how to memorise hsc essays

How to memorise essays and long responses

Lauren Condon

Marketing Specialist at Atomi

When it comes to memorising essays or long responses for your exams, there are three big things to consider.

• Should you even try to memorise an essay?
• Do you know how to adapt your memorised response to the exam question?
• How on earth are you meant to memorise a 1,200 word essay??

It’s a lot to weigh up but we can help you out here. If you want an answer to the first question, here’s one we prepared earlier. But wait, there’s more! If you’re super keen to read more about question #2, then go ahead and click here .

And for that third point on how to actually memorise a long essay? Well, all you have to do is keep reading...

1. Break it down

Your essay/long response/creative writing piece could be anywhere between 800 and 1,200 words long. Yeah… that’s a lot. So when it comes to memorising the whole thing, it’s a lot easier to break the answer down into logical chunks and work on memorising it bit by bit.

So if you want to memorise your Discovery Essay, you might have something like this:

• Introduction
• Theme 1 with the assigned text
• Theme 1 with the related text
• Theme 2 with the assigned text
• Theme 2 with the related text

You’re going to want to memorise the paragraphs and pay attention to the structure then you can piece it all together in the exam. Having a killer structure makes it a lot easier to remember the overall bones of this situation and if you’re finding this effective, you can even break those body paragraphs down further like topic sentence > example > explanation > connection to thesis.

2. Use memory tricks

Now, there are lots of different strategies and approaches when it comes to memorising a long piece of writing. Moving in sections, you can try reading it out loud over again (slowly looking at the paper less and less) or the classic look-cover-write-check approach. If you’re really struggling, make some of your own flashcards that have the first sentence on one side and the next sentence on the back so you can test your progress.

You could also enlist the help of some creative mnemonics (memory tricks) to remind you which sentence or section needs to come next. Pick one keyword from each sentence in the paragraph and turn them into a silly sentence to help you remember the structure of the paragraph and to make sure you don’t forget one of your awesome points.

3. Play to your strengths

Not all of us are super geniuses that can just read an essay and then memorise the entire thing but we’re all going to have our own strengths. There’s going to be something whether it’s art, music, writing, performance or sport that just ‘clicks’ in your brain and this is what you want to capitalise on. So for me, I was really into debating and public speaking (hold back the jokes please) and was used to giving speeches and remembering them. So whenever I wanted to memorise a long response, I would write out the essay onto palm cards and then practice it out loud like a speech. Did it annoy my family? Yes. Was I too embarrassed to tell people my strategy? Yes. Did it work? Absolutely. 💯

Whatever your strengths are, find a way to connect them to your essay and come up with a creative way of learning your long response that will be much easier and more effective for you!

4. Start early

So you know how there’s that whole long-term/short-term memory divide? Yeah well that’s going to be pretty relevant when it comes to memorising. You’re going to have a much better chance of remembering your long response if you start early and practice it often, instead of trying to cram it in the night before… sorry.

The good news is, you still have a couple of months before the HSC so try to get your prepared response written, get good feedback from your teachers and then make it perfect so it’s ready to go for the HSC. Then, the next step is to start memorising the essay now and test yourself on it fairly regularly all the way up to your exams. This way, you have plenty of time to really lock it deep into your memory.

5. Test yourself

The final and maybe even most important step is to test yourself. And not with flashcards or the look-cover-check-repeat anymore. Once you’ve got the essay memorised pretty well, you want to spend the weeks coming up to HSC doing past questions so you can practice

• Having the essay memorised
• Being able to recall it under pressure
• Adapting it to any question so that all your hard work will actually pay off

For this to work, you really need to commit 100% to exam conditions (no cheating!) and it’s definitely worth sending those responses to your teacher to get them marked. That way, you will actually know if you’re doing a good job of remembering the core of your argument but also tailoring it perfectly to the question.

Any subject with essays or long responses can be super daunting so if you want to have a pre-written, adaptable response ready to go then it’s worth making sure you can actually memorise it for your exam. Remember to break down the essay into sections, play to your memory strengths and make sure you consistently test yourself all the way up to HSC. That should do the trick. 👌

Published on

July 28, 2017

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HSC English Study Tips to Ace Your Exam

With the date of the HSC finals creeping up (7 months and counting!), and trials just around the corner, it’s never been more important to fine-tune your study habits. C3 Education Group has the top HSC English study tips to make sure you ace your exam.

The examination period begins with the only compulsory subject in the HSC – English. Whether you’re in the ESL, standard, advanced or extension classes, acing this first paper will not only set you on a path to getting your goal ATAR, it will also give you a confidence boost for the remainder of the exam period.

Here are our top HSC English study tips to help you nail your final exam.

1.DON’T MEMORISE  WHAT  YOU  DON’T  NEED TO

Here’s the bad news: unless you have photographic memory, chances are you won’t be able to memorise several thousand-word essays by heart. The good news: you don’t need to! The only thing you do need to memorise verbatim is quotations within your texts that support your argument.

The key here is to find powerful, versatile quotes that aren’t generic –  our English tutors  can help you with identifying these hidden gems. Once you’ve narrowed them down, the best way to commit them to memory is to practice writing AND saying them out loud.

2.USE THE PEEL FORMULA FOR ESSAYS

One of the most important HSC English study tips is knowing how to write properly structured essays. It can be the difference between ending up with a Band 3 or a Band 6 – and not just for your English exam! One way to easily achieve this is to remember the PEEL writing strategy, and put it to work in the paragraphs that make up the body of your essay:

Point:  Write an opening topic sentence that summarises what your essay is going to be about – that is, your key argument Evidence:  Include quotes from the text that support your key point Explanation:  Explain and elaborate on the evidence/quotes – what is their context and purpose? Link:  Write a linking statement that goes back to your key point, or flows into your next paragraph

3.PAST EXAM PAPERS ARE YOUR BEST FRIEND

The best way to test and deepen your knowledge, and truly see if you’re absorbing all of the information you’re studying, is by doing practice papers. The NESA website has a tonne of past exam papers that you can access for free.

You may notice that the style of questions asked year by year follow the same style – this isn’t a coincidence. Deepen your learning by tweaking the past questions to fit your current module, and practice writing the essays out with old-fashioned pen and paper (instead of typing on your laptop). This is a great way to make sure your handwriting is concise and eligible, and to increase your writing speed.

With the recent changes in the syllabus, there are new modules that are now being tested. C3 Education Group have been teaching these skills for years! Students who have learned this skill from us will be able to conquer the new syllabus with ease.

