Will my school hold me back?? (1 Viewer)

[qwerty44]

I go to a private school who I don't even know where they sit on the rankings. My year group is very.......dumb. There are a couple of us that stand out but I just wanted to know if my cohort can bring me down and stop me from achieving a high atar?

 

[D94]

If you come first in your subjects, your school will have no bearing on how you perform in the HSC because you will receive the highest exam and assessment mark based on your own performance. Even if you don't come first, you need to be as close as possible to first so the "dumb" students won't drag you down as much.

 

[SpreadTheWord]

Yes they will... i mean they will irrespective of ranks drag you down by 10-15 marks worst case if they perform badly. Essentially in terms of marks, you want all your classmates, and you to be close. What tends to happen is the lazy shits, will be brought up, while you will be brought down. (Don't use dumb, because some try but still don't achieve...there is absolutely nothing wrong with that at all). So where there would be a raw mark difference of 30 marks, it will end up about 10 which when you consider you study everyday (school day 4 hours, weekends up to 8 hours...they do zilch go to partys, chill with mates, the mark doesn't justify your hard work). It kind of makes my blood boil just thinking about it (wierd i know)

But aren't private schools meant to be quite good anyway?

 

[cem]

Not all of them. There are private schools that are in the 600s or lower. It depends on the entry criteria for the school and the size of the school. Small private schools with no academic qualification will often be very low in the rankings, particularly if there is a selective high nearby and the fees are reasonable.

 

[_deloso]

i went to a private school ranked around 400. i was top 5 in all my subs except english and ext maths but still managed to acheive my atar aim. so no they wont drag you down if you put in the effort. theres a lot of people in bos that acheived a high atar despite their school ranked. just make sure you are ranked high

 

[ReneeApple]

I went to a private school at ~300 and I would say the majority of the grade didn't care at all until the day before the English exams when they suddenly had a freak. It would have brought down a couple of my friends who worked their asses off but didn't get what they were aiming for. Also the environment of these kind of schools isn't so conducive to hard work. I got the dux and I still spent all year battling facebook and solitaire addictions, finishing assignments at 4am the morning it was due, and only studying when exams were right in my face.

So in those regards, yes, your school can hold you back.

But if you just engage beast mode throughout the year and keep your ranks up it shouldn't terribly affect you. I tried to get 1st in every subject I did and ended up with second only in biology, (where I was so close to the girl ranked first it didn't matter that much), and Italian, (which I did through Open High School).

And I met all my aims: all rounder, an ATAR over 97, and even a state rank which I was not expecting.

 

[qwerty44]

Ok thanx. And I guess the only subject I am taking that might have a lot of people that don't care is business studies, all the rest are pretty good. Heaps of ppl tend to choose business studies at my school. And when I meant dumb I meant people who don't care. Like you, I have no problem with people who try but don't succeed too well.And about private schools, not all of them are high achieves.

I also want to know if i can achieve a high ATAR with business studies as a subject? A lot of people have told me it scales pretty bad. And I know I should choose what I like and am good at but I really want to maximize my ATAR.

 

[Shadowdude]

i went to a private school ranked around 400. i was top 5 in all my subs except english and ext maths but still managed to acheive my atar aim. so no they wont drag you down if you put in the effort. theres a lot of people in bos that acheived a high atar despite their school ranked. just make sure you are ranked high

^ That.

I got into the course I wanted even though it was high 90s and I went to a rank 500s school.

 

[qwerty44]

I also want to know if i can achieve a high ATAR with business studies as a subject? A lot of people have told me it scales pretty bad. And I know I should choose what I like and am good at but I really want to maximize my ATAR.

^^^
Can any1 help me here???

 

[cem]

Yes you can achieve a high ATAR with Business Studies - even 99.95 is possible.

 

[Shadowdude]

^^^
Can any1 help me here???

yes you can

 

[qwerty44]

Even though it is low scaling and there are heaps other students doing the course who aren't very bright or don't care??? Or I just have to distance myself from them in terms of marks??

 

[Shadowdude]

Yes...

You just work hard. It's quite simple, really.

 

[acemusic415]

I went to a school ranked 400 with a shitload of kids who fucked around continuously. I managed to get 97.9 with my best friend getting 98.55 and the other getting 95.25. The school rank is irrelevant. Just try hard and put the effort in I guess.

 

[D94]

I went to a school ranked 400 with a shitload of kids who fucked around continuously. I managed to get 97.9 with my best friend getting 98.55 and the other getting 95.25. The school rank is irrelevant. Just try hard and put the effort in I guess.

But you obviously worked really hard, and essentially, had to be at the top. For higher ranked schools, coming at the top isn't as necessary because there are plenty of high performing students pulling you up. And, there is a higher concentration of high ATARs in higher ranked schools, so it gives you some indication on the necessity of coming first, second, third etc. otherwise you may not achieve a high ATAR.