Do people exaggerate the difficulty of the HSC? (1 Viewer)

[Aerath]

My impression was that one of the 99.95'ers this year got a guaranteed place from Sydney Uni - but I can't find which course it is because their info sucks over there on their website.

False. You need 99.95 to be -offered- an interview at USyd. There are no guarantees you get in.

 

[Schoey93]

Just be quiet and stop spreading *true* rumours that medicine isn't difficult or too difficult to get into esp. UWS if you're from GWS (ATAR of 93.00 only)

I don't want lazy fucks who love money in my course thanks

 

[bubbrubb]

whoever said the SC was hard or that it was used for nething is a retard.

SC is a breeze - no use in life and no challenges in the test.

I reckon the hsc is pretty hard if you want to get above 98. not necessarily because its HARD... but because if you are aiming so high it puts so much stress on you when the exams come up. If you are aiming for simply 87 then no it wont be hard. tho everyone is different and some people do subjects that are poor scaling etc.

tho i will state that 4 unit maths was a headache at times and that modern history was just plain old boring midway through the year so the hardest thing for me in the hsc was forcing myself to study modern... if you do subjects that you like it will be much much more fun...

 

[lpodnano]

Um what? LMAO

You're an idiot if you were being serious

Anyone can do the HSC and at least get the certificate, even with straight Band 2's.


Whoever told you that was giving an empty threat..

LOL. It was a dry joke but moving on...

 

[study-freak]

My impression was that one of the 99.95'ers this year got a guaranteed place from Sydney Uni - but I can't find which course it is because their info sucks over there on their website.

False. You need 99.95 to be -offered- an interview at USyd. There are no guarantees you get in.

It's true that one needs 99.95 to be offered a combined med interview, but soon after interview, the one in charge of combined med at Usyd contacted successful interviewees and let them know that they were offered guaranteed places.
At least, that's what happened this year.

 

[wendybird]

It's true that one needs 99.95 to be offered a combined med interview, but soon after interview, the one in charge of combined med at Usyd contacted successful interviewees and let them know that they were offered guaranteed places.
At least, that's what happened this year.

Combined law people all got calls from the Law faculty - ie. "Congratulations and we'll see you next year!" (amounting to a guarantee).

ETA: And I second the combined med guarantees - 2 of my friends got definite offers already.

 

[Aerath]

It's true that one needs 99.95 to be offered a combined med interview, but soon after interview, the one in charge of combined med at Usyd contacted successful interviewees and let them know that they were offered guaranteed places.
At least, that's what happened this year.

Yeah, but that's -after- the interview. From the post above, I was under the impression that the poster thought that once you got the ATAR of 99.95, you're in - which I know to be false.

And what? =( Law called? I haven't received a call from USyd Law. =( I got 99.85. Although, I did get an invitation to breakfast with USyd Law school Dean. Wonder if it amounts to the same thing?

 

[wendybird]

Yeah, but that's -after- the interview. From the post above, I was under the impression that the poster thought that once you got the ATAR of 99.95, you're in - which I know to be false.

And what? =( Law called? I haven't received a call from USyd Law. =( I got 99.85. Although, I did get an invitation to breakfast with USyd Law school Dean. Wonder if it amounts to the same thing?

I think the law call was for the 99.95ers? Is the breakfast on the 5th Jan? I'm going to that one.

 

[Tofuu]

who the hell in their right minds would exaggerate the difficulty of the sc? It's just like the easiest test ever =='

+1

 

[study-freak]

Yeah, but that's -after- the interview. From the post above, I was under the impression that the poster thought that once you got the ATAR of 99.95, you're in - which I know to be false.

And what? =( Law called? I haven't received a call from USyd Law. =( I got 99.85. Although, I did get an invitation to breakfast with USyd Law school Dean. Wonder if it amounts to the same thing?

Hmm, I see. Yeah, that's true.

And with 99.85, it's hard to fail to get into any course except Dean's scholarship stuff and the ones requiring other things such as the UMAT.
So I think you would get in.

 

[jet]

To be honest, cosmology was my hardest course.

 

[Schoey93]

It was probably one of the easiest things I've ever done. So yes, dumbasses exagerrate the HSC.

inb4OMGNOTEVERY1ISASSMARTASU

Lol, nice

To your "code"
I know that not everyone is as smart as me, I just don't think an IQ of 135-140 makes me "smart" ... I would call myself "mildly gifted" ...

 

[Schoey93]

Yeah, but that's -after- the interview. From the post above, I was under the impression that the poster thought that once you got the ATAR of 99.95, you're in - which I know to be false.

