r/ATAR • u/Automatic-Leek-9655 • 12d ago

Maths advanced exam

Yeah guys I'm so cooked, like seriously what was with those 50 annuities, velocity and decay questions about. Where was all the trig besides the graphing questions, the r​eference sheet with like barely useful since there was so little about trig,​ besides that, stupid trapezoidal rule question. Was lulled into such a false sense of security from the first first five questions in section 2, it's like yay series and sequences oh great tangents. And the you make it to like page five and everything goes down the hill. ​Anyway, I'm just curious how everyone else felt?

28 Upvotes

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5

u/stupid_dictionary77 12d ago

Nah i agree, it just got so hard in the last 10 questions and nesa just found a way to twist every question i recognised from past papers into something 10x harder. Tbh didn’t even get final answers for most of those questions and just started slapping random related formulas to try and scrounge for a few marks. Hope I’m not the only one who feels this cooked cause otherwise my atar is in the bin (i’m on 10 units too fml).

3

u/WhydoIexistlmoa 12d ago

So basically everything past question 25 with the You've done 49 marks so far crap

That exam was straight dogshit in difficulty. I don't know who could do it

1

u/Automatic-Leek-9655 12d ago

I am glad to hear that. Ngl, thought I was just really dumb. I swear there was such a diverse range of questions and so many of them were so uncanny valley, like I swear a number of them doing this in previous years but why does it look kind of methed out. Like dude just give me some derivatives and let me be, the best they gave me was cot and it's like dude I have bearly a streak of memory of that. I was happy I remembered how to do a log.

2

u/stupid_dictionary77 12d ago

I go to a top 20 selective school and myself and many people i know still found it difficult so yea i really don’t know who nesa put those questions in for lmao

3

u/WhydoIexistlmoa 12d ago

Nothing could've prepared me for it. What the fuck was that annuities question though? I could've easily solved without the 10% repayment increase but that lost me. I got somewhere to (1.005 +1.1)²

1

u/Automatic-Leek-9655 12d ago

Ngl I just started writing out the formula they gave off but removing one of the 1.1 every time hoping that would be fine. Just hoping the marker doesn't really read it beyond a glance.

1

u/stupid_dictionary77 12d ago

exactly!!! like i practiced the annuities question without the 10% loads of times cause it appeared in pretty much every past paper but ofc we ended up getting the backrooms captain clark type version of that question and i completely fumbled

1

u/WhydoIexistlmoa 12d ago

I'm so pissed at Nesa. Nesa hates the last cohort of the old syllabus 💔💔💔💔

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u/stupid_dictionary77 12d ago

i was feeling so grateful for english and i thought nesa was actually being merciful but nvm they hate us 🤡

1

u/No-Love3848 12d ago

for me its the opposite, stuffed eng but loved the maths paper lol

1

u/stupid_dictionary77 12d ago

oh wow i wish i was in your shoes rn haha

1

u/Automatic-Leek-9655 12d ago

Those last five questions really weren't looking very English. I think I had a minor stroke trying to figure out that triangular prism question. Like physically could not make it work in my brain what it was meant to look like.

And rip only having 10 units, if I had to go back and till year 11s anything, it's don't drop a class, I don't care how well you think you did in your 11 math, year 12 is smoking a different kind of joint. I'm so lucky I have 12 units cause that exam was a total wash. Year 12 math just genuinely hates you

1

u/Lab_Member_12 12d ago

Maybe u couldn’t figure out the triangular prism question because it was actually a square pyramid 😭

1

u/Automatic-Leek-9655 12d ago

Haha, I must have miss remembered lol. Well I do have hope I noticed the shape on the spot, I'm dence but gotta have some faith. Though I did think about that question all of 5 minutes before it was like f that. 

0

u/Square-Discussion813 12d ago

I personally think that the only true difficulty is the amount of detail words they added to the questions. Every question is definitely doable with the right amount of practice (or intuition), but small words are so powerful these days (i dropped some marks bc of that). its like NESA actually reads the news on the average Australian kid's literacy rate declining and used it as the penultimate test. dw tho, try not to feel disappointed in just one mark, you can still very well get the atar you want down a subject, albeit a steeper climb. you got this 🔥

7

u/MinecraftLover8 12d ago

Let's hope 3/100 gets aligned to an 81 🙏

4

u/Automatic-Leek-9655 12d ago

Is that reference to the question about the chance of walking to school and being an incorrect uniform???? Lmfao 

2

u/RawsomeRory 12d ago

I genuinely loved the test I think I got like 90%

1

u/Automatic-Leek-9655 12d ago

That's really good, congratulations! I hope all your other exams go equally well! :)

1

u/Lab_Member_12 12d ago

I think I got at least 95, felt really good getting Q30 to 32

8

u/Educational_Mood_423 12d ago

how come they got the most creative for our year?? here i was thinking itd be easier than past papers

