Posts tagged ‘hsc tutors’

May 21st, 2010

Why HSC Coaching is Necessary

Over the past decade, HSC coaching has become an integral part of the culture of HSC preparation. A significant portion of all HSC students, whether they are from public, selective and private schools, attend some sort of HSC coaching outside of their normal school hours. The motivations of these students range from wanting to maximise their ATARs, maintaining their already high internal assessment ranks, or to catch up with the rest of the class.

HSC coaching is an interesting phenomenon, in that it is a symptom of the extremely competitive HSC environment, where students compete for limited places in highly sought after University courses. The fact that an ever-increasing portion of students who score a high ATAR have received some sort of HSC coaching during their senior study makes HSC coaching a self-fulfilling requirement of success to many. What this means is more and more students are finding that they need to attend some sort of HSC coaching service (whether it be private or class tuition) just so they can keep the playing field level with their peers at school. Of course, there are always students who manage to score a high ATAR without any outside assistance, but those remain of the minority.

However, just because HSC coaching is self-fulfilling, this does not discredit the many tangible benefits it brings to young HSC students. Of course, students gain a direct benefit with extra study and exposure to coursework, however there are often additional, less direct benefits of coaching that are often overlooked.

HSC Coaching Provides a Structured Course Schedule

This is one area that many schools, particularly public schools in disadvantaged areas, suffer from (sometimes even selective schools!). Schools often cram the teaching of several difficult topics in a short amount of time after the school’s HSC trial exams are finished. For example, in Maths Extension 2, later topics like Mechanics and Harder 3 Unit are given a fraction of the attention they require, because the faculty could not teach the early part of the course fast enough. Students from such schools have the mindset of “damage minimisation” for the topics that were neglected at school – they are left in the exam struggling to piece together the information from vague memory, because the class teacher had rushed through it so fast to fit it all in the last few weeks before the HSC exams.

Another example is science subjects like HSC Physics and Chemistry – the majority of schools decide to have their internal HSC trials after teaching 3 of the core modules, leaving the last Option topic to be taught in the weeks after the trials. However, in these final few weeks before the HSC exams, teachers also need to allocate time to review the entire course, and students probably have other subjects to worry about before time runs out. The net effect is that the Option topic is often rushed and poorly covered by schools.

An organised HSC coaching / tutoring company will be able to teach the course content in advance of the pace at schools, avoiding the need to rush through and neglect the final topics / modules of a subject in the last few weeks before the HSC exams. You may be wondering, if HSC coaching companies can teach at a faster pace, why don’t schools do this in the first place? The answer is because the students who attend HSC coaching are generally of higher calibre, and can cope with the faster pace, whereas schools need to teach at a pace suitable for the entire class, which may contain lower calibre students, or students who simply don’t care.

HSC Coaching Exposes Students to Healthy Competition

Many students who attend a class tuition type of HSC coaching find that they can mingle with peers outside of their school. The more advanced students often feel unchallenged by their peers at school, and find that high assessment ranks within the school are not difficult to achieve. The benefit of meeting peers outside of school is that students who attend HSC coaching tend to care more about their HSC success and share the goal of ATAR maximisation. By mingling and associating with like minded and higher calibre peers outside of school, HSC coaching can prevent a student from settling in his or her comfort zone from being unchallenged at school.

HSC Coaching Forces Students to Work More in their Critical Final Years of High School

HSC students, still young and relatively inexperienced, often lack the self-discipline to maintain a healthy work ethic necessary for success. While they should have been taught good values, like the importance of setting goals and working hard to achieve them, they still need external forces to keep them on the path to future success.

A quality HSC coaching service will impose a balanced workload on students, and provide a framework for students to set their own goals and work hard throughout the year in achieving them.

For example, the weekly requirement to leave the house and attend classes outside of school to study keeps students’ minds focused on the goal at hand – it is a constant reminder of what their goals are for year 11 and 12, and what they are working towards (entry into a sought-after University course). Being constantly challenged by moving through coursework at a faster pace keeps students focused, and on the ball. When their first exams come, it would seem like revision to tutored students, allowing them to achieve above and beyond the class standard. Early success builds self esteem, sets a precedent of high achievement for the student early in the year, and allows him or her to gather momentum for continued success.

So those are some of the indirect benefits of HSC coaching. What students and parents need to realise is that the overall benefit of HSC coaching is not simply limited to extra study, but also the indirect benefits discussed above.

CategoryHSC Career, HSC Coaching, HSC Programs | CommentNo Comments »

Tags:
February 6th, 2010

Familiarise Yourself With ‘HSC Words’

A big part of succeeding in the HSC is knowing how to win marks. Merely studying for your subjects and learning the theory is half the work – you also need to be a master of exams.

In all HSC subjects, exam questions are always phrased using the same keywords. For example, you would have seen questions beginning with: “Describe the relationship between…”, “Outline the features of…”, “Compare the perspectives of…”, “Critically evaluate the implications of…” etc.