Bonus tip: having conquered a few past papers, amp up the intensity by creating your own questions and mimicking exam conditions by answering them in a timed setting.

4.THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX FOR YOUR CREATIVE WRITING PIECE

This can be either the hardest, or most fun part of the of the HSC English exam (depending on how you look at it). The creative writing section makes up a significant chunk of your mark.

Put yourself in the markers’ shoes: they will be reading hundreds, if not thousands of essays, so it’s important for your creative writing story to actually be creative – try to avoid cliché topics. No matter your story, make your protagonist come to life by describing distinct personality traits that adhere to the area of study.

Struggling with ideas for interesting and original stories? Our skilled  HSC tutors  can help you with developing creative writing techniques and ideas to ensure your narrative grabs the markers’ attention in the best ways.

Want to reach your full study potential?  Get in touch  with our tutors today to see how we can help you get your dream ATAR.

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Hsc english advanced: a detailed guide to exams and study.

• 8 months ago

HSC English advanced can be a challenging subject to master. It requires a deep knowledge of the set texts, the module, and techniques, on top of understanding how to approach each specific question. As a recently graduated band 6 English student, I’m happy to inform you that it can be done. All that is needed is hard work and the right approach. This post will break down all the tips and tricks upcoming students need to know throughout the year and leading up to the HSC, presenting a straightforward and achievable roadmap to success.

Breaking down each Module

English advanced in Year 12 is broken into three modules. The first Module, the Common Module is named for it being common across both HSC English Advanced and Standard. The module looks at “Texts and Human Experiences.” Within this module, students are encouraged to draw links between their prescribed text and real life (or the human experience). The key aspects of this module revolve around motivations, anomalies, paradoxes, inconsistencies, ideas, and assumptions in regard to the human condition. Within this module, consider how storytelling and literary techniques represent these notions throughout time.

Module A, textual conversations can seem daunting at first, because students study two texts in relation to each other rather than one core text. Within this module, it is paramount to consider both your set texts as a set rather than putting all your focus on just one of the texts. The module encourages students to look for resonances (similarities) and dissonances (differences) between and within texts, as well as how the texts may mirror (copy), align (be similar to), and collide (be different to), emphasising the comparative aspect of the curriculum. Within these similarities and differences, students are prompted ot consider how meaning is shaped in regard to context and values across time.

Module B is a critical study of literature, which is more technical than the other modules. Students are required to analyse the construction, content, and language of a text to develop their own interpretation. There is also focus on the text’s composition and reception, context, and perspective. This module is unique as it mentions “detailed evidence drawn from research and reading,” meaning that other literary opinions are considered as part of the study.

Finally, Module C focuses on how the student can develop their own creative and discursive writing skills through inspiration from established authors and texts. Within this module, students analyse techniques and themes in two or more prescribed texts, and attempt to incorporate aspects of these texts into their own writing. This module is distinctive as it can sometimes contain a reflective aspect, in which the student is to explain and evaluate themes and techniques in their own pieces.

How a ssessments work

Assessments for English advanced are all done internally. Most schools will do a combination of essay, multimodal (most often a speech), an exam, and the trial exam. Each of these will be approached slightly differently, as outlined below.

Most English students will likely have to complete at least one essay for their assessment tasks. This is excellent practice for the HSC at the end of the year. Think of these essays as the ‘perfected’ version of the essays you will write in your HSC – and the assessment as an opportunity to perfect them early in the year so that you are able to bring them into your final exam. In terms of timeline, try to have a draft done a week before the due date. Remember to use evaluative terms, especially if the question asks “to what extent” something is true in your text.

Another common type of internal assessment is the multimodal assessment, which is most commonly a speech. This can be challenging, as students have to balance making their speech engaging and including all the analysis of the text. For this task, write your speech out as an essay to start with, then fill your introduction and conclusion with speech techniques (anaphora, rhetorical questions, etc). When speaking, try not to recite your quotes and your analysis. Using more colourful vocabulary to describe the effects of techniques may help with that, as well as varying your sentence length. Try to have this assessment in draft form a week before it is due, and spend the last three days before the assessment rehearsing it so that you are not reading off a piece of paper. If you do need a visual aid, print or write out cue cards as it is far more professional and will ensure you get a higher score in the presentation aspect of the assessment.

Lastly, all schools will have a trial exam closer to the HSC. Prepare for your trials as if they are the actual exams, then use the feedback from them to improve yourself for the final exam. See below for common exam questions and how to approach each paper.

Breaking down Paper 1

Paper 1 is completely based on the common module, Human Experiences. It is comprised of two parts: short answer and the common module essay. Short answer questions often follow the same general pattern.

• A 3-4 mark question on a multimodal text (picture/illustration)
• 2 to 3 4-5 mark questions on a poem, discursive piece, or fiction extract
• A 5-6 mark question asking for a comparison of two of the texts

In the reading time given, read through each question and then the corresponding texts in order. While reading through the texts, keep in mind quotes and techniques you will use in your answers. It is advisable to do the short answer section in order, as the questions often build on each other. The general rule is that you need one less technique than the marks allocated.

For the first question, the key word will likely be explain or describe, so there will not be a need to evaluate. Structure your response with a first sentence that directly answers your question, followed by techniques and analysis, and a short last sentence wrapping up your answer. Ensure that key words from the question taken from the module appear in your first and last sentence.

For a 4-5 mark question, you will be asked to critically analyse or evaluate, meaning that criteria need to be more explicit and that evaluative terms such as “to a large extent/significantly/notably” need to be present in your response. It can be easy to veer away from the question with longer short responses. To avoid this, make sure you are including at least one key word from the question in your analysis of techniques. For example the technique ___ highlights the (key word) present in the human experience by ____.

With a compare question, it is ideal to have two paragraphs, comparing how each texts approaches two themes. It is similar to a mini-essay. Start by identifying a theme in the question, then analyse how text A approaches it, and compare it to text B. Do the same thing with another theme in the second paragraph. Make sure to use comparative words such as similarly, differently, alternatively, and analogously.

In regards to the common module essay, some may choose to get this out of the way first. Either way, ensure that at least 40 minutes are allocated for it. It is a good idea to memorise an introduction template that can be applied to the essay, as well as general themes pertaining to key notions in the module and text. Much of the advice for the common module essay is similar to advice for the essays in Paper 2, which will be elaborated upon below.

