rumbleroar
Survivor of the HSC
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2011
- Messages
- 2,271
- Gender
- Female
- HSC
- 2014
I'm making this post in response to heaps of other threads that go along the lines of this, and feel as though its getting a bit tiring re-typing what will essentially the same response from me:
I got x% in this assessment weighted y%. I also "failed" my previous assessment. Can I still get a B6?
1. Perspective
First of all, I'm going to point out one very obvious thing that doesn't seem to be put into perspective: you still have at least 60% of assessments left to boost up your rank. I'm not going to stress the importance of doing well internally, because I think you know that, but you actually have quite a big chance to boost your ranks with that >60% weighting of assessments left.
2. Take away the emotional response
So stop worrying too much about how you "failed" your half-yearlies and look toward the future. In actuality, its great you failed your half-yearlies (yes cue the gasps utter shock when this crazy person has said this) because at least it wasn't trials. You can work with the feedback from your teachers to see where you can improve upon and hopefully do better in the next assessments.
It's natural for us to be extremely emotional and panic about our "low" marks and not think rationally about it. I've done this a lot before, but you need to separate your emotional thinking and response from school more. Why? Because when we get over-emotional about things, we don't think too clearly about things and start getting ourselves into a frenzy. This frenzy can cause unneeded anxiety, leading to a lowered capacity to perform well in what is arguably your most crucial secondary school year.
Instead of acting emotionally, think strategically. What can I do to improve upon my current marks in the next assessment? Will I need to write more essays? Do I need to dedicate more time to z subject or spend less time on y subject? Analyse and evaluate your performance in this exam block, noting what you did well and what you did poorly in. Keep doing the good things, but rectify the not-so-great things.
I'd like to share with you guys a little story. I did really badly in my MX2 exam and my biggest pitfall was time-management. I had MX1 later in the week (had also not started studying for that #gg) and learnt that it was more important to finish the entire exam with a couple missing, than get 100% on the 70% I had completed. So what I did was began skipping questions I couldn't do, had 15 minutes leftover and managed to churn out the remaining questions because my brain was in the mode. Although my MX2 marks suffered, my MX1 marks were much better in comparison (there could've been a 20% difference between the two). That's an example of fixing things, and its never too late to start.
This leads me to my third point:
3. Preparation
Another common trend I see with these types of post asking if "chances of b6 are ovaahhhh" is "I crammed the night before", "didn't study for it until a couple of days ago" and all that type of stuff. A general trend, not saying it is true in all cases, is that a lot of the time poor preparation = poor results. Here are my tips to being better prepared for each assessment you get given:
a. Start studying at least two weeks before your exam.
b. Make a list about what needs to be done, break it down and allocate when you are going to do it. But the trick here is to keep at your schedule. Also allow yourself breaks on the days you study.
c. Read over the criteria very closely, asking yourself (objectively, of course) "can I do this to the required standard?"
d. Begin revision (i.e. reading over notes, NOT writing them because they should already be written!!!) at least a few days before your exam, so it's not crammed all in your head. It's more about refreshing your memory and making sure your know the info.
e. Make sure your head is clear the day before your exam. I remember going into my MX2 and VA exams extremely stressed because I was still hysterical about English and those were comparatively my worst two exams. They were also my half yearlies...yay....
4. Strategy
I touched on this briefly before about improvement, but I really recommend going through your assessment with your teacher or tutor and fixing all the areas that are wrong until you perfect it to your standards. I think this is a really helpful way to reinforce the feedback they gave you and put it into practice. You will most likely get better with practice, and it's always a good starting point. Practice what is relevant (although that can be hard to filter out sometimes) and seek continual help from your teachers.
Also, keep your expectations realistic. Don't aim to come first if you're sitting in the bottom 10 of the cohort, as it will just be an unrealistic expectation and you're setting yourself up for disappointment. I'm not saying don't aim high, but keep your goals realistic and in perspective.
Strategy is also about devising a plan to get your desired external HSC marks. To do that, you'll probably need a strong internal rank and standing, as half your final HSC mark is determined by your internal performance. So, talk to your deputy or principal, or whoever handles all the ranks, marks and results of your school in its HSC performance, and ask them, if I want a B6 or whatever, what are the minimum ranks I need to get? Start trying to figure out what %'s you need to get those ranks in the following assessments and work towards those, with hopes that your rank gets pushed up.
Also, please realise that internal school assessments are not an indicator of how you will go in the actual HSC exam. The actual HSC exam could be harder or easier in comparison to your internal assessments and is often not an accurate gauge of how you can go in the future.
5. A silver lining
YES! It is quite possible to get a B6, even if your first set of assessments aren't too great. With dedication and hard work, it can become a more likely reality and I think that if you work strategically towards a B6 and strip away that emotional reaction more, it can definitely increase your chances. I'm not saying this is guaranteeing a B6, but this is just advice to anyone who feels as though their chances of a B6 have been dashed mercilessly by their internal school assessments.
Also, don't be too hard on yourself if your assessment marks aren't on par with your expectations. We're usually the bearer of our own high expectations, which can be a double edged sword. So just keep things on perspective and reward yourself for hard work! (I know I did a bit of online shopping after I got my results back haha!)