ALL the questions you encounter in the HSC would be phrased using one of the words in the HSC Glossary of Terms. In order to excel in all your exams, it is essential that you deeply familiarise yourself with the meanings of these ‘HSC words’. For example, know exactly what “Explain” requires you to do; know the difference between ‘Evaluate’ and ‘Assess’; know the difference between ‘Describe’ and ‘Outline’. Knowing the meaning of each word, and what each requires you to do is essential to getting full marks for your answers, especially for longer essay-type responses.

A good place to start is to read the Marking Criteria published for each past HSC exam.

The Marking Criteria

The Marking Criteria for past HSC exams is published every year for every subject. This is an invaluable resource as it lists out the exact criteria on which marks were awarded for each type of question. For example, in science exams (e.g. Physics, Biology or Chemistry) pay close attention to the 7-8 mark ‘Evaluate’ or ‘Analyse and assess’ questions – the marking criteria for these provide valuable information on what HSC markers award marks for. The difference between a 6/7 mark response and a 7/7 mark response is usually very subtle.

Minor details matter

A mark can be lost for a minor detail that the HSC marker was looking for, therefore thorough knowledge of the content (including background information) is necessary for high marks.

For example, Question 23 in the Chemistry 2008 is a typical Haber-Process question for 4 marks: “Using Le Chatelier’s principle, justify the choice of temperature and pressure conditions used to optimise the yield in the Haber process.” For full marks, students needed to identify typical temperatures and pressures used in a modern Haber plant, in addition to answering the question. This may seem confusing at first, since the question could be addressed without needing any real-life examples, but for full marks, the HSC markers required a mention of actual typical temperatures and pressures.

As you read more Marking Criteria, especially for the longer questions, you will familiarise yourself with exactly what the HSC markers are looking for, even if it does not seem obvious at first.

Read sample answers

The Marking Criteria also features sample ‘ideal responses’ that are of a full-mark standard. Read through these and pay close attention to what information they contain. Notice how each sample answer addresses the Marking Criteria for that question, and become familiar with how information can be incorporated to satisfy the Criteria.

Notice also the options available to you in how to structure your answer. For example, in science exams, there’s really very little restriction on what format your response takes, as long as it contains the information the HSC markers are looking for. Just because the writing space in the exam booklet is in dotted lines, this does not mean you are limited only to words in constructing your response. You will notice that even the official sample answers often use tables and diagrams in addition to text. Knowing this fact already puts you ahead of most students.

Practice them!

Apart from reading the Marking Criteria, the best way to familiarise yourself with different ‘HSC words’ is to practice. You should take every opportunity to do more practice exams, particularly actual past HSC papers, as well as exam-style questions. You should have your practice responses looked at by someone experienced, either by a good teacher, or a good HSC tutor.

In class, pay attention to the teacher when he/she discusses the requirements of different keywords. If this topic never comes up in class, request that it be covered before your exams. Ask your teachers if you are unsure about any detail, such as the subtle differences between words that appear synonymous.

Just remember that knowing how to approach different questions is a very important aspect of HSC success, and thus should not be neglected in your study!

Appendix: HSC Glossary of Terms

Source: Board of Studies

Note: merely memorising the definitions of each keyword is not useful enough. Ideally, you should do practice exams, or exam-style questions, and have them marked by someone experienced. At the least, you should read through Marking Criteria and sample responses, and note how each keyword was addressed.

Account, Account for: state reasons for, report on. Give an account of: narrate a series of events or transactions

Analyse: Identify components and the relationship between them; draw out and relate implications

Apply: Use, utilise, employ in a particular situation

Appreciate: Make a judgement about the value of

Assess: Make a judgment of value, quality, outcomes, results or size

Calculate: Ascertain/determine from given facts, figures or information

Clarify: Make clear or plain

Classify: Arrange or include in classes/categories

Compare: Show how things are similar or different

Construct: Make; build; put together items or arguments

Contrast: Show how things are different or opposite

Critically (analyse/evaluate): Add a degree or level of accuracy, depth, knowledge and understanding, logic, questioning, reflection and quality to (analysis/evaluation)

Deduce: Draw conclusions

Define: State meaning and identify essential qualities

Demonstrate: Show by example

Describe: Provide characteristics and features

Discuss: Identify issues and provide points for and/or against

Distinguish: Recognise or note/indicate as being distinct or different from; to note differences between

Evaluate: Make a judgement based on criteria; determine the value of

Examine: Inquire into

Explain: Relate cause and effect; make the relationships between things evident; provide why and/or how

Extract: Choose relevant and/or appropriate details

Extrapolate: Infer from what is known

Identify: Recognise and name

Interpret: Draw meaning from

Investigate: Plan, inquire into and draw conclusions about

Justify: Support an argument or conclusion

Outline: Sketch in general terms; indicate the main features of

Predict: Suggest what may happen based on available information

Propose: Put forward (for example a point of view, idea, argument, suggestion) for consideration or action

Recall: Present remembered ideas, facts or experiences

Recommend: Provide reasons in favour

Recount: Retell a series of events

Summarise: Express, concisely, the relevant details

Synthesise: Putting together various elements to make a whole.

