General Questions

[jamonwindeyer]

Hi guys! I have a question regarding the number of units i'll continue to have during the HSC examinations.

I was planning on dropping ext. maths and sticking with 10 units altogether. But the thing is that my English rank isn't the best and I'm afraid that having 10 units will result in a bad atar since English is counted automatically.

For ext. maths, my rank is pretty bad too, but my cohort for Ext. Maths is helping each other out to boost each others' atar. 

My question is, if I do bad in English, will Ext. Maths "cover"/ compensate for the bad marks for English, assuming that I do well in Ext maths. Thank you.

Ditto with Rui above, the fact is, Extension 1 Math scaling will not make a huge difference. Like, it's not going to pull a Band 4 to a Band 6, or anything like that, so you should make your decision completely irrespective of that.

According to your profile, you are in Year 12 right? You've done all the hard work for MX1 already, you know the content. For me, there is no reason not to sit the MX1 exam. Your mark will improve if you put the work in with your mates, and invest the time to improve. If it doesn't quite get there, oh well, it doesn't count anyway!

I reckon you should sit the exam, pulling out of it won't benefit you much besides some extra study time, and you have heaps of that already!!

[Lauradf36]

Random Q - can you use pencil for multiple choice? I always do because I am an incorrigible mind-changer hahaha

[RuiAce]

Random Q - can you use pencil for multiple choice? I always do because I am an incorrigible mind-changer hahaha

No. You must cross out your answer if you think it is incorrect, and if you change your mind you must point to the correct one with an arrow.

[Lauradf36]

No. You must cross out your answer if you think it is incorrect, and if you change your mind you must point to the correct one with an arrow.

Damn it wish I knew that one before trials instead of after

[RuiAce]

Damn it wish I knew that one before trials instead of after

Trials your teacher shouldn't be cruel. But for the HSC it will matter because that pencil isn't going to be the easiest thing to scan.

[Lauradf36]

Trials your teacher shouldn't be cruel. But for the HSC it will matter because that pencil isn't going to be the easiest thing to scan.

yeah I did assume, but they never tell us these things agh

[jamonwindeyer]

Random Q - can you use pencil for multiple choice? I always do because I am an incorrigible mind-changer hahaha

Hey! I'm pretty sure you have to use pen, but I'm happy to be corrected, I know you have to write in pen

[conic curve]

Hey! I'm pretty sure you have to use pen, but I'm happy to be corrected, I know you have to write in pen

I think you are allowed to use pencil-only for diagrams though

[jamonwindeyer]

I think you are allowed to use pencil-only for diagrams though

That's definitely not true, I used pen for diagrams in all my Math exams I probably should have used pencil, and sometimes I did, but quick sketches were always pen. The only time I used a pencil was for really tricky curve sketches, from memory

[RuiAce]

I think you are allowed to use pencil-only for diagrams though

You are not permitted to use pencil unless explicitly stated at the front of the examination book. This happens for subjects such as physics where you are occasionally required to sketch graphs and because you don't have unlimited writing space it's too hard to do otherwise.

Under normal circumstances, including mathematics, you must sketch in pen. If you insist on pencil to do a rough sketch, that's probably fine. But you should always trace over them in black pen.

(Note that this was not always the case - the new scanning system they introduced last year was terrible. When I found out that blue pen was not ok and I had to use black pen I had nothing to say; I was just annoyed lol)

[ssarahj]

That's definitely not true, I used pen for diagrams in all my Math exams I probably should have used pencil, and sometimes I did, but quick sketches were always pen. The only time I used a pencil was for really tricky curve sketches, from memory

I think you are allowed to use pencil-only for diagrams though

Actually for Chemistry (and maybe other Science subjects as far as I know) require you to use pencil for all diagrams/graphs! Not really sure about the logic behind it with all the scanning etc. but it's definitely a thing for Chemistry. But as Rui said, it will clearly say on the exam booklet.

[jakesilove]

Actually for Chemistry (and maybe other Science subjects as far as I know) require you to use pencil for all diagrams/graphs! Not really sure about the logic behind it with all the scanning etc. but it's definitely a thing for Chemistry. But as Rui said, it will clearly say on the exam booklet.

Definitely true, but to be perfectly honest, at the end of the day it doesn't matter! The scanning system will pick up pen or pencil; it's just more likely to pick up pen. Try to use pen as much as possible; it won't matter how you draw diagrams. Would recommend Pen though

[RuiAce]

I bought my papers back. The scanning they used for the physics paper was good and I actually saw a pencil graph I did get picked up.

As opposed to the MX2 and English Adv ones. That scanning was horrible.

(I'm not allowed to post up the papers due to copyright issues)


Fact is, you should never use pencil unless the front of the book has permitted you to.

[Chris_edwards]

How much ground can I realistically make up in the HSC exams? Can I go from being ranked last in all subjects (but my overall internal mark being 50+ for my subjects which are; Mathematics, Extension Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Business Studies and Standard English) to still achieving an ATAR of say 70+?

[jamonwindeyer]

How much ground can I realistically make up in the HSC exams? Can I go from being ranked last in all subjects (but my overall internal mark being 50+ for my subjects which are; Mathematics, Extension Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Business Studies and Standard English) to still achieving an ATAR of say 70+?

Absolutely you can! You will need to put in a lot of hard work to really smash the HSC Exams though, if you smash the exams then you can definitely achieve that goal! Work with your friends, you want your whole school to do well and minimise the negative moderation effects of your rank (if close to everyone does well, those effects are minimal) more detail can be found here!

But yep, you can always achieve whatever ATAR you like, your ranks just mean you have to work a little bit harder