Breaking down Paper 2

Paper 2 is one of the most difficult papers to sit for in the HSC, mostly because of the amount that a student is expected to write in a short amount of time. As such, practice does make perfect, so it is important that you begin practice papers as soon as possible and model exam conditions when you are ready. You can find NESA ruled paper online. Print these sheets out and use them to write on rather than a normal notebook in order to gauge how much you are able to write within the set time as well as become comfortable with the different spacing. When you are practicing, keep an eye on how long it takes you to hit certain points in the paper and use those as signposts for your progress in the exam. For example, I knew that by 8 minutes in, I normally had my introduction written out and was moving on to writing evidence for my first paragraph.

A common piece of advice for Paper 2 is to go into the exam with memorised essays to regurgiate. However, the danger of this is that students may rely too much on the memorised essay and not adapt it to the question, losing valuable marks. Instead, try to memorise around 5  individual paragraphs per module based on themes in the text. That way, the paragraphs can be more easily adapted to the question at hand while still retaining the advantages of going in with prepared writing. You can also swap out paragraphs depending on what the question is asking, making you a more flexible candidate.

Different Question Types

There are three different types of question asked for the Module A and B essays. The first is the ‘theme’ question, in which you will be asked how your text/s represent a certain theme. For example, last year’s question for TS Eliot in Module B asked “How has your study of Eliot’s poetry altered and expanded your understanding of entrapment?” This type of question is arguable the simplest, as a student just has to adapt their theme paragraphs to relate to the theme given.

The second type of question is the ‘quote’ question in which the student is given a quote either from the text or relating to the module, and asked to what extent their study of the text/s relates to it. It is always easiest to say that it is to a large extent, as your analysis will naturally support this. With these types of questions, make sure to have a sentence rephrasing the quote in your own words in the introduction to show the examiner that you understand it, and scatter key words from it throughout your essay. The quote will have themes that you can identify in your introduction and structure your essay around.

Finally, the question may have a specific focus on form. This is most common in Module A where the form of two texts differ. Therefore, if you are studying a play or movie alongside a written text, make sure to have play or movie specific techniques prepared and be ready to compare the impact of using different mediums on key themes.

Many students find the comparison of texts in Module A to be difficult. When memorising your theme paragraphs, ensure that you have an even distribution of quotes between each text and structure your paragraph in a way that creates a chain of evidence allowing you to compare similar or different quotes sequentially.

Finally, in Module C, you will be given either an image or quote as a stimulus and be asked to write a creative piece, a discursive piece, or either. Always do this last as there is more emphasis on quality over quantity in Module C, giving you the creative freedom to make your piece shorter if you are low on time. To prepare, memorise at least 2 character profiles based loosely around characters/themes in your Module A or B texts (as sometimes you will be asked to draw directly from them). Then, prepare three different settings which can then be chosen from if you are stuck for an introduction to a creative piece. Memorise at least one creative piece based on a prepared character and a general theme (power of literature, identity, etc) that can be easily adapted. For a discursive piece, memorise a piece based on a key theme from your set texts in Module C (for example, the pain of adolescence inspired by Kafka’s Metamorphosis ).

The Reflection

Most papers require a reflection on your piece. Therefore, it is important to purposefully incorporate techniques of the texts you have studied in the module into your prepared pieces to refer to in the reflection. Your reflection should be structured as follows:

• Paragraph 1: an overview of your concept and purpose
• Paragraph 2: explain how texts from module C inspired you by referencing key ideas and techniques from your set text, and comparing it to a quote from your own writing. For example: Smith’s use of (technique) in “quote” is mirrored in my use of (the same technique) in “quote from your text.” If you have been asked to draw inspiration from a text in Module A or B, include this as well.
• Paragraph 3: explain your own language choices and key ideas
• Conclude with a short evaluation of your work and tell the marker how much studying Module C has improved your skill as a writer.

These are the biggest tips for success in English Advanced throughout Year 12. Remember that preparation and practice are the most essential, as well as keeping in mind the key notions outlined in the separate modules. Good luck with the HSC!

This blog was written by our tutor, Nichole. You can find her tutor profile  here . 

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Memorising English Essays!

Monday 28th, March 2016

Elyse Popplewell

When it comes to memorising English essays… well… I memorised every single one of my English essays for both Advanced and Extension 1.

Shock. Horror.

Now I want to tell you my techniques to help you with memorising your English essays.

HSC Markers, tutoring institutions, your peers, your teachers – they all have an opinion on memorising English essays. The argument against memorising English essays is that your response may seem detached from the question asked in an exam. Fear not! It is definitely not impossible to get really high marks with a memorised essay. In fact, I credit my mark of band 6 in Advanced English and E4 in Extension 1 English to my prepared essays. Memorising English essays isn’t easy, but I found it to be very worth it!

What are the benefits of memorising English essays?

When you enter an exam room, you are expected to write something that is quite lengthy, quite analytical, with sophisticated language, with plenty of evidence, quite quickly. Preparing an essay – whether this is fully memorised or just partially – ensures that you are meeting the required length, writing quickly, using sophisticated language, being analytical and giving plenty of evidence. You can prepare all of these things! Except, the pace of writing. Hopefully adrenaline is your friend in an exam. All that’s left for you to do? Think clearly and make a thorough effort to incorporate the essay question seamlessly.

My experience of memorising English essays

First of all, I want to tell you the level of memorising and planning I did for two different essays so you can see how it really isn’t as simple as memorising an essay then throwing it on an exam paper. Each module requires something different of you, so I prepared each essay differently. It is also worth noting that what you’re about to read is my level of preparation for the FINAL exams. The entire HSC year was spent preparing, changing, adding to, editing, re-reading, re-writing, occasionally screaming at and often ferociously scribbling all over my essays. The entire HSC year is an opportunity to continually improve your work. It wasn’t until days before my HSC exams that I felt like I had essays that were both strong and versatile enough to confidently take into my exams with me.

Area of Study:

You can download my Area of Study essay for free here.

Introduction: Completely memorised.

This includes the thesis statements, the way I would introduce the texts and the sentence I would use to complete the introduction and tie it all together. My first two thesis sentences were broad enough that I could integrate the essay question easily. Else, I could give the essay question its own sentence. The essay question is all I had to embed here. This is the easy part.

Body Paragraphs: Completely memorised.

