My English dilemma

[bobcheng1111]

Hi guys I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post things like this, but I have a big dilemma in regards to what to do next for my english marks. Prior to year 11, I was basically a B range student in english who wasn't particularly bad or great in the subject. But as I started yr 11, I suddenly began coming first in advanced and around 5th in ext 1 in my year for the first 2 tasks without really understanding why, (I haven't read books on my own for a while or practiced writing essays, etc) but thought I was doing pretty well nevertheless. For my term 3 assignment however, my marks for advanced (extension marks stayed around 5th throughout the year) slipped off quite badly from 20/20 to 13/20, which paired with the fact that my adv teacher barely gave me any feedbacks and my ext teacher saying it was 'illegal' for her to look at my adv works made me to think that maybe my marks for the first few tasks were fluky, so I decided to get a tutor to help me provide more feedback/improve my essay/creative at the end of term 3. So then off came term 4, where we were given a hand in AOS creative and speech to give during the term. ( there was no extension 1 tasks last term) And while I guess I didn't prepare writing them as hard as I could have, overall I was relatively satisfied with my creative and speech, with my adv teacher ( who read around half of both ) saying he liked both of them alot , with my tutor saying he was confident that I would get at least an A for both tasks, which I guess boosted my expectations for the marks. However in the end, I received a pretty tragic mark of 11/15 for the speech and 9/15 for the creative which placed me just above the cohort's average (virtually all my friends of around 10-15, who've all never got higher marks than me in english) . And the fact that the teachers' feedbacks, which basically implied I lacked the basics in writing ("thesis lacked sustain", "descriptions lacked clarity"), etc made me question my tutors abilities quite profoundly because of a) his confidence in me receiving As b) the errors, which were relatively simple, (but severe) in hindsight probably should've been able to be found by him. When I told my parents about this, they talked to the tutor for a while where he apparently told them that a few of his students
 this year were in a situation like me, but eventually climbed up towards trials and received band 6s (6/9 of his students this yr got band 6s in adv) ,so I shouldn't be too upset about this, so I guess with less enthusiasm than previously, I continued with him during the holidays until now, but today, as I was doing his hw ( writing a generic mod A essay that i can mould to suit the school's question that we'll be given later this term- what are all your thoughts on doing this?) that feeling of doubt suddenly rushed up to me, and because my mum just had a surgery and dad not liking to talk about these issues, I have no one to really ask besides you guys.

EDIT: Sorry if I wasn't succint enough, but I was wondering whether you guys think I should quit my tutor rn and find another one, wait him out for this term, or do anything else to I guess improve my current situation.

[Opengangs]

Hey,
I'm really sorry things are turning out the way they are currently. There's not much we can do, but to offer advice. So, here's one that I hope you can take on board.

Remember that, at the end of the day, marks don't define you. They are just numbers on a piece of paper; they don't even mean a whole lot in the end because they don't contribute to anything in the final calculation of your ATAR. You're just beginning the HSC year; marks like this are completely normal and no one is expecting you to write a 15/15 creative at this moment. Even eventual Band 6 students have humble beginnings. What you need to do is pick yourself up, and look at where you've been losing the most marks in. Go back to your essays, and see where your teacher HAS given feedback (because I highly doubt they've given you absolutely zero).

The next best thing to do at this point is to not panic; you have a whole year to fix your mistakes. I scored 61/105 in my trial for English (Adv), yet my overall HSC mark ended up being 86 so if I could do it, so can you. If you really do feel like your teacher doesn't give you good feedback, ask another teacher who's willing to sit down with you and work through your essay. You could also send them to us to get it marked by many different people with a vast range of experience. We're more than happy to get them marked for you, for free.

Keep chipping away at your essays, day by day. Take breaks, socialise with friends (because that can even help to inspire you to write), and just do things to get yourself calmed down before rewriting your essay. Don't stress about what's been done -- look into what you can change. Read the rubrics, and pick up ideas as you're reading the rubric. If you would like me to break down the rubric for Module A, I'd be more than happy to do so because that may give you some direction.

