What are your thoughts on the Higher School Certificate?

[Cosmic Mist]

if you're doing subject you enjoy, then studying isn't a chore and you will do well regardless because you won't lack motivation to study them...

I did 4unit english and 3unit french and aced them both, however i failed maths quite miserably and passed quite averagely to well in IPT (Computers)... My UAI was 91.80.

My UAI was insufficient however. The course i wanted to get into required that i get 96.65.

I have friends that obtained 98 and above, yet went on to do a straight three year BA, needing only low 80's to get into their courses. (Low 80's is a good mark - i'm not saying it's not, but it's much different to high 90's)

To me, it's all about doing the right amount of work to get into the course that appeals to you. I wanted to aim high so i did everything i could to get the best mark possible (albeit, i should have acxtually studied for maths - but that goes back to my first paragraph about motivation and study ). My other friends didn't know what they wanted to do, so they studied their butts off and then could pick and choose.

But the UAI is only useful if you plan to go to Uni anyway. If you want to get an apprenticeship or go straigh into a f/t job, then i would focus on what you need for those things. The UAI isn't relevant to everyone...

 

[Void]

yeah it doesnt really matter. You can always get into a shit unit like Vic uni of tech, since its cheaper (about 50% cheaper) and they accept everyone, then get about 2/3 ways through and transfer into a better uni. That way you transfer your results, get accredited for everything you did, and pay half the price.

 

[smart-e]

I hate all of you guys who did no work at school and got over 80 uai. Ahhh

I feel like teachers and parents put too much attention to your HSC I did FA during my school years and I got a UAI of 54 But I still got into uni through the back door and Im working full time in the job that I absolutely f***king love.

mind you I was pretty depressed when school finished cause I had no idea what I wanted to do and just went berko applying for any job and ended up getting a job I hated which I stayed in for 2 years but in those two years I had a good think and found what I wanted to do applied for a tafe course which got me into the job I wanted and a uni course and ta da a career.

And a bit of advise to all those finishing their hsc dont worry to much everything works out in the end if you try hard enough

 

[Mean Girl]

Sometimes it's not so much the system of the HSC itself, but the school that executes it that is the problem. For anyone in Canberra, this is quite a problem in private schools (who are so far up their own ass they think they can contort education to suit their own profit making minds)

In my case, I was gypped out of a better UAI (10 whole points ) Here's why. When I picked my classes for year 11, I chose Hospitality as one of the classes to count towards my UAI, cause it was a T subject.

When year 12 started, the school changed the system so that Hospitality became an A subject, meaning I could no longer count it in for my UAI. The school then took the next T subject in my package, which was religion, and considering my stance on religion, I was failing miserably. (It was a catholic school).

More proof that the Catholic education system can go eat a bowl of dick!

 

[nemisis000]

I finished in 99' and got about 20 UAI points below what i needed for the course at uni that i wanted. Now a few years on, i've got real work experience, other tertiary qualifications and i'm planning on starting that uni course i wanted to do before. Only now I have real life experience that I can take to Uni with me.

 

[up all night]

I hate all of you guys who did no work at school and got over 80 uai.

'No study' is a relative term. Some people can do 20 hours of study and say they did nothing while ther people can do 20 hours and claim they studied a lot.

The only suggestion I have for people doing the HSC this year is just keep on top of your work during the year. Make sure you understand everything and then you won't be so reliant on the intensive cram sessions at the end of the year.

Oh yeah, and no-one outside your school or family gives a fuck what you get in the HSC. And even they only care for about a week.

 

[Macksta]

I cant even remember what I got for a TER which is testament to how useless the thing is.. it's what you do after highschool, tertiary education or straight into work otherwise that really counts.

TER/UAI is just a means to an ends.. it's certainly no end in itself.

What got me my job wasn't my highschool marks or even my uni degree. It was just the way I performed in the interview.

 

[hyperspeeding]

I finished in 99' and got about 20 UAI points below what i needed for the course at uni that i wanted. Now a few years on, i've got real work experience, other tertiary qualifications and i'm planning on starting that uni course i wanted to do before. Only now I have real life experience that I can take to Uni with me.

Thats what im doing... well planning on doing. Ive been at uni, for one semester where i dont want to be, so ive applied for a transfer, probably wont get it but I plan on working full/part time and maybe redo HSC maths at tafe and life my UAI a bit. I have learnt and now i figure ill opt for the 'life experience' path for a while, and even now i have in my head that to really do what i want (which im not sure yet) ill have to at some point go back and complete tertiary education. So in the end i guess its really up to the individual and how determined they are to do what they want.

