Questions for those who got a 95+ Atar (1 Viewer)

[boredsatan]

I will be honest I wasn't talented, but I was hardworking during my HSC.
However, if you are approaching the very high end of the 99+ range, I would say you need hard work, but there is also no denying sometimes luck in the exam question given will be the pivotal point to increasing ATAR by a few decimal points, definitely when you get to 99.95 level-just pure hard work is not enough-you have to learn how to work really smart and I personally think those people have some talent/aptitude in the subject they are studying (although I am hesitant to say that's the major component of their success).

Another thing I've heard is that some people get a 95+ atar without any study, or very little study. How is this possible when most people that get 95+, or even 90+, have to put in solid, consistent effort throughout the whole year?

 

[strawberrye]

Another thing I've heard is that some people get a 95+ atar without any study, or very little study. How is this possible when most people that get 95+, or even 90+, have to put in solid, consistent effort throughout the whole year?

There are a few possibilities
1. They are being a snake so when they study efficiently, they don't tell you
2. Some people have learnt the material before hand in tutor or by themselves one year or even more years ahead, so whilst they may appear to not 'put in solid effort'-they actually already have a very solid grounding of knowledge
3. Unfortunately a lot of subjects under the current HSC syllabus is rote-learning, so as long as you have a good memory, you can get by to a certain extent by cramming before an exam.

My advice is don't care about these anecdotes because unless you know the person extremely well, they are unlikely to be the complete truth.

 

[ProdigyInspired]

i personally disagree with this

although 'talent' may play a factor in getting a high atar, i personally believe that a high ATAR comes from how you study, how hard you study, whether or not you have learnt your basics properly, learning from mistakes and learning study techniques from previous top students

i dont know how you interpret 'talent' but to me the way i interpret 'talent' is that people can pick up on things easily, especially the difficult concepts

a 'not so talented person' should be able to compensate for that via various ways (such as relearning the content, learning ahead of peers by a bit, using diagrams, watching youtube channels such as KhanAcademy) hence they can get a 99+ atar (imo) as long as they do that, put in the effort and study smart


personally no

you can get 99.95 with any subject (probably not english standard or any super low scaling subject like senior science) as long as you show interest in learning the subject, study smart, hard and get all the advice from past hsc students

There was someone that got 99.95 through several low-scaling subjects e.g. Aboriginal Studies, Biology, Stan. English, so it's still possible.

 

[boredsatan]

There are a few possibilities
1. They are being a snake so when they study efficiently, they don't tell you
2. Some people have learnt the material before hand in tutor or by themselves one year or even more years ahead, so whilst they may appear to not 'put in solid effort'-they actually already have a very solid grounding of knowledge
3. Unfortunately a lot of subjects under the current HSC syllabus is rote-learning, so as long as you have a good memory, you can get by to a certain extent by cramming before an exam.

My advice is don't care about these anecdotes because unless you know the person extremely well, they are unlikely to be the complete truth.

Do I need to have no social life to get 90+. And do I need to have no social life for 99+?

 

[boredsatan]

There was someone that got 99.95 through several low-scaling subjects e.g. Aboriginal Studies, Biology, Stan. English, so it's still possible.

Perhaps they got full marks on all their subjects?

 

[ProdigyInspired]

Perhaps they got full marks on all their subjects?

Not sure about full marks, but they came first in most of their subjects IIRC. It was Queenroot's photo a while back.

 

[InteGrand]

Do I need to have no social life to get 90+. And do I need to have no social life for 99+?

No

 

[strawberrye]

Do I need to have no social life to get 90+. And do I need to have no social life for 99+?

Depends on how efficient and effective your study is.

 

[boredsatan]

Depends on how efficient and effective your study is.

will doing every question in a textbook help to get better in a subject?

 

[ProdigyInspired]

will doing every question in a textbook help to get better in a subject?

Generally, yes. Technically, no. You may be wasting your time on textbook questions if they are too easy. Sometimes textbook questions can be too hard.

I think PP's are more effective.

 

[boredofstudies12345]

Generally, yes. Technically, no. You may be wasting your time on textbook questions if they are too easy. Sometimes textbook questions can be too hard.

I think PP's are more effective.

what are PP's?

 

[ProdigyInspired]

what are PP's?

Past papers.

 

[boredsatan]

Generally, yes. Technically, no. You may be wasting your time on textbook questions if they are too easy. Sometimes textbook questions can be too hard.

I think PP's are more effective.

Will past papers from a different study design every be helpful?

 

[pikachu975]

Will past papers from a different study design every be helpful?

No it's better to do some from your state.

 

[Zohal99]

I got an Atar of 96.8

I studied anywhere between 12-24 hours per week, depending on whether the weeks were assessments heavy or not. I would go to bed between 9:30pm-11pm on weekdays and wake up at 6am. I still kept up hobbies because I love reading and watching tv shows ... they keep me sane and relaxed. My study breaks ranged from hobbies to going shops or visiting places nearby.

The important thing with assessments is to be consistent- my internal marks were the foundation of my atar. Although my external hsc marks were similar to my internal marks.

 

[kabytto]

I think your mistake is asking people who got 95+ ATAR to answer your question - anyone can answer it, there is always something to take from everyone no matter what their ATAR.

1. Approximately how many hours a day did you dedicate to study/homework each day (school days and weekends)? I have soccer/basketball training from Monday - Friday and I get home around 6pm.
Varies. Sometimes 4 hrs. Sometimes 1. Sometimes none. The idea is to always finish the assigned classwork/homework and to understand the principles that were taught to you on that day.

2. Approximately how much sleep did you get a night? A lot of people have advised me to get around 8 hours a night but I think i can operate with 6-7.
8. Sleep is the most important thing in your life. Don't sacrifice it. Even if you think you are functioning normally, you aren't.

3. Did you play video games or watch tv shows/movies during the HSC year? Or did you just stop that altogether? I have to admit I still get distracted with tv shows/movies.
I was battling with a very chronic and strong addiction called "League of Legends".

4. What did you do during your study breaks? Did you leave the house or just surf on the internet?
Manga + Games + Chillax w/ friends

5. Did you struggle with procrastination? I feel that's the main thing holding me back from getting the best mark I can possibly get.
Yes.

6. Did you guys get great internal marks for all your assessments? I didn't do as well as I was hoping in term 1 of year 12.
93-97 range

 

[andrew12678]

Hey there,
Congrats on your amazing ATAR And thank you for all your advice on the forum! Its helpful!
I go to a top 5 school currently - was wondering if you could share your final ranks + hsc marks? Also you mustve eg only been like 5% away from 1st ranks? Then your moderated marks would be pretty good. Sharing your scores would clarify things a lot. Were you like average/above average for your other 2 assessments?

Hey sorry for the late reply as my original post in this thread was around Jan/Feb so I haven't been following it closely,

I'm not going to publicly nor privately share my ranks but I will say this: I only had a single digit rank for 2 of my subjects, with one subject having a rank beyond 20. At Baulkham Hills (my school), if you wanted to be in range for a 99.95 lurking around the top 20 for all your subjects should have guaranteed you around 94/5+ internal, from there on it's up to you as to whether you get the 95+ externals in the HSC. Of course if you average top 5 ranks for all subjects you were pretty much guaranteed .95 but I'm just talking about 'having a chance at getting .95'

Disclaimer: Does not apply to all schools. In 2016, Baulkham Hills ranked 2nd in the state.