Questions regarding rankings

[dave101]

Hi guys, I have a couple of questions I'm unsure about and need a bit of confirmation. 

Do sac rankings for unit 4 refresh or do they remain how they are at the moment until the end of the year?

Another question, I've heard that teachers don't send in any of our sac grades and marks to VCAA when submitting our final rankings to them. For e.g. you could finish rank 2 by 1% from rank 1 or by 30% but VCAA wouldn't know that because they only see what ranks we are. Is this true?

Finally, lets say I'm averaging 60% (Low B) in a very average cohort and ranked about 17 out of 30. And say I finished ranked 17th at the end of the year with Low B's for unit 3 and 4. I know it's been ask I trillion times, but if I smash the exam and got like 90-95% for it, do my sacs (Low B's) actually scale up to 90-95% (A+) which means I get an A+ for GA1, 2 and 3? However I feel this contradicts when people say your exam mark becomes rank X's sac mark. In this scenario, say I got 90-95% for the exam, don't my sac marks depend on the 17th highest exam mark because I finished rank 17th? For e.g. say some guy got the 17th highest exam mark with a medium B. Wouldn't my grades then look like GA1: B GA2: B and GA3: A+? I would really appreciate it if someone could explain this!

Thanks a lot   

[A1P]

I've heard that teachers don't send in any of our sac grades and marks to VCAA when submitting our final rankings to them. For e.g. you could finish rank 2 by 1% from rank 1 or by 30% but VCAA wouldn't know that because they only see what ranks we are. Is this true?

I don't think that's true, since VCAA describes "The moderation procedure is then applied to the school’s coursework score for each student to obtain their moderated coursework score". This implies SAC scores are required.

See after the third step
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/vce/exams/statisticalmoderation/statmod.aspx

if I smash the exam and got like 90-95% for it, do my sacs (Low B's) actually scale up to 90-95% (A+)

Afraid not, as this would allow students to be slack during the year then cram for the exam and get good marks for both.

If you rank 17th you get your own exam mark paired with approximately the 17th exam mark. In normal circumstances the 16 students ranked above you should score better than you, leaving your 90-95 as your SAC mark, all fair. In strange circumstances where your exam mark is suddenly much better than theirs, you get paired with a lower exam mark due to your fault for being slack during the year.

[One Step at a Time]

Hi everyone

Just wanted to add onto the questions since I'm a bit confused about how it all works.

Which case would be more favourable, that is I'd end up with a better study score?

Case A: In Subject A (accounting, if that matters), where I am only 5% above the average of the cohort (my avg for SACs is around 85%), but I will do well on the exam (ranked higher than my current rank for this subject).
Case B: In Subject B (a language, if that matters), where my SAC average is around 98%, but I will do poorly on the exam (ranked lower than my current rank for this subject). Not too sure how the rest of the cohort is faring though.

Thanks 

[A1P]

Case A: In Subject A (accounting, if that matters), where I am only 5% above the average of the cohort (my avg for SACs is around 85%), but I will do well on the exam (ranked higher than my current rank for this subject).
Case B: In Subject B (a language, if that matters), where my SAC average is around 98%, but I will do poorly on the exam (ranked lower than my current rank for this subject). Not too sure how the rest of the cohort is faring though.

Not possible to quantify as you didn't say how well/poorly you do in the exams i.e. what marks?

Your study score = (X + Y) / 2
where X is your own exam mark
Y is your SAC mark moderated by the TOTAL of cohort's exam marks (not just yours)

To visualise Y draw a pie chart representing the total of cohort's SAC marks, so your SAC is a slice of it. This pie then expands or shrinks to match the total of cohort's exam marks. Your Y mark is your slice after it expands or shrinks.

Can't say case A or B which is better since it depends half on X, half on Y which in turn depends on your SAC, cohort's total SAC and cohort's total exam marks.

[ccdes0001]

I don't think that's true, since VCAA describes "The moderation procedure is then applied to the school’s coursework score for each student to obtain their moderated coursework score". This implies SAC scores are required.

See after the third step
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/vce/exams/statisticalmoderation/statmod.aspx

Afraid not, as this would allow students to be slack during the year then cram for the exam and get good marks for both.

If you rank 17th you get your own exam mark paired with approximately the 17th exam mark. In normal circumstances the 16 students ranked above you should score better than you, leaving your 90-95 as your SAC mark, all fair. In strange circumstances where your exam mark is suddenly much better than theirs, you get paired with a lower exam mark due to your fault for being slack during the year.

So the saying that your sac marks get scaled up or down according to your exam mark is a lie...?

[A1P]

So the saying that your sac marks get scaled up or down according to your exam mark is a lie...?

It's a lie only if "your exam mark" means your own, but it's generally said in the context of your cohort's total mark.

Read my post just above yours, SAC marks are moderated up or down based approximately on the ratio of cohort's total exam mark over total SAC mark. For example if total exam is 2400 but total SAC is 3000 it indicates your school is generous on marks, thus every student's SAC is moderated down by roughly 1/5th (except the first & last ranked but that's getting technical).

[HasibA]

-snip-

that being said outliers may occur- you never know what you'll get and how your sacs will truly scale , there have been many times where users on here have had their sacs scale independent of their cohort (despite how it should work)
to op, just try your best, study hard, hope for the best, and you might be able to get an atar enough to get into your course, which is all that matters essentially, dont give up any hope, but make sure you are realllly trying hard :3

[ccdes0001]

just another thing. I heard from some people at my school that rankings reset or something for unit 4...
Is that true or...

[geminii]

just another thing. I heard from some people at my school that rankings reset or something for unit 4...
Is that true or...

Yes I heard that's true as well, plus Thushan and Brenden at the lectures said this as well.

[ccdes0001]

ok cool. thanks for clearing that up