Good luck with the rest of your studies, and I hope it all goes well! In short, don't stress about your marks at this stage; there's plenty of time to hit the band 6 range.

[Lumenoria]

Oh man, I'm sorry to hear that! I completely understand your frustration in terms of your tutor, my Advanced English teacher basically implied my AOS creative was in the A range and I just have this gut feeling I'm going to fall short of it despite that. I'm receiving my marks back sometime next week (when school starts), so I'm seriously praying for my soul lol. Just try to remember that the first assessments are usually weighted close to nil, so take advantage of your performance in them - whether ideal or not. Seek out your errors and work on them, it pays off. Have you tried perhaps asking your class teachers for more comprehensive feedback? In my experiences, they're usually happy to oblige

Honestly, I'm in an English dilemma too. It has been an incredibly debilitating experience, which has caused me to shed a lot of tears. It's especially difficult because my teacher's lack of belief in my abilities is so passive, yet also so aggressive/strong. She just makes little implications here and there, but it fucking hurts. It has killed me to the point where I'm on the verge of considering dropping English Extension, which I would otherwise love - if my teacher didn't make my life so miserable. I haven't received my mark back for my first assessment, but I feel like I'm going to be marked down just because of her preconceived ideas against the integrity of my work (which are by and large not true). It sucks, because I have natural inclination and passion for English, and especially Extension, but I don't know if it's worth the misery anymore. Everyone keeps telling me that I shouldn't give up my passion just because of her, but it's gotten to a point where I feel like even a 99% won't even suffice to convince me to remain in the class. But at the same time, I know I have a high chance of ranking first and don't want to give that up just because of my incompetent teacher. We've had so many miscommunications in the past that have caused me to endure reprimmands for things I didn't do/things she did herself. It's almost like she's using me as a commodity to appease to the head of English, who just so happens to be my Advanced teacher. It's even worse because she's so fucking nice to my face that I could never bring myself to confront her. I don't even know if she realises what she's doing to me to be fair. I've talked to my mentor teacher and she even thinks that she's been unreasonable. I fucking hate it, because I know I'm a well above average student and I'm not sure why she seems to think so differently. I'm trying to give her the benefit of the doubt by convincing myself it wont be like this next term, but I don't think it's a coincidence I've walked out of each class feeling super upset last term. God, what the fuck am I supposed to do? Hahahaha. Why is school so conflicting

[Opengangs]

Honestly, I'm in an English dilemma too. It has been an incredibly debilitating experience, which has caused me to shed a lot of tears. It's especially difficult because my teacher's lack of belief in my abilities is so passive, yet also so aggressive/strong. She just makes little implications here and there, but it fucking hurts. It has killed me to the point where I'm on the verge of considering dropping English Extension, which I would otherwise love - if my teacher didn't make my life so miserable. I haven't received my mark back for my first assessment, but I feel like I'm going to be marked down just because of her preconceived ideas against the integrity of my work (which are by and large not true). It sucks, because I have natural inclination and passion for English, and especially Extension, but I don't know if it's worth the misery anymore. Everyone keeps telling me that I shouldn't give up my passion just because of her, but it's gotten to a point where I feel like even a 99% won't even suffice to convince me to remain in the class. But at the same time, I know I have a high chance of ranking first and don't want to give that up just because of my incompetent teacher. We've had so many miscommunications in the past that have caused me to endure reprimmands for things I didn't do/things she did herself. It's almost like she's using me as a commodity to appease to the head of English, who just so happens to be my Advanced teacher. It's even worse because she's so fucking nice to my face that I could never bring myself to confront her. I don't even know if she realises what she's doing to me to be fair. I've talked to my mentor teacher and she even thinks that she's been unreasonable. I fucking hate it, because I know I'm a well above average student and I'm not sure why she seems to think so differently. I'm trying to give her the benefit of the doubt by convincing myself it wont be like this next term, but I don't think it's a coincidence I've walked out of each class feeling super upset last term. God, what the fuck am I supposed to do? Hahahaha. Why is school so conflicting
...

