Really confused about how rankings will affect overall scores...

[ldee]

So far I've had 2 SACs for PE, in which I scored 39/40 (40% of unit 3) and 60/60 (20% of unit 3). Say if I drop maybe 3 marks per semester and go into the exam with rank 1...

If I choke in the exam and do not get the highest mark, what happens? Will it drastically affect my score? Please explain in situations such as scoring an A+, A, or B+; or if I rank as low as 10 - 15 in the exam (roughly 95 students enrolled in PE at my school).

Thanks.

[InsaneMcFries]

It all depends on your exam score. Your SAC marks are not sent to VCAA, only your rank is sent, so if you got say 80% on the exam and that was the highest, your SAC mark would be 80%.

If you got lower than other people, your SAC mark is still pretty much guaranteed to be the top, that is, you will get the SAC marks of the exam score of the best exam student, but obviously your exam score would let your study score suffer. I suggest you read through this page.

http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/exams/statisticalmoderation/statmod.html

[meganrobyn]

So far I've had 2 SACs for PE, in which I scored 39/40 (40% of unit 3) and 60/60 (20% of unit 3). Say if I drop maybe 3 marks per semester and go into the exam with rank 1...

If I choke in the exam and do not get the highest mark, what happens? Will it drastically affect my score? Please explain in situations such as scoring an A+, A, or B+; or if I rank as low as 10 - 15 in the exam (roughly 95 students enrolled in PE at my school).

Thanks.

The marks you've been getting for your SACs is largely irrelevant out of context. Your ranking is important, combined with how good you are objectively (not always measured accurately by yours SACs - easy teacher, hard teacher, etc).

Half your study score is YOUR exam score. So you have to do well to have a really high study score.

The other half of your study score is: the exam score from your school that has the same ranking as your SAC ranking. If you're highest in SACs, you get given the highest exam score for your SAC mark. If you're second in SACs, you get the second-highest exam score for your SAC mark. If you're last in SACs, you get the lowest exam score for your SAC mark.

As McFries said, the marks your teacher gave you all on your SACs are entirely irrelevant: it's the ranking.

To see how well you need to do on the exam to be on track for a particular study score, check the VCE stats on the VCAA page (they change slightly each year, but not too much). For example, in Legal you need about 90% for an A+, and if you get an A+ on both SACs and exam you start to break into the 40s. ***Not 90% from your teacher - 90% AFTER they do that score-matching exercise described above***

In other words, beat everyone else in your school in SACs, and then make sure ALL of you kill it in the exam (as in, share notes and help the weaker people prepare, too) because you are likely to be getting someone else's exam score counting for half your study score. Forget the exact mark your teacher gives you.

In response to your concern about choking: if you choke in the exam, you've brought down half your study score. You're then relying on someone else to kill the exam so you can get a high "moderated" score for your SACs. If no-one else kills the exam, you get a low mark for your SACs as well.

Short answer: do your best; work together; worry about today and not the future. How well you do today is in your control; how well the whole school and state do in November is not.

[djsandals]

It all depends on your exam score. Your SAC marks are not sent to VCAA, only your rank is sent, so if you got say 80% on the exam and that was the highest, your SAC mark would be 80%.

If you got lower than other people, your SAC mark is still pretty much guaranteed to be the top, that is, you will get the SAC marks of the exam score of the best exam student, but obviously your exam score would let your study score suffer. I suggest you read through this page.

http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/exams/statisticalmoderation/statmod.html

Wait, so does that mean if the top ranked student bombs the exam, then everyone else's score is screwed?

[InsaneMcFries]

No, the person who bombed the exam gets their SAC score equaled to the exam score of the person with the best exam. It will not stuff it up.

[1ne]

Wait..so are our exam scores scaled like our SAC scores? What happens if I get a low mark in the exam but its the best in my cohort? I'm assuming it they don't get scaled up.. but I need some clarification on it?

[Lasercookie]

Wait..so are our exam scores scaled like our SAC scores? What happens if I get a low mark in the exam but its the best in my cohort? I'm assuming it they don't get scaled up.. but I need some clarification on it?

No, exam scores aren't moderated. Why would it? Everyone in the state sits that same exam and scores from different students in different schools can be compared directly. With SACs you can't do this direct comparison, hence why SACs are moderated in the first place.

[1ne]

Ok thanks.

[ldee]

So far I've had 2 SACs for PE, in which I scored 39/40 (40% of unit 3) and 60/60 (20% of unit 3). Say if I drop maybe 3 marks per semester and go into the exam with rank 1...

If I choke in the exam and do not get the highest mark, what happens? Will it drastically affect my score? Please explain in situations such as scoring an A+, A, or B+; or if I rank as low as 10 - 15 in the exam (roughly 95 students enrolled in PE at my school).

Thanks.

The marks you've been getting for your SACs is largely irrelevant out of context. Your ranking is important, combined with how good you are objectively (not always measured accurately by yours SACs - easy teacher, hard teacher, etc).

Half your study score is YOUR exam score. So you have to do well to have a really high study score.

The other half of your study score is: the exam score from your school that has the same ranking as your SAC ranking. If you're highest in SACs, you get given the highest exam score for your SAC mark. If you're second in SACs, you get the second-highest exam score for your SAC mark. If you're last in SACs, you get the lowest exam score for your SAC mark.

As McFries said, the marks your teacher gave you all on your SACs are entirely irrelevant: it's the ranking.

To see how well you need to do on the exam to be on track for a particular study score, check the VCE stats on the VCAA page (they change slightly each year, but not too much). For example, in Legal you need about 90% for an A+, and if you get an A+ on both SACs and exam you start to break into the 40s. ***Not 90% from your teacher - 90% AFTER they do that score-matching exercise described above***

In other words, beat everyone else in your school in SACs, and then make sure ALL of you kill it in the exam (as in, share notes and help the weaker people prepare, too) because you are likely to be getting someone else's exam score counting for half your study score. Forget the exact mark your teacher gives you.

In response to your concern about choking: if you choke in the exam, you've brought down half your study score. You're then relying on someone else to kill the exam so you can get a high "moderated" score for your SACs. If no-one else kills the exam, you get a low mark for your SACs as well.

Short answer: do your best; work together; worry about today and not the future. How well you do today is in your control; how well the whole school and state do in November is not.

Took me a while to see this, but you really cleared things up. Thanks, it makes sense now

[meganrobyn]

I'm glad!