Chem Study Score

[tamma1]

hi,

Looking for some help from someone. I have a question about chem study score. I am currently rank 3 in my cohort of about 50 students with one sac left to go. I want to do reaaaaallllyyy well in chemistry because it is one of my favourite subjects. The two guys above me are quite strong, but we are all very close to each other in terms of marks. So my question is, if I do really well on the exam, will the fact that my GAT result for the science based stuff was poor (I had to guess most maths/science questions because I spent waaaayyyyy too long on the writing sections) affect my chance at a 45+ study score?

I am sure the two guys above me will have CRAZY maths/science GAT scores, so I am wondering if I won't be able to do as well as them due to my bad GAT score? Like will it affect me because of some 'immmunity' that rank 1 holds preventing them from being affected by their GAT? Because I am rank 3 will the GAT affect me more??

Thanks in advance

[MightyBeh]

GAT won't change your score. It's used as a tool for moderation between schools (i.e. if a school does well, it's a good school, etc.) and if you do poorly due to unforeseen circumstances (having a heart attack during the exam and being unable to complete it or something) your GAT can be used to find a 'DES', or derived examination score, that can potentially be higher that the one you got during the actual exam. However, they will always use the higher score so there's nothing to worry about.

The GAT can only help you, it will never hinder you. 

[tamma1]

GAT won't change your score. It's used as a tool for moderation between schools (i.e. if a school does well, it's a good school, etc.) and if you do poorly due to unforeseen circumstances (having a heart attack during the exam and being unable to complete it or something) your GAT can be used to find a 'DES', or derived examination score, that can potentially be higher that the one you got during the actual exam. However, they will always use the higher score so there's nothing to worry about.

The GAT can only help you, it will never hinder you. 

Thank you. In regards to how it helps you, to what extent does it actually? Like if you have a really good Gat result but bomb the exam, does it actually lift you up much?

And also, say if you score a 50 on the maths/science section of the GAT, and then in your say Methods Exam you perform to the level of a 47-48, would they bump up your score because you scored a 50 on the GAT? Or at the top end of students is the GAT negligble?

[Sine]

Thank you. In regards to how it helps you, to what extent does it actually? Like if you have a really good Gat result but bomb the exam, does it actually lift you up much?

And also, say if you score a 50 on the maths/science section of the GAT, and then in your say Methods Exam you perform to the level of a 47-48, would they bump up your score because you scored a 50 on the GAT? Or at the top end of students is the GAT negligble?

If you sit the exam the GAT will have no impact on your score as it's only used majorly when someone is ill and cannot sit their exam and gets and derived score.
Also logically a 48 in methods is actually better than a 50 in the maths/science section as everyone in the state sits the gat but only a portion (generally consisting of the more "dedicated" maths students" do methods)

[tamma1]

If you sit the exam the GAT will have no impact on your score as it's only used majorly when someone is ill and cannot sit their exam and gets and derived score.
Also logically a 48 in methods is actually better than a 50 in the maths/science section as everyone in the state sits the gat but only a portion (generally consisting of the more "dedicated" maths students" do methods)

And surely VCAA can't treat the GAT too seriously...someone could very well guess lucky and get a study score in the GAT which is not a true reflection of them...also some kids don't even sit the GAT because cbf...so seriously, I hope the GAT is nothing.

[Aaron]

And surely VCAA can't treat the GAT too seriously...someone could very well guess lucky and get a study score in the GAT which is not a true reflection of them...also some kids don't even sit the GAT because cbf...so seriously, I hope the GAT is nothing.

If students don't sit the GAT, they are essentially shooting themselves in the foot. Like Sine said, it's primarily used for calculation of a derived exam score (which is done via special consideration). Too bad if you don't turn up and then require special con

I however disagree with the statement that the GAT is useless if you sit the exam. The fact is, there are cases where the GAT is actually used in an overall moderation sense (it may not be significant but to say it's totally irrelevant is completely incorrect).

See here for more details: http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/vce/exams/gat/relates.aspx

[zsteve]

hi,

Looking for some help from someone. I have a question about chem study score. I am currently rank 3 in my cohort of about 50 students with one sac left to go. I want to do reaaaaallllyyy well in chemistry because it is one of my favourite subjects. The two guys above me are quite strong, but we are all very close to each other in terms of marks. So my question is, if I do really well on the exam, will the fact that my GAT result for the science based stuff was poor (I had to guess most maths/science questions because I spent waaaayyyyy too long on the writing sections) affect my chance at a 45+ study score?

I am sure the two guys above me will have CRAZY maths/science GAT scores, so I am wondering if I won't be able to do as well as them due to my bad GAT score? Like will it affect me because of some 'immmunity' that rank 1 holds preventing them from being affected by their GAT? Because I am rank 3 will the GAT affect me more??

Thanks in advance

Nope, GAT should have zero effect on your score for Chemistry. VCAA only uses the GAT as a secondary reference if you get special consideration/need a derived SS/need some backup evidence if some of their data seems strange.

As for spending too long on the writing sections, that's what I did (I spent 45 min/essay rather than the prescribed 30). Reason? It's probably more important to do well on the English section of the GAT than the rest, for obvious reasons. You probably made the right choice in doing so

[tamma1]

Nope, GAT should have zero effect on your score for Chemistry. VCAA only uses the GAT as a secondary reference if you get special consideration/need a derived SS/need some backup evidence if some of their data seems strange.

As for spending too long on the writing sections, that's what I did (I spent 45 min/essay rather than the prescribed 30). Reason? It's probably more important to do well on the English section of the GAT than the rest, for obvious reasons. You probably made the right choice in doing so

Thank you so much for your help. And congratulations on how well you did in year 12. Awesome!

So even if my maths/science result on the GAT will be below average say like study score 27/50 (seriously it will be because I had to guess about 20 maths/science questions as I ran out of time)...working out the probability of guessing these right tells you the chance is extremely low obviously haha...so as I was saying, even if it is this low, my study score for Chemistry still WON'T be affected?

[zsteve]

Thank you so much for your help. And congratulations on how well you did in year 12. Awesome!

So even if my maths/science result on the GAT will be below average say like study score 27/50 (seriously it will be because I had to guess about 20 maths/science questions as I ran out of time)...working out the probability of guessing these right tells you the chance is extremely low obviously haha...so as I was saying, even if it is this low, my study score for Chemistry still WON'T be affected?

Probably the most VCAA can do is note the (strange?) fact that your GAT scores are really low in comparison to high exam scores, and perhaps do a bit of digging into your SAC marks and exam marks to confirm that they are legit/make sure there isn't any foul play going on. Other than that, to the best of my knowledge, it shouldn't have an impact.

Orb (AN moderator and technical score guru) may be able to shed some more light on this matter, though.