I had the introduction to each paragraph planned. I knew all textual references off by heart and their accompanying analysis and technique(s). The only part that I had to change was consciously incorporating the essay question. My evidence and original thesis statements were broad enough that this wasn’t difficult to do. However, I was so confident in knowing my texts that I could whip out extra textual referencing that supported the essay question very easily.

Conclusion: Prepared but not memorised.

The conclusion should never be undermined. It needs to be strong and it needs to tie everything you’ve said together really well. This is why I was comfortable writing it on the spot and not from memory: everything I needed to say in it had already been said above in the essay. All I had to do now was make sure that I had coherently linked everything and I was leaving the marker with a taste of just how much I know about discovery!

You can read my module essay for free  here.

Introduction: Prepared but not memorised.

I had a “sentence bank” built up from the various assessment I had done on Module A throughout the year. This meant that I knew a couple of good, universal phrases, sentence and words that I could easily whip out and apply at any moment. I knew how I wanted to open, I wanted to talk about the inaccessibility of Shakespeare to a modern audience (I studied King Richard III and Looking for Richard). From then, it was going to be totally directed by the essay question.

Body paragraphs: Prepared but not memorised.

I had quite a few pieces of evidence that were direct scene-to-scene comparisons between Shakespeare’s work and Pacino’s. I made sure that as many of these textual references as possible were UNIVERSAL. This is the key to picking quotes. They should be able to be used to apply to many different arguments. I used mnemonics here (discussed further on).

Conclusion: Pretty well off-the-cuff.

As I mentioned in the AOS conclusion: this part is so much a summary of everything above. If you remember everything to discuss above then you will not have a problem when it comes to the conclusion. Keep it strong, keep it sweet, don’t over think it. Don’t undermine it either.

The methods that I used to memorise English essays!

Re-writing. Writing again. I do this when I can’t spell a word properly (for so long, plagiarism was this ridiculous word that I could spell) and when I need to remember something word for word. I must have written out a total of 40+ quotes to be memorised during the HSC at least the length of a page each. I would continually write out every single word of the quote so that I would memorise it. By the end, I wouldn’t even have to check the sentence above, I would be writing the quote straight from my mind. That is the sweet sign of success.This technique can be used for the less specific as well. I used it for thesis statements and quotes extensively. However, there were times when I wanted to write out my essay in a timed situation at home to make sure that I could write it out in the designated time the exam gives. Even though practicing in exam conditions at home is my most loathed study technique (it was just so boring L ), the truth is that it helps to memorise things. It is truly testing your memory, but in a pressured environment. Sometimes, in both these practice exams and in real exams, the words don’t come to you. You forget. They disappear in the black hole of your mind. Whatever words do come to mine, grab them, and run with them. You can’t let yourself fall into the trap of being completely reliant on memorising. You have to be confident in giving your essay the flexibility to deal with a brain malfunction.

Mnemonics. I <3 mnemonics. If you aren’t sure what they are, I’ll give you an example. I need to remember the following: Metaphor, Symbolism, onomatopoeia, bildungsroman, pathetic fallacy. But, that’s awkward and boring to remember. So instead I take the first letters from each: M, S, O, B, P. Then I make a silly little sentence: Mary slipped over banana peels. This is far more entertaining to remember than the technique’s names themselves. When you know the first letter, you will be sure to recall the technique you are supposed to write about! There are a bunch of mnemonic generators online too! I used mnemonics for nearly all of my prepared body paragraphs!

Speaking out loud. When I had no choice but to commit something to memory and I didn’t have a lot of time, I’d recite it old-school style. I’d stand in front of my mirror with the work I have to remember. Then I’d talk. Out loud. Over and over again. I’d be sure to walk around as much as possible to trick my body into thinking I was doing something stimulating and to keep the blood flowing. I’d say things in funny voices and then in silly accents. When it came to memorising my creative writing (a speech) I took on the persona of my oppressed narrator and I’d do the damsel-in-distress thing as I read my work over and over.You get to a stage where just reading it no longer is helping. This is when you need to read the sentence and say it out loud, and then cover it, and read it out loud from memory. Slowly build up a sentence at a time. If I had a week before my exam, I would make sure I memorised at least a paragraph each night so that by the day before, I had every little bit memorised and tested!

Organic memorising. As I mentioned above, I didn’t have my essays completely memorised for all stages of the year. By the HSC exams, I was ready! Part of this was because of all of the above techniques and part of it was just organic. By submitting my work to a teacher, receiving feedback, toying with it, putting it away and getting it out again and just being present and interacting with my work, it became memorised. Perhaps it wasn’t memorised in the word-for-word sense through organic interaction alone. However, it was definitely leaving an important print in my mind that subconsciously lingered until I whipped it out in an exam.

Recording myself saying it – then playing it. Now, you can choose to make this really creepy and play it overnight so that you fall asleep to the tender sound of your own voice. Some people swear by this. For me, it was a little invasive. My sleep during the HSC was paradisiacal and was never ever going to be compromised for any reason (priorities). I recorded myself on my phone and played it as I was driving to school. Rather than listening to chatter on the radio, I would listen to my recording and try to speak along with it wherever possible. If you catch the bus or train, you could also listen then! You could listen in the shower, while you make lunch or as you clean the dishes. Easy!

Making the essay forever present. I used this not just for entire essays, but also for random facts that I needed to know for different subjects (dates for history, legislation for legal, etc). I put my work in a plastic sleeve and stuck it to the outside of the shower door. This way, I could get all kinds of clean while reading my essay out loud. I stuck things that I needed to memorise at the end of the bath tub, on the back of the toilet door, on the wall that I face when I eat breakfast. It sounds crazy and it sounds intense. But, I truly believe that it is so effective to have whatever you are trying to memorise everpresent. These are the kinds of things that you subliminally take note of even when you aren’t actively studying. Studying without actually studying? Always a win!

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• Jan 17, 2022

How to use a quote in your English essay the right way - important for HSC preparation!

Incorporating quotes is an expectation for all high school English essays (and beyond, if you’re pursuing English academia). It is a simple instruction: discuss a quote. However, it can be a headache inducing task if you're not confident with the process.

This blog post will teach you:

At the end of this post there will be an essay example where you can see our tips in action. You can scroll down to this straight away if you wish – it’s at the bottom of the post.

This guide is geared towards students sitting the HSC English exam, but all high school students will be able to improve their English essay assessment marks with the information.

How to choose a “good quote” for your English essay.

