A brief guide to the HSC process.

What is the ATAR?

The Australian Tertiary Admission Rank is a scale by which your academic performance is measured.
Universities use your ATAR to rank you against other students during the selection process for Uni
courses.
Achieving an ATAR of 80.00, essentially means you have performed better than 80.00% of candidates in
the HSC.
How does scaling work?
Not all tests are of equal diculty and thus not all marks can be treated equally. Achieving a HSC mark
(your mark on the day of the HSC exam) of 80 in Extension 2 Mathematics is considerably more dicult
than achieving a HSC Mark of 80 in Extension 1 mathematics. Consequently, an 80 in Mathematics
Extension 2 will generally be scaled up. Scaling ensures all students get the marks they deserve for the
diculty of questions they undertook.
This can also occur between options. For example, in Physics there are a number of option topics you
may choose from, by chance some options may be more dicult than other options, to account for this
the more dicult option will be scaled up to ensure students undertaking that module are not
disadvantaged.
In summary: Just because you do a harder subject/option than another person does not mean you will
be disadvantaged.
Should I study low-scaling subjects
If they are your passion absolutely! There is no point doing Chemistry if you do not enjoy it! It is very
dicult to stay focused and study for a subject you despise. Whilst it is true that say an 80 in Chemistry
is worth more than an 80 in Engineering studies, if Engineering is your passion, you are more likely to
achieve a 95 in Engineering studies than an 85 in Chemistry simply because you are more interested in
the course and it is less dicult for you. More importantly a 95 in Engineering studies is an amazing
result and far better than an 85 in Chemistry regardless of scaling.
In summary: Do the subjects you enjoy, and do them well!
How to study the month before HSC
Hopefully if all has gone well, you should have studied all the content for each of your courses and you
are seeking a method to maximise the eectiveness of your revision.
Here are some helpful tips for some common subjects:
Maths - The key to success in Mathematics is past papers. The beauty of mathematics is there is very
little to memorise, it is simply a measure of your ability to problem solve, there is little value gained from
reading a maths textbook, the best thing you can do is tune those problem solving skills is doing past
papers. If youre short of time, try reading worked solutions to past papers to help build your skills in
approaching dicult problems.
Physics and Chemistry - Unfortunately for these big boys, the HSC courses have very little measure of
problem solving and are largely based on mass memorisation of content. The good news is, its very hard
to be surprised or overwhelmed in a test. The bad news is you will have to devote a lot of time to some
serious revision (basically memorisation). Try and spend time trying to really understand why and how
things work, a true understanding can do wonders for you ability to memorise the subject and
recollection. Write a number of notes on each topic, reducing in detail each time. I.e. for the topic on
space in Physics, you should aim to write 5 sets of notes, each set should be briefer than the one before,
hopefully by the end of writing all your notes you should be able to comfortably memorise the final set of
notes. Your aim is to be able to deconstruct this brief set of notes to the initial set. The reasoning behind
memorising a smaller set of notes and using them as cue cards, is because it makes the content less
overwhelming and gives it an ordered structure which is far easier to deconstruct under the pressure of
an exam.
How to stay motivated in Year 12
Its very easy to say I want a 99.95 ATAR because I want to beat everyone else. With that sort of
motivation youll be deflated when ever you hit a minor setback. Try and have a genuine reason for
getting the marks you desire whether it be your dream job or a course minimum requirement, whatever it
is make sure it means something to you!
Dont study all the time! Do things you enjoy, whether its playing tennis or football or maybe just going
for a bike ride or even going out with a loved one. Everyone needs a bit of time to give their heart what it

wants and more importantly their brain a rest.

Exam technique + strategies.
Time management is crucial dont be fooled by the length of time questions will take or the lines you
have been provided. A 6 marker does NOT take twice as long to complete as a 3 marker, the time you
must take does not increase linearly. In fact as marks increase, the amount of time you need increases
even more! The dierence between a 1 mark question and a 3 mark question may be 4 minutes but the
dierence between a 3 mark question and a 5 mark question could be 10 minutes!
You need to plan your exam so that you maximise the amount of time you have for heavier weighted
questions. A 7 marker in physics could take up to 20 minutes alone! Being unprepared for these
questions can leave you overwhelmed and out of time.