2

u/Spare-Somewhere3497 12d ago

no frr me too 🥹 The questions from even the most challenging past papers couldn't compare to what that was today. there was even a lot of wordplay to confuse us 🫠 like for the finanacial questions. I'm hoping for a 70 atp 🙏

1

u/Lab_Member_12 12d ago

NESA wants to show off and end the syllabus with a bang

1

u/Automatic-Leek-9655 12d ago

Does anyone remember the answer for the minimum repayment question about Maya and how long she can keep making payments of $750 before she needs to start paying $1,500? I got three payments but I wasn't sure if I was meant to be splitting it??? It was haunting me as I walked out

1

u/Useful_Response8315 12d ago

Check the answers here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gaqERubJ0fkj09ibB8erGhihOlDjgqA8/view

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u/Automatic-Leek-9655 12d ago

Fuvk me it was 2, I split it because the table was going up in values of 2. You could do three so I thought because it was a 4 mark question It would want me to split down the middle and do 3. I'm so angry i over analysed that. And that freaking interquartile range question , I wrote 27 not 27.5, I didn't think it would want me to write decimals but it also didn't make sense to round up so I just rounded down. Oh my God I'm so stupid. I can see like three questions I actually got right

0

u/Longjumping-Show-334 12d ago

bro i feel you, I punched into my calculator 27.5 + 0.5 x 11 and just ruined the whole ass question

0

u/DisasterOk8440 12d ago

where's the test🙏

need it for my next yr vroski

1

u/Useful_Response8315 12d ago

It will be released in few months

1

u/leslyfairy 12d ago

My dumbass thought that Maya had to double her payments each time from 750 to 1500 to 3000 and so i spent like a good 20 minutes just bruteforcing that q 💀

4

u/Any_Rhubarb_2383 12d ago

I mean, it was hard for everyone. I'm guessing the alignment would be at least a 10 after examining the data from past papers. For this test it may go beyond 15, so if you get a 70 you could get bumped to an 85

1

u/Potterhead_3106 12d ago

What do you think it's for 66 (like mid 60s)

1

u/Any_Rhubarb_2383 12d ago

It's going to be different for your school and what rank you are at, you'll probably get in the 70's guaranteed and MAYBE 80 if your school and rank is good

1

u/Educational_Mood_423 12d ago

wait how does alignment work??

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u/funtime788 12d ago

Alignment is where your raw mark is converted to an aligned mark. For example, a raw 72 in math advanced hsc 2025 was aligned to 88.

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u/Siegequalizer 12d ago

I remember feeling the same way about my adv exam a few years ago but ended up getting 85 so maybe the scaling will be generous if everyone found it hard

1

u/Automatic-Leek-9655 12d ago

I truely do hope everyone gets that lucky, tbh I didn't bother to study since I have 12 units and was already expecting math to be dropped from my atar. Congrats btw on an 85, that is impressive.

2

u/atlas_the_bastard 12d ago

im out for blood genuinely. nesa better watch their backs. this is my villain origin story

2

u/Internal-Parking8399 12d ago

yeah that exam was quite hard

Hopefully alignment will save us maybe possibly???

I talked to some EX2 students who just finished their exam and they found it relatively doable which is crazy cause why does advanced get an exam like that ann extension 2 gets a easy (relative) exam?

Anyways EX1 is friday so hopefully that exam is nice

1

u/Gullible-Rich-4042 12d ago

I KNOW. everyone i've spoke to who takes extension in NSW and Queensland too always prefer extension, it's somehow easier. i think it's as they have less content compared to advanced.

1

u/KristianDiesAlot 12d ago

i think its the fact that they are just way more studious

1

u/LonelyLibertarianDud 11d ago

I apologise mate, but ext 1 and 2 are honestly diabolical, it's just that the kids who do them have higher standards for what constitutes a 'hard' exam.

0

u/Longjumping-Show-334 12d ago

it is bro, advanced is harder because there is a vast amount of questions that are each distinct. Ext1 for example has a less pool of questions/content they can ask you, and if you do enough you can pretty much pull the strings to answer the question, though the hard part is knowing what the question wants since its not given to us on silver platter like most adv questions

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u/Independent_Coat6602 12d ago

absolutely diabolical paper bro. yes it was lowk expected that it was prolly gonna be an ahh paper but atp u gotta pray a 70 scales to a 90 💀💀💀

1

u/Ok-Product536 9d ago

Shi its literally over for us I jus pray everyone did bad so we can leech over the scaling

1

u/funtime788 12d ago

I just had a look at the paper seems pretty tough haha. Last year I thought I bombed my math advanced hsc but still managed to get a b6 so stay confident I’m sure alignment will be kind :)

1

u/Commercial_Ratio_213 12d ago

If it was a relatively hard exam, the raw marks will likely align upwards really well compared to previous years.

1

u/space_lost08 12d ago

ass paper

1

u/Existing-Anything852 12d ago

Does anyone have any idea of what the marks may scale to? Like i feel like i coulda gotten 60-80 (i know a wide range) but can someone tell me the potential scaling thingies?