CategoryHSC Programs | CommentNo Comments »

Tags:
January 27th, 2010

Extracurricular Activities – During the HSC

If you want to apply for scholarships, go into Medical studies or get a highly sought-after part time job after leaving school; it is always a good idea to get some extracurricular activities under your belt during schooldays. On the downside though, good extracurricular activities often take a large amount of time, and might distract you from your studies. Therefore, it is important to practice time management.

In this article, we’ll take a brief look at what extracurricular activities you can do in high school that would help you with things like scholarships, entry into Medical College or while searching for a job later on.

Worthwhile Extracurricular Activities in High Schoolextracurricular-activities

Sportsextracurricular-activities2
As a high school student, the best activity to be involved in for most people is to get into some sort of sporting activities. Sports are an excellent to list on your resume, as it communicates several things to your interviewers:

  • You can work in a team (most sports are team-based)
  • You are competitive (that’s a great trait to demonstrate for things like scholarships and jobs)
  • You are a well-rounded individual (that is to say, you’re not just into computer games or Facebook)

The important thing here is to choose a sport that you truly enjoy. Do more than just play the sport – enter competitions, tournaments etc. This gives you more to talk about in an interview, other than merely saying “Oh I play soccer every weekend”. The point is to separate yourself from the rest – if you stand out, you will have a greater chance of success.

School related positions

High school students can also opt for school-related events or position. If you’re the School Captain, that’s an excellent portfolio. But even if you are not, try to be a School Prefect or an SRC representative. These positions convey that you possess leadership skills – a trait that is very favourably looked upon by interviewers for scholarships, entry into medicine or jobs.

Besides these, volunteer for as many things as you can at school which allows you to take responsibility for something. For example, if you’re good with computers, try to volunteer to help manage the school’s computer networks. If you have a knack for audio equipment, volunteer to help set up the audio equipment for the school hall for each event (e.g. dances, Talent Quests, general assembly’s etc).

Achievements

Extremely competitive activities such as joining the Maths, Chemistry, Physics or Biology Olympiads reflects very well on your abilities in these subject areas, as well as your ability to manage your time effectively. For things like academic scholarships and jobs that require related skills, such activities are worthwhile, should there arise an opportunity.

One-off activities

You can also consider participating in one-off volunteering / fund-raising events, such as things like “40-hour famine” or those like “Duke of Edinburgh” awards. Keep in mind that these are often of lower significance to your resume than on-going activities, or achievements mentioned above. Only do these if you really enjoy them.

During the HSC

You should be more careful about how you spend your time in year 12th. Generally, it is a good idea to pause most of your extracurricular activities once year 12th starts (i.e. end of term 3 of year 11), since HSC is most important at this time. If you can intelligently manage time with your management skills (which is also very important), you can easily choose to continue doing all activities related to school duty.

CategoryHSC Programs | CommentNo Comments »

Tags:
January 12th, 2010

Make good use of your holidays- Get Prepare for your HSC.

The Christmas / summer holidays are the longest holiday period in your HSC year. You have about 6 weeks to relax and refresh yourself before the 2010 school year starts. However, students often use these holiday periods to gain a competitive advantage over their peers by reading ahead in their textbooks, or reading all of their English texts in advance. One of our students finished her entire English Extension 2 major work in these holidays!

Of course, the advantage with working harder in the holidays, is that it lightens the load later on in the HSC year. Given that you have 6 weeks of holidays in the summer, it is probably wise to spend 3 or so weeks preparing for your HSC. Every bit of extra preparation translates to results in the HSC, since you only have a year. Once school starts, you may find the pace very fast, and everything examinable is taught once only before the teacher moves on.

So how can you prepare for the year ahead? Study ahead, of course.

This is one of the examples of how successful students study differently from average students. By learning ahead, you gain familiarity of the topics and content that would be taught to your peers for the very first time later in the HSC year. Shortly after this event, the exam comes. So who would do better? The student who has seen the same material before, has experienced and overcome the common pitfalls and challenges, and has had plenty of opportunity to ask their teacher relevant questions before the exam? Or the student who let it all go during the holidays, and had a great time, then learnt the content for the first time at a rush-pace prior to the exams?

Of course, it is perfectly OK to relax during the Holidays – after all, it’s holidays! But now is early January, you’ve already had a couple of weeks to enjoy the Christmas and New Year festivities. You’re now well-rested, relaxed and refreshed. It’s time to get seriously serious!

What can I do in my holidays, on my own?

During the holidays, you’re all on your own. Most likely, your friends are still partying, and probably your teachers too. Tutoring colleges are closed, (except those few running holiday courses), and everyone’s still on holidays. So whatever self-study you do, it would have to be something you can do by yourself.

Luckily, for most students, teachers and tutoring helps most AFTER you’ve done some self-reading. With some self-discipline and solid effort, core content can be learned on your own.

