I'm confused about - everything (1 Viewer)

[jenga218]

I am probably breaking pretty much every rule with these questions (wrong board, wrong section, etc.) and I'm sorry. But I have a lot of questions and no one seems to be able to answer them. I apologize in advance for TL;DR

I moved from Canada (where I have lived all my life) to Australia in November of 2008. I started year 11 in 2009, and I am slowly learning about how the school system works here. But one thing I can't figure out is the UAI/ATAR.

In Canada, when you wish to apply for University, they look at your average from years 11 and 12, which is a percentage. So if you say got an 80% in maths, a 78% in Physics, an 83% in English, and a 72% in French, then you got an average of 78.25%. The higher your average, the better your chances of getting accepted into Uni.

I was advised this year to take Society & Culture instead of Community & Family Studies because it had a better UAI. The UAI is a "Universities Admissions Index" that is determined by where you come in relation to the rest of the students in your graduating class, correct?

From what I have found browsing the net, though, you are only given one UAI. Up until this point, I thought there was an individual one for every class. If I am only given one UAI, then why is it important that I choose S&C over CAFS?

I also thought that it was based on your results from the HSC (which, to my understanding, is ONE test that determines everything? ). But I found a few things tonight that say that it is now based on where you fit in amongst the students who started either year 10 or year 7 with you (it's conflicting). If that's the case, then what happens to me, since I never did the School Certificate? (Year 12 is compulsory in Canada, graduating from year 10 means pretty much nothing, other than 'yay, only 2 years to go!) And, this may be the stupidest question of all, but if the UAI is based on your School Certificate, then what role does the HSC play in determining your UAI?

I am planning on going to University here, so all this is (I think) relevant to me. Sorry again for my complete Newbieness/rule breakage/tl;dr. What I really need is a "Australian High School for Dummies" book or something...

Any and all help is appreciated!

 

[Timothy.Siu]

that stuff about being placed within yr 7 and 10 don't really mean much. Its just so it looks better.
dont worry about that.

the UAI is solely based on year 12. so don't worry that u haven't been here for SC and other stuff etc.

good luck

 

[inhinyero]

I moved from Canada (where I have lived all my life) to Australia in November of 2008. I started year 11 in 2009, and I am slowly learning about how the school system works here.

If that's the case, then what happens to me, since I never did the School Certificate?
.

Same here. However am not yet in Australia but i'll be coming this September. Am also having a hard time with the educational system of Australia, especially regarding the rules and requirements for you tu enter uni.

.

My case is, i am presently 3rd year in uni (Electrical Engineering) here in Philippines but wishes to continue my degree in Aus. I know for a fact that I would have to repeat again my engineering subjects (back to first year?!! wtf). My problem is, i don't have HSC result or say UAI which is I believe a requirement to enter the uni(because we dont have it here, we only have an equivalent for that but not same HSC as whole).So in that case, how could I continue my degree since I don't have HSC certificate and all that? Are my trascript of records (copy of uni grades, from first to third year in uni) enough requirement as a transferee forme to enter the uni? say, UNSW since I've read engineering in UNSW is great and excellent.

 

[lolokay]

the ATAR score is determined from year 12 subjects. 50% is from inschool assessment (based on your rank) and 50% from the HSC assessment at the end of year 12 (generally a test for each subject).

You get a score from each subject, which is scaled according to how people went, and then your best 10 units determine your ATAR. Some subjects scale better than others, due to the people doing that subject, which is why you would have been advised to take one subject over another

the year7/10 thing, I think just means that if you get an ATAR of 80 then you're in the top 80% of the year 7 cohort that you would have been with, so that doesn't matter

 

[runoutofsleep]

ok jenga218 i'm pretty nice so i'll try to explain everything to you

so universities are like igloos ok

lots of people want to get into an igloo after school but there is only limited space because igloos are pretty small. so the igloos (universities, remember) need to decide who to let in and who to turn away.

so they employ some very discerning hunters to pick the best candidates. the hunters are called uac and they rank everybody using a uai aka atar afaik iirc.

a uac.

now to rank people they basically hold a major free for all hockey game and whoever gets a lot of goals gets ranked highest. but they also realise that one single hockey game is not an absolutely reliable indicator so they also look at the players' performance over the course of a year. this performance is reported by all the separate hockey teams, which are a bit like SCHOOLS and SUBJECTS if you catch my drift.

