SECRETS OF THE HSC.

In thi s article, Richar d Chua explains what to expect in your HSC and how to succeed i n it. Richard graduated from Sydney Gramma r in 2001, with a UAI of 100.00 (ATAR equiv. 99.95) and holds a degree in Commerce and Law from UNSW

Every Decemeber 60,000 students anxiously await their HSC resu lts wandering whether their hard year's work will be e no u gh t o get them into University Small differences in ATAR can make the difference between admission and rejection.

However many of the HSC's top performers p re pare well in adva n ce to ensure their success. In th is art icle, we look at 4 secrets to p reparing for yo ur HSC.

1 Choose the ri ght subjects, and understandi ng scaling

Perhaps the most important cons ideration for students is to understand h ow each of you r subject scales. Most stu dents will be fami liar with the fact t hat mark s in difficult subjects, like Maths Ext 2. get "p ushed up ", whi lst marks in other subjects l ike Legal Stud ies w ill get "pushed down",

However you need to know much more than th is.

If you understand sca ling properly, you can actua lly breakdown any ATAR into a particula r mark or rank in each subject Below, we list a tab le of the highest scaling subjects in t he HSC. and what you need to score i n each subject to achieve an ATAR of 95/97/99.

2. Expect at least ONE bad assessment

Many students get disheartened when they see ONE bad assess m e nt result. Some student s decide to "drop' subjects premature ly or pan ic and believe they are no lon ger capable in that subject.

However you sh ould expect t o have at least ONE bad assessment. A bad assessment does not necessarily mean you are weak in th e subject. Rather, with rough ly 5 assessments per subject, you will be doing betwee n 30-36 assessment and exa m tasks i n the year. Realist ically, you are bou nd to have a sub-par performance i n at least a few of those assessments.

CATEGORY HIGHEST SCALING SUBJECT DECISION RULES

MATHS Maths Ext 1 & 2

ENGLI S H Advanced or Higher

S C IENCE Physics and Chemsit ry

HUMANITIES Econom ics & Modern Histo ry

Ta Le Nt1 00

w/www tal en t-100.com .au p / 1300 999 100

3U and 4U Maths are by far, the highest scaling subjects t hat are readily accessible students Because of their high sca ling. you shou d take the h ighest level of mathematics that you are capab le of. For i nstance, to be on target for an ATAR of 99+, you only need to be ave rage 1n 4U Maths whereas you would need to b e in the top 4% of 2U Maths Where possible you shou ld take at least advanced Engli sh The hig her English as a group, scale well above Standard E nglish For i nstance, students who scor ed In the 25% of Advance recei ve scores higher than those students who score n the top 1% of standard. Physics and Chemistry are t he highest scali ng sciences and scal e significantly better than biology

Humanities are generally quite subjective, a nd tend to scale lower Economi c s Is the h ighest scaling humanity readi ly available. followed by Modern History Ancient H istory, Busi ness Stud es, Commerce and Legal Studies scale even l ower st ll

In order to score 99 ATAR, you ne ed to be ranked In the top + 57% of Maths Ex t 2 + 25% of Maths Ext 1 + 5% in Chemistry, Physics and Eng lish

In order to score 97 ATAR, you need to be ranked In t he t op + 80% of Maths Ex t 2 + 47% of Maths Ext 1 + 12% o f Chemistry

+ 11% Physics and Adv E ng l sh

In order to score 95 ATAR, you need to be ran ked in the top + go% o f Maths Ext 2 + 60% o f Maths E xt 1 + 18% or Chemistry + 16% Physics and Adv Engli sh For a full explanation of scaling, please see www talent-100.eom.au/ hsc-study-guide php or regi ster for our free Scaling Seminar (Jan 15,16, 29, 30)

If a single assessment is weak. don' t panic. Understand that t he assessments increasing i n weighting all the way up until the HSC exam (which counts for 50% of your fi nal mark) so you can always make up lost ground. Und erstand that the final HSC exam will count as much as everything you do In school put together.

3 Ta ke a spare subject

Although your HSC is only scored from your 10 best uni ts , it i s best to take a spare subject, or take 11-12 units. Some students think that taking 10 units w i ll g ive them extra time to study.

Whilst there is some meri t in this this is a r isky strategy. It ass u mes that you wil l be ab le to execut e your exams flawlessly.

If you take 10 unit s and you perform badly i n one subject, you will be forced to count that subject In contrast. ta ki ng an extra subjects give you " insurance" - even if you pe rform badly in one subject, you'l l be able to include you r 'spare subject' instead.

4 A c celerate you r leamin g

A growing trend among many of the HSC's top performers is to accelerate part of thei r HSC in Year 11. In particular, m any schools

(such as Sydney Boys and Normanhurst) are encouraging the ir Year 11 Maths students to sit the 2 Unit Maths Exam whilst in Year 11. Other schools , like Baulkham Hills High School, allow Year 11 students to sit Econom ics.

The p hilosophy behind th is is straight-forward. If you can comp lete 2-4 units successful ly in Year 11, you will have much more time to devote to your subjects in Year 12. Effectively, these students have a massive advant age over their peers, as they are able to sit the HSC over t wo yea rs.

ConverselY, there is very little risk. If you don't perform well in the HSC in Year 11, you can simply sit the same subject again in Year 12

Our concise, straight-forwa rd and resul ts-focused approach has hel ped the Talent 100 students perform at the top of Sydney's best private and se lect ive schools If you would like to know more information about scaling, or woul d like a FREE THREE W EEK

T RI AL of any of ou r co u rses•, please contact us on 1300 999 10 0 , email lnfo@talent-lOO.com.au or visit our websi te.