For science subjects

Read a GOOD textbook. get-hsc

For Chemistry, pick up a copy of Conquering Chemistry, or Chemistry in Contexts, and read as much as you can. For Physics, you can’t go wrong with Jacaranda, or Macquarie. As a guideline, completely revise the first module (you would have done this at school in term 4, 2009) and read the entire second module. If you have our notes from term 4, re-read all of them too! Avoid the Excel ones as they are a bit superficial in depth.

Don’t worry about practice questions yet, but make sure you UNDERSTAND concepts

At this early stage, don’t get too caught up with practice questions. Do one or two per section to test your knowledge, then move on. Remember, you have other subjects to study for! The most important thing is to UNDERSTAND the concepts. For example, make sure you KNOW how Lenz’s law works, how those right-hand push/palm/grip rules work, etc.

Read the syllabus and reconcile it with what you’ve read in textbooks

After you’ve read the textbooks, read through the syllabus for the modules you studied, and make sure every dot-point in those modules have been covered by what you’ve read. It’s a good idea to do this after you read the textbooks, as textbooks often give you richer background information necessary to understand the full picture of certain concepts. However you can choose to read the syllabus before you start reading textbooks.

For mathematics

Do exercises off a good textbook

Mathematics is really a practice game. The more practice you get, the more experienced you become. There are only so many ways a maths question can be designed for any topic area, and the more experience you have, the less likely you will be caught unaware in the exam. Simple, really, but success in maths requires dedication, which is easier said than done.

Good textbooks are Fitzpatrick (for 2U and 3U), Cambridge, and don’t forget the forgotten classics like Coroneos (excellent for 4 unit harder questions).

For English

Read your texts in advance

Find how what novels you need to read, and read through them these holidays. This subject is probably the easiest to study ahead for, as it involves a leisure activity (for some) – reading!

Just be aware of the thematic considerations that are relevant to your module as you read through your texts.

CategoryHSC Programs, Uncategorized | CommentNo Comments »

Tags:
July 15th, 2009

Doing Well in HSC Math

Whether you do 2 unit maths, maths extension 1, or maths extension 2, doing well in HSC mathematics requires a similar strategy. In this article, we will briefly look at what makes a successful HSC maths student, as well as some exam preparation techniques which would be relevant to students today, as most have their all-important HSC trials and HSC exams coming up in the next few weeks.

Seeing connections between HSC topics
The most common characteristic shared by successful HSC maths students is their ability to see connections and patterns between the various topics of maths. This is important, as many questions are not worded in an immediately straightforward manner.
For example, a 4 unit (Extension 2) question may initially appear to be an integration question, but in part b or c, knowledge of polynomial roots or complex numbers needs to be used. Similarly, such questions involving a mesh of different topics are also common in 2 unit math and 3 unit (Extension 1).

Practice makes perfect

Training for maimages1thematics is much like training for sports. Your core skills ultimately comes down to how much practice you have had. There is a limited number of ways an exam can ask you questions. If you have gone through two or three complete (reputable) HSC maths textbooks, good chances are that you have seen most of the ways questions can be asked.

Therefore, doing well in HSC maths, regardless of what level of maths you do, comes down to simple practice. This piece of advice is the most simple to describe and understand, but the most difficult to implement and follow through. The key is to set yourself an ongoing goal – decide how much exercises or hours you can do every day or week, then persevere.

Build up a habit for the long run and stick to it. Focus on sustainability, rather than studying for the short term. For example, if you can get into a simple habit of studying just an hour, purely dedicated to mathematics, on each school night, this would be so much more useful than being highly motivated for a period of a few weeks prior to exams, but being unmotivated throughout the year.

Convert real facts into a mathematical problem

Longer, more difficult maths questions tend to be phrased as a problem question. There is no rule of thumb as to which topics can be phrased in a long-worded question – any topic can be presented this way. However, some topics tend to have a greater abundance of such worded problems. For example, in maths Extension 1, there’s Applications of Calculus, which includes things like projectile motion and Newton’s Law of Cooling. In maths Extension 2, there’s even more! (Mechanics, volumes, conics, complex numbers and most of Harder 3 unit – to name a few).

Some students find it difficult to convert a worded scenario or problem into a mathematical / numerical problem. The issue is that students are mostly taught to think in terms of numbers and algebraic expressions, but only occasionally (or for some, rarely) get to practice on real-world worded problem questions. A good maths student would have had plenty of practice at synthesising complex worded facts into a numerical problem, especially by the time they need to prepare for their HSC trials and HSC exams.
In terms of good preparation, it is good to pay close attention to questions which are long, have multiple parts and represent mathematics in some real-world application. Doing these questions (and asking your tutor / teacher questions if necessary) will give you adequate preparation.

Avoid over-relying on your calculator

This point is not talked about much, probably because it is not raised often. But I’d like to shed some light on the issue. Pulling out your calculator for every arithmetic operation (e.g. you need to add single digit coefficients together) wastes your exam time, and increases the risk of pressing something wrong. In the end, for the more simple operations (e.g. adding / multiplying single or even double digits) is simply done faster in your head, than with a calculator.

