Clarify this: "it's the ranks that matter" (1 Viewer)

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Although I've read several threads and statistics sheets on the topics of scaling and UAI calculation, most are fiddly in design and possess an anti-user interface. Thus, in simple English, could someone verify or dispute the following?

It's the ranks, not the marks, that matter.

I'm tossing between two subjects at the moment, one being oh-so-fun and wonderful and the other being safer but not as appealing. It's most likely that I will opt for the former, but it's obviously wiser to investigate all of the risks before deciding. It's one of those subjects that consists of 2-5 people in the HSC class, and what I'm concerned about is the effect of other students' marks on my own. Apparently a lower school average is detrimental. Gah.

In plain English, how dramatically do the other scores affect mine? Does it essentially not matter if I top the class in all assessments? What happens if I am first in only the internal/external part, not both? Does this averaging only occur with internal assessments? Does it matter how much or little the students' marks differ by, or are marks simply a means of determining ranks?

Note that I have already read the thread regarding moderation of marks, but would like a simpler explanation of it all.

Thanks in advance.