Low scaling subjects (1 Viewer)

[Gummy_bear]

Well, when i went online and saw my HSC results, i was stocked, thinking that i would get about 75-80 UAI.
Then this morning, turned on the comp and got 69.85 >< Mum and dad are pissed, not at me, but at the UAI process. I got such a bad UAI i think because of i have mostly low scaling subjects.

If i had done physics instead of senior science and gotten the same mark (83) i recon i would of gotten about 80, which i what i need for most of my courses.
My subjects were: standard enlgish, senior science, general maths, ancient history, drama.

Who else thinks that it is thier choice of subjects that stuffed up thier UAI? Do you think i am right in my assumption?
My marks are in the marks thread, if you want to check them out.

If i dont get any offers, i think i will repeat at tafe, and choose some better subjects, such as physics and advanced english, instead of choosing subjects based on what ill like.

Any thought?

 

[hipPo3]

Well, when i went online and saw my HSC results, i was stocked, thinking that i would get about 75-80 UAI.
Then this morning, turned on the comp and got 69.85 >< Mum and dad are pissed, not at me, but at the UAI process. I got such a bad UAI i think because of i have mostly low scaling subjects.

same with me .. exactly..

my parents didn't like thier processing system.
I got 67.2 .. my dad calculated my scores yesterday without the scaling and got 78.

travesty.

 

[kow_dude]

I think the idea of scaling is both fair and ridiculous. It is fair in that it distinguishes between the more able from the less abled students, and by doing the 'difficult' subjects would allow them to earn higher marks they deserve. It is unfair for those who didn't know about the concept of scaling and did subjects that were thought as 'easy' would be punished by getting scaled down. This happened to a lot of my friends and they would not have chosen the subjects they did if they knew about scaling.

 

[kami]

I think you are right - if you had gotten the same mark in Physics it would have contributed more, but then again given that you yourself admit that your current subjects are ones you prefer and your proposed subjects are ones you don't, do you truly think you will gain a higher mark? It also must be taken into account that scaling is based on the statistical trends of how people perform so that it reflects what people would have gotten in any subject - that data infers the classic senior science student would have underperformed in physics. So it seems unlikely that you will gain a radically higher UAI if all you do is commence subjects you are adverse to.

I think you should also look at the UAI thread - there are many people with high UAIs with low scaling courses, society's evil and her 100 with mostly low scaling subjects somes to mind in this instance.

If you want to repeat at TAFE there are also some things to keep in mind - for instance if you do a new subject you will have to do the year 11 component in approximately 7 weeks, you also may have to travel some distance if you want a wide range of choices as many subjects which people take for granted at schools as always existing won't neccesarily be run at a single TAFE campus. If you want any information on HSC at TAFE though, there are two stickies in the TAFE forum which cover just about everything so you may want to take a look.

Alternatively what courses are you aiming for? Because there is *always* another way in apart from UAI - there are as many as 40 alternative pathways into uni(that I know of) so don't stress - maybe next year you still will go to uni.

Most importantly though, remember the UAI is just a superficial number which means little in life - it doesn't define you're intelligence and it doesn't determine your academic future and its not even the quickest way into university, its simply an overly hyped pathway. So try not to feel to glum, there is a future and its a bright one where you shouldn't sentence yourself to doing things you despise to get where you need.

 

[7th Sign]

I also dont understand this hsc BS where people in

2001 get like 10 uai points more then people in 2005?

WTF?

like on that sam thing...


uai is stupid, their should be more factors for uni entrance then just the uai and the early entry shit...most of which you dont have time to get around to every uni to do...

 

[hYperTrOphY]

The system is fair, you obviously didn't perform well enough.

my parents didn't like thier processing system.

What don't they like about it?

By not scaling there is no incentive for people to choose difficult subjects because they will be beaten by all the people, of equal intelligence/hard work, who choose subjects which are easier to score marks in. You were not disadvantaged because if you had done better scaled, and thus more difficult subjects, you wouldn't have scored as well. This would be even more probable since they wouldn't have been subjects you were interested in.
If you were of equal intelligence and put in equal time and effort as people who sat more difficult and better scaled subjects, you probably should have scored better raw marks.
From what I understand, if you're scoring 85+ scaling has a very minimal effect. I'm pretty sure all of my subjects scaled down, but I got 98.8.

I got 67.2 .. my dad calculated my scores yesterday without the scaling and got 78.

How did he do that?
Firstly, how do you (or your Dad) know that you would have received the same mark had you done a better scaled subject? In fact, how do you even know what your un-scaled, un-moderated mark was?

Also, if there was no scaling all people would just study such subjects (including the intelligent) and since the UAI is a rank you would still be fucked.

 

[Gummy_bear]

Thankyou guys. This has all really helped. I know that the UAI system assumes that people who do senior science wouldnt of made it into physics, but unfortunately i know that i would of gotten about the same mark, i just wnated to do senior science more as i thought it would be more fun, not mure challanging.

But, im ok now, i understand most things.

Kami, here are my preferences:

Bachelor of Teaching/Bachelor of Fine Art at University of Newcastle

Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) at University of Newcastle

Bachelor of Art Education at University of New South Wales, College of Fine Arts

Bachelor of Teaching/Bachelor of Arts (Secondary-Visual Arts) at ACU National

Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood Education) at Macquarie University


Bachelor of Teaching/Bachelor of Early Childhood Studies at University of Newcastle

Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) at Charles Sturt University, Bathurst

Bachelor of Teaching/Bachelor of Arts at University of Newcastle, Ourimbah campus


Thats in order.
Again, thankyou for the good advice.

 

[hipPo3]

The system is fair, you obviously didn't perform well enough.

duh.

How did he do that?
Firstly, how do you (or your Dad) know that you would have received the same mark had you done a better scaled subject? In fact, how do you even know what your un-scaled, un-moderated mark was?

Also, if there was no scaling all people would just study such subjects (including the intelligent) and since the UAI is a rank you would still be fucked.

Did i not say this was yesterday ? before they scaled the subjects ...
all he did was add the top 5 subjects and divide by 500. It's very simple and gives a plain average of your scores. It isn't anything like the UAI .. but it gives a somewhat estimate. If he wanted a better estimate he should have used the statistics from last year .. i didn't ask him to goto the trouble.

i did not say anywhere that the system wasn't fair.

 

[kow_dude]

kow dude: But if the subject was so easy then they should have blitzed it and therefore not have been really affected by the scaling of it

I think all subjects are somewhat affected by scaling no matter how well the student performs in it. Otherwise, why does this 'scaling' even exist?

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

In spite of scaling seeming unfair, and despite the sometimes huge discrepancies betweens UAIs in different years, the system is fair. It was designed to be fair, and in my opinion, it is. Very minor discrepencies cannot be avoided, but generally these are negligible. UAIs were designed to be comparable between different years, and they are.

 

[asscookie]

My school's ranked pretty terribly this year, I don't think I saw it on the list posted online today.

Every single subject I did was scaled pretty badly. I did Standard English, General Maths, IPT, VET IT, Ancient History, and Food Tech. My UAI still ended up being 92.7. While it's not of the same calibre as a UAI of 99, I'm happy with it, and I think I would have performed worse if I'd chosen subjects in which I had little or no interest.

 

[kow_dude]

I'm not saying that the scaling is not fair. But schools should alert students about the scaling system in subjects. I know people who are very capable to doing 3u/4u level maths but have taken 2u because they thought it would be easier to obtain a higher mark, thus high UAI. But they kept losing little bits of marks which impacted them severely.

 

[kami]

But, im ok now, i understand most things.

Kami, here are my preferences:

Bachelor of Teaching/Bachelor of Fine Art at University of Newcastle

Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) at University of Newcastle

Bachelor of Art Education at University of New South Wales, College of Fine Arts

Bachelor of Teaching/Bachelor of Arts (Secondary-Visual Arts) at ACU National

Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood Education) at Macquarie University


Bachelor of Teaching/Bachelor of Early Childhood Studies at University of Newcastle

Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) at Charles Sturt University, Bathurst

Bachelor of Teaching/Bachelor of Arts at University of Newcastle, Ourimbah campus


Thats in order.
Again, thankyou for the good advice.

Yay! I know how to get you into some things you might like.

Firstly if you want to do secondary or primary teaching, do a BA or something similar anywhere that they'll take you - and there are a few unis so don't fret too much(UWS and UNE come to mind and I'm sure you know others) - then when you finish your BA(or whatever you take as your degree) then apply for a grad teaching program (and those are HECS covered) which takes about a year on top of your initial degree and then "voila!" you are a teacher.

For early childhood education there are specific pathways set in place between TAFE and its Diploma of Child Studies(or equivalent) to enable you to apply with approximately a year to year and a half of credit(and the diploma only takes a year or two..so woopee!). In fact MQ has a specific degree open *only* to TAFE graduates with this Diploma.

Next, MQ has a Diploma in Arts that you can use to enter a second year BA and after finishing the BA you do the grad teaching thing so yaya! *And* MQ also allows you to do non award units for direct entry to early childhood teaching. Which essentially means you could be at uni right away!

Lastly, there is Open Education - a university that has unlimited placings and no qualifications needed for entry, so you could basically do 1 year of a BA and transfer to a uni with full credit. The only catch is that Open Education *is* correspondence...

Oh! And TAFE also has Diplomas in Visual Arts(which you seem to like?) which you could use to transfer into a BFA or the BA(applied humanities) at UWS and from there on do a grad degree in secondary teaching.

Hmmm *rummages around* I think I have more that might be of use to you, I'll go check.

 

[Gummy_bear]

I'm not saying that the scaling is not fair. But schools should alert students about the scaling system in subjects. I know people who are very capable to doing 3u/4u level maths but have taken 2u because they thought it would be easier to obtain a higher mark, thus high UAI. But they kept losing little bits of marks which impacted them severely.

Yes, see, at my school, i was never really told about scaling, the teachers didnt even seem to understand it.
i am quite sure that if i had chosen physics, i would of gotten the same mark as i did for senior science, i didnt choose it because i thought i would like senior science better and because the class would be much smaller than the physics class.
But, i do understand everyones point of view now, i get the whole scaling thing (although it is a bit too late now) i accept my UAI, know i cant change it and am proud of my HAC marks. Im just going to see what offers i get, and if i dont get any, i will find another way.

I kinda posted this thread to see what others thought and because i was angrey at myself for even thinking about scaling. But, like i said, ive accepted it and now i understand why the sytem is like this.
Thankyou everyone

 

[Gummy_bear]

Kami!! I cannot thankyou enough, you have definately lightened my spirits.
Thankyou so much for taking the time to type this all up and think about it. If you were here, i would hug you

 

[niteshade1312]

well i dont believe and didnt believe in scaling at all. I did subjects that I love doing - Ancient, Drama, DT, Ad En, Math and Ext Hist and I did well in them, and my UAI, isn't too bad..

 

[kow_dude]

well look at hypertrophy - he did subjects that were "low scaling" but got a uai of 98.8, showing that if you do well in "low scaling" subjects you can achieve a great uai.

Students have to take responsibility for their own learning also, and whilst they choose what subjects they undertake, they themselves can take into consideration scaling if they feel this will affect their choice. Please don't generalise and imply that all school's don't inform students of scaling. Anyways, generally schools try to encourage people to do subjects they are interested in, rather than ones they feel will scale better.

I congratulate hypertrophy for doing exceptionally well in those 'low scaling' subjects.

The subjects chose was due to the high scaling and i have no regrets in doing them. I know a lot of people will oppose to this but i think this was a safe strategy for me to achieve a high UAI. But yes, people should choose the subjects they are interested in.

 

[kow_dude]

Yes, see, at my school, i was never really told about scaling, the teachers didnt even seem to understand it.
i am quite sure that if i had chosen physics, i would of gotten the same mark as i did for senior science, i didnt choose it because i thought i would like senior science better and because the class would be much smaller than the physics class.
But, i do understand everyones point of view now, i get the whole scaling thing (although it is a bit too late now) i accept my UAI, know i cant change it and am proud of my HAC marks. Im just going to see what offers i get, and if i dont get any, i will find another way.

I know exactly how you feel. The HSC contains syllabi that are somewhat limited and all you have to do was answer syllabus dot points. Which means that you can do a higher scaling subject such as physics and still perform better than senior science. The scaling plays a huge role in determining the UAI.

For uni, there is no doubt that you should pick the degree you are interested in (obviously).

 

[JimmyK]

I got a UAI 78.85
I did:
Advanced English (went reasonable -76)
Physics (Went okish -70)
Music (Got 91)
IPT (Got 87)
Entertainment Industry (Got 85)
Maths (which wouldnt have counted -62)

I think the marks in Music, IPT and Entertainment were pretty darn good (I was dissapointed with IPT and Ent though - I felt I did better in the exam). Anyway, I know they scale down, but even though I did well in them, and fairly ok in English and Physics, I still ended up with a crap UAI.
Now I'm up $hit creek cause I might not even get into IT @ newcastle (which has a crap IT Degree), when I was originally aiming for the B. IT @ UTS needing a uai of arround 90 - which I thought was quite acheiveable, but obviously not.

 

[Gummy_bear]

Well, thanks to Kami, ive worked it out.
I have one preference spot left, i will be putting B arts in there at southern cross university, which needed a UAI of only 68.00 last year and i will go on to do a graduate diploma in education after that.
This is only a last resort for if i dont get any other offers