I remember, not long ago while supervising an exam at university, I saw a first-year student take out his calculator and press 2 + 2 =. Maybe I have a strange sense of humour but I found the incident funny and memorable. However this does highlight a current issue for some HSC students. For some students, it has come down to total reliance on their calculator for all arithmetic calculations, even simple ones that ought to have been done mentally without a doubt.

I always tell my students, you can do an entire Extension 2 exam without touching your calculator. Most of the more advanced students know this. To minimise the incidence of human error, again, this comes down to practice. In everyday life, whenever you come across a situation where you need to add / multiply / subtract or even divide, (e.g. when shopping, or on the train, or at school etc) you should do the math in your head. Break the instinct of moving to grab your calculator. Think of the brain as like a muscle – the more mental exercises you give it, the better it will become.

CategoryMathematics | CommentNo Comments »

Tags:
June 25th, 2009

ATAR to Replace All UAI’s

The UAC announced earlier this month that the UAI system will be replaced by the ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank). The conversion of UAI to ATAR aligns NSW’s system of measuring HSC performance for the purpose of university admissions to that of other states. The ATAR will replace all UAI’s, starting with the year 12 students in 2009, and will be a rank-based score out of 99.95 (instead of 100.00).

How will the ATAR affect me?uai-to-atar-score1 The ATAR is a similar (but not identical) rank-based scale used to differentiate student performance for the purpose of university admissions. Like the UAI, the ATAR is a rank-based index, meaning the same rules of HSC scaling would apply under the ATAR.

Students should remember that just like under the UAI system, it is your rank relative to other HSC students which determine what ATAR / UAI you will receive. That is, based on your aggregate mark (out of 500), your percentile position will be calculated, and this will be directly converted into an ATAR. As a result, the number will change when converting from UAI to ATAR, however your rank remains the same. As a result, university ATAR cut-offs for all courses will be converted to match the previous equivalent rank cut-off.

For example, say Bachelor of Commerce at UNSW has a UAI cut-off of 90.00. Say this translates to a rank cut-off at the 8,800th student from the top rank. The ATAR cut-off would be adjusted to match the rank, and not be converted according to some arbitrary process. E.g. according to UAC’s published UAI to ATAR conversion table, a UAI of 90 converts to an ATAR of 90.80.

Converting from UAI to ATAR score

Read UAC’s full conversion table here.

Because both the UAI and the ATAR are rank-based scores, they are directly comparable to previous years’ UAI scores. So if you have an older brother or sister and want to best them in the HSC, the implementation of the ATAR system won’t affect that! Notice that the highest attainable ATAR is 99.95 (instead of a UAI of 100). As a result, UAI’s near 100 (above 99.7) are converted to a slightly lower ATAR score, and all UAI’s lower than 99.2 are converted to a slightly higher ATAR. For the vast majority of students, this makes their university entrance score look slightly better! However, again we remind you that your rank is not affected by these changes, and therefore the difference in numbers between the ATAR and UAI make no difference to you.

CategoryHSC Programs, HSC Scaling | CommentNo Comments »

Tags:
June 15th, 2009

Explanation of HSC Scaling

HSC scaling is a popular topic to HSC students and parents, and is often an area that is commonly misunderstood. Scaling is important as it affects all students aspiring to get into university after the HSC.

Scaled marks versus HSC marks

A commonly misunderstood concept is the relationship between HSC marks and scaled marks. HSC marks are the marks the Board of Studies awards you, and appear on your Record of Achievement. These marks determine which performance band you fall in (e.g. Band 6 or E4) for each of your HSC subjects. These marks measure how well you did according to the subject’s requirements. E.g. if you received a Band 6 in English Advanced, it means your performance satisfied all the criteria required by the HSC English syllabus to achieve a Band 6. However, in any year, any amount of HSC students can get a Band 6. For example, in a particularly smart year, a higher proportion of students may receive Band 6 in English Advanced. It is not how well you do in your subject, but rather, how well you do relative to other students which determine your UAI. Here’s where your scaled marks come into play.

HSC Scaling Your scaled marks will NOT be shown to you at the end of your HSC, as you will only be shown your HSC marks (aligned marks, to be precise). Ironically, it is your scaled marks which are the most important determinant to your UAI. Scaled marks are calculated by the UAC (not the BOS) under a totally different process. Basically, these marks measure your performance relative to other students. (For a more technically accurate discussion on scaled marks and what they mean, as well as the mathematics behind UAI calculation, please read our article on the mechanics of HSC scaling) Remember, your HSC marks are a measure of how well you did in your subject, but your scaled marks measure how well you did relative to other students. It is your scaled marks which are used to calculate your UAI, not your HSC marks.

Through the process of scaling, the UAC converts your raw examination marks (the actual marks you received in your external and moderated internal assessment) into scaled marks. These scaled marks are then added up to arrive at your aggregate mark (students refer to this as your ‘aggregate’) out of 500. The UAI is simply a percentile rank of your aggregate, which is the total of your scaled marks in your top 10 units.

How can knowledge of HSC scaling help me?

