I'm triggered, advice please?

[NomotivationF]

HOLY SHIT I AM MAD (and I genuinely need advice.) So basically I got handed back my psychology sac and saw that I got a 23/25 which I was initially content with until I saw what I lost one of the marks on. It was a simple 5 marker question about the process of classical conditioning that I had a clear and content structure for which was supposed to get me 5 out of 5 marks for the question. Prior to the sac, I had completed many practice questions that were exactly the same (different scenario's of course) and got five out of five for the question when I asked the teacher to check my responses to the question, each time her saying that the answer was perfect. So to my surprise when I opened up the sac and saw that I got 4/5 for the question (while answering it exactly the same way I had been) I was shocked. I talked to my teacher about this after the class ended and she profusely apologised and ADMITTED that she made a mistake and how that she was 'really sorry.' You see the thing that had happened was that my teacher didn't think that you needed to include a small phrase at the end of my answer (and of course due to this so did I,) however, the head of psychology argued that without this phrase I 'had to' lose a mark. In most cases, when the teacher is at fault for misinforming the students, the student gets the mark. However, the ppt that had been given to our class had the needed phrase at the end of the 'sample answer' and even though our teacher clearly said that we don't need to include the phrase at the end and we don't need to write it down; due to the fact that we were given a ppt that had the phrase on it, I lost a mark.
What do you guys think? Should I go directly to talk to/email the head of psych being my teacher's back? Is it complete bullshit like I think is it or am I being irrational and overreacting? I'm usually fine with 'harsh' marking and am not usually one to complain about my score, but in this case I think it's absolute bullshit. A think that triggers me even more is that if i had gotten the mark I would be combined rank 1 or 2, but now I get put down a ranking.

[lst1103]

What was the question that you lost the mark on? Some sort of evaluation?

It's a single mark. To be frank, I don't think you need to react the way you have. You have plenty of time to redeem both your results and your ranking.

Going to the head teacher behind your teacher's back probably isn't wise, either - I doubt either party would appreciate it.

[Sine]

It seems like you have taken an alright approach already (going speaking to your teacher directly etc). If you feel that mark going to be very impactful then you should speak to the head of psychology - If you choose to take this route I would suggest you explain your situation carefully to them rather than just directly asking for an extra mark.

 My one worry would be that it isn't too great being that student who always goes behind teachers asking for mark changes and can be off-putting for some people so could disadvantage you later.

IMO, in the long term, it is very unlikely that 1 mark will be the difference between getting your ideal score and falling short of it. If you don't get your aims it's likely this single mark wouldn't have been the only defining factor.

[NomotivationF]

What was the question that you lost the mark on? Some sort of evaluation?

It's a single mark. To be frank, I don't think you need to react the way you have. You have plenty of time to redeem both your results and your ranking.

Going to the head teacher behind your teacher's back probably isn't wise, either - I doubt either party would appreciate it.

Here's a sample question and what my answer was to it. I've underlined the part I didn't include.

Katrina eats toast every morning. Three days in a row, the toast got stuck in the toaster and burned, setting off the smoke alarm. The smoke alarm made a high-pitched noise that caused her dog, Buster, to startle and run away. Now, whenever Katrina uses the toaster, Buster runs outside and hides.
Using classical conditioning terminology, explain how Buster learned to fear the toaster. (5 marks)

Before conditioning, NS (toaster) elicits no response. UCS (high pitched noise from smoke alarm) produces UCR (startle.) During conditioning, NS is repeatedly presented before the UCS to produce UCR. After conditioning, Due to repeated pairings, now the CS (toaster) alone will produce the CR (startle in response to the toaster)

Also I agree with you saying that I probably shouldn't go behind my teachers back so i'm probably going to refrain from doing so.

[NomotivationF]

It seems like you have taken an alright approach already (going speaking to your teacher directly etc). If you feel that mark going to be very impactful then you should speak to the head of psychology - If you choose to take this route I would suggest you explain your situation carefully to them rather than just directly asking for an extra mark.

 My one worry would be that it isn't too great being that student who always goes behind teachers asking for mark changes and can be off-putting for some people so could disadvantage you later.

IMO, in the long term, it is very unlikely that 1 mark will be the difference between getting your ideal score and falling short of it. If you don't get your aims it's likely this single mark wouldn't have been the only defining factor.

I think you're most likely correct about the loss of a mark not being the end of the world. However, the reason i'm being so pedantic is that my ultimate goal is to get a 50 ss in the subject (as unrealistic that it seems.) In past years at my school the students that have received a 50 in psychology have always been rank one, even though I know that you don't necessarily have to be rank one in order to get a 50. Another thing that relates to this is that my cohort (especially in psych) is highly competitive and there is only a mark between rank 1-5, each of which have multiple students grouped up in it, so I don't want the one mark to have a significant effect on my final score.

[rani_b]

Hey!!
So I totally get where you are coming from, since I've actually lost a mark for the exact same thing (which I still remember a year later - these things haunt you!). This is going to sound really annoying and probably not what you want to hear, but that part which you've underlined and didn't include is actually really important. In fact, VCAA has also taken off marks for not including "in response to" as you need to make clear what the response is occurring in response to, to make the distinction between the UCR and CR . It is frustrating that your teacher told you it was unimportant, as technically that is not your fault for not including it.  But it is actually a good thing as now for the exam you know you must include that.