Hey!
If you really do think you're going to get marked down just because of something as unjust as her preconceived ideas, then bring it up as early as possible. Talk to her first, and get it remarked by another teacher asap. She might not be aware of what she's doing. Make it clear that it's bothering you, and she may back off or at least, be more cautious. If this behaviour doesn't stop, you shouldn't feel threatened to bring it up with the Head Teacher of the English department because this could seriously jeopardise your ranking, which in turn jeopardises your overall ATAR. It's definitely not allowed, especially in the HSC, which is why we have student numbers rather than names.

You also shouldn't feel like you're not allowed to drop because you think you'll rank first. At the end of the day, you'll have to balance it out with your other subjects, and if it's causing you to stress out, then is it really worth risking your other units to keep Extension 1? You shouldn't rush the decision; take it day by day, and see if there is any improvement with how you respond with the Extension 1 course.

Good luck to you as well, and I hope things turn out better than they are atm!

[jamonwindeyer]

Hey Bob! I'll leave you to read the awesome advice from OG and Lumenoria above, but on your tutor situation, a few things to consider:

- Your tutor might not have been looking for those specific errors you pointed out, they may have been looking at other things that they considered to be more likely/more serious deficiencies in your piece. It is their job from this point though, to explain what happened to you and give you steps on how to fix it. Further, they should be able to spot it next time now that they are aware of the issue - Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, etc etc.
- Your tutor is right in that it is really common to start in the mid range and then build up. Definitely don't stress about the mark!
- Ultimately, you are paying for a service, and if you don't think that service is up to scratch you have the right to leave, and you should leave. Never put up with a tutor who isn't doing what you need - And it doesn't even mean they are bad, it just means they aren't right for your needs.

Personally, I would be chatting to your tutor asap and asking them to help you break down where the errors came from, and give you steps/ideas to address them for next time. If they can't do that to your satisfaction, or you otherwise find reason to think your money would be spent elsewhere, go for it. No sense spending money on something you aren't happy with - Plenty of awesome tutors around so you'll find another, as I'm sure they'll find another student who will hopefully work a bit better with their style

And AN can be your tutor in the meantime

Honestly, I'm in an English dilemma too. It has been an incredibly debilitating experience, which has caused me to shed a lot of tears. It's especially difficult because my teacher's lack of belief in my abilities is so passive, yet also so aggressive/strong. She just makes little implications here and there, but it fucking hurts. It has killed me to the point where I'm on the verge of considering dropping English Extension, which I would otherwise love - if my teacher didn't make my life so miserable. I haven't received my mark back for my first assessment, but I feel like I'm going to be marked down just because of her preconceived ideas against the integrity of my work (which are by and large not true). It sucks, because I have natural inclination and passion for English, and especially Extension, but I don't know if it's worth the misery anymore. Everyone keeps telling me that I shouldn't give up my passion just because of her, but it's gotten to a point where I feel like even a 99% won't even suffice to convince me to remain in the class. But at the same time, I know I have a high chance of ranking first and don't want to give that up just because of my incompetent teacher. We've had so many miscommunications in the past that have caused me to endure reprimmands for things I didn't do/things she did herself. It's almost like she's using me as a commodity to appease to the head of English, who just so happens to be my Advanced teacher. It's even worse because she's so fucking nice to my face that I could never bring myself to confront her. I don't even know if she realises what she's doing to me to be fair. I've talked to my mentor teacher and she even thinks that she's been unreasonable. I fucking hate it, because I know I'm a well above average student and I'm not sure why she seems to think so differently. I'm trying to give her the benefit of the doubt by convincing myself it wont be like this next term, but I don't think it's a coincidence I've walked out of each class feeling super upset last term. God, what the fuck am I supposed to do? Hahahaha. Why is school so conflicting

This sounds brutal! I'm really glad you have had a chance to rant about it at least!

