Hi All,
Initially, I was uncertain about whether I should write this post (as it might be controversial), but this is the only place where I can seek input from this wonderful community.
This discussion is merely to gauge what lessons were learned as retrospectives and share with others.
Background:
My son participated in this year's Victoria Selective School exam (Exam for Year 9). He had been diligently preparing for the past 9-10 months leading up to the exam, attending multiple tuition sessions, both at large, well-established tuition centers and private ones. Additionally, he devoted himself to studying beyond his school curriculum for about 2 months before the exam, completing numerous practice test papers. While the cost of these tuition sessions was substantial, I didn't mind spending the money on his education as long as it benefited him.
I want to clarify that I encouraged him to take the exam, but he was willing to do so of his own accord.
He had the potential to succeed, as he is considered an A+ student in his current school.
The results:
He performed exceptionally well on his mock-up exams, so we were quite confident that he would succeed. He performed very well in Reading, Mathematical Reasoning, and Quantitative Reasoning, categorising them as Top and Above Average, However, the actual results were very disappointing especially on the writing and verbal reasoning, well below expectations. He told me that he had the best sleep and was able to concentrate during the exam.
I am proud of what he has done, but I want to learn from this setback.
It is a very challenging experience.
How do I take this as a lesson learned? What went wrong? I doubt the department will revisit this case as it has been decided.
All suggestions are welcome.
Thank you for all the comments! Most of the comments are very supportive, encouraging, and enlightening. Please continue to do so.
I hope some of you will find this thread useful.
However, there are a small number of comments that have resorted to personal attacks on my son (e.g., not good enough, etc.). These comments do not reflect the Ozbargain community and the broader principles of humanity.
@SydStrand: I know your comment is in reference to NSW system, but the exact same system is used in Victoria. Theoretically if you are Rank 1 at your school and do the best out of the cohort on the exam, you are 100% in control of your scores, however, a single off day or anomaly can easily destroy your score. Going to a school with many high achievers who are likely to sit in top 1% of the state allows multiple people to have shots at high ATARs as opposed to a competitive school. It is pretty clear commenters such as AlanHB and yessum are not privy to how the ATAR system works.
The above is just one of the advantages. The idea of being an A+ student at your school is great until you consider that you might be a C- student at another school. At the end of the day you compete against the entire state, not just your school, for the ATAR.
Oh and just a side note - Private schools aren't always a good environment for scoring high. Many private schools have weak cohorts compared to some competitive public schools.