Is Standard English really an Atar killer and should i do advance instead? (1 Viewer)

[Jigmey]

Subject selections are coming up this term and I'll have to make a daring decision whether to choose Standard or Advanced English. I'm aiming for an Atar of 80 but have heard that Standard murders your Atar and isn't that significantly easier than advanced. My essays skills are quite excellent as I have been getting consistent marks of high marks in the 90s for subjects like History and Commerce. I've also been noticing through research that more students are getting band 6s in Advanced, which is evident in my school where over 50% attained a band 6 and a further 45% attained a band 5, whilst only 3 students attained a band 6 in standard. Is standard truly an Atar killer?

 

[BLIT2014]

If you get a choice to choose Advanced English, the difficulty between Standard and Advanced is similar however as you observed the aligning is different. A band 6 calibre Standard student I suspect would be able to get a band 6 in Advanced (and find it easier to do so). Additionally, I suspect if you want a more studious environment, Advanced English is more likely to offer it. Most highly ranked private/highly ranked selective have Advanced English as the default option, which I suspect also signals that Advanced is the better option for most capable students to pursue.

 

[brent012]

I believe state wide the stats are fairly similar to your school - band 6s are rare in standard.

I'd definitely recommend taking advanced if you are getting an ATAR.

 

[Bob Jane]

If you're aiming for an ATAR over 80 go for adv. english

 

[_rakelt]

If you're aiming for an ATAR over 80 go for adv. english

not necessarily.. my friend got a 93 atar and did standard english

 

[Kpop42]

I believe state wide the stats are fairly similar to your school - band 6s are rare in standard.

I'd definitely recommend taking advanced if you are getting an ATAR.

They're rare with reason...

A Band 6 in standard is only rare because most of the students in the standard course aren't academically excelling students or struggle with English.
Hence, if you're a conscientious worker in English Standard you will succeed. Although, you must keep in mind that typically (at least from my experience) the students in English Standard are highly likely to fluff about/are less focused than students doing Advanced. If you're able to separate yourself from that you'll be fine.

Also, what you have to consider is in Advanced you're competing against ALL the top students at English in the state. Whereas, in Standard may only compete with some of the top English students (as commonly some Adv students drop-down and excel at Standard). Hence, an easier playing field to excel in.

Additionally, look into the general direction you wish to head in your life outside of High School. Be it, a mathematical approach or writing approach. As many University Degrees may have to fulfil prerequisites, such as undertaking Adv Eng.

 

[MONONYMOUS]

Standard is complete aids

 

[Danneo]

Hey bro, i got over 80 ATAR with English Standard. Honestly, do subjects your interested in and willing to put work. If you dont enjoy Shakespeare, i'd recommend standard over advance

 

[gallen88]

Kpop42 made a really good point there. In Advanced English you are competing with the best English students in the state. English Standard usually consists of individuals who struggle with English and students who pretty much hate English in general. However, just because English Standard aligns badly (let's be honest here) doesn't mean you can't achieve an 80+ ATAR.

Quite a few students (around 8) I know received band 5s and high band 4s (77-79) and achieved an ATAR of 80+ in my grade. (We did the HSC last year).

You can get a good ATAR with Standard English as long as you put in the effort. 2 students from my grade achieved an ATAR of 93-94. They did Standard English and achieved a band 5. My friend and I both achieved 95+ ATARS with English Standard. However, we both achieved band 6s for English Standard (and did well in our other subjects).

Keep in mind you need to do well in your other subjects too! It's important that you do well in English but also do well in all of your other subjects too (I don't know what subjects you are doing so keep in mind some subjects are harder than others). Yes, English is compulsory and goes straight to your ATAR. However, all those students I mentioned above from my grade made sure they did well in their other subjects too. Work hard and you will be rewarded. : )

As Kpop42 has noted, look at what degrees you are interested in and whether they require pre-requisite subjects. If there is a degree where English Advanced is a pre-requisite, then do English Advanced. If the degrees you are interested in do not have a pre-requisite for English Advanced, base your decision on whether you like Shakespeare, you're interested in English, you enjoy English etc.

Worst case scenario, ask your English teachers for advice too (if all else fails above).

All the best. : )

 

[LyricalYellow9]

Take Advanced English if you can. I took standard English since I was scared Advanced was going to be incredibly hard and now I regret it so much. At least in advanced you'll have the option to drop if you want (though don't recommend that too lol)

 

[MONONYMOUS]

Standard is aids, if you're good enough to do Advanced, definitely do it.

 

[Sameer]

not necessarily.. my friend got a 93 atar and did standard english

was she good at english

 

[quickoats]

was she good at english

I did standard and got a relatively high atar, and I don’t consider myself to be “good” at English - I finished yr11 with a 65% average in Advanced and in the bottom quintile of my cohort.

If you’re good at English (band 5-6 level), keep with advanced, as the alignment is a lot better, and you won’t be “locked out” of the band 6 zone. However, if your English is a bit so-so, I’d recommend moving to standard if you understand that you will still need to put in work, and that it’s not a “breezy” course. People that drop to standard sometimes do worse than what they would’ve done in advanced, as they treat it as a bludge rather than focusing - they would’ve been better off in advanced that “pushed them”.

Also note that a high ATAR is achievable with any combination of subjects - as long as you do well in all of them.

 

[_rakelt]

was she good at english

got 89 as his final hsc mark

 

[_rakelt]

I did standard and got a relatively high atar, and I don’t consider myself to be “good” at English - I finished yr11 with a 65% average in Advanced and in the bottom quintile of my cohort.

If you’re good at English (band 5-6 level), keep with advanced, as the alignment is a lot better, and you won’t be “locked out” of the band 6 zone. However, if your English is a bit so-so, I’d recommend moving to standard if you understand that you will still need to put in work, and that it’s not a “breezy” course. People that drop to standard sometimes do worse than what they would’ve done in advanced, as they treat it as a bludge rather than focusing - they would’ve been better off in advanced that “pushed them”.

Also note that a high ATAR is achievable with any combination of subjects - as long as you do well in all of them.

exactly.. look at quickoats. u dont need to be doing advance eng to get a high atar, as long as u excel in other subjects

 

[pikachu975]

Subject selections are coming up this term and I'll have to make a daring decision whether to choose Standard or Advanced English. I'm aiming for an Atar of 80 but have heard that Standard murders your Atar and isn't that significantly easier than advanced. My essays skills are quite excellent as I have been getting consistent marks of high marks in the 90s for subjects like History and Commerce. I've also been noticing through research that more students are getting band 6s in Advanced, which is evident in my school where over 50% attained a band 6 and a further 45% attained a band 5, whilst only 3 students attained a band 6 in standard. Is standard truly an Atar killer?

Yeah as others have said the band 6 rate is lower in standard mostly because of less "skilled english students" doing it and probably lower aligning as well. At the start of year 12 I got like really bad in my speech that weighed a lot and average in the half yearly exam so I was nearly last. Was really sad and was about to drop to standard but just stuck it out since it's basically the same content without Shakespeare. Honestly didn't like Shakespeare but man his texts are GREAT for analysis, since they're filled with techniques. I guess you will be competing with harder competition in advanced but imo the more competitive environment is worth it. Not only that but you can read the work of your peers and swap essays etc and peer mark. This defs helped me when I read the work of students in my class - it helped improve my own.

 

[Chrisliu77]

not sure if this was even legal but the school forced me to drop to standard in year 12 although I was doing advanced in year 11 without my consent. in yr 11 I was ranked bottom 20 with 61% at a selective school. here was my honest year 12 english experience: I was a math person so naturally I spent almost all my time focusing on those subjects (maths, phys, engineering). around 1 month before the hsc i decided to put effort into english for once (never did in previous years and always hovered around 50-60% with D's in my report) and memorised all my essays and a creative. aside from not understanding half the texts in comprehension during the exam, i managed to bang out all my essays and creative. however, the reflection i made up on the spot though. in the end i ranked 8/36 in my final rank at school which got me 82 for school and got an exam mark of 89, meaning my hsc mark = 86. Still got a decent atar tbf (97+). so yes you can still do standard and do sorta well.