HSC and ATAR (4 of 10) - Alignment of Examination Marks

Result of each HSC course is determined by Board of Studies (BOS) based on 50% from the HSC examination and 50% from the school assessment tasks.

Examination Mark
Alex undertakes a set of HSC courses and sits for the HSC examinations. The marks he obtains for each course from the examinations (called raw examination marks) are as follows:
Course                  Unit       Raw exam mark
Economics               2              78/100
English Advanced     2              76/100
Maths Ext. 1            2              69/100
Maths Ext. 2            2              70/100
Modern History        2              68/100
History Ext.              1               47/50

To cater for the difference in students's performance in difference years, the cut-off marks (the minimum marks in the current year) in each performance bands are set by BOS as mentioned in previous blog. Alex's raw examination marks are then aligned to the performance bands based on current year's cut-offs, e.g. The current year's cut-off marks of 2-unit courses for Band 5 is 74 and for Band 6 is 82. With Alex's raw examination mark of 78 for Economics (which is half way between Band 5 and Band 6), Alex's mark for Economics after the alignment (called the reported examination mark) would be reported as 85. Likewise, Alex's raw examination mark of 76 for English Advanced is 1/4 above Band 5, and is aligned and reported as 83 accordingly. The process is repeated for each course that Alex undertakes, and the reported examination marks are then calculated as follows:
Course                  Unit    Reported exam mark
Economics               2             85/100
English Advanced     2             83/100
Maths Ext. 1            2             75/100
Maths Ext. 2            2              80/100
Modern History        2              74/100
History Ext.              1              46/50