Understanding the process allows you to plan your HSC, to an extent, in such a way as to make scaling work to your advantage. For example, if you enjoy maths, you should choose Maths Extension 2 in order to take advantage of its enormous scaling effect. Similarly, if you enjoy science, you should take Chemistry and Physics, as they scale relatively well.

In other words, comparing subjects in terms of their scaling effect can assist you with your decision as to which subjects to take for your HSC. In order to quantitatively compare the scaling effect of different courses, you will need to get familiar with reading statistics published by UAC. The rest of this article will highlight the important things to note.

Reading ’scaled means’

Firstly, what are ’scaled means’? The scaled mean for each subject is the average scaled mark received by all students who took that subject for that year. For example, in 2008, the scaled mean for Maths Extension 2 was 43 out of 50. This means that among the Maths Extension 2 students in 2008, the average of their scaled marks was 43 out of 50. This subject has traditionally been one of the highest scaled subjects available for the HSC. In terms of reading these scaling statistics, generally the higher the scaled mean, the higher the scaling effect.

Each year, the UAC publishes a scaling report which contains important scaling statistics for all HSC subjects eligible to contribute to a UAI. For more information, read about UAC scaling statistics. In the report, there is an important section called Table A3, which is a table setting out the scaled means of all subjects.

To illustrate the effect of scaling, in 2008, a Maths Extension 2 student only needs to be in the top 46% out of all Maths Extension 2 students to get a scaled mark of 45 out of 50 (or 90/100). A Maths (2 unit) student would need to be in the top 3% out of all Maths (2 unit) students in order to achieve the same result. These facts are read off the UAC scaling report. In the 99th percentile, a Maths (2 unit) student receives a scaled mark of 46.1 out of 50. In the 75th percentile, a Maths Extension 2 student receives a scaled makr of 46.2 out of 50. Arguably it is easier to be above average in Maths Extension 2 than to be near the top of the state in Maths (2 unit). This is the main benefit derived from choosing high scaling subjects.

Effect on UAI calculation

Simply put, the higher the total of your scaled marks, the higher your UAI will be. Sometimes when students choose subjects with lower scaled means, do spectacularly in their HSC (e.g. receive Band 6 for all of their units) but receive a UAI that is lower than what they had expected.

For example, if you did English Standard, IPT, Legal Studies and Biology, and scored 90 in all of your subjects, your UAI would be around 94 in 2008. While this is in no way a poor UAI, if you received the same HSC (aligned) marks for English advanced, Maths Extension 1 & 2, Chemistry and Physics, your UAI would be in the vicinity of 99. Again this is because of the scaling effect across different subjects. While all subjects are different and some will be more difficult than others, the best approach to dealing with HSC scaling is to choose the subjects you are interested in, while giving consideration to the scaling effect of your choices. (For more information, read our article on HSC subject selection)

CategoryHSC Scaling | CommentNo Comments »

Tags:
June 9th, 2009

HSC English is Overemphasised

The most important ingredient to a high UAI is to ace all your subjects. While we place a huge emphasis on English these days (being the only compulsory subject in the NSW HSC), the hype over English is slightly overrated by now. Put in a simple way, if you ace your HSC English but ace nothing else, your UAI will be mediocre at best. Instead, do not over-focus on any particular subject. Every student’s goal is to maximise their UAI, so their best ten units count towards their all-important UAI. The obvious thing here is that each unit is equally weighted, and there is no inherent reason why a student should treat HSC English any different to any other HSC subject they are doing as part of their 10 or more units.

HSC Tutoring

In fact, the rational way to allocate study time is to allocate more time to the higher-scaled subjects, as they will be more beneficial to your UAI than lower-scaled subjects. Historically English Advanced has a scaled mean of around 30, which is practically equal to the scaling of HSC Chemistry and Economics in the past several years. These trends are not expected to change significantly year to year, so we can expect the same for at least the near future. If you’re a student who does English Advanced and Maths Extension 2, you should definitely focus more of your time on your mathematics subjects, given that both Maths Extension 1 and Extension 2 counts for 2 units each. Keeping in mind that the scaled mean for Extension 1 is around 39-40 in recent years, and that of Extension 2 is around 43-44, this makes these subjects unparalleled in terms of scaling power, and definitely deserves more attention than English.

That is not to say you should neglect English either. Treat it as you would any other subject. There is nothing special about English, except for the fact that it is the only compulsory subject in the NSW HSC, because of the way scaling works and UAI is calculated, which requires a common denominator for comparison. However this mere fact does not affect the individual student. There are rumours and misinformation floating around over student forums and by word of mouth, but the simple fact of the matter is that English is just like any other subject and is given no preferential treatment when it comes to UAI calculation. Therefore if this is the case, English should not be given any special treatment by students either. What this means is you should split your time equally as you would any other subject that scales similarly (e.g. Chemistry, Economics).

CategoryHSC Programs | CommentNo Comments »

Tags:
May 28th, 2009

Your HSC and the Career Ahead

Looking at the present scenario, factors like job security and economic security are no longer what they were used to be. In fact it has become important to be capable enough to distinguish yourself from others and turn yourself as a well versed professional to beat the competition in every possible manner. However, it is not possible for you to be an expert at everything. The best thing that you can do is to select the proper course to develop a right and successful career. Selecting a proper course can add value to you in terms of career prospects.