-Hyper

 

[Insane Platypus]

Also remember what school you went/go to influenced/s your mark a lot (well it did in the old system, I have no idea how the new system works). Going to a private school with a decent academic reputation didn't hurt my mark...

As for my experience with the HSC, I got a pretty good mark (95+) despite my apathy and it being the Olympic year (equestrian on TV vs studying... hmm I'll go with the equestrian!). Now I'm utterly bored in my final year of uni but I think I got over academia a while back

It is worth putting effort into though because it can make things easier for you.

 

[Strawberry_lovemuffin]

I'm wondering what the general concensus here is, most of you being the younger generation and would have done it in recent years..
How much has your final result ended up helping you reach your desired career path?

Well, hmmm.... I'm edging out of being the "younger generation" (28) but I think I can still answer this

My VCE most definitely helped me get where I am today. I got a score of 141, which was 2nd highest in my school and high enough to do some areas of medicine, but I wanted to do writing. The course I chose was a really specialised one and it only took 30 students out of the thousands who applied - so my mark, plus my awards for literature helped immensely in me getting accepted.

And following on from that, my degree has helped me get the jobs I've gotten since uni - it's seen very, very favourably in my profession, even though I think it's a load of bullshit and experience counts far more (I've not used 80% of the things I learned at uni).

Those pieces of paper, depending on what job you're after, are well worth their weight in gold, in my experience. It's been the difference between slaving away in a retail job and sitting in a cushy office collecting heaps of money for doing fuck-all, for me

Yay for study. Keep at it. It's the hardest thing you'll probably have to do for the rest of your life, if you're lucky.

 

[ar_gee]

quote:

guess if I keep up what i'm doing now, i'll be sweet.. i only attend minimal classes, don't do homework or study, and only put the effort into the exams and assesments thats marks count, which has put me to the top of my classes even though i'm hardly @ school or doing any work..

to me you sound like someone trying their ass off to be cool. that aint cool. you wouldn't have to ad that shit if you weren't worried. and obveiously you are or u wouldn't ask the question in the first place.

all the answers are in the thread already, if u wanna go 2 uni, yeah it kinda matters, if not, it doesn't.

you sound kinda full of it to me.

my 0.02

 

[SupaDiscoBreaka]

'No study' is a relative term. Some people can do 20 hours of study and say they did nothing while ther people can do 20 hours and claim they studied a lot.

And some people study 200 hours and it is innefective and some people don't go to classes and don't study and come first in everything.

Your TER is important but only for about 2 months until you do or don't get into the degree you want to do.

 

[edw1n]

on the note of repeating year 12 or pathways .. i cant see how anyone does that .. after i came out of the whole high school experience i never looked back and thought 'hey i could do that all again', i was visitng the school the other day and it felt so wrong, i felt so out of place ..

I know people who have repeated year 12 or started pathways (halfways in their case) i think without your group of friends school would be hella boring.

 

[PrawnStar]

to me you sound like someone trying their ass off to be cool. that aint cool. you wouldn't have to ad that shit if you weren't worried. and obveiously you are or u wouldn't ask the question in the first place.

yeah good. I started this thread to be cool.

and no i'm not worried. just seeking truth of what i've heard from all the people I've spoken to regarding this.

I found much value from the replies here, all varying i guess on what path you choose to take after school.

the thread was actually started because I was reflecting on the worrying attitudes of my classmates.. being at a highly academic school, i'm in such a competative atmosphere, the HSC has gotten to students so bad that there are many ppl in my year and in other schools that i know of who self mutilate and develop eating disorders from the stress.. and having the idea that their final mark is the be all end all (a point that has been drilled into us from day1) which it certainly is not. and no value of final results is worth physically hurting yourself over.

these replies shed alot of reality on the issue.
thanks.

 

[TheBoss]

I kno wot u mean about the stress durin the HSC prawny, but I am still yet to see wot it actually means in the real world. I have had friends in older years, and not one...i repeat, not ONE has said that theit mark has counted towards anything that useful, and this is from a wide range of marks from different people. I personally finished school yesterday, and as I'm not goin to uni next year, I see no use for it.
Several of my bosses have told me that they don't even look at UAI's or HSC marks, as long as the person has life experience.
And that is all I obtained from school. Life experience, and a little commonsense to aid me.

Peace out and don't stress over something that isn't even all that meaningful.

