Hey MA_2020,
As much as I would love to help answer your questions, in a literal sense,
not much is known about the scaling of subjects in the new ATAR system. Sure, the topic has been thrown about here and there, but there aren't really any definite details on how the process works or how the subjects scale, whether it's based on the performance of your classmates or if it's based on the performance of everyone else in the state. In some schools, some subjects scale higher than the others, but in other schools, those same subjects scale lower.
I'm really sorry that I couldn't give you a definite answer but in terms of my subjects, here is the order in which they will affect my ATAR based on my
personal performance, as indicated by my career planning/ATAR (more of an estimate) prediction meeting:
1. Modern History (now 50% of my final grade, rather than 25%) - scaled higher due to personal performance.
2. Literature (now 50% of my final grade, rather than 25%) - scaled higher due to personal performance.
3. English (now 50% of my final grade, rather than 25%) - scaled higher due to personal performance.
4. General Mathematics (now 75% of my grade, rather than 50%) - scaled lower due to personal performance.
5. Biology (now 75% of my grade, rather than 50%) - scaled lower due to personal performance.
But I also did a bit of research for you on how the QLD ATAR inter-scaling system works based on what QTAC has said - I would be wary of sources outside of the QTAC. I have attached a few documents to this forum post. But from what I can tell, these are the key takeaways that you should consider:
- According to the QTAC powerpoint, apparently the scaling system "ensures that students are neither advantaged nor disadvantaged based on the subjects they choose" (QTAC, 2020) to study in Year 12. But unfortunately, from what I have seen in the outcome of scaling at my school (based on discussions), it seems like the science and mathematics subjects, especially Specialist Mathematics or Physics, are scaled higher than the Arts or Humanities subjects
- Also according to the QTAC powerpoint, the scaling system seems to be a combination of "how well students achieve in their subjects and how difficult it is to achieve a particular result in the subject relative to other subjects" (QTAC 2020). Hence, inter-scaling system = personal performance + difficulty of subject.
But please understand that
the inter-scaling system was not designed to persuade students to choose some subjects over other subjects. Rather, as beautifully summarised in the ATAR Notes article that I linked below,
t he scaling system does not change your level of achievement, it only scales the scale of reporting. Hopefully, this insight was somewhat helpful but again, I'm extremely sorry that I couldn't give you a definite answer to your questions.
Have a great week and kind regards,
Darcy Dillon.
P.S. You may also find this ATAR Notes article useful:
https://atarnotes.com/qce-system/