Make sure you are elevating things to the appropriate member of executive or similar where required, particularly if you are marked down without adequate reason. No HSC class should make you any more miserable than needing to eat your least favourite food*. For me, this is beetroot. If I have to eat beetroot, it sucks, but when it's done I'm chirpy and all gee afterwards. The second any classroom becomes more impactful on you than a tin of beetroot would be for me, then you need to take steps to rectify that.

Good luck with things Lumenoria, you know you're not defined by a teachers perception of your ability or worth, even I know your a gun at English and I'm just some schmuck on the internet. Chin up

[bobcheng1111]

Hey Bob! I'll leave you to read the awesome advice from OG and Lumenoria above, but on your tutor situation, a few things to consider:

- Your tutor might not have been looking for those specific errors you pointed out, they may have been looking at other things that they considered to be more likely/more serious deficiencies in your piece. It is their job from this point though, to explain what happened to you and give you steps on how to fix it. Further, they should be able to spot it next time now that they are aware of the issue - Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, etc etc.
- Your tutor is right in that it is really common to start in the mid range and then build up. Definitely don't stress about the mark!
- Ultimately, you are paying for a service, and if you don't think that service is up to scratch you have the right to leave, and you should leave. Never put up with a tutor who isn't doing what you need - And it doesn't even mean they are bad, it just means they aren't right for your needs.

Personally, I would be chatting to your tutor asap and asking them to help you break down where the errors came from, and give you steps/ideas to address them for next time. If they can't do that to your satisfaction, or you otherwise find reason to think your money would be spent elsewhere, go for it. No sense spending money on something you aren't happy with - Plenty of awesome tutors around so you'll find another, as I'm sure they'll find another student who will hopefully work a bit better with their style

And AN can be your tutor in the meantime

This sounds brutal! I'm really glad you have had a chance to rant about it at least!

Make sure you are elevating things to the appropriate member of executive or similar where required, particularly if you are marked down without adequate reason. No HSC class should make you any more miserable than needing to eat your least favourite food*. For me, this is beetroot. If I have to eat beetroot, it sucks, but when it's done I'm chirpy and all gee afterwards. The second any classroom becomes more impactful on you than a tin of beetroot would be for me, then you need to take steps to rectify that.

Good luck with things Lumenoria, you know you're not defined by a teachers perception of your ability or worth, even I know your a gun at English and I'm just some schmuck on the internet. Chin up

Hi jamon thank you for the adivce! I had a chat to my tutor about the marks and he said regarding the creative, he still thinks after looking at the feedback that I was marked way too harshly and that it still deserved higher marks, but having gone through the creative myself, I'm not sure if that's really the case so I guess I'll have to think about it more. The thing is I'm in a kinda difficult situation to just suddenly quit this tutor because when I thought he was really really good, I brought along a friend to take a group lesson with him, and if I leave his costs are going to double since he'll be private so yeh...

[bobcheng1111]

Oh man, I'm sorry to hear that! I completely understand your frustration in terms of your tutor, my Advanced English teacher basically implied my AOS creative was in the A range and I just have this gut feeling I'm going to fall short of it despite that. I'm receiving my marks back sometime next week (when school starts), so I'm seriously praying for my soul lol. Just try to remember that the first assessments are usually weighted close to nil, so take advantage of your performance in them - whether ideal or not. Seek out your errors and work on them, it pays off. Have you tried perhaps asking your class teachers for more comprehensive feedback? In my experiences, they're usually happy to oblige