Not all quotes are made the same. Sometimes when a writer talks about a “blue stroller”, it literally just means a blue stroller. There is no deeper meaning behind it (a shocking truth).

A "good quote" for HSC English essays must hit the following checklist:

What makes a quote "juicy" and stronger for textual analysis.

A quote with metaphorical richness and conceptual depth is considered stronger, because there is:

Let’s use Maya Angelou’s ‘Caged Bird’ to examine a weaker vs stronger English essay quote:

A weaker quote:

for the caged bird

sings of freedom.

Potential analysis:

The “caged bird” is an extended metaphor for oppressed minorities. In Maya Angelou’s context it refers to the systemic oppression of African Americans. The song thus implies that the caged bird wants to be free.

A song is a symbol of hope – suggesting the oppressed wishes for freedom.

A stronger quote:

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams

his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream

The extended metaphor of a “caged bird” is also present here.

The morbid visual imagery of the bird upon a metaphorical “grave of dreams” positions readers to understand that oppression is not about simple physical constraint, it is also about the loss of hope.

The reference to death implies cessation of all potential – barring the oppressed from all opportunity. The severity of this is elevated for the reader through this reference to death.

The alliteration of “shadow shouts” elevates this phrase in the ears of the audience, heightening the emotional intensity of entrapment.

“Shout” and “scream” are also violent olfactory images – conveying frustration and desperation to the reader.

The second quote is much richer in techniques and effect and can be used to address a variety of arguments . This is the type of stronger quote that you should prepare for high school English assessments and the HSC English exam.

However, no matter how strong a quote is, you have to make sure you analyse rather than story tell .

What is the difference between analysis and storytelling?

If your English essay feedback is full of comments that say “ stop storytelling” or “ you need deeper analysis ”, this section is a must-read for you.

What is storytelling ?

Storytelling is when you restate what a quote says in different words. It is equivalent to paraphrasing or summarising. You are not adding any new information, you are simply repeating old information .

For example, if you were to discuss the following sentence:

“A red apple with perfect skin but rotten flesh.”

It is storytelling to say any of the following:

“This means that there was an apple that looked good but tasted bad.”

“The apple had smooth skin but when cut open it was actually rotten, so people should be careful.”

“This was a bad apple hidden under smooth skin which is likely to be unhealthy.”

So then, what is analysis?

Analysis is when new information is added to the existing quote . A simple way to help you get started on textual analysis is to think about the following questions:

For the same quote:

It is analysis to say any of the following:

“The apple is a biblical allusion to the Devil’s temptation, implying that immorality is often disguised by an enticing exterior.”

“The contrast between the apple’s appearance and its flesh foreshadows that there is deception afoot, evoking tension in the reader.”

Now that you can select your appropriately dense and juicy quote and analyse it adequately, it’s time for the most important step: use the quote in an English essay correctly.

How to use your quote correctly in an English essay?

Firstly, we must understand the function of including a quote. A successful quote integration will demonstrate:

This means you must:

A good essay writing quote structure we like to teach at Simply English is the TQP structure. TQP stands for:

technique, quote, point .

This short acronym helps you remember to discuss a technique for each quote and relate its effect to your overall argument .

If you’re still not certain how this works, see it in action in our essay example below.

Essay Example (Human Experiences Related Text)

We will use Maya Angelou’s ‘Caged Bird’ to write one paragraph on the following Human Experiences question.

Question: The human experience is highly paradoxical. Discuss in relation to your text.

Each quote integrated was always paired with at least one technique and linked back to the overall argument.

Let's wrap up

Reading guides and sample essays make for a great starting point . However the only way to improve your own analysis essay writing is through practice and feedback.

Make sure you put the advice in this guide into practice in your next essay draft and hand it in to a teacher or tutor for valuable feedback!

For every 1000 word essay you write, 10,000 words would have been discarded. - a wise person (me)

Good luck with your HSC English essay writing journey!

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A State-Ranker’s Guide to Writing 20/20 Economics Essays

So, you want to know how to improve your preliminary and HSC economics essay...

Cory Aitchison

State Ranker & 99.95 ATAR

1. Introduction to this Guide

So, you want to know how to improve your preliminary and HSC economics essay writing? Look no further! In this guide, I’ll be covering key tips to help YOU smash the structure, amaze with your analysis, conquer the contemporary, and ultimately master the mystery of maximising your marks.

My name is Cory Aitchison, currently one of the Economics tutors at Project Academy . I completed the HSC in 2018, achieving a 99.95 ATAR as well as two state ranks — 6th in economics and 12th in chemistry. Graduating from Knox Grammar School, I also topped my grade in economics and was awarded Dux of the School for STEM. Believe it or not, at the beginning of Year 11 I initially struggled with economics due to the transition in conceptual thinking required in approaching economic assessments in comparison to my other subjects such as English. However, through Year 11 and Year 12, I built up key tips and strategies — that I’ll be sharing with you in this guide — to help me not only consistently achieve top marks in my internal assessments, but to ultimately go on to achieve the results I did in the HSC.

2. The Correct Way to Write

First off, you need to understand something: HSC economics essays are NOT english essays! They aren’t scientific discussions, nor geography reports, nor historical recounts. They’re unique and often quite different from other essays that you might’ve done previously in high school. The style of writing and approach to answering questions can be confusing at first, but follow these tips and you’ll be ready in no time:

Phrasing should be understandable and concise

Unlike some subjects where sophisticated phrasing is beneficial to getting marks, HSC economics essays should emphasise getting your point across with clarity. This means don’t run your sentences on for too long, be aware of any superfluous words, and make sure you actually understand yourself what you’re trying to say in a sentence.

For example:

GOOD: “An increase in interest rates should lead to decreased economic growth.”

NOT GOOD: “As a result of a rise or increase in interest rate levels from their previous values, the general state of economic activity in the domestic economy may begin to decrease and subsequently indicate the resultant situation of a decrease in economic growth.”

“Understandable” does not mean slang or lacking in terminology

Just because you want to get a point across, doesn’t mean you should resort to slang. In fact, using economic terminology is a strong way to boost your standing in the eyes of the marker — if you use it correctly! Always make sure you use full sentences, proper English grammar, and try and incorporate correct economic terms where possible.

GOOD: “This was a detrimental outcome for the economy.”

NOT GOOD: “This was a pretty bad outcome for the economy.”

GOOD: “The Australian Dollar depreciated.”

NOT GOOD: “The Australian Dollar decreased in value.”