BUT, you may be thinking, all the teams are not the same! some teams are the toronto maple leafs, some are the nova scotia juniors, some mooses and some are polar bears.

how can we compare a moose with tomas kaberle!

so these scores are adjusted so that even when some polar bear tops the ontario special school 3rd division (2 unit food technology) they don't get the same score as some genius from the buffalo sabres (extension latin or whatever).

i hope this clears everything up, but let me know if you're still unsure because i do have a few more pictures of polar bears

 

[kevinx2]

^ A+ post

 

[runoutofsleep]

i reckon hey

should be stickied.

 

[Timothy.Siu]

wow that actually made it easier to understand.
10/10.

 

[samthebear]

GG man - you even managed to relate it to a popular canadian sport XDD

 

[jenga218]

Wow, thanks for that! I think I understand now. (And yes, should be stickied).

 

[Njn]

+1 for sticky... that was actually pretty clear... surprisingly =.=

 

[annabackwards]

That was pro, awesome job

Repped ^^

 

[Xcelz]

Nice post (polar bear one that is)

Repped.

 

[Xcelz]

Here is it a little basic guide to the HSC that I'll type out because I'm bored. You probably already know the process but here you go. (Not as interesting as the previous guide)

Edit: This only applies to NSW and maybe ACT as each state has their own curriculum.

Before year 10 (School Certificate)
Insignificant ignore it



Year 11 (Preliminary HSC)

• You have to pick subjects that add up to a minimum of 12 units with English being the only compulsory course.
• Each subject = 2 units OR Extension course = 1 unit
• Does not affect your year 12 HSC marks / ATAR
• All of the stuff you learn in year 11 becomes assumed knowledge for your subjects in year 12.

Year 12 (HSC)

• you only need 10 units (equivalent to five 2 unit subjects - this is for atar calculation.
• Your HSC results from year 12 are determined from 2 different processes; Internal Assessments & External Exams

Internal assessments: are worth 50% of your final HSC mark. They are a series of assessments where you are compared against the rest of your year in each subject. Your ranking within the year becomes most important rather than the mark. (will explain later). The teachers send the ranks and marks to the Board of Studies.

External exams: A separate exam that you sit in October/November for each of your subjects. Your results from this exam are used to moderate the assessment mark which your teacher's send in to the BoS.

Little bit about marking process

1. teachers send in your ranks and assessment mark to Bos.

2. your external exam mark is used to moderate this mark because each school sets different standard assessments/marks harder etc.
- in a basic scenario, if you come 1st in the internal assessments and come 3rd in the external exam, you will receive the highest external exam mark as your moderated assessment mark because u came 1st in ranks

3. your " raw"external exam mark (raw= the actual mark you receive in the external exam) is scaled with your new moderated assessment mark for a score out of 100.
- so nobody finds out the actual mark they got in the external exam.

4. these scaled HSC marks out of 100 are now sent to UAC, who further scale them with their own process and they send you back a ATAR (formerly called UAI)

- for the ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank - your best 2 units of English are counted for the calculation and then the next best 8 units from other subjects. so only your best 10 units are counted, even if you chose to do 12 units)

So in the end... you receive...

- a HSC mark out of 100 for each subject you did (or 50 if it is a 1 unit course)
- an ATAR (if you choose to apply for one - this is what universities use for university admission.

hope that helps, it may just seem like a jumble

 

[babikakez]

That was pro, awesome job

Repped ^^

also repped

 

[youngminii]

I like the igloos and the polar bears better :rofl:

 

[eriito]

Explanation by runoutofsleep was brilliant

 

[hollaholla]

so basically if you stuffed up the internals you can forget about getting a good atar?

 

[iRuler]

so basically if you stuffed up the internals you can forget about getting a good atar?

Nah not really, just mega ace externals, u'll have half a chance, so if u averaged like 80~ for internals, ranked around 10/50, depending on your school rank (lets say rank 300), you have a chance of 90+ ATAR

 

[Zorbini]

Quick question, If I end up with high ranks after the trials (i.e. 2/40), should I be helping people to get high marks in the external HSC exam? Alternatively, should I be helping people if I get low ranks?