[NomotivationF]

Hey!!
So I totally get where you are coming from, since I've actually lost a mark for the exact same thing (which I still remember a year later - these things haunt you!). This is going to sound really annoying and probably not what you want to hear, but that part which you've underlined and didn't include is actually really important. In fact, VCAA has also taken off marks for not including "in response to" as you need to make clear what the response is occurring in response to, to make the distinction between the UCR and CR . It is frustrating that your teacher told you it was unimportant, as technically that is not your fault for not including it.  But it is actually a good thing as now for the exam you know you must include that.

Yeah I mean I am 100% never going to forget to include that ever again so I guess that's a positive ahaha. And looking at it I do understand why it's important it's just that i'm frustrated that my teacher told me to specifically not include it.
Just out of curiosity (congrats on the 50 btw), do you remember how many marks you dropped in your unit 3/4 sacs, or what you scored on the exam?

[coldairballoon]

...I can almost understand your situation. My bio class is highly competitive too, and it's true that losing a mark can be frustrating. Having a teacher that you disagree with also isn't great. But it might help to touch up on the understanding of the SS scaling system - know that what matters isn't your score, but your ranking - and if there's that many people having almost a perfect score already, then your school's doing something wrong (so even if you have a super high internal SAC it'll be brought down anyway - it's not a comforting thought, but it's likely to happen. Also that if that many people are getting similar marks to you in your sacs, there's not going to be much of a different in the exam either.).

I really don't want to sound annoying, but do you expect something to happen if you whine to your head of psych? In fact it's likely they've already seen it - sacs are always cross-marked, so it's not as if your teacher was the only person stopping you from getting that mark. Multiple teachers would have had to agree on how to fairly mark the sac. Saying 'but that's not fair, it wasn't on the powerpoint!!1!!' doesn't make them more inclined to give you an extra mark either. A sample answer is a sample answer, but you really can't expect it to be the only way to mark things. Even in sample answers given in the official VCAA reports, they say that answers may vary. You can't just copy stuff word for word and expect a perfect score. And if your head of psychology themself said that you had to lose that mark....you probably did have to lose that mark. Sorry.

Look, I get that it's frustrating. My own bio teacher also slips up from time to time, but it's a bit like an echo chamber - if you only use and trust the resources given to you, you won't actually know what's true or not, especially for more important things like the actual exam. Expand your bubble a bit. And you said yourself, that you were 'genuinely content' with your score. Don't let that one mark that probably won't even affect your SS in the long run ruin your life.

[NomotivationF]

I really don't want to sound annoying, but do you expect something to happen if you whine to your head of psych? In fact it's likely they've already seen it - sacs are always cross-marked, so it's not as if your teacher was the only person stopping you from getting that mark. Multiple teachers would have had to agree on how to fairly mark the sac. Saying 'but that's not fair, it wasn't on the powerpoint!!1!!' doesn't make them more inclined to give you an extra mark either. A sample answer is a sample answer, but you really can't expect it to be the only way to mark things. Even in sample answers given in the official VCAA reports, they say that answers may vary. You can't just copy stuff word for word and expect a perfect score. And if your head of psychology themself said that you had to lose that mark....you probably did have to lose that mark. Sorry.

Yeah I mean I get your point that going to the head of psych isn't going to achieve anything and that's why I'm not going to do that. But I'm not wrote learning answers if that's what you're getting at. Some questions in Psych have clear structures on how they should be answer. The thing that i'm frustrated with is that I answered the question perfectly, and I only didn't include what my teacher told me to not include.
I'll live with it, doubt it'll matter that much anyways

[Lear]

If the top few ranks in your cohort are very close together it won’t matter much in the end as they will likely perform similarly on the exam in turn scaling your sacs up pretty closely together.
For example, I was rank 6 in my cohort for further and got a 50. No one else above or below me in my cohort got a 50. The above ranks simply only dropped 2-3 marks on exams so my SAC scores scaled super high regardless and ultimately it didn’t even matter than I was rank 6.

[NomotivationF]

If the top few ranks in your cohort are very close together it won’t matter much in the end as they will likely perform similarly on the exam in turn scaling your sacs up pretty closely together.
For example, I was rank 6 in my cohort for further and got a 50. No one else above or below me in my cohort got a 50. The above ranks simply only dropped 2-3 marks on exams so my SAC scores scaled super high regardless and ultimately it didn’t even matter than I was rank 6.

That is true, it was similar for my further cohort last year as well (even though I didn't do as well.) I've come to realise that I am severely overreacting, think iv'e just been really stressed lately.

[hums_student]

Being stressed about SAC marks is normal. Last year I remember constantly going after my chem teacher just because I was 1 mark off an A for a SAC worth only 8%. In the long run it made no difference to my study score whatsoever.

Also, remember that your ranks aren't set in stone by purely SAC marks alone, and teachers are allowed to (within reason) change them around if needed, and I highly doubt your teacher will place you at a lower rank than what you deserve when they know it wasn't your fault you lost a mark.

Maybe use this as a lesson for your next SAC: double and triple check what you've been told instead of relying on a singular source. Good luck!

[NomotivationF]

Being stressed about SAC marks is normal. Last year I remember constantly going after my chem teacher just because I was 1 mark off an A for a SAC worth only 8%. In the long run it made no difference to my study score whatsoever.

Also, remember that your ranks aren't set in stone by purely SAC marks alone, and teachers are allowed to (within reason) change them around if needed, and I highly doubt your teacher will place you at a lower rank than what you deserve when they know it wasn't your fault you lost a mark.

Maybe use this as a lesson for your next SAC: double and triple check what you've been told instead of relying on a singular source. Good luck!

Yeah I think I’ll probably be going to my teacher as well as another now just to make sure my answers are correct. Thanks for the advice