And what? =( Law called? I haven't received a call from USyd Law. =( I got 99.85. Although, I did get an invitation to breakfast with USyd Law school Dean. Wonder if it amounts to the same thing?

Only USYD offers Combined Science/Medicine+Surgery

UNSW offers BA (Bachelor of Arts)/MBBS

and their ATAR cut-off is 95

I'll choose UNSW, UWS or UNCLE thanks


I don't want to have to complete a three-year science degree before even touching true medicine/surgery!

 

[Schoey93]

LOL. It was a dry joke but moving on...

I suspected it was either wry humour or ignorance ... and given my vindictive nature chose to imply it was ignorance

 

[jet]

I don't want to have to complete a three-year science degree before even touching true medicine/surgery!

I actually want to have the science degree. Would give you a more solid research foundation and much more freedom within your medical career. It would give you many more choices if you ever wanted to do a clinical trial etc.

+ It means that USyd is much more organised - UNSW gets confusing as they have to spread it over 6 years.

 

[Schoey93]

Um okay, who did you get it marked by? Just a school teacher? You should be careful about guaging your performance by teacher's marking of your exams, i've consistently gotten over 96% in every single biology exam i've sat and is ranked 2nd the subject (I go to top 30 school) and yet the whole grade underperformed in the HSC and i only got 90 in the hsc. I know my comment is highly subjective but im just saying - its common for exams like Biology to be mark too leniently.

Otherwise kudos to your 60% in biology though, thats pretty impressive for no contact with the hsc course. (y)

I referred to the textbook (HSC Biology in Focus) and I used marking notes a teacher gave me (dictated notes/discussion)
Oh and even before I talked to my biology teacher, I found that a lot of it was general School Cert Science knowledge like:

"Question 18 (5 marks)

On a ship at sea there is an outbreak of a disease affecting the human digestive system.

Explain how cleanliness in food, water and personal hygiene practices on the ship could assist in controlling this disease."

If you don't believe me that I got the five marks easily, I can type my answer up ... it's quite long (1 paragraph)

 

[Schoey93]

I actually want to have the science degree. Would give you a more solid research foundation and much more freedom within your medical career. It would give you many more choices if you ever wanted to do a clinical trial etc.

+ It means that USyd is much more organised - UNSW gets confusing as they have to spread it over 6 years.

LOL but UWS and UNCLE+UNE have five year degrees:

MBBS and B Med

So I think 5 years> 7 years busting my ass

Edit: Oh and USYD is the same as doing GAMSAT 'cept you don't have to sit a test for your graduate degree (MBBS)

 

[jet]

LOL but UWS and UNCLE+UNE have five year degrees:

MBBS and B Med

So I think 5 years> 7 years busting my ass

Well it all depends on your career aspirations? Surgery, internal medicine, gp or another more esoteric specialty?

 

[emmcyclopedia]

The HSC results you get, I've found, are often proportional to the amount of work you do.

An ATAR of 87 corresponds approximately to straight Band 5's, so they do require some work, though obviously not as much as what you would need to do to get a band 6.

(I'm not trying to say you shouldn't aim for 6's, I'm just saying you should look at how much work it is, not how hard it is. Obviously other subjects (4 unit maths etc etc) are more difficult than others, though the same rule applies).

HSC was a huge anti climax imo

this and this.

I haven't read the whole thread so sorry if I'm repeating anything already said, but I really wanted to reply after reading the thread title...

HSC isn't difficult. Each year of high school gradually increases in difficulty (generally), and Year 11 and 12 are no different. I think if you're naturally intelligent, you can get by on very little study/effort.

But in general - you don't have to be a genius to do well.
Like jetblack said - effort = results.
It's a memory game (maybe not in maths...), and in a sense it's a test of mental strength (i.e. how well you deal with the constant pressure)

HSC is a massive nothing. Having just finished, I learnt how truly meaningless it is the very second you finish your last exam. Ok, you need it to get into future education pathways, but there are clearly many alternatives and "side doors for entry" as I've been told so many times.

But still do your best - it's fantastic practise, and you learn some invaluable coping/studying mechanisms for later in life.
Just don't go stabbing yourself in the eyes with a pencil, it's not THAT big a deal!

Best of luck with your HSC =)

 

[jet]

It's a memory game (maybe not in maths...), and in a sense it's a test of mental strength (i.e. how well you deal with the constant pressure)

Actually I've found that you can just memorise everything you need to know in maths, and it works out. By this I mean things like methods for answering different question types etc etc. Even most of 4 unit can be done this way.