Does your school's performance of the subject affect your mark? (1 Viewer)

[hellopenguin666]

Hi guys. I am currently in year 11 and thinking about year 12. I currently take 3U math, physics and chemistry (and other subjects) and I am thinking about dropping physics and do 4U math. I personally like both physics and math but I need to make a choice to drop either of them next year. I've heard that school's performance can affect your HSC Mark and idk if this is true? If this is the case I might be dropping physics lol as I feel like our school doesn't have structured lessons for physics and less ppl are taking it.

Also, I currently go to Zhang's for physics but I feel like it was pretty average. The class time is quite late for me and I feel like they go through stuff rlly quick and it is definitely not the same for school and it doesn't rlly prepare me for school... idk if I should continue for this term and drop next term until they do yr 12 content as rn I feel like its a bit waste of money.

Thank you!

 

[hellopenguin666]

Also to add on, my yr 11 term 1 results for math is a lot better than phys so I am also more confident in math...but im willing to give phys another go

 

[Eagle Mum]

The question of whether a student’s school cohort’s performance affects the student’s assessment mark has been asked many times (https://boredofstudies.org/threads/how-do-rankings-of-schools-affect-your-hsc-mark.182899/page-4, https://boredofstudies.org/threads/is-atar-influenced-by-the-performance-of-your-school.403225/). The closer the internal assessment mark of each student is to their external HSC exam mark, the less the assessment marks are moderated for that cohort, so many education dept staff claim it does not, but because internal assessments include untimed, uninvigilated assignments, there are students who score better on internal assignments than in the exam, so moderation can bring down assessment marks in poorer performing schools. Even though our local school is ranked about 400, the maths HoD (who used to teach at JRAHS) uses really difficult internal exam papers, so the internal assessment marks are well spread and accurately differentiate students - therefore, there is little moderation to maths assessment marks. Similarly, last year, my son scored in the high nineties for physics whilst his classmates scored below passing marks in internal assessments. Whilst any student who comes first is never affected anyway, with the internal assessments being what they were, if there had been a student in the class performing somewhere in between, their mark would likely not have been moderated.

Your choice between taking maths extension 2 or physics should be based on your personal strengths, personal subject interests and what you are considering for your future career, since there’s no way of really telling in advance how assessment marks will be moderated based on cohort performance and assessment marks given by the teacher(s). My youngest is also in Yr 11. At this time, she is planning to do MEx2 and physics, as well as bio, chem, dance and adv English at our local high school (which last year was ranked around 450, so towards the bottom of the state).