Analysis should be done using low modality

Modality just refers to the confidence of your language — saying something “will” happen is strong modality, whereas saying something “might” happen is considered low modality. Since a large portion of economics is about applying theory, we have to make sure that we are aware that we are doing just that — talking about the theoretical, and so we can’t say for sure that anything will happen as predicted.

Some useful words include:

May, Might, Should, Could, Can theoretically

Don’t use words like:

Must, Will, Has to, Always

3. How to use Statistics

“What’s most important is that this contemporary is used to bring meaning or context to your argument…”

Using contemporary (statistics) can often seem straightforward at first, but using it effectively is usually harder than it looks. Contemporary generally refers to applying real-world facts to your analysis to help strengthen (or weaken) the theoretical arguments. This can include many different statistics or pieces of information, including:

• Historic economic indicators, such as GDP, inflation, GINI coefficients, exchange rates, or unemployment rates
• Trends or economic goals, such as long-term GDP growth rates, or the stability band for inflation
• Names of economic policies, such as examples of fiscal or microeconomic policies
• Specifics of economic policies, such as the amount spent on infrastructure in 2017

Whatever statistics you deem relevant to include in your essay, what’s most important is that this contemporary is used to bring meaning or context to your argument — just throwing around random numbers to show off your memorisation skills won’t impress the marker, and in fact might appear as if you were making them up on the spot. Rather, your use of contemporary should actively improve your analysis.

GOOD: “Following a period of growth consistently below the long-term trend-line of 3%, the depreciation of the AUD to 0.71USD in 2017 preceded an increase in economic growth to a 10-year high of 3.4% in 2018.”

NOT GOOD: “Economic growth increased by 1 percentage point in 2017 to 2018”

NOT GOOD: “GDP was $1.32403 trillion in 2017”

GOOD: “The 2017 Budget’s Infrastructure Plan injected $42 billion into the economy — up 30% from 2016’s $31 billion, and 20% higher than the inflation-adjusted long-term expenditure.”

NOT GOOD: “The 2017 Budget’s Infrastructure Plan injected $42 billion into the economy”

That in mind, don’t think that these statistics have to be overly specific. As long as the general ideas gets across, it’s fine. You don’t need to say “$1,505,120” — just “$1.5 million” will suffice.

Ask yourself: if I get rid of the contemporary from my paragraphs, does the essay still have enough content?

Further, don’t get roped into the “contemporary trap” — where you fall into the mindset that “if I memorise all these statistics, my essay will get good marks”. Including numbers and contemporary at the expense of having a robust theoretical explanation and analysis will definitely be detrimental in getting you top marks. Particularly in trial exams and the HSC when you’ve got all these numbers floating in your head, it can be tempting to try and include as many as you can (often just because you can!). To avoid this, always try and focus your arguments on analysis and syllabus content first, contemporary second. Ask yourself: if I get rid of the contemporary from my paragraph, does the essay still have enough content?

4. Must Have Insightful “However”s

If you really want to extend your analysis and show the marker that you know your stuff, including insightful “however”s is a strong way to do it. What I mean by this is that for each of your paragraphs, try and include a counterpoint that highlights the flexible nature of economic theory. There are broadly two kinds of “however”s:

Theoretical “However”s

These are counterpoints that are based on theory — often there will be theoretical limitations for many of the concepts you come across in economics. It’s always important to include these limitations as it reinforces your knowledge of the actual content of economics.

“Although the Budget and fiscal policy can be effective at stimulating economic growth, it is also restricted by the “implementation time lag” limitation since it is only introduced annually.”

Contemporary “However”s

These are counterpoints that are based on contemporary — highlighting how although something should happen theoretically, this isn’t usually what is observed in reality. This can be particularly powerful in that it combines your knowledge of theory with your analysis of contemporary.

“Despite the expansionary stance that the RBA adopted in 2012–2016 for monetary policy, Australia’s annual GDP growth rate has remained below the trend rate of 3% — against the theoretical expectations. This could be attributed to factors such as …”

5. How to Interpret the Question

When you first look at a question, before you even put pen to paper, you need to come up with a plan of attack — how can you ensure that you answer the question correctly, and give the markers what they want? There are three main points to look for when interpreting essay questions:

Knowing your verbs

As you may (or may not) know, NESA has a bank of words that they like to pull from when writing questions, and these words impact how they want their question answered. These verbs should help steer your analysis onto the right path. For example:

Explain: “Relate causes and effects”

To answer these questions, you have to demonstrate a thorough understanding of how theory and events impact each other and the economy. This verb particularly emphasises the idea of a process — you need to be able to make clear links as to how each step leads to the next, rather than just jumping to the outcomes.

Analyse: “Draw out and relate implications”

These questions usually wants you to investigate the connections between different aspects of economic theory. Generally this involves showing a holistic understanding of how different areas (such as micro- and macroeconomic policies) come together to make a cohesive impact on the economy. It usually helps to think back to the syllabus and how the points are introduced when figuring out which ideas to link together.

Assess/Evaluate: “Make a judgement based on value/a criteria”

These require you to not only critically analyse a topic but also come to a conclusion given the arguments you provided. This type of question usually gets you to make a judgement of the effectiveness of some economic theory — such as the ability for economic policies to achieve their goals. Make sure you actually include this judgement in your answer — for example, say things like “strong impact”, “highly influential”, “extremely detrimental”.

Discuss: “Provide points for and/or against”

Similar to assess, discuss wants you to provide arguments towards and against a particular topic. Although it doesn’t require a specific judgement to be made, it does place greater emphasis on showing a well-rounded approach to the argument — providing relatively equal weightings towards both the positive and negative sides of the discussion.

Linking to the syllabus

When trying to understand what the question wants from you, I found the best way to approach it is to consider what points in the syllabus it is referring to (To do this, you need to have a solid understanding of the syllabus in the first place). Once you’ve located it, try drawing upon other topics in the vicinity of that dot point to help you answer the question.

For example, if the question mentions “trends in Australia’s trade and financial flows”, then you know from the syllabus that you probably need to talk about value, composition and direction in order to get high marks. Further, it may also be worth it to bring in ideas from the Balance of Payments, as this is the next dot point along in the syllabus.

Digging into the source

For essay questions that provide a source for you to include in your answer, this is another goldmine from which you can discern what the marker really wants. If the source mentions microeconomic policy, it probably wasn’t on accident! Even if it may not be obvious how to link that to the question immediately, try and draw upon your knowledge and implications and see if there’s a different angle that you might be missing.

