funny thing. they're so important yet so... meaningless. This time next year, no one will care about your ATAR.
Basically, the system is fucked up. Scaling, moderating, compulsory English, rote-learning. A single number that determines whether or not you get into your desired course. A single number that tests how well you can make the system work for you. Not that I should be complaining.. but oh wells, here goes:
Oh English... a test of how well you can bullshit and memorise a work produced by someone else. Teaching kids who don't even know the difference between whom, who and whose the significance of iambic pentameter and enjambment. Sure, I enjoyed some of the texts (George Orwell and Shakespeare in particular) but others were pure torture (I'm looking at you, Jane Austen/Charlotte Bronte). Creative/Analytical works which can simply be memorised and taken into an exam. Yeah. That totally is a good measure of how well one will perform in uni.
Oh and scaling/moderating... Unbelievably unfair to some students. For example, I don't see General Math and Extension 1 Math as being that far apart in terms of difficulty. Yet a student that scores 90% raw in General will lose to another student who scores 65% in Extension 1, simply because the system believes that the first student is inherently "less capable" simply because they didn't choose extension. I'm not sure whether I'm explaining myself clearly but.. oh well.
And.. ATAR... doesn't really matter as long as you get into your desired course, although some see it as a measure of how "smart" a person is. Bullshit. If a moderately intelligent student chooses high-scaling (Asian) subjects and puts in minimal effort in class but attends coaching for said subjects, he can easily achieve 95+ (hahaha this is reminds me of my lazy self). But a student just as intelligent who wants to do subjects which are not high-scaling but works hard and does not attend coaching would find it difficult to get above 90, simply because that is how the system is designed.
.. Oh wow, I feel like such a hypocrite after writing that... Like, I did not put in that much effort for my HSC and went about relying on the little natural intelligence I have and alot of tutoring... Well, we will see whether it was all enough in just over 2 hours.
Another life update: Mordekaiser got buffed! Yay! Also, I'm going to take a 2 hour nap before getting my HSC results by text message.
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And remember: Once you hit rock bottom, the only way is up!