HSC CareerThere are many people who choose the career without giving a serious second thought. After spending five to ten years, later they realise this is not what he or she expected to be. Moreover there are many who spend months or even years not happy with their careers. It is important to understand that a careful career selection is prime element that helps in fulfilling one’s job search and career satisfaction. Education and career earnings go hand in hand and a right education can let you know your skills and area of improvement. A proper course can successfully train you and improve your morale.

Today there are number of colleges and universities that offer a wide, dizzying number of course programs. It can be quite a testing task to pick or choose course program and further pursue your career. So, the best thing that you can do is to know your interest and passion and follow it by opting right course. As an example-

Engineering If you are a technical person and love to get involve in technical aspects of different sector then engineering is meant for you. There are many fields of engineering (mining, materials, petroleum etc) and in Australia, mining tends to produce the highest paying and most abundant jobs. You can select this course if you are interested in Physics, Chemistry and / or Mathematics. The UAI required for this course has a very large range. Some of the higher UAI courses are: Aeronautical Engineering at USYD, which is about 92, and Aerospace at USYD, at 99+.

Mathematics If you have a deep keen interest in mathematics, choose this course program at university. For mathematics graduates there are jobs in finance that pay them very well. They can even become actuaries or financial engineers. Many mathematics graduates also pursue their career in computer science, banking, insurance and other quantitative-analyst type positions. Only a small portion of maths graduates end up being in academia (the field of scholarly pursuits) as lecturers and researchers, as most people tend to think.

Medicine

If you have a keen interest in biology, chemistry, and helping others, medicine is a course you can consider. However, it is more advisable to not choose this course program just for the sake of money. So for those who are looking for this course program need to go through the UMAT exam and interviews as additional selection criteria. Officially, the minimum UAI for medicine at reputable universities is 95, however the median entry for medicine at reputable universities has traditionally been in the low 99s. This is in additional to the UMAT and interview criteria, so medicine can be said to be the most competitive course to get into.

Other health courses

For those who are looking for alternative of medicine can go for other health course program. At reputable universities, Optometry and Vet Science needs about a UAI of 98, Pharmacy needs about 95, Medical science needs about 93, and physiotherapy is much lower and very accessible. If you want to get into medicine but didn’t get the required UAI or UMAT scores, you can get into one of these health courses and transfer via undergraduate or graduate streams, depending on individual universities’ rules.

Certainly selecting a right course and having a college degree is definitely a plus point in career planning. A well-educated and trained professional is surely a priceless asset to any organization. Proper education and industry-recognized credentials allow you to command top salaries, choose from a larger selection of plum positions, and meet the criteria for much-desired promotions. Thus, you must take your course selection plan seriously. You should never opt for a course just because you need it at that moment.

CategoryHSC Programs | CommentNo Comments »

Tags:
April 17th, 2009

Developing Good Study Habits for Your HSC

Studying consistently is important if you want a good HSC result. It is important to build up good study habits early on from your Preliminary year and sustain them until you complete your HSC. Cramming should not be thought of as an alternative to consistent study, but rather as a last resort. Students should not leave things to the last minute when doing things such as assignments, assessments and exam preparation.

Of course, this all sounds typical and preachy, but it’s all true. Every student that gets 99+ follow a strict study regiment and have a healthy work ethic. As bright as you naturally are, if you are a student who relies on

cramming, never does homework and leaves things till the last minute, you will get around 95 at the most. While a 95 is by no means disappointing, consider the fact that had you taken the HSC more seriously than you did, you would have had a good shot at 99+.

So what’s a healthy amount of study?

We’ve seen some students who are so dedicated to the point of fanaticism. They write out weekly timetables which incorporates up to 6 hours of study each school night (sleeping at 1am nightly), and 12 hours per non-school day, leaving time for meals and sleep only. We do not recommend anyone do this, nor do we think there is any need to.

We’ve all heard the term “work smarter, not harder”, and this is very true when it comes to study technique. There’s no need to force yourself to study 6 hours everyday – that’s sweatshop labour! Instead we recommend a consistent 3-4 hours of study each school day as a healthy amount. This would allow ample time to do all school and tutoring homework, and time to read textbooks and texts as well. Anything significantly less than this is too little, and anything significantly more than this is unhealthy and unbalanced. Weekends should be spent relaxing or doing some light amounts of study. For example, our students come tutoring on the weekends!

The key to “working smarter” for your HSC is consistency. If you can sustain a constant level of study by sticking to a habit of studying 3 hours a day after school each day, you will have ample time to review everything at least once over, and have a very comprehensive knowledge base for your entire HSC

Make yourself a schedule

This is totally optional. If you’re the organised type and like writing down daily plans, a good organisational technique is to write down a rough plan of how you’d like to study for each school and non-school day. For example:

  • 4-6pm: School homework + tutoring homework
  • 6-8pm: Dinner / rest
  • 8-9pm: Review textbook chapters, read English texts, read ahead etc
  • 9-11: Free time
  • 11: sleep

That shows a 3-hour a day plan for school days. You can develop something similar to this to suit yourself. Maybe you feel you can handle slightly more than 3 hours a day, but you would like at least 1 free day to yourself per week. How ever you want to structure your time usage is up to you, but the golden rule is consistency.