6. Putting it All together — Structuring your essay

My essays usually consisted of four main parts: an introduction, a background paragraph, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Introduction

Your introduction should not be long. I rarely wrote an introduction longer than three sentences.

First sentence: Answer the question (thesis)

Try and answer the question, while including the main key words of the question in your answer. Don’t directly restate it — instead, try and add meaning to it in a way that represents what you’re trying to get across in your essay.

For example: if the question was “Assess the impact of microeconomic policy in improving economic growth in Australia”, my first sentence might be “Microeconomic policy has had a significant impact in increasing aggregate supply and thus long-term economic growth in Australia since the 1960s”.

Next sentences: Introduce your arguments/paragraphs

In this part, it’s fine to almost list your paragraphs — there’s no need to do a whole sentence explaining each. That’s what the paragraphs themselves are for.

For example: using the same question as above, my next sentence might be “Although trade liberalisation may have been detrimental for short-term growth in manufacturing, policies such as competition policy and wage decentralisation have been highly effective in fostering economic growth in Australia”.

Background Paragraph

The aim of a background paragraph is threefold: to get across the main theory that underpins your argument; to establish the economic context for your argument; and to show the marker that you “know your stuff”.

For example, if the essay was on monetary policy, you may want to describe the process of Domestic Market Operations (how the reserve bank changes the cash rate) in your background paragraph, so that you don’t need to mention it each time you bring up changing stances. Further, it may be good to showcase the current economic climate — such as GDP growth rate and inflation — to give context to your analysis in your essay.

Some ideas for what to include in this paragraph include:

• Key theory such as DMOs or the rationale for macroeconomic policies
• Economic indicators that provide context to the time period that you’re working in, such as growth rates, inflation, unemployment rates, exchange rates, cash rates, etc.
• A brief description of the recent Budget (if talking about fiscal policy), including the stance and outcome

Bear in mind that this paragraph shouldn’t be too long — it isn’t the focus of your essay! Instead, aim for around 100–150 words at most. At this point in your essay, it may also be good to include a graph (more on this later).

Body Paragraphs

There’s no set rule for how many body paragraphs to include in your essay — I generally aim for at least 4, but there’s no real limit to how many you can (or should) write! Unlike english essays, it’s totally acceptable to just split a paragraph in two if you feel like the idea is too large to be written in one paragraph (as long as each paragraph makes sense on its own).

When writing a paragraph, I usually follow this structure:

Topic sentence

This is where you answer the question, and outline your argument or idea for this paragraph. If you are doing a discuss/assess/evaluate essay, try and make your judgement or side obvious. For example: “Trade liberalisation has been detrimental in its impact on economic growth in manufacturing industries”.

These sentences are where you bring together the theory and contemporary to build up your argument. Remember, the theory should be the focus, and contemporary a bonus. Try and weave a “story” into your analysis if you can — you should be showing the marker how everything fits together, how causes lead to effects, and ultimately bringing together relevant economic concepts to answer the question. Feel free to also include graphs here when they help strengthen your argument.

Fit in your “however” statements here. For discuss questions, this however section may take up a larger part of the paragraph if you choose to showcase two opposing arguments together.

Link your argument back to your overarching thesis, and answer the question. Following on from your “however” statement, it can often be a good idea to use linking words such as “nevertheless”, “notwithstanding”, or “despite this” to show that taking into account your arguments presented in the “however” statement, the overarching idea for the paragraph still remains.

Like the introduction, your conclusion should not be overly long. Rather, it should briefly restate the arguments made throughout your essay, and bring them all together again to reinforce how these points help answer the question.

Aggregate Demand / Supply Graph

Graphs are a great way to add extra spice to your essay — not only does it help strengthen your explanations of economic theory, it also makes it look like you wrote more pages than you actually did! Graphs, such as aggregate demand graphs, business cycle graphs, and Phillips curves, can be great in reinforcing your ideas when you mention them in your essay. They usually come either in background paragraphs or body paragraphs, and it’s usually best to draw them about a quarter to a third of the page in size. It’s also good practice to label them as “Figure 1” or “Graph 1”, and refer to them as such in your actual paragraph.

Although they can be beneficial, don’t try and force them either. Not all essays have appropriate graphs, and trying to include as many as you can without regards for their relevance may come across negatively in the eyes of the marker.

8. How to Answer Source Questions

If your essay question involves a source, try and refer to it multiple times throughout your essay. For example, this can be in the background paragraph and two of your body paragraphs. Rather than just adding in an “…as seen in the source” to one of your sentences, try and actively analyse it — show the marker that you understand why they included it, and how it actually helps strengthen your arguments.

9. Plan You Essay

Don’t be afraid to use the first page of your answer booklet as a planning page. Taking a couple minutes before you answer the question to lay out your scaffold for body paragraphs is a great first step to helping ensure that you actually end up answering the question to the best of your abilities. It also serves as a great reminder to keep checking as you finish each paragraph to ensure that you actually wrote what you intended. Just make sure to make it clear to the marker that those scribbles on the page are just a plan, and not your actual essay!

10. How to Prepare for Essays in the Exam

I find it much better to prepare paragraphs and ideas that you can draw upon to help “build up” a response during the exam itself.

Don’t go into the exam with a pre-prepared essay that you are ready to regurgitate — not only are there too many possibilities to prepare for, but it’s also unlikely that you’ll actually answer the question well with a pre-prepared response.

Instead of memorising sets of essays before the exam, I find it much better to prepare paragraphs and ideas that you can draw upon to help “build up” a response during the exam itself. What I mean by this, is that in your mind you have a “bank of different paragraphs” and ideas from all the topics in the syllabus, and when you read the exam, you start drawing from different paragraphs here and there to best formulate a response that answers the question. This allows you to be flexible in answering almost any question they can throw at you.

On top of this, ensure you have a solid foundation in both the theory and contemporary — knowing what statistics or topics to include in your essay is useless knowledge unless you have the actual content to back it up.

Now that you know the basics of how to write a good HSC economics essay, it’s time to start practising! Have a go, try out different styles, and find what works best for you. Good luck!