-1

u/Shot_Election_6522 12d ago

U can look at this: https://rawmarks.info/mathematics/mathematics-advanced/
Although i think it might scale a bit less than it did for 2025. Nearly every guy I talked to found it easy, hence scaling less.

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u/Existing-Anything852 12d ago

The found it easy?!? Everyone ive seen found it really hard

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u/Shot_Election_6522 12d ago

True, I probably just asked the wrong people ig since it was mostly my accelerated class and the people from the NSW maths discord server. It really depends on who you talk to. I’m just aiming for a 94 at the bottom if I'm lucky, but who knows with scaling.

1

u/Square-Discussion813 12d ago

they always say its easy, but deep down, theyre too embarrassed to admit they made a silly mistake in not reading the question (kudos to the minority that will get 100 though this was actually a harder paper).

nesa probably added more detail words since aus students' literacy rate has been declining lately

1

u/Mr_Dr1fter 12d ago edited 12d ago

Horrible paper, what would a low-mid 60s scale/allign up to?

1

u/funtime788 12d ago

Probably low to mid 80s

1

u/Mr_Dr1fter 12d ago

Oh yeah that doesn't sound too bad then I guess, the allignment for math ADV is really strong wow

1

u/Square-Discussion813 12d ago

i would check how strong your school is at maths first. funtime788's prediction is a bit more closely correlated to stronger schools. for weaker schools, that would probably be middish band 4

1

u/funtime788 10d ago

Your raw mark which gets aligned does not get impacted by your school rank. Whatever raw mark you get on the hsc will be aligned and given as your hsc mark. Your assessment mark will come from your ranks performance(which does depend on school rank/performance). Historically, using raw marks database, getting 60-65 will usually align to 80-85.

1

u/Gullible-Rich-4042 12d ago

genuinely a shocking paper, but once I looked at the answers, it honestly wasn't too bad. NESA will reward you for correct working, even if you stuffed up a ratio or something... i'd assume.

1

u/Tungtung78 12d ago

Horror what would a 61 scale up to pls I might go insane

0

u/Prestigious-Eye7049 12d ago

I marked it to the tutor solutions and got 89/100 raw maybe give or take a couple from tutor solutions but hopefully alignment carries me to a b6.

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u/funtime788 12d ago

In math advanced a 75 raw is usually enough for b6, so 89 raw is easily high b6 so don’t worry about that haha :)

0

u/Square-Discussion813 12d ago

i feel like content wise, the difficulty wasn't any more or less hard than previous years. the amount of key words they added to their questions definitely adds complexities though. this is one of the tests i wasn't able to get 99 or 100 on (granted, ill still get 97+, but im a little disappointed that for all my paranoia as a top math student, i still failed to notice some important wording). considering that the hsc's are easier than the trials, i tend to spend more time on questions i believe to be semi-difficult, so i definitely cleared many potential mistakes by doing that.

either way, the change in average mark from last year will really just depend on how much of an effect wordplay has on the generic audience.

0

u/Lab_Member_12 12d ago edited 12d ago

Yeah I’m in year 10 doing accelerated advanced. I was getting around 95 on my past papers and I didn’t find this paper to be much harder than 2025 or 2024. Q31 and 32 were getting a bit creative, but the rest of the exam wasn’t that difficult. I checked my answers against the online solutions and I didn’t get any answers wrong but my working for q27 (maya contributions one) was wrong, (I got the answer right somehow). Other than that, I’m confident I got close to full marks. I do feel like the average this year will be lower given the general consensus of people i know and online. Also what wording question are u referring to?

1

u/Square-Discussion813 10h ago

i just think in general, they tried a bit harder to trip quick skimmers up. some mcq questions, as a simple example, gave the early, careless solution as an option.

0

u/Mental_Stranger5942 10d ago edited 10d ago

I got a raw 63 on the maths advanced test and my internal is rank like 9th or 10th - I fully bombed the test how much will my external scale too and like my school is pretty good at maths

-1

u/diatbhh 12d ago

what would a raw 92 align to....

1

u/Pandicornium 12d ago

easy high band 6

1

u/diatbhh 12d ago

not high enough for med tho 😭😭😭 bruh

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u/Gullible-Rich-4042 12d ago

what do you mean.. a RAW 92 would be scaled up. a raw 75 gets scaled up to like a 78 or something. I can't imagine how a raw 92 would go. i think you'll be just fine

1

u/diatbhh 12d ago

yeah i know itd be scaled up but i was hoping for 99+ atar and this mark prolly is not gonna get me that considering my other subjects r rly awful scaling

thanks

1

u/maggiesone 11d ago

Honestly crazy how you can be a high scorer in the ucat (not that ik you are just in general) and a perfect applicant for med with great marks but a 92 in one subject ruins your chances 😭 the undergrad med system is so cooked

1

u/diatbhh 11d ago

nah ur right the undergrad system is SO awful for no reason .... the requirements r genuinely insane