green column), not the aligned marks. Each raw mark maps to a unique scaled mark (one-to-one relationship).

Since there can be more than one raw mark associated with a given rounded aligned HSC mark then there can also be more than one scaled mark associated with this rounded aligned HSC mark. In the example above, a rounded aligned mark of 96.0 will correspond to whatever scaled marks the 91.0 and 92.0 raw marks give (which will be different). The one that ends up on Table A3 of the UAC scaling report is whatever mark lands on the chosen percentile (e.g. 75th percentile).

Hope that makes sense.

 

[D94]

How do some raw marks and aligned marks contain decimals for subjects that are out of 100?

Aligned marks are reported to students as whole numbers, but they are calculated to up to 2 decimal places. You can talk with your school staff in regards to accessing more precise aligned marks as they will have access to it.

(It would be less confusing to simply round it to the whole number, but in the interest of transparency and accuracy, it's probably better to keep them as decimal places)