Essentially, with first and last ranks, the Assessment Mark is made identical to the Examination Mark. For example, if a student was ranked first, and the highest Examination Mark for a subject that this student took was 90, that student will receive 90 as their Assessment Mark. Similarly, if a student was ranked last, and the lowest Examination Mark for a subject that this student took was 50, that student will receive 50 as their Assessment Mark. This process, however, is not exactly the same with other ranks, such as 3rd. Consider the following example from NESA:
As you can see, the highest Assessment Mark was adjusted to equal the highest Examination Mark (92). The lowest Assessment Mark was also adjusted to equal the lowest Examination Mark (50). However, the Assessment Mark for the student ranked 3rd is not identical to the third highest Examination Mark.
As you can see, the highest Assessment Mark was adjusted to equal the highest Examination Mark (92). The lowest Assessment Mark was also adjusted to equal the lowest Examination Mark (50). However, the Assessment Mark for the student ranked 3rd is not identical to the third highest Examination Mark.