Honestly, I'm in an English dilemma too. It has been an incredibly debilitating experience, which has caused me to shed a lot of tears. It's especially difficult because my teacher's lack of belief in my abilities is so passive, yet also so aggressive/strong. She just makes little implications here and there, but it fucking hurts. It has killed me to the point where I'm on the verge of considering dropping English Extension, which I would otherwise love - if my teacher didn't make my life so miserable. I haven't received my mark back for my first assessment, but I feel like I'm going to be marked down just because of her preconceived ideas against the integrity of my work (which are by and large not true). It sucks, because I have natural inclination and passion for English, and especially Extension, but I don't know if it's worth the misery anymore. Everyone keeps telling me that I shouldn't give up my passion just because of her, but it's gotten to a point where I feel like even a 99% won't even suffice to convince me to remain in the class. But at the same time, I know I have a high chance of ranking first and don't want to give that up just because of my incompetent teacher. We've had so many miscommunications in the past that have caused me to endure reprimmands for things I didn't do/things she did herself. It's almost like she's using me as a commodity to appease to the head of English, who just so happens to be my Advanced teacher. It's even worse because she's so fucking nice to my face that I could never bring myself to confront her. I don't even know if she realises what she's doing to me to be fair. I've talked to my mentor teacher and she even thinks that she's been unreasonable. I fucking hate it, because I know I'm a well above average student and I'm not sure why she seems to think so differently. I'm trying to give her the benefit of the doubt by convincing myself it wont be like this next term, but I don't think it's a coincidence I've walked out of each class feeling super upset last term. God, what the fuck am I supposed to do? Hahahaha. Why is school so conflicting

Hey man thanks for the nice words! Unfortunately this task was worth 25% of my internals so I think I'm pretty screwed for my internals now...
Regarding your dilemma, I agree 100% with OG's advice. Since this is gonna affect ur ATAR fight to get even 1 extra mark & GL!

[bobcheng1111]

Hey,
I'm really sorry things are turning out the way they are currently. There's not much we can do, but to offer advice. So, here's one that I hope you can take on board.

Remember that, at the end of the day, marks don't define you. They are just numbers on a piece of paper; they don't even mean a whole lot in the end because they don't contribute to anything in the final calculation of your ATAR. You're just beginning the HSC year; marks like this are completely normal and no one is expecting you to write a 15/15 creative at this moment. Even eventual Band 6 students have humble beginnings. What you need to do is pick yourself up, and look at where you've been losing the most marks in. Go back to your essays, and see where your teacher HAS given feedback (because I highly doubt they've given you absolutely zero).

The next best thing to do at this point is to not panic; you have a whole year to fix your mistakes. I scored 61/105 in my trial for English (Adv), yet my overall HSC mark ended up being 86 so if I could do it, so can you. If you really do feel like your teacher doesn't give you good feedback, ask another teacher who's willing to sit down with you and work through your essay. You could also send them to us to get it marked by many different people with a vast range of experience. We're more than happy to get them marked for you, for free.

Keep chipping away at your essays, day by day. Take breaks, socialise with friends (because that can even help to inspire you to write), and just do things to get yourself calmed down before rewriting your essay. Don't stress about what's been done -- look into what you can change. Read the rubrics, and pick up ideas as you're reading the rubric. If you would like me to break down the rubric for Module A, I'd be more than happy to do so because that may give you some direction.

Good luck with the rest of your studies, and I hope it all goes well! In short, don't stress about your marks at this stage; there's plenty of time to hit the band 6 range.

Hey thanks for the advice I'll definitely try and take a more positive attitude towards my marks by practising it alot more and hopefully get a band 6. For the essay marking I've posted my old AOS speech already but didn't get a response yet so I guess I'll have to contribute harder& more to eventually get the mod feedback. Thank you ! :-)

[Lumenoria]

Hey!
If you really do think you're going to get marked down just because of something as unjust as her preconceived ideas, then bring it up as early as possible. Talk to her first, and get it remarked by another teacher asap. She might not be aware of what she's doing. Make it clear that it's bothering you, and she may back off or at least, be more cautious. If this behaviour doesn't stop, you shouldn't feel threatened to bring it up with the Head Teacher of the English department because this could seriously jeopardise your ranking, which in turn jeopardises your overall ATAR. It's definitely not allowed, especially in the HSC, which is why we have student numbers rather than names.

