Subject Selection Guide for Year 10 – Choose Wisely
Learn The Secrets Of The HSC
In Our Seminars
The Secrets of the HSC Seminar is a free presentation that shows you, step-by-step, how your ATAR is calculated and how scaling impacts your ATAR.
This seminar will show you:
- Exactly how your ATAR is calculated.
- How to translate the ATAR you want into a mark in each of your subjects.
- What effect your school has on your ATAR (will going to a good school ‘pull’ you up, or will going to a weak school ‘drag’ you down).
- How different subjects scale (e.g. Mathematics vs. Humanities vs. Sciences vs. English) and what subjects you should consider if you are going into Year 11.
- How to use this information to gain a competitive advantage.
The Secrets of the HSC seminar is beneficial for all parents and students in Years 7 to 12.
The importance of subject selection in your HSC
“If there was a single thing that differentiated me from other students, it was my unique understanding of scaling, subject selection and its implications. The HSC is not a test of pure intelligence. Rather, it is a test of competitiveness, i.e. your ability to combine your natural talent with preparedness, hard work and perform under pressure. It’s a test of gamesmanship as much as anything else. Like any game, you can succeed much more if you know the rules”.
Richard Chua – Founder Talent 100 (Achieved 100 (UAI) 99.95 ATAR equivalent in his HSC)
Learn The Secrets Of The HSC
In Our Upcoming Seminars
The Bridging the Gap Seminar is a presentation that shows you, step-by-step, how your ATAR is calculated and how scaling impacts your ATAR.
This seminar will show you:
- Exactly how your ATAR is calculated.
- How to translate the ATAR you want into a mark in each of your subjects
- What effect your school has on your ATAR (will going to a good school ‘pull’ you up, or will going to a weak school ‘drag’ you down).
- How different subjects scale (e.g. Mathematics vs. Humanities vs. Sciences vs. English) and what subjects you should consider if you are going into Year 11.
- How to use this information to gain a competitive advantage.
This seminar is beneficial for all parents and students in Years 7 to 12.
To learn more about the secrets of scaling and subject selection, reserve your seat in our upcoming Year 10 Bridging the Gap Seminar.
‘Seminar’ reservation
Not All Subjects Are Created Equal!
HSC scaling and the calculation of your ATAR is a topic that many schools choose to avoid.
However, given that your ATAR determines what degree and career you can choose, it makes sense to understand exactly how it works. A solid understanding of how your ATAR is calculated can help you choose the right subjects and allocate your time efficiently or in the most ATAR-maximising way. Read more…
How Is Your Final ATAR Calculated?
Most students roughly know that their HSC marks are calculated 50% from their school assessments (a set of 5-6 assessment tasks including half-yearly and trial examinations) and 50% from a common HSC exam paper. To succeed in the HSC, it helps to be specific.
There are in fact 6 stages to calculating your ATAR that you should be familiar with:
are used to determine RANKINGS
HSC exam –
all students sit the common paper
determines the HSC assessment and HSC exam marks
each score to
a score out of
50
School assessments
are used to determine RANKINGS
Common
HSC exam –
all students sit the common paper
NESA
determines the HSC assessment and HSC exam marks
UAC scales
each score to
a score out of
50
Score out of 500
determined
from best 10 units
ATAR determined based on percentiles
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
“What you tend to do is spend time on subjects that you like…but by going to the Secrets of HSC Seminar I learnt that if I sacrifice a bit of time on Maths and put it into English, it will be really beneficial to my ATAR”.
Anirudh Theertham, Normanhurst Boys.
For advice on subject selection and the HSC, book a consultation with one of Talent 100’s Specialist HSC Consultants.
How Do I Choose The Right Subjects
To Maximise My ATAR In My HSC?
In order to maximise your ATAR, you should be acutely aware of how each of your subjects scales and adjust your studies accordingly. Most students intuitively know that easier subjects tend to scale downwards, while harder subjects like Mathematics Extension 1 & 2 tend to scale up.
At Talent 100, we’ve created a unique online ‘ATAR Profiling’ tool that will show you how to translate any ATAR into a specific mark or rank in each of your individual subjects. We call this ATAR Targeting™.
Create your own ATAR Profile with Talent 100’s most up-to-date and advanced ATAR Profiler. Learn what marks you need for each of your subjects as well as receiving historical data on the ATAR cut-off for your desired course. This includes the past 6 years of university entrance criteria!
PLUS, you can keep track of your profile by saving it and coming back later in the year to compare your score with your friends.
Use the Talent 100 ATAR Profiler to choose the subjects you want to study in the HSC to see if you will achieve the ATAR entrance score for your dream career. Talent 100’s NEW ATAR Profiler simplifies and intuitively provides all the complex calculations for you based on your chosen university and degree.
6. Results: Your ATAR has been analysed and translated into subject goals
The Highest-Scaling Subjects are taught At Talent 100
The following table summarises the scaling of each of the categories of subjects and provides some simple decision rules to help you decide what to take.
Because of their high scaling, you should take the highest level of Mathematics that you are capable of. For instance, to be on target for an ATAR of 99+, you only need to be average in 4U Maths, whereas you would need to be in the top 3% of 2U Maths.
The last proviso “that you are a capable of” is very important. There is no point doing a high scaling Maths course if you cannot do it. as a general rule, you should take the highest level of Maths that your school offers you.
The Ext 1 & 2 English courses scale slightly higher than Advanced. However, the higher English Subjects as a group scale well above Standard English. For instance, students who score in the top 25% of Advanced English receive scores higher than those students who score in the top 1% of Standard English.
If you are genuinely passionate about English, you should consider English Extension 1 and 2. However, from a scaling perspective alone, Ext 1 and 2 only scale slightly better than Advanced English.
For instance, to score an ATAR of 95, you would need to score in the top 16% of Physics and 18% of Chemistry, but you need to be in the top 8% of Biology.
Students who have fair numeracy should definitely consider taking Physics and Chemistry.
Humanities are generally quite subjective, meaning that it is hard to ascertain what mark you will get until you do the final exam. This means that they also tend to scale lower.
Ancient History, Business Studies, Commerce and Legal Studies scale even lower.
Aside from Economics, you must do exceptionally well in humanities to score equivalent marks to someone who is doing moderately well in Maths and Science.
English Adv
Maths Adv
Maths Ext 1
Maths Ext 2
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
Economics
English Adv
Maths Adv
Maths Ext 1
Maths Ext 2
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
Economics
English
Maths Adv
Maths Ext 1
Science
English
Maths
English
Maths
English
Maths