Habits during study

Some students prefer to read and write notes while they study, while others prefer to simply read. Some students read off their own notes written in school, while other students read off textbooks for their subject. Whatever your study method is, it is most likely fine.

However, you should always keep a small notepad on your table, and whenever you come across something you don’t understand, write your question down. You should do this because there are many times when you will come across a small gap in your understanding only during the time you’re studying. If you don’t write your question down, when you see next the teacher at school or tutoring, you would forget what to ask, or forget to ask altogether. As a result, you still have that gap in your knowledge.

What separates a strong student from a weaker one is the subtleties in their level of knowledge. It’s fair to say that it is relatively easy for any student to grasp the fundamentals of the content for all their courses. However, exam questions often differentiate between a full mark response and a 3/4 mark response in terms of these subtleties. Often full marks are given only to answers that show insight and true depth of one’s knowledge of the subject area. You can only demonstrate this if throughout your HSC, you have asked every question you need to ask, and have a solid knowledge without any gaps that you are aware of.

Also, students are sometimes afraid to ask their teachers questions. This is understandable, as we all care what others think of us. Instead of telling you the obvious thing, which is to simply be brave and ask, we advise you to get your teacher’s attention after class and go through your list of questions. Any good teacher will be all too happy to help a student who is genuinely interested.

Just remember, always write your questions down as soon as you find something you don’t fully understand (no matter how subtle or small the point appears to be). Ask the questions you need to ask, and you will have no gaps in your knowledge.

Consistent sleeping time each night

Scientists know that during sleep, our brain restructures all of your thoughts, ideas and knowledge you have gained for that day into an efficient format ready for recall. For those who know how computers work, it’s analogous to defragmenting a hard drive. Sleep is important to allow the brain to reorganise the new things you’ve learnt in a more efficient way. Therefore sleep can be thought of as the last stage to the learning process, that is when the brain commits something newly learnt to long-term memory and understanding.

Keeping a consistent sleep pattern is extremely important for memory retention and learning. If you don’t get your good night’s sleep, your brain can’t learn properly. This is another reason why all-nighters never work. If you’re in an unavoidable situation where you need to sit an exam the very next day and you have a large amount of content to get through, don’t ‘pull an all-nighter’. Instead, study the main points and get some rest. You will tend to do better than if you get no sleep at all for the entire night.

Consistent sleep also means you will never be tired during the day. The #1 reason why we are drowsy in the morning is because our bodies are sleep-starved, probably because we slept in too much during the weekends, or stayed up late playing computer games or chatting on msn. You will tend to feel terrible and won’t be able to function properly during the day after. If you break your sleeping pattern once in a while, this is acceptable, but don’t make this into a long-term habit. Remember: sleeping well is highly important to studying effectively during your HSC.

Self discipline

Consistency is extremely hard to keep up. For example, say you promise yourself you will study 3 hours a day, but then once in a while you need to attend a party or event, or there’s something on TV that must be watched, or you just feel tired and can’t be bothered. That’s ok too, if you’re tired, give yourself a break. Don’t totally neglect your friends over studying either, take a break with them when a break is due.

However it is highly important to strike a balance. You should resume your consistency as soon as possible after the lapse in study. We all get lazy and tired once in a while. The trick with consistency is not actually to be consistent 100% of the time, but rather, to have the ability to pick yourself right up after an instance where you have breached your study regime. Ignore the past, move on and continue trying your best to be consistent.

Keeping yourself motivated

The most precious resource to your HSC is not time – we have plenty of time each day, most of which we spend doing things other than study. Why is this the case? If we had unlimited energy, we would study while on the train, study while eating dinner, study instead of watching some TV or spending time on the computer before sleep, and study in the morning before school starts. If you count all that time up, in 24 hours, you might be able to study for around 8 hours each school-day! Not to mention all day each non-school day.

But we don’t do this. The reason is because the most precious resource to your HSC is your motivation. We as human beings simply can not be made to work nonstop without any break whatsoever, even for our own good. The whole point of making a schedule and trying your best to be consistent with study is so that you can find a sustainable level of study that you can handle in the long term. Therefore it is important to stay motivated throughout your HSC so you don’t break the good habit of consistent study.

There are many ways to stay motivated. One we recommend is to keep reminding yourself what you are working for. Often students get demotivated because the benefits of a good HSC result are not immediately tangible to them. Students tend to lose sight of their goals, which is to get into the course they desire at university. Whenever you find that you are falling a bit behind in your study regime, remind yourself what you are doing this for. Try to evoke the same feeling you had when you made that initial determination to yourself that you will try your best in the HSC.

CategoryUncategorized | CommentNo Comments »

Tags: