Good ATAR in a bad school? Is it possible? (1 Viewer)

[jennifernb]

Here's a little background story:

I tried out for three schools this year (I'm in Year 10) but unfortunately I came out unsuccessful due to my horrible anxiety during the exam. I'm a BIG worrier when it comes to any exams and now that I know that I failed, my anxiety levels have been way above the usual.

I go to a school that's ranked between the 100-200s. My current cohort is not that great, (not many motivated students, students who have been suspended several times).

My ATAR aim is 99+ as I am hoping to get into medicine/biomedical sciences and my chosen subjects for next year are:

3u
3u
Economics
Modern History
Chemistry

I was wondering if it is possible to do so in a school that's not ranked very well.
I'm willing to give in all the effort and hardwork for the HSC but I'm afraid that my ATAR will be affected by my school's rank.
I've heard something about being ranked 1st in all my subjects but am unsure of how that all works, what happens if I rank second?

I'm just very unmotivated at the moment due to coming to the realisation that I am unable to move to a better ranked school.
Any ideas?

 

[jazz519]

If you rank 1st in ur subjects that means you won't be affected by anyone else's marks. So if you come first in the school exams overall and then you come first at HSC as well and get like 95, your overall mark will be 95, even if like 2nd got like 85. But say you come first in the school exams but in the HSC exam you don't come first, you get whatever the highest exam mark was as your assesment mark (school mark), so you still benefit.

If you're ranked 2nd u might be affected a little bit but not much, and yes you can still get that atar in that school ranking.

 

[BlueGas]

You can get into biomedical science at UTS with an ATAR of 83-84

 

[kashkow]

Considering there are about 600 schools in NSW, you are within the top 33% of schools so that's not that low...

The cohort may be a concern but I'd recommend being more concerned about exam performance more than the school ranking/your cohort. You're approaching a season filled with exams so I'd try to best improve on your own exam performance. This will have a greater impact on your ATAR imo than your cohort/school rank. Like if you are able to smash out exams and do really well in assessments school ranking will have very little impact on your ATAR. So I advise to not worry about school rank for two reasons.

1. You're school rank isn't that bad tbh, there are many people in many schools that are lower than your ranks, and many have achieved good results. Also I wrote a post about school ranking which should help clear some stuff up: http://community.boredofstudies.org...does-school-rank-affect-atar.html#post7194212. The only problem you may face is if your cohort average score is lower in their INTERNAL assessments then their average score in their HSC EXTERNAL exams and you find yourself in the middle of the cohort. This means you may be dragged down - but if you stay ahead of the cohort and focus on point 2, this shouldn't be a problem. I don't think this would be the case, due to your current school rank. You will probably get an average INTERNALLY similar to your average EXTERNALLY. If you don't understand all this, don't fret. Even if you get dragged down a bit, if you are staying at the top of your cohort with good marks it shouldn't affect you too much. And if you're predicting cohort is REALLY bad you have an added advantage of being more easily coming first out of your cohort, in which case their results won't affect you.

2. You have more important things to worry about which is your exam performance so I'd try to improve best you can in these. Really if you do well in your exams and get 98% in your internal exams/assessments then it doesn't matter if you are ranked 4/5 since relative distribution of marks are preserved. The only disadvantage is if your cohort pulls you down a bit by the process mentioned before, but like I mentioned this is unlikely due to school rank and if it does occur it probably won't affect you too much if it happens IF you are doing well and getting high marks. ALSO if you don't do well in exams then it won't really matter whether your cohort is good or not, you'd still be behind.

To directly answer your question, yeah it is very possible to do well in a low ranked school, but I don't even think your school is that lowly ranked.

Sorry for long post. (And if you need/want more explanation or want me to expand on something feel free to ask)

 

[chiefpasco]

nah. go to an even shittier school and people have gotten 95+ atars here before. if youre not ranked first though and your cohort is shit, then youre fucked.

 

[Esse]

My school was ranked 400 2 years ago and the Dux got 99.90. If you are first in your subjects and you are confident to ace externals, nothing will affect you. Our rank was 328 last year and we got 8 95+ with the Dux getting 99.00.

 

[BandSixFix]

If you're ranked second and you believe you tried your hardest then obviously it means he/she is smarter than you and indicates a competitive cohort.

 

[WrittenLoveLetters]

A school ranked 100 - 200 is not that bad. In fact, getting a good ATAR (whatever you define that as) isn't as hard as it seems. My school use to be in the 150 ~ 170s, and we still received 30 or so 90+ ATARs and there was always one 99.somethingsomething ATAR.

Calling out another student I know here on BOS, Leehuan, he came from a small cohort and if my memory serves me right, really low ranked school (around the 200s I believe) and came out being 3rd/4th in the cohort with a 98.6

Anything is possible at whatever school you attend to, sure there won't be like 30 99.95s as there are in James Ruse (don't know if true, I heard so) but the school rank is not permanent. My school gradually rose from a 170 (in 2011) to a 70something (in 2015) with 3 students with a 99.something and 50 or so 90+ ATARs last year.

 

[eyeseeyou]

A school ranked 100 - 200 is not that bad. In fact, getting a good ATAR (whatever you define that as) isn't as hard as it seems. My school use to be in the 150 ~ 170s, and we still received 30 or so 90+ ATARs and there was always one 99.somethingsomething ATAR.

Calling out another student I know here on BOS, Leehuan, he came from a small cohort and if my memory serves me right, really low ranked school (around the 200s I believe) and came out being 3rd/4th in the cohort with a 98.6

Anything is possible at whatever school you attend to, sure there won't be like 30 99.95s as there are in James Ruse (don't know if true, I heard so) but the school rank is not permanent. My school gradually rose from a 170 (in 2011) to a 70something (in 2015) with 3 students with a 99.something and 50 or so 90+ ATARs last year.

Ruse only gets a few 99.95's every year, like 4 or so

(to OP)Also to any motherfucker who tells you all this bullshit like "you go to a low ranked school, you can't get 99+ ATAR, what the point of the HSC for you", you can tell them to go fuck themselves because honestly, that's not true. One student out of 100 other not-so-great students doesn't mean that you're just as bad as them as your academic ability and hardwork is what differentiates you out of all of them. It seriously pisses me off so much when people say that

So don't worry if your school is low ranked, as long as you top most of your subjects, you'll get a high ATAR. Don't give up

Also if you want your cohort to be strong then you'll have to help them out (and make sure their the type of students who are willing in to put time and effort in order to do well)

 

[jkhoo]

It is absolutely possible to get a fantastic ATAR, even if your school is 'not that good'. Although you may already be sick of hearing this, the fact that you're in year 10 means you have plenty of time to consolidate your study skills so that you can do really well!

 

[BLIT2014]

Yes it is possible to get a "Good" ATAR in a low ranked school.

 

[ashmitalal20]

what if ur school isn't in the top 150 in the state? (NSW) but the highest atar for 2019 was 91.10

 

[idkkdi]

what if ur school isn't in the top 150 in the state? (NSW) but the highest atar for 2019 was 91.10

the "but" seems out of context?

 

[ashmitalal20]

whoops sorry, i meant that my school isn't in the top 150 but the highest atar for 2019 at my school was 91.10 so idk if that is considered good cause I am losing hope cause that is way below what i am aiming to achieve

 

[c8]

whoops sorry lmao, i meant that my school isn't in the top 150 but the highest atar for 2019 at my school was 91.10 so idk if that is considered good cause I am losing hope cause that is way below what i am aiming to achieve

If you're ranked 1st in your subjects technically you decide your own marks (1st internal gets first external) so if you work hard and smash year 12 you can get whatever you want to get. Yes going to a lower ranked school puts you at a disadvantage as many around you likely will be less motivated, but if you want it bad enough and work hard enough for it you can get what you want

 

[ashmitalal20]

Oh really? I didn't know that. Thank you so much I am currently 2nd or 3rd in all of my subjects so I will have to work a bit harder for that.

 

[Drdusk]

Oh really? I didn't know that. Thank you so much I am currently 2nd or 3rd in all of my subjects so I will have to work a bit harder for that.

Since your HSC is next year I wouldn't stress about it too much right now but definitely try and get all your subjects to being ranked first. That being said schools outside top 150 also tend to fluctuate a lot in terms of what atars are achieved. For example in my school the highest atar for 2 years before us was 98 but for us it was 99.85.. Soo yeah it CAN vary a lot.

 

[ashmitalal20]

Since your HSC is next year I wouldn't stress about it too much right now but definitely try and get all your subjects to being ranked first. That being said schools outside top 150 also tend to fluctuate a lot in terms of what atars are achieved. For example in my school the highest atar for 2 years before us was 98 but for us it was 99.85.. Soo yeah it CAN vary a lot.

Thanks, that really helped

 

[SylviaB]

In theory your school doesn't matter given an absolute performance in a given set of subjects (as opposed to relative performance). If you perform equally well in an absolute sense at a bad school as a good school, it means your ranking at a bad school will be proportionally higher, offsetting the impact of your cohort's scores on your own.

 

[SylviaB]

If you're ranked 1st in your subjects technically you decide your own marks (1st internal gets first external) so if you work hard and smash year 12 you can get whatever you want to get. Yes going to a lower ranked school puts you at a disadvantage as many around you likely will be less motivated, but if you want it bad enough and work hard enough for it you can get what you want

That's arguable. If you're the only motivated student, you will be the only one asking questions and the teacher will spend more time with you, compared to a competitive school where you can more easily get left out.