Worried about the GAT - Does it matter?

[tashhhaaa]

So my school recently made us complete part of a practise GAT and lets just say I did not perform so well.

Our teachers have repeatedly told us that last year's cohort was scaled down or something due to poor GAT results. Is this true?

Is it possible for VCAA to scale down my SACs because of my GAT result? I'm really concerned about it now, and I know a lot of people say it's pointless etc but I don't want it to affect my SACs :s

[grannysmith]

Lol don't worry about it. My school attempted to scare students as well by telling us that a couple of years back, 2 students doing the same subject both scored 'As' for GA1, GA2 and GA3 and yet one received an SS of 40 whereas the other was handed a 33. They said this came down to the students' individual GAT scores.

However, this is inherently misleading because there's a difference between a low A and a high A. Plus, it'd be pretty unfair if your SAC scores were scaled down merely because of the people in your cohort - SAC scaling is largely governed by cohort exam performance and your ranking and not the GAT - perhaps the latter may have some influence, but I'm pretty sure it really only comes into play if you require a Derived Examination Score or something.

Check previous threads on this forum about the GAT and you'll get the picture (it's treated as a joke).

[tashhhaaa]

fair enough, but we have to consider that a lot of the people on this forum are 90+ ATAR graduates/candidates lol. I don't believe I am, which lead me to believe that their GATs didn't really matter anyway since they may have had strong cohorts etc or the fact that they're pretty smart anyway so their GAT results would have been good 

[Alter]

Take the GAT seriously to the extent of trying hard while you're in there, but to be honest, there's 0 point in studying/preparing for it in any real capacity. If you mess it up big time, it doesn't matter unless you want a derived score. Your scores in it will not be indicative of how well you do in your actual subjects.

[literally lauren]

Read over last year's GAT if you want, but beyond that, it's not worth preparing for. Tbh it's probably a good mentality to feel as though you should be studying for an upcoming assessment, but the GAT isn't designed to be a be-all-end-all indicator of ability. If you're familiar with the kinds of questions they'll ask, and you have a vague understanding of what each task entails (ie. two written pieces and however many multi-choice qns) then you'll breeze through it.

Yes, it's treated like a joke, but that's more to do with the pre-/post-GAT banter rather than how people behave when they're actually sitting the thing. In reality, most people give it a reasonable shot (even though there is a long, proud history of people having a bit of fun as well) because you never know what'll happen later in the year.

It won't "matter" nearly as much as your actual subject exams will, but at the very least, it's good practice for sitting still and concentrating on an assessment test for 3 hours in the run up to English

[tashhhaaa]

Okay, so the take home message is that the GAT can only help me, not bring me down?

I think the only GAT section I'm comfortable with is the English section because I was completely hopeless in the multiple choice

[tashhhaaa]

Read over last year's GAT if you want, but beyond that, it's not worth preparing for. Tbh it's probably a good mentality to feel as though you should be studying for an upcoming assessment, but the GAT isn't designed to be a be-all-end-all indicator of ability. If you're familiar with the kinds of questions they'll ask, and you have a vague understanding of what each task entails (ie. two written pieces and however many multi-choice qns) then you'll breeze through it.

Yes, it's treated like a joke, but that's more to do with the pre-/post-GAT banter rather than how people behave when they're actually sitting the thing. In reality, most people give it a reasonable shot (even though there is a long, proud history of people having a bit of fun as well) because you never know what'll happen later in the year.

It won't "matter" nearly as much as your actual subject exams will, but at the very least, it's good practice for sitting still and concentrating on an assessment test for 3 hours in the run up to English

Wow, I never knew about the Clooney thing haha

So what would happen if my GAT marks are a mess but my SACs are excellent and my exams are ok?

[IndefatigableLover]

Wow, I never knew about the Clooney thing haha

So what would happen if my GAT marks are a mess but my SACs are excellent and my exams are ok?

They'll take the highest score that you get from your SACs + Exam. If you have to apply for a derived score but if your GAT marks don't reach higher than your exam score then you keep your exam score (basically the highest grade).

But yes, the GAT can only bring you up and not down.

[spectroscopy]

yea you just try your best but you dont need to study for it or anything. the gat doesnt even kick in for seas, it pretty much only kicks in if vcaa need to calculate a derived exam score because of extraneous circumstances come exam time. my friend just drew dicks all over his gat and took a bunch of photos of it and he got in the 97s so its safe to say it doesnt really matter

moral of the story - do your best in the gat incase something unforeseen happens in the exam period, but you dont need to do an iota of preparation and do not let it take away one millisecond of study from your 3/4 subjects

[tashhhaaa]

my friend just drew dicks all over his gat and took a bunch of photos of it and he got in the 97s so its safe to say it doesnt really matter

I guarantee this will happen at my school hahah

Ok well thanks guys I guess all it will do is hurt my pride if I get a bad score on it lol

[sjayne]

The gat DOES influence your scores. I got shown some pretty confusing statistics after completing it in year 11 and my gat results did have an impact on how my scores were scaled, but it was fairly minor. I would try and explain but I didn't completely understand it the first time

It's nothing to stress about but when you're in there do try your best. You never know what will happen and if you don't  try and something happens at the end of the year, you have nothing to fall back on. In any case, it's really good practice for what sitting your end of year exams will be like.

[Tyleralp1]

These are just some scores from mates from last year...

Person A:  GAT Average: 30  SS: 46
Person B:  GAT Average: 39  SS: 33
Person C:  GAT Average: 48  SS: 41
Person D:  GAT Average: 37  SS: 50

I'm pretty sure that's enough information to undermine the GAT in it's entirety (assuming you don't have a DES).