Alan Nguyen

Contact for advice and private tutoring inquiries: alan.nguyen1@student.unsw.edu.au

Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Science (Advanced Mathematics) (Honours)

ATAR planning – Sydney Girls High School

The contents of this document are made using Alan Nguyen’s Brain Juices.
Alan Nguyen
Contact for advice and private tutoring inquiries: alan.nguyen1@student.unsw.edu.au
Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Science (Advanced Mathematics) (Honours)
Rule 1: Don’t give up until you’ve finished your externals.

The contents of this document are made using Alan Nguyen’s Brain Juices.
Alan Nguyen
Contact for advice and private tutoring inquiries: alan.nguyen1@student.unsw.edu.au
Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Science (Advanced Mathematics) (Honours)

Why English is important?

English advanced 93

Extension 1 maths 97

Extension 2 maths 95

Economics 93

Physics 93

ATAR 99.70

The following ATARs are the averages calculated using the Matrix ATAR calculator1 for 2009-
2012. With all factors unchanged, English advanced is the only variable that is changed.

English advanced 80 85 90 95 100

ATAR 98.5 99.125 99.5125 99.775 99.8875

Rule 2: English significantly improves your ATAR. Notice how getting a band 6 (90)
improves your ATAR by one whole point. It is easier to improve a poor English mark
than to add 1 or 2 marks to your maths marks.

1
http://www.matrix.edu.au/atar-calculator/

The contents of this document are made using Alan Nguyen’s Brain Juices.
Alan Nguyen
Contact for advice and private tutoring inquiries: alan.nguyen1@student.unsw.edu.au
Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Science (Advanced Mathematics) (Honours)
Underneath compares the above scenario with a hypothetical student A, who neglects
English. Student A is a typical student who concentrates on the subjects that they deem are
important or have “high scaling”. It is clear here that his ATAR could be significantly higher if
he gave more attention to English Advanced. The student mentioned above instead tried to
do well in ALL his subjects (including English) and performed much better.

Subject Student Above Student A Student A with Student B

improved
English scores

English advanced 93 85 90 95

Maths ext 1 97 99 99 99

Maths ext 2 95 96 96 96

Economics 93 96 96 96

Physics 93 96 96 96

ATAR average 99.70 99.6125 99.8625 99.95

(2009 – 2012)

Rule 3: IT IS BETTER TO DO ABOVE AVERAGE IN EVERYTHING THAN TO DO VERY WELL

IN A FEW SUBJECTS.

The contents of this document are made using Alan Nguyen’s Brain Juices.
Alan Nguyen
Contact for advice and private tutoring inquiries: alan.nguyen1@student.unsw.edu.au
Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Science (Advanced Mathematics) (Honours)

Approximate Marks you need for 99+

2012 2011 2010 2009 Average

English 93 92.1 92.7 92.5 92.575

advanced

MX1 92.6 92.3 91.3 90.3 91.625

MX2 88 87.6 84.9 82.5 85.75

Economics 92.4 92.6 93.8 93.1 92.975

Chemistry 91.5 92.1 92.7 93.2 92.375

Raw marks for the above HSC marks

The raw mark is the actual mark you receive in your examination. For example, if you
received 70/80 then your raw mark is 87.5%.

This mark is then processed and converted into the marks you see in the table above.

These marks in the table above are “scaled” (complex process, ceebs explaining TL DR etc.).
For each unit you will receive a scaled mark out of 50. Your best 10 units will mean that you
will receive a final score out of 500. You will never see this score, it’s calculated by UAC. You
need approximately 470-480 for an ATAR of 99.95. In my opinion this scaled score in more
important.

The contents of this document are made using Alan Nguyen’s Brain Juices.
Alan Nguyen
Contact for advice and private tutoring inquiries: alan.nguyen1@student.unsw.edu.au
Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Science (Advanced Mathematics) (Honours)

Raw marks for SGHS subjects

There are raw marks databases out there which tell you the approximate raw mark you need
in your external to achieve the above marks. These raw marks are approximations in which
you should aim to beat. More information can be found at: http://rawmarks.info/

Unweighted raw mark refers to the actual mark received in the exam. Weighted raw mark
refers to the adjusted raw mark taking into account option topics, strength of the grade and
other extrinsic factors. I highlighted the range of marks you should pay attention to.

HSC aligned Approximate raw mark required

mark for
99+
English 92.575
Advanced

The contents of this document are made using Alan Nguyen’s Brain Juices.
Alan Nguyen
Contact for advice and private tutoring inquiries: alan.nguyen1@student.unsw.edu.au
Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Science (Advanced Mathematics) (Honours)
MX1 91.625

MX2 85.75

The contents of this document are made using Alan Nguyen’s Brain Juices.
Alan Nguyen
Contact for advice and private tutoring inquiries: alan.nguyen1@student.unsw.edu.au
Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Science (Advanced Mathematics) (Honours)
Economics 92.975

Chemistry 92.375

The contents of this document are made using Alan Nguyen’s Brain Juices.
Alan Nguyen
Contact for advice and private tutoring inquiries: alan.nguyen1@student.unsw.edu.au
Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Science (Advanced Mathematics) (Honours)
The table below outlines the approximate raw mark you should aim to beat based on the
above table. These numbers are arbitrary and are sole based on my own interpretation.
Notice how it is easy to reach the marks for maths. The study used for maths can me
portioned for other subjects.

Aligned mark for Raw mark approximation

99
English advanced 92.575 86+ (mark will vary according to options chosen. It
will probably be less due to the new AOS Discovery)
MX1 91.625 75+ (too easy)
MX2 85.75 60+ (too easy)
Economics 92.975 90+
Chemistry 92.375 82/83ish + (This one is hard to estimate)

The contents of this document are made using Alan Nguyen’s Brain Juices.
Alan Nguyen
Contact for advice and private tutoring inquiries: alan.nguyen1@student.unsw.edu.au
Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Science (Advanced Mathematics) (Honours)

SGHS Ranks for an ATAR of approx. 99+

The get an ATAR of approximately 99+ you would need to receive a little better than a band
6 for all your subjects. These ranks were compiled using “topscores.info”. I painfully went
through years of information and averaged out the number of people who received
distinguished achievements for the subjects below. I averaged the minimum ranks required
to get a band 6 from 2007 to 2014. The third column is my recommendation of where you
should be ranked in order to have the greatest possible chance of receiving a band 6 for that
subject assuming you don’t shit the bed in your externals.

Note: These rankings are not exact but rather an estimate of where you should be ranked
around. I will mention any trends that you should take note of. Write your current rank
progressively throughout the year and try to beat the “recommended ranks”.

Required rank for band 6 Recommended Current

rank Rank

English advanced 88.375 (But recently the numbers Top 80

suggest that SGHS tends to
frequently have approximately 93-
103 students who receive a band 6.
The years 2007-2009 skew the
results away from this range. So aim
to be in the top 100)

MX1 69.5 Top 60

MX2 32.375 Top 25

Economics 17.25 (2014 only 9 students received Top 10

a band 6. This year is an outlier. The
required rank should be a little
higher).

Chemistry 31.625 Top 25

The contents of this document are made using Alan Nguyen’s Brain Juices.