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• Secondary Education
• English Advanced

Memorising in English HSC

• Thread starter smartguy1
• Start date Aug 16, 2021

Hello, a friend was telling me that all he's gonna do for his English (Advanced) HSC is memorise essays bought off one of last year's state rankers and regurgitate it in the exam? Would this work? How likely is it that he could get caught for plagiarism? Also, what if you memorise an essay that your tutor gave your whole class and everyone in the class writes the same one for the HSC, would you get caught for plagiarism? Also, do lots of people do this? Thanks  

icycledough

Well-known member.

smartguy1 said: Hello, a friend was telling me that all he's gonna do for his English (Advanced) HSC is memorise essays bought off one of last year's state rankers and regurgitate it in the exam? Would this work? How likely is it that he could get caught for plagiarism? Also, what if you memorise an essay that your tutor gave your whole class and everyone in the class writes the same one for the HSC, would you get caught for plagiarism? Thanks Click to expand...

jimmysmith560

Le phénix trilingue.

I PERSONALLY think he'll get a horrible mark even if he memorised 100 percent of whatever essays he got. This is because HSC questions are made to ensure students that do this never get anything above a band 2/3, for instance for 2019 HSC the question for The Crucible was on love and it blew out so many people because it was not a major theme (or really, a theme anyone prepared for honestly). But if you know your text well enough, you can adapt to any question through tweaking your ideas not regurgitating them, I think these two approaches are fundamentally different. One is where you actually understand exactly what you're trying to say while the latter is simply vomiting out premade paragraphs with a few key terms to make a tenuous effort to address the question. I'm sure HSC markers can distinguish between the two fairly easily. I think your friend should attempt to actually understand the profound ideas of the state ranker and use them to write out notes of his own that he actually comprehends himself, otherwise he might be just wasting his time.  

smartguy1 said: Hello, a friend was telling me that all he's gonna do for his English (Advanced) HSC is memorise essays bought off one of last year's state rankers and regurgitate it in the exam? Would this work? How likely is it that he could get caught for plagiarism? Also, what if you memorise an essay that your tutor gave your whole class and everyone in the class writes the same one for the HSC, would you get caught for plagiarism? Also, do lots of people do this? Thanks Click to expand...

i know ppl who have copied essays from the person who was topping english in my school, most of them got 91-93 externally, i dont think you can get a high b6 with a memorised essay but you can definitely get a satisfactory mark, which is good if you dont care about english.  

I'm 1000% sure there are state rankers that memorized essays. Personally, I think they would've just gotten lucky so what I do is always prepare backup paragraphs. From what I've seen from other people's actual HSC papers they bought back for English, their topic sentences link to the question while their bodies are regurgitated and have slight links to the q and they get 20/20. You just have to be very clever in how you link it to the question. Quote from SMH study guide about state ranker in X1 and X2 last year: Another study strategy that Eszter (State ranker) believes helped her achieve high marks was typing and editing model essays that she had written. She did this before she tried to write essays under exam conditions. "Your standard of writing will inevitably drop under exam conditions so, to keep my standard high, I spent most of my preparation time writing and then typing up fully rendered, edited, word count-conscious paragraphs that I actually felt proud of.”  

DrDawn said: Can someone explain what is the point of memorising essays, because there's a really slim chance of the same exact question appearing in an exam right? I mean memorising quotes, analysis, etc seems reasonable but a whole essay doesn't really make sense Click to expand...

DrDawn said: Can someone explain what is the point of memorising essays, because there's a really slim chance of the same exact question appearing in an exam right? I mean memorising quotes, analysis, etc seems reasonable but a whole essay doesn't really makes sense Click to expand...

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SACE ATAR Scaling and Calculation - How to Maximise your ATAR in 2024

A breakdown of how your school marks in the SACE are converted and scaled. Keep reading to uncover SATAC's scaling methods and how your final ATAR will be calculated.

a day ago   •   3 min read

What is Scaling in the SACE and why does it exist?

Scaling manipulates a student's exam score to a standardised mark that allows SATAC (South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre) to fairly compare the performance of students despite their choice of SACE subject.

For each SACE subject you complete, you get an overall grade (A+ to E-) which tells SATAC how well you performed compared to other students studying the same subject. However, some subjects are harder than others due to their course content or the number of students competing in the subject. This is where scaling comes in to ensure fair comparisons between the different subjects so that ATAR scoring does not disadvantage students who select more challenging subjects.

How does SACE Scaling work?

Your SACE score is a combination of 70% of your internal assessment mark and 30% of your externally assessed assessment mark.

SATAC takes all results for all SACE subjects and analyses them according to what is called the Equal Achievement Principle.

• SATAC takes your grades from your assessment tasks in each subject and assigns them a numeric equivalent.

• Then, using the weightings applied for each assessment task, an overall numerical score is calculated for each subject.
• Your final raw score will be the sum of this score and a numeric result of the publically assessed component giving you a final score out of 15.

Internal score out of 10.5 (70%) + the externally assessed contribution out of 4.5 (30%) = SACE subject score

A more in-depth explanation of how SATAC calculates raw scores for scaling can be found here .

Now, once the raw score is calculated for all the subjects they will be standardised such that they all have the same average. This may mean some scores get shifted up and some get shifted down.

Standardising is done by comparing common candidature - students that take both subjects.

Let's take English and Biology for example. Looking at the students who took both English and Biology, they had an average English score of 95 and a Biology score of 85. This implies to SATAC that Biology was more challenging than English and the subjects will be scaled accordingly until the average subject scores are the same.

This process is done with every subject combination possible until all SACE subjects have been scaled to a standardised setting.

Scaling trends from previous years

While scaling will differ year by year because it is determined by the performance of the cohort, difficulty of the exam and popularity of the subject that year, some general trends have been seen to repeat in the past.

• B grade in examined subjects gives approximately the same scaled score as an A grade in non-examined subjects.
• C grade in any science gives a higher scaled score than a B grade in PE, Art, Tech or Outdoor Ed.
• C in Mathematical Methods is approximately the same as B in General Mathematics (plus 2 bonus points).

SACE to ATAR conversion

Each SACE student then receives a University aggregate out of 90, which is then converted to an Australian Tertiary Admission Ranking (ATAR) with a maximum ranking of 99.95.

Aggregated score to ATAR conversion table for 2023

To calculate an ATAR from your university aggregate, SATAC looks at the percentage of students who achieved the same aggregate as you, or better.

SATAC then assign a percentile rank out of 100 for each university aggregate achieved. For example, if you get an aggregated score of 80 and it is found that 10% of SACE students got 80 or above then it is safe to conclude you sit in the top 10% of students, thus giving you an ATAR of 90.00.

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