 

[bleep-bleep]

Well it's all over for me, I had my last exam today
I'm not going to uni, but I did need to pass in physics, 2u maths and standard english in order to be a pilot for qantas (my goal).
I'm going to my flying school to do a diploma course there and for one year (thats the course length) I do 3 times as much stuff than I would doing a similar course for 4yrs at uni! Go figure???
So I chose the flying school option
I did standard english, 2u maths, physics, chemistry and IPT and at TAFE I did Aviation studies (engineering stuff and I came 1st in the class there was only 2 girls and the rest were boys and I kicked ass!)

The HSC is crap, it's just a number, you don't really need it, so don't stress! I got friends that are on the verge of a breakdown cuz they are stressed out from exams! And they are only 17 or 18!!! HAHAHA.
I just went into my exams with a some study hours behind it, stress free and with the attitude of: I'll go in there, do my best possible and the marks I get are the marks I get and that is that. WHO CARES???

Oh well I go now, my 2c!!!

*Bleep-bleep*

Good luck for the peeps still doin exams and congrats on the others that have just finished!
Smile and just have fun!

 

[apollo]

Also remember what school you went/go to influenced/s your mark a lot (well it did in the old system, I have no idea how the new system works).

I have NFI about the old system, but for the "New HSC" (post 2001), the markers, the technical committee on scaling and the UAC refer to each school and student as a number, nothing more. No consideration is made for private/selective/public/anything.

The UAI scaling is done on the performance of the candidature of the entire year in a single subject... So doing subjects where people work hard (not "harder" subjects") does benefit ya, but it doesn't matter what school you're at cos you're counting on the rest of the state...

It's a common misconception that extension subjects "get scaled up" because they're hard. That's not true. Take for example 4 unit maths... It scales well because generally, the people who do it work hard at it and achieve good results. The scaling changes each year according to how well they all do... So if lots of tardy students went through, 4 unit maths could scale worse than any other subject. No subject rewards it's students for being harder than any other subject.

Interestingly, due to scaling being based on the performance of the state cohort, Standard English last year scaled far worse than English as a Second Language. All because the people in ESL worked harder...

Eh, anyway enough ranting, in the end, the only difference your classmates make to you is the environment you learn in.

 

[Insane Platypus]

I have NFI about the old system, but for the "New HSC" (post 2001), the markers, the technical committee on scaling and the UAC refer to each school and student as a number, nothing more. No consideration is made for private/selective/public/anything.

That's the same as the old system - we had student #s and centre #s as well.

I'm not sure about the new system but in the old system, assessment marks (assessment and exam were 50-50) were determined by the overall performance of your school candidature in that subject (the school handed in rankings to the Board of Studies, not actual assessment marks). While not being a dealbreaker, being in a top selective school or a good private school wouldn't hurt because they would have a better overall performance than say your standard local public school.

 

[apollo]

That's pretty much the same as the new system... They send in relative rankings for the assessments (not the marks), and the pool of HSC marks are distributed according to ones rank to give the assessment mark, which is then averaged with each persons exam mark, then aligned to the BOS outcomes (the major change post 2001) to produce the final HSC mark...

I guess my main point regarding schools is that no, it doesn't 'hurt' to go to a private school where the kids try harder... But, it's not as if kids at public schools don't have the same opportunity as private schools. Its' not as if the Board of Studies treat them differently, and it's not as if kids at public schools are in some way limited in their performance just because they're public.

 

[peekingprinCES]

i did my hsc last yr and well my situation was extremely fucked up i got glandular fever in april missed almost a term of school, and could barley finish my major work for art on time 8( , as well as that i was doin 3unit english whixh i loved b4 i got glandular , but had to drop right down to standard just to cope with doin all the work at home on my own, this may seem great to other ppl but somehow, getting in the top 2% of the state for a subject u know u couldve done brilliant in at a higer level really pisses u off.
i aslo did excellent in art getting a mark of 96, im not naturally smart but i work preaty hard when i want to, well actually only in english, but getting glandular made me push myself that much further.
i know ppl say its a breeze and it doesnt count but personally, id rather push myself for those few mnths and b happy withmyself knowing i did everything i could to do the best i could, and my parents, the look on there face when there once non existent studying daughter opended her uai of 80+ plus special consideration was priceless.
anyways after all that ididnt even go to uni this yr i ignored al the courses i was accpeted into and had a yr off to get my head back together and next yr im off to tafe to business marketing and event management and i couldnt b happier, i guess what im trying to say is there r ways round it for those who dont wanna bother studying or just wanna breeze through it but for ure own satisfaction at the end of it id recommend a few hours infront of the books, makes all that partying 100000 times better