I am completely non background, started in year 7, and yeah got 34. This year in the paper 1 non-asian person got 40+, last year there were 3.
I put as much effort into this as my other subjects (except maybe english, that got super effort
), and this subject didn't even end up counting. And not bragging, I'm a fairly good kid.
I'm not sure how other people at my school went, I don't really talk to them. I would have been near the top but not at the top.
Basically, if you have no background, you can't do well in this subject. Scaling doesnt compensate for the unfairness. (like most people in 2nd language who get >40 go to some chinese school, surely that is screaming out it's unfair? Stupid system x_x)
So if you want a high enter - don't choose this
If you want to learn chinese - choose this