In Methods my teacher said I can get a 25 but 30 would be pushing it. I got 36% on the unit 3 Methods sac worth 22% of our study score. The average was 52% in a cohort of maybe 150? The sacs will scale up I’m pretty sure?
Is he correct in saying I’m barred from getting a 30? He said this while looking at another student from last years data who got a similar score on a less heavily weighted sac then on the next two sacs got 60%. In the Exam they got B and B+ but only ended up with 29. So is it truly impossible to get 30-35 what score would be needed?
I think getting 30-35 is definitely not impossible. Back when I did methods (2016), I remember someone in my cohort failed in part of the first SAC (<40%), but they got 37 in the end. Part of SAC scaling also depends on cohort strength, so since I went to a select entry school, our SACs would have definitely scaled up. Looking at the 2019 grade distribution, a B/B+ is equivalent to a score of around high 50s to low 60s in the exam, so if you can achieve higher than this, a 30-35 ss is possible.
My tip is not get too bogged down by your teacher's comment that getting a 30 would be 'pushing it', but rather focus on what your strengths and weaknesses in methods are. Since you got 36% on your first SAC, what areas did you not understand? By identifying these, trying to understand your shortcomings, and further testing your knowledge through more practice questions would be a good way to go next. I believe these are really good starting approaches to set you on track for a 30-35, and even higher.
Bear in mind that teachers do tend to make conservative estimates, and there have been many cases where people's actual study scores have been significantly higher than their teacher's predictions. So my advice to you is to make sure you understand as much Unit 4 content as possible to push that SAC ranking up. And if you still can't grasp a certain concept, don't be afraid to ask your teacher/post on ATARnotes, we're always here to help!