You also shouldn't feel like you're not allowed to drop because you think you'll rank first. At the end of the day, you'll have to balance it out with your other subjects, and if it's causing you to stress out, then is it really worth risking your other units to keep Extension 1? You shouldn't rush the decision; take it day by day, and see if there is any improvement with how you respond with the Extension 1 course.

Good luck to you as well, and I hope things turn out better than they are atm!

Hey there,
Thankyou so much for taking up the time to write out such a lengthy response! I really appreciate it.

Yeah, that's exactly what I thought at the end of last term (when all of this shit mainly happened), but I couldn't bring myself to say anything. She even had the audacity to ask how I was coping - in the context of balancing all my assessment tasks for my subjects - and all I could reply was "... pretty good", whilst suppressing that deep rooted frustration. This was a few days prior to the due date of this particular assessment task, and she kept making those implications that I mentioned before... once again. I made feeble attempts to challenge them by saying, "I know you think that... but it's not true. I dedicated all my free periods to this assessment...." I don't think it was very convincing and I doubt she got my message because she continued to make such implications. I literally just feel defeated. It's not in my nature to speak against authority figures or really anyone, particularly for myself, so it's just super conflicting... this whole situation has been a rally of mental gymnastics honestly. No one else in my Extension class has experienced this, in fact they all seem to like the teacher, so I'll kinda on my own with this.

I'm like, 99% sure she thinks this is normal teacher behaviour, but at the same time I know she has an inclination to suck up to the head of English so I'm really not sure. I remember when she made an allegation against me (the initial of many more to come), it was based on a complete misunderstanding. She had a go at me and her exact words were "don't ever put me in that position ever again", after she had gone to talk to the head about pushing the deadline for one of my Advanced tasks. I was confused as hell, before I realised that she had completely misconstrued what I had said, and thus it didn't line up with truth that the head knew. I then proceeded to clarify that wasn't what I meant and she kept perpetuating her anger at me for the aforementioned reasons, but she acknowledged what I had told her because her response suggested so. Later, the head wanted to speak to my peer and me, so I obliged. She was angry at us for this "misrepresentation", though it was by and large NOT my intention in the absolute slightest. Neither of us spoke, but we both knew what that none of that was what either of us meant. I wanted to say something, but I was really sick those entire two weeks and I practically couldn't speak whatsoever. Then, my Extension teacher comes over and continues to add onto her reprimands, even though I had explicitly told her earlier this was not what I meant. It's almost like, she didn't want to admit that perhaps she had made a mistake - perhaps we all did? But her ego was too big to succumb to that proposition in front of the head? Idk if this is too far fetched, but this was literally my thought process at the time.

At the moment, I'm not really considering taking any formal action or anything tbh. I would feel bad for doing that to her because of her nice facade HHAHAHAH. Oh man, this is great. School starts in a day and I'll see her then when I hand in my next draft, so I'm almost certain I'll receive my mark then. I honestly think the work I produced for that assessment was definitely worthy of 85+, so if I get marked below 80 or so.. I'll know why. I'll just drop it if that becomes the case.

That's how I feel too, I feel like the amount of misery she has inflicted on me is definitely enough to cause me to spiral into depression or something... as morbid as that sounds. It's actually so exhausting to go through, I've never feared a class the way I do for Extension in my life.

Anyways, I hope this made sense hahaha! Thanks once again for the words of wisdom, hopefully all works out! Will keep you posted

[Lumenoria]

Hey Bob! I'll leave you to read the awesome advice from OG and Lumenoria above, but on your tutor situation, a few things to consider:

- Your tutor might not have been looking for those specific errors you pointed out, they may have been looking at other things that they considered to be more likely/more serious deficiencies in your piece. It is their job from this point though, to explain what happened to you and give you steps on how to fix it. Further, they should be able to spot it next time now that they are aware of the issue - Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, etc etc.
- Your tutor is right in that it is really common to start in the mid range and then build up. Definitely don't stress about the mark!
- Ultimately, you are paying for a service, and if you don't think that service is up to scratch you have the right to leave, and you should leave. Never put up with a tutor who isn't doing what you need - And it doesn't even mean they are bad, it just means they aren't right for your needs.

