How does VCAA actually determine the A+ range for the exam?

[schoolstudent115]

I know that you can look at the grade distributions to see what score lies in what grade range (E.g. A-A+).
But how does VCAA actually go about allocating a grade letter? Is it arbitrary? Because the percentage of students within the A+ range isn't consistent (they can range from 7% to 16% I have found). I've tried looking at the Z-scores and they seem to match up with percentages, hence they also vary. So I am quite lost as to how they 'set' the grade letter.

Also, the percentage mark isn't consistent either. For an A+, I've seen minimum percentages anywhere from 70% to 95%.
Is there some kind of conditional probability occurring? (Like using SACs to moderate the grade letters?)

[schoolstudent115]

bump

[schoolstudent115]

Bump

[james.358]

Hey there!

Honestly, you shouldn't stress about the technicalities of scoring, VCAA is mysterious and probably will never reveal how it works. Just try your best, and I'm sure that the score will take care of itself.

But in saying that, I took a look at the score distribution as well, and from what I can see the A+ percentage for the final VCAA exam is always from 8% to 9%. However, since the final exam result plays a large role in the SAC scaling (which are the Graded Assessments 1 and 2), the number of people that make the A+ cut off varies wildly. So my best guess is that VCAA uses the scores of the students in the final exam to determine the grade ranges for the SACs.

Hope this helps,
James

[schoolstudent115]

Hey there!

Honestly, you shouldn't stress about the technicalities of scoring, VCAA is mysterious and probably will never reveal how it works. Just try your best, and I'm sure that the score will take care of itself.

But in saying that, I took a look at the score distribution as well, and from what I can see the A+ percentage for the final VCAA exam is always from 8% to 9%. However, since the final exam result plays a large role in the SAC scaling (which are the Graded Assessments 1 and 2), the number of people that make the A+ cut off varies wildly. So my best guess is that VCAA uses the scores of the students in the final exam to determine the grade ranges for the SACs.

Hope this helps,
James

Ah, I suppose that makes sense. I wasn’t really worrying about this, I was just curious as to how the whole thing operates.