Good luck and hope your HSC year only goes up from here
I got x% in this assessment weighted y%. I also "failed" my previous assessment. Can I still get a B6?
1. Perspective
First of all, I'm going to point out one very obvious thing that doesn't seem to be put into perspective: you still have at least 60% of assessments left to boost up your rank. I'm not going to stress the importance of doing well internally, because I think you know that, but you actually have quite a big chance to boost your ranks with that >60% weighting of assessments left.
2. Take away the emotional response
So stop worrying too much about how you "failed" your half-yearlies and look toward the future. In actuality, its great you failed your half-yearlies (yes cue the gasps utter shock when this crazy person has said this) because at least it wasn't trials. You can work with the feedback from your teachers to see where you can improve upon and hopefully do better in the next assessments.
It's natural for us to be extremely emotional and panic about our "low" marks and not think rationally about it. I've done this a lot before, but you need to separate your emotional thinking and response from school more. Why? Because when we get over-emotional about things, we don't think too clearly about things and start getting ourselves into a frenzy. This frenzy can cause unneeded anxiety, leading to a lowered capacity to perform well in what is arguably your most crucial secondary school year.
Instead of acting emotionally, think strategically. What can I do to improve upon my current marks in the next assessment? Will I need to write more essays? Do I need to dedicate more time to z subject or spend less time on y subject? Analyse and evaluate your performance in this exam block, noting what you did well and what you did poorly in. Keep doing the good things, but rectify the not-so-great things.
I'd like to share with you guys a little story. I did really badly in my MX2 exam and my biggest pitfall was time-management. I had MX1 later in the week (had also not started studying for that #gg) and learnt that it was more important to finish the entire exam with a couple missing, than get 100% on the 70% I had completed. So what I did was began skipping questions I couldn't do, had 15 minutes leftover and managed to churn out the remaining questions because my brain was in the mode. Although my MX2 marks suffered, my MX1 marks were much better in comparison (there could've been a 20% difference between the two). That's an example of fixing things, and its never too late to start.
This leads me to my third point:
3. Preparation
Another common trend I see with these types of post asking if "chances of b6 are ovaahhhh" is "I crammed the night before", "didn't study for it until a couple of days ago" and all that type of stuff. A general trend, not saying it is true in all cases, is that a lot of the time poor preparation = poor results. Here are my tips to being better prepared for each assessment you get given:
a. Start studying at least two weeks before your exam.
b. Make a list about what needs to be done, break it down and allocate when you are going to do it. But the trick here is to keep at your schedule. Also allow yourself breaks on the days you study.
c. Read over the criteria very closely, asking yourself (objectively, of course) "can I do this to the required standard?"
d. Begin revision (i.e. reading over notes, NOT writing them because they should already be written!!!) at least a few days before your exam, so it's not crammed all in your head. It's more about refreshing your memory and making sure your know the info.
e. Make sure your head is clear the day before your exam. I remember going into my MX2 and VA exams extremely stressed because I was still hysterical about English and those were comparatively my worst two exams. They were also my half yearlies...yay....
4. Strategy
I touched on this briefly before about improvement, but I really recommend going through your assessment with your teacher or tutor and fixing all the areas that are wrong until you perfect it to your standards. I think this is a really helpful way to reinforce the feedback they gave you and put it into practice. You will most likely get better with practice, and it's always a good starting point. Practice what is relevant (although that can be hard to filter out sometimes) and seek continual help from your teachers.
Also, keep your expectations realistic. Don't aim to come first if you're sitting in the bottom 10 of the cohort, as it will just be an unrealistic expectation and you're setting yourself up for disappointment. I'm not saying don't aim high, but keep your goals realistic and in perspective.
Strategy is also about devising a plan to get your desired external HSC marks. To do that, you'll probably need a strong internal rank and standing, as half your final HSC mark is determined by your internal performance. So, talk to your deputy or principal, or whoever handles all the ranks, marks and results of your school in its HSC performance, and ask them, if I want a B6 or whatever, what are the minimum ranks I need to get? Start trying to figure out what %'s you need to get those ranks in the following assessments and work towards those, with hopes that your rank gets pushed up.
Also, please realise that internal school assessments are not an indicator of how you will go in the actual HSC exam. The actual HSC exam could be harder or easier in comparison to your internal assessments and is often not an accurate gauge of how you can go in the future.
5. A silver lining
YES! It is quite possible to get a B6, even if your first set of assessments aren't too great. With dedication and hard work, it can become a more likely reality and I think that if you work strategically towards a B6 and strip away that emotional reaction more, it can definitely increase your chances. I'm not saying this is guaranteeing a B6, but this is just advice to anyone who feels as though their chances of a B6 have been dashed mercilessly by their internal school assessments.
Also, don't be too hard on yourself if your assessment marks aren't on par with your expectations. We're usually the bearer of our own high expectations, which can be a double edged sword. So just keep things on perspective and reward yourself for hard work! (I know I did a bit of online shopping after I got my results back haha!)
Good luck and hope your HSC year only goes up from here
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