Personally, I would be chatting to your tutor asap and asking them to help you break down where the errors came from, and give you steps/ideas to address them for next time. If they can't do that to your satisfaction, or you otherwise find reason to think your money would be spent elsewhere, go for it. No sense spending money on something you aren't happy with - Plenty of awesome tutors around so you'll find another, as I'm sure they'll find another student who will hopefully work a bit better with their style

And AN can be your tutor in the meantime

This sounds brutal! I'm really glad you have had a chance to rant about it at least!

Make sure you are elevating things to the appropriate member of executive or similar where required, particularly if you are marked down without adequate reason. No HSC class should make you any more miserable than needing to eat your least favourite food*. For me, this is beetroot. If I have to eat beetroot, it sucks, but when it's done I'm chirpy and all gee afterwards. The second any classroom becomes more impactful on you than a tin of beetroot would be for me, then you need to take steps to rectify that.

Good luck with things Lumenoria, you know you're not defined by a teachers perception of your ability or worth, even I know your a gun at English and I'm just some schmuck on the internet. Chin up

Haha aw thanks Jamon, you're seriously a legend. I'm waiting for Tuesday to come to see what my result is, I'm seriously praying it all works out in my favour so that I won't have to resort to anything beyond my comfort zone hahahahaha. I also might have a talk to my mentor about this, because I have a feeling I actually might have a mental break down (literally) if my result is below 85 lol. I'll keep you posted!

[Lumenoria]

Hey man thanks for the nice words! Unfortunately this task was worth 25% of my internals so I think I'm pretty screwed for my internals now...
Regarding your dilemma, I agree 100% with OG's advice. Since this is gonna affect ur ATAR fight to get even 1 extra mark & GL!

Oh no worries man, we got you! Well 25% theoretically means it's only 12.5% in the long term, as internals overall account for 50% of your final HSC mark whilst externals make up the remaining 50%. Honestly, I completely understand how it feels to be super confident in your performance only to be disappointed by the actual result, questioning how on earth you could've done better. This occurred to me last year when all my friends got 19-20s in a speech assessment whilst I got 14, despite always being the superior one in English. It literally made me feel like shit, even my friends in Standard got better, albeit being marked way more leniently... but I still couldn't shake that feeling. I get hung up on less-than-ideal marks for way longer than the ordinary individual, but towards the end of the year I think you'll come to realise that these shortcomings actually have a very minimal impact on your overall mark - that is, as long as you continue to persevere through these errors. This happens to me basically every year. You still have a long LONG way to go, just as all of us do, so exert all your focus and energy on your future results instead of dwelling on something that cannot be changed. Cheesy I know, but it's true. I know SO many people who started off the year with atrocious marks in term one of year 12 - literally last rankings - but got an HSC external mark of 98, the highest her school had ever received. I've been relying on these motivational anecdotes to keep me going, perhaps you should too

Hahaha yeah, I'll try my best. I'm praying for my soul so hard right now... I know I'll be crushed if I attain a mark less than 85. Ugh hahaa

[clovvy]

Tbh your marks are waay better than mine for english... due to my poor performance in advanced I was strongly adviced to take standard which I thought about for 2 weeks in the holidays... I actually did and I don't really see much difference with the exception that the teacher for my standard class is waay better than the advanced one.... the fact that you are around that range is already something imo... I personally wouldn't say anything motivational or give advice as I barely passed my first assessment for english

[The Special One]

I know schools keep SACS but can you ask for a photocopy?

Many many times teachers are wrong and many times Tutors can be wrong impossible to say who is to blame here without further info

What are your Tutors qualifications? I've found the best ones are ex head of English Tutors I had such a good one for English helped me ace the subject.

And she did discover my school was teaching the course wrong hahah so in that case she was in the right for the bad sac mark I got.