SS estimation?

[cypriottiger]

hey people, i did a practise exam today and im pretty stoked with the result, so i think an estimation is in order
sacs: A+ (mid)
Exam 1: A (57.5, cut off was 59)
Exam 2: (trial exam, 69)
any thoughts on how high i can push it? what's my limit if i get a score over 70?
thanks for your time

[happyhappyland]

What exam was it. I get 80%s in trial exams such as chemology and lisachem because there are very irrelevant stuff it them. If you get 69 in the past VCAA exams, then that would be a much stronger indictaor. WIth that being said even if you get a 70+ on the final exam you would probably end up with a 41-43 (highly doubt 43).

[cypriottiger]

it was a chemology '08 the easiest one ive seen by far, but it gives me a confidence boost :p

[thushan]

hey people, i did a practise exam today and im pretty stoked with the result, so i think an estimation is in order
sacs: A+ (mid)
Exam 1: A (57.5, cut off was 59)
Exam 2: (trial exam, 69)
any thoughts on how high i can push it? what's my limit if i get a score over 70?
thanks for your time

The absolute highest you can get would be 48-50, but your SACs need to be moderated to 200, and you would need to get 75/75 in a medium-hard exam with A+ cutoff around 58. Suppose you got 70 in a similar exam to last year's U4, and your SAC was 190 moderated you could push around 44-45.

Here's some scores I know:

Exam 1 (A+ cutoff)           SAC           Exam 2 (A+ cutoff)        Study Score
68.5 (60)                       ~198           61.5 (58)                      46
63    (60)                       ~195           73.5 (58)                      50

Does that help at all?

[stonecold]

hey people, i did a practise exam today and im pretty stoked with the result, so i think an estimation is in order
sacs: A+ (mid)
Exam 1: A (57.5, cut off was 59)
Exam 2: (trial exam, 69)
any thoughts on how high i can push it? what's my limit if i get a score over 70?
thanks for your time

The absolute highest you can get would be 48-50, but your SACs need to be moderated to 200, and you would need to get 75/75 in a medium-hard exam with A+ cutoff around 58. Suppose you got 70 in a similar exam to last year's U4, and your SAC was 190 moderated you could push around 44-45.

Here's some scores I know:

Exam 1 (A+ cutoff)           SAC           Exam 2 (A+ cutoff)        Study Score
68.5 (60)                       ~198           61.5 (58)                      46
63    (60)                       ~195           73.5 (58)                      50

Does that help at all?

I am still skeptical that 13.5 marks lost yields a 50.

[thushan]

Biology is different; it's not like other subjects, because the assessors are really anal. Where you think you may have gotten 70, you would have probably gotten 60 because of how anal they are. Getting 70 is extremely difficult.

The guy got a 50 because he smashed the unit 4 exam (73.5) where everyone else did really badly. Considering very few people actually drop 13.5 marks or less, it's not so surprising he got 50.

Your "real" score on the exams (the score that VCAA uses to calculate your study score) is your z score - (your score - state mean)/standard deviation. It's all about beating the rest of the state.

[stonecold]

I know how the normal distribution works lol

Whilst the examiners are anal, you can pretty much adjust to what they want from reading examiners reports.  Just know your stuff and be specific.  Vagueness and a lack of correct terminology in answers is what is likely to cost you IMO.

[Jdog]

I can back up tushan, , those socres, are true., and from statement of marks.

Mavis on this site lost 12 marks for a 50, so beliving losing 13.5 marks shouldn't be that unbelievable.

[stonecold]

Yeah, I believe it, but at the same time I can't if you know what I mean.  To lose so many marks and get a 50...maybe it's just because I am used to maths and chemistry cohorts where 1 mark lost makes you want to cry. 

No offence to the Biology cohort, but it mustn't be the smartest going around.  IMO get spesh people to do biology, and I could seriously see the A+ cutoff going up by at least 5 marks...

[Jdog]

Yeah,

and to the OP don't trust these external company exams as proper indicators as how you will go,

and don't trust the 06 VCAA exam its alot easier compared to any other.

[stonecold]

Yeah true, some of the prac paper questions are so off.  I think I should just start focusing on VCAA 1998 to 2009.

[thushan]

Good idea.

VCAA 2008 was apparently impossibly hard - I haven't done it yet, but as A+ was 113+...

[cypriottiger]

was it? 0_o
i made the mistake of doing them first so my marks werent anywhere near as they are now :S

EDIT: my mistake, turns out ive only done '07, but have printed the others 
will keep it in mind when i attempt '06 though

[Jdog]

yeah, the external companies are poorly run and understaffed, therefore their answers are wayy off the mark sometimes,
However thy are a very good for practice but should b used as just that. THeir ansers shouldn't be treated the same as an assesment reports.

[thushan]

JDog makes an excellent point here. One need only look at the TSSM 2005 U4 paper to see his point