Will a 55% sac score affect my 99 atar chances?

[Kikiopmed]

Hey guys,
I got my sac back and it was 55% : (
It was the first sac on finance and I was hoping for a raw 45+ study score but now I'm not sure if it's possible.
On the same day of that sac I did a chemistry sac which I also got a 55% on. Recently I got a 95% on the next sac to raise my rank and currently aiming to get a 90% on my upcoming one.

However is all lost with further?? It was my first sac and I have 3 more to go but idk if a 45+ study score is possibe even if I were to get all 90s from now on. I'm aiming for medicine which requires a 99 atar (which is the reason for my goal of high study scores).

Did anyone out there get a low sac score (50%-60%) and still managed to get a 99 atar??

Thanks

[Stormbreaker-X]

Hey guys,
I got my sac back and it was 55% : (
It was the first sac on finance and I was hoping for a raw 45+ study score but now I'm not sure if it's possible.
On the same day of that sac I did a chemistry sac which I also got a 55% on. Recently I got a 95% on the next sac to raise my rank and currently aiming to get a 90% on my upcoming one.

However is all lost with further?? It was my first sac and I have 3 more to go but idk if a 45+ study score is possibe even if I were to get all 90s from now on. I'm aiming for medicine which requires a 99 atar (which is the reason for my goal of high study scores).

Did anyone out there get a low sac score (50%-60%) and still managed to get a 99 atar??

Thanks

It depends on your ranking and how your cohort performs. Is it still possible to score a 99 ATAR? Assuming you score well in your other subjects then maybe, but quite unlikely. 90+ is still possible through.

[whys]

Did anyone out there get a low sac score (50%-60%) and still managed to get a 99 atar??
Thanks

Not quite in that range, but I had a SAC score in the 60s for English and ended up with a 45 ss (and 99+ ATAR). It depends on many factors (e.g. it is easier to bounce back in a stronger cohort who will, on average, do well on the final exam), so I cannot estimate your chances for anything. But, keep working hard! There is nothing to lose from trying to do better and improve yourself.

[shahifa]

Hi

I know you want a 99+ ATAR to get into medicine - but as long as you get ATAR of 90+, top Universities will still consider you into their medicine courses, so dont fret if you cant achieve 99+ as its extremely hard to do so and very lucky ones are able to fulfil that. I'm only in Year 11, but also do want to get into medicine, but many Universities such as Monash and Melbourne offer placements for 90+ Atars too, and if you look on their website and the course you want to get accepted in, look at the lowest Atar rank they accepted the previous year - this shows you that you can still get into medicine without getting a 99+ Atar

[whys]

Hi

I know you want a 99+ ATAR to get into medicine - but as long as you get ATAR of 90+, top Universities will still consider you into their medicine courses, so dont fret if you cant achieve 99+ as its extremely hard to do so and very lucky ones are able to fulfil that. I'm only in Year 11, but also do want to get into medicine, but many Universities such as Monash and Melbourne offer placements for 90+ Atars too, and if you look on their website and the course you want to get accepted in, look at the lowest Atar rank they accepted the previous year - this shows you that you can still get into medicine without getting a 99+ Atar

Where did you hear this? The hard truth is that while a 90+ ATAR is an exceptional score, it will unfortunately not get you into medicine if you are applying as a standard applicant and not under any of the alternate pathways (rural, Indigenous) or without a greater selection rank due to SEAS. You should have a read of the selection criteria on the different unis' websites. The lowest ATAR they take is definitely not a good way to estimate what ATAR you need to get into a course. Frankly, you should not be using that, because it does not reflect the lowest selection rank and you may not be eligible for the pathways that may accept that selection rank. You definitely don't need a 99+ ATAR, and you CAN get in with 90+ (this especially depends on the uni). I'm not saying you can't. However, there are so many factors that it depends on, and it is not competitive enough as a standard applicant, I'm afraid.

[Orb]

Did anyone out there get a low sac score (50%-60%) and still managed to get a 99 atar??

The short answer to this is yes - quite a few people have done this in the past. However, I don't think it is nearly as important to understand whether it is possible as the importance of understanding what you need to do to change your trajectory. The probability is not high because there are a couple of underlying factors that need to be addressed for you to turn things around

1. Understanding why you got the 55%
Was it because of careless errors, your attitude to studying, you not spending the appropriate amount of time preparing yourself for the SAC? Inadequate resources or inadequate use of resources? Your school just having ridiculously hard SACs? There are so many drivers behind why you get a 55% SAC score and you need to invest the time to understand why you got this score.

A 55% by itself is not a cause for huge alarm, but repeated 55% SAC scores will probably inevitably mean that you won't even get close to a 99 ATAR.

2. What are you going to do now
Once you've realised what is going wrong, you need to make the investment to turn things around. If you're aiming for medicine (which is quite difficult to get into), you need to make a commitment to make better decisions. Figure out what is going wrong and take immediate action to remedy this. Your SAC score does not matter nearly as much as what you do from now on.
E.g. if you're spending 2 hours a day on social media, give your phone to your parents and reinvest that time into studying for your SAC. Get appropriate support to identify better ways to study and perform

Those students who are able to go from ~50% in a SAC and being placed at near the bottom of their year to getting offers in undergrad medicine (I've personally taught a few) are those who take decisive actions immediately to turn around their trajectory and perform significantly better on every SAC afterwards. It is definitely possible but will require a lot of commitment, investment and sacrifice in order to do so. The road is not easy, but it is certainly possible.

3. Invest in best practices
I'd advise to learn from best practice here (or those who embody it). In your case, that's working with friends/other students who are on the track to medicine and learning from their behaviours, adopting their mentality and studying with them.
For me personally, in Year 12 during the holidays I would follow the exact same study schedule as my friend who ended up getting 99.95 - I benefited heaps and understood the commitment required to get there (8+ hours of intensely concentrated study every day).
In university, one of my close friends had degrees from Yale and Harvard so I had frequent conversations with her about the application process and understood more about what it takes to get admitted.

Hope this is helpful

[shahifa]

Where did you hear this? The hard truth is that while a 90+ ATAR is an exceptional score, it will unfortunately not get you into medicine if you are applying as a standard applicant and not under any of the alternate pathways (rural, Indigenous) or without a greater selection rank due to SEAS. You should have a read of the selection criteria on the different unis' websites. The lowest ATAR they take is definitely not a good way to estimate what ATAR you need to get into a course. Frankly, you should not be using that, because it does not reflect the lowest selection rank and you may not be eligible for the pathways that may accept that selection rank. You definitely don't need a 99+ ATAR, and you CAN get in with 90+ (this especially depends on the uni). I'm not saying you can't. However, there are so many factors that it depends on, and it is not competitive enough as a standard applicant, I'm afraid.

Oh yeah, your'e right, theres definitely many factors involved, but getting a 90+ ATAR does make you a good catch. btw my methods teacher told me about all this :/