Getting at least 35..... (Chinese SL)

[enzo11]

Hi there everyone,

I have been studying Chinese since year 7 and now I am doing it in Year 12. It sometimes gets hard and easy like every subject, but i am devastated by the amount of work i put in and the result i receive back. My Chinese teacher is one of the best, i love his way of teaching and it is beneficial. He knows that i put in so much work into my Chinese, even giving him extra stuff to correct that will help me.Then there are people who are in my class that don't do hardly anything and still get decent scores. However, each time i do a SAC, i somehow only get like between 60%-75%. What i am asking is, is it still achievable to get a RAW 35 or at least 34 in Chinese. For my recent SAC, i studied 3 weeks before hand, writing and getting it corrected each time, overall doing at least 10 practice pieces for that SAC all up; but only receiving 70% for my final score. Hopefully someone could help me out. Thanks

[hums_student]

Hey there! Welcome to AN I did Chinese SLA last year though the grading system's quite similar.

I would say that getting at least raw 35 with your SAC scores is definitely achievable, and I reckon you should aim higher than that Your SAC scores don't ultimately matter - once they get submitted to VCAA they moderate everything. The most important thing is to be fully prepared for the exam, so that even if your SAC scores weren't ideal, they would go up if you performed well on your final exams.

For some extra reassurance, my SAC scores last year were horrific. For my highest SAC score was 66% and I also failed two writing SACs - still ended up with a raw 35 and I'm not even Chinese. You're already in a much better place than I was last year!

Good luck!

[enzo11]

I am in a similar boat with my SAC marks, but what did you get on the exams to get the 35 in Chinese? Do i have to ACE the exams? I did some research with STUDY SCORE CALCULATOR and it says that i need to get 100% on the exams...

[hums_student]

I am in a similar boat with my SAC marks, but what did you get on the exams to get the 35 in Chinese? Do i have to ACE the exams? I did some research with STUDY SCORE CALCULATOR and it says that i need to get 100% on the exams...

Not necessarily. SS Calculators are helpful, but don't take their word as gospel. As far as I'm aware of, they consider the scores you put in as the scores that have already been moderated by VCAA, however you would only know your pre-moderation scores. They give you a good estimate but in most cases aren't incredibly accurate.

Another factor is your cohort and your ranking amongst your cohort. Your cohort could be incredibly strong, or your teacher could be a relatively harsh marker, in which case after your SAC scores are submitted to VCAA they would adjust your scores up based on your exam performance.

The exam is really important, yes. But I doubt you have to get 100% in order to get a raw 35. I got 97% for oral and 89% on my written exam, and the oral only accounts for 25% of GA3. I still ended up with a 35.

Still, the exam is EXTREMELY important so make sure you're prepared for that! I would assume that most (if not all) of your SACs are finished by now, however even if you aren't happy with what you got you can turn it around for the exam.

Hope I helped.