Physics

[striveforsuccess]

Can a high study score be achievable even if I messed up 2 SACs? I wasn't the only one by the way. Out of 12 people; from what I know, about 4-5 maybe even more people in my class also screwed the SACs up. So is a high study score still achievable? I feel like giving up at this point and might even consider repeating year 12 the way I'm going. 

[fiona_atarnotes]

Hey!
I know 'screwing up' two SACs can be super discouraging, but don't lose hope because as long as you continue to improve and get better marks, you'll do well! Honestly, in Physics, you do quite a few exams so underperforming in two SACs won't inhibit your overall study score too much. Although SACs do make up a percentage of  your study score, it really does come down to the exam. Can I ask what study score you're aiming for or what do you consider as a 'high' study score?

[striveforsuccess]

Hey!
I know 'screwing up' two SACs can be super discouraging, but don't lose hope because as long as you continue to improve and get better marks, you'll do well! Honestly, in Physics, you do quite a few exams so underperforming in two SACs won't inhibit your overall study score too much. Although SACs do make up a percentage of  your study score, it really does come down to the exam. Can I ask what study score you're aiming for or what do you consider as a 'high' study score?

Thanks Fiona! I would consider 40+ as a high study score. We will complete six SACs for physics this year. Also, out of curiosity; am I able to repeart year 12 if I am not satisfied with my current marks throughout this year?

[fiona_atarnotes]

40+ is definitely still achievable even if you screw up the first two sacs! Especially considering you're doing 6 sacs this year. Maybe your unit 3 sac scores may not be as strong but you can definitely achieve strong marks for your unit 4 sacs! When your school submits your sac 'marks' to VCAA, it's all scaled so say the person who came up to be #1 on the sac got 78%, your school will submit their score to be 100 (because every school wants to make their students look smart) so don't feel too discouraged! Also, technically, you can repeat year 12 if you really wanted to but you can also just repeat specific subjects instead of repeating all of year 12. (I had a teacher who repeated Methods and Specialist when they were in uni  )

[striveforsuccess]

40+ is definitely still achievable even if you screw up the first two sacs! Especially considering you're doing 6 sacs this year. Maybe your unit 3 sac scores may not be as strong but you can definitely achieve strong marks for your unit 4 sacs! When your school submits your sac 'marks' to VCAA, it's all scaled so say the person who came up to be #1 on the sac got 78%, your school will submit their score to be 100 (because every school wants to make their students look smart) so don't feel too discouraged! Also, technically, you can repeat year 12 if you really wanted to but you can also just repeat specific subjects instead of repeating all of year 12. (I had a teacher who repeated Methods and Specialist when they were in uni  )

Wait, so are you saying that my school might even potentially make up my SAC score and submit it to VCAA saying that I didn't screw it up? At the moment, I am currently undertaking Classical Greek, Physics, Biology, Mathematical methods and just mainstream English and am considering repeating all of those subjects, except for Classical Greek due to a major setback that has happened in my life; so yeah. Also, thank you very much for your help! I honestly feel like this forum needs a lot of people like you! 

[fiona_atarnotes]

Yes, there is definitely a high possibility that your school scaled your sac score! All the best for your studies this year and maybe next year if you decide to repeat year 12!

[striveforsuccess]

Yes, there is definitely a high possibility that your school scaled your sac score! All the best for your studies this year and maybe next year if you decide to repeat year 12!

Thank you so much for your help Fiona! By the way, how high do you think they would have scaled my SAC score by? because I screwed it up completely. 

[Bri MT]

Thank you so much for your help Fiona! By the way, how high do you think they would have scaled my SAC score by? because I screwed it up completely. 

The mark that goes into your study score from SAC performance is based on how well you did compared to your cohort on the SACs and how well your cohort does on the exam - so no one can really know yet how it will turn out.

[striveforsuccess]

The mark that goes into your study score from SAC performance is based on how well you did compared to your cohort on the SACs and how well your cohort does on the exam - so no one can really know yet how it will turn out.

Do SAC scores really get scaled higher to make it seem like a certain school has performed well?

[striveforsuccess]

40+ is definitely still achievable even if you screw up the first two sacs! Especially considering you're doing 6 sacs this year. Maybe your unit 3 sac scores may not be as strong but you can definitely achieve strong marks for your unit 4 sacs! When your school submits your sac 'marks' to VCAA, it's all scaled so say the person who came up to be #1 on the sac got 78%, your school will submit their score to be 100 (because every school wants to make their students look smart) so don't feel too discouraged! Also, technically, you can repeat year 12 if you really wanted to but you can also just repeat specific subjects instead of repeating all of year 12. (I had a teacher who repeated Methods and Specialist when they were in uni  )

Hey Fiona! Sorry to bother you, but it turns out that we are doing 4 SACs for physics this year. Is there still a change of me obtaining a 40?

[Bri MT]

Do SAC scores really get scaled higher to make it seem like a certain school has performed well?

SAC scores are scaled based on how that cohort has performed on the exam by VCAA.  I'm not sure what you mean by "making it seem like a school has performed well" - SACs will have different difficulty at different schools so you can't directly compare 80% score on SACs at one school to 70% score on SACs at another school.

Let's say hypothetically that you have a medium rank in your class for unit 3 SAC scores. You could then expect your GA1 score (Unit 3 SACs) to be roughly the average grade your cohort gets on the exam.  You've still got GA2 (Unit 4 SACs) and GA3 (the exam) left. Most of your score comes from the exam so I'd be putting a lot of energy into that and trying to learn from Unit 3 mistakes to improve your unit 4.

Based on the info I have on your situation it's still possible for you to get 40+. Depending on how your cohort goes on the exam your GA1 mark may be low enough that that's very difficult but we just don't know yet.

Good luck


Edit: Also consider looking at the Victorian Technical Score Discussion section of the forums to get a better idea of how SAC calculation and prediction works