JMSS 2017 Entry Discussion

[Sil]

Um... one of them was about why are polar bears white (and why they have all this other stuff) which was actually year 9 science I think (?).

And the other was like........ I can't remember too well but something about a prac for native Australian seeds and if they grow better after fires or something about chromatography. (You could pick either one.)

...and for the Year 11 Entry, the topics were something along the lines of:

• Explain how plants and animals can breathe + an annotated diagram to demonstrate the processes involved.
• I can't remember this one, hahaha It was a while ago but I know for sure that it was Chemistry-related.

I picked the first topic as it was Bio-related and I was doing Bio 1/2 at the time (doing a VCE Science was really handy for the essay, although most of you here are going for Year 10 entry so I doubt that any of you will be doing a VCE Science ), and Bio is the area of science where I feel the strongest at

[magicmania121]

Hi so i am trying out for JMSS and was wondering how do you approach the science topics like what happens if you dont know about polar bears being white and for the practical report what is the specific way you should do it. My way is aim, hypothesis, apparatus, method, results, discussion, conclusion. It would be great is the people who got in could possibly post some topics for us.
Thanks!:)

[Sil]

Hi so i am trying out for JMSS and was wondering how do you approach the science topics like what happens if you dont know about polar bears being white and for the practical report what is the specific way you should do it. My way is aim, hypothesis, apparatus, method, results, discussion, conclusion. It would be great is the people who got in could possibly post some topics for us.
Thanks!:)

The topics for the essays are of a difficulty that exposes those applicants who can show a strong understanding of the area of science concerning the topic, i.e. they are not made too easy so that everyone would be able to write a brilliant essay, as it makes it harder for assessors to rank the different applicants if everyone wrote really well. However they are not made too difficult so that no one is able to demonstrate their understanding of scientific concepts in an essay, as that doesn't help assessors either

If you can draw upon basic scientific knowledge and make logical assumptions, you should be okay for ANY topic that is presented in the essay paper (such as explaining why polar bears are white, etc.).

There has never been a practical report component in the JMSS Entrance Examination (well at least I've never heard of one), but your layout of a practical report would be perfect should you be required to write one in the exams this year

This link may be of good use for anyone interested in practising writing Science essays and needing topics to write about:
http://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/writing/secondary/wac_science.html#prompts
I simply Googled 'scientific essay prompts' and it was the first link that popped up, so surely there are other websites out there that can provide more prompts

Hope that helps

[magicmania121]

Thanks. With the essays do we get any background info. So what are the main things that are going to be on the test

[ankita]

Hey guys!
I'm also applying for the JMMS test this year! Personally I'm covering up the year 9 and 10 syllabus for maths and grasping concepts of science(at least trying to). I feel really overwhelmed!! There's so much to do in such little time. So I was wondering how other students and studying?? Are you just covering syllabus or practicing exams? What are the science essays topics going to be like?
Thankyou

[ankita]

I'm not sure what do do for numeric reasoning and science essay. How should I prepare for those. Do you think what I'm doing for science and maths is enough?

[Shinkaze]

I'm not sure what do do for numeric reasoning and science essay. How should I prepare for those. Do you think what I'm doing for science and maths is enough?

Hey! I would say don't worry too much about it because the test turned out to be a lot easier than the Macrob test in my opinion haha! For science essay, I actually would say don't just try to learn the knowledge, but also learn how to reason (as in if I give you an observation that you know nothing about, try to brainstorm reasons that could support the observation - it doesn't have to be right either, just get yourself thinking and be able to justify!!) As for numerical reasoning, I wouldn't bother with it LOL you either hit or miss in my opinion ...

[Sil]

Thanks. With the essays do we get any background info. So what are the main things that are going to be on the test

Yep, you will be presented with information of some form (eg. a short statement detailing a scientific concept) and a question(s) that requires you to justify why the statement is true/why it works, how it works, etc..

On Page 1 of this thread, someone made a pretty good list of things to study in preparation for the exams. You should prepare as if ALL those things will appear somewhere on the exams, although only MOST of it (not all) will actually make an appearance or two. The more you know and prepare for, the better off you should be

[ankita]

Around how many people are sitting the test this year?? I've heard 200 get selected and only the top 18% in that particular year get superior or something. Am I correct?

[ankita]

Um... one of them was about why are polar bears white (and why they have all this other stuff) which was actually year 9 science I think (?).

And the other was like........ I can't remember too well but something about a prac for native Australian seeds and if they grow better after fires or something about chromatography. (You could pick either one.)

That's actually a tough topic-very unpredictable. I heard, in the first years of the test the writing topics where fairly simple and predictable like atomic structure and/or what is friction, reaction times ect. I guess they are making it harder by the years. Do you recon reading science blogs and stuff could help with the writing topics? Cause for me- why polar bears are white is not in my science text book. What text book is good to study science? I'm planing to study off pearsons science text book 3 and 4. If I got the topic why polar bears are white I'd be clueless.... So Idk how to prepare for this year

[Aaron]

It's so good that you guys are so young and talking on a forum such as this.... Well done and good luck to you all

[Sil]

Around how many people are sitting the test this year?? I've heard 200 get selected and only the top 18% in that particular year get superior or something. Am I correct?

There's no telling how many people will sit the exam for this year, but perhaps the other current/past students of JMSS who applied for Year 10 Entry could give you a guess of how many sat the exam when they applied? I applied for Year 11 Entry last year and only 27 (confirmed number) of us were accepted from a pool of maybe 300-400 students (this is why I thought I had no chance of getting in at all )

Around 220 get accepted for Year 10 Entry on average, but this number varies every year. It's always over 200 students that are accepted though.

This is my understanding of how the system works (apologies for my crappy or unclear explanations or anything):

As far as I know, EduTest attains results from all over Australia by students in every year level in order to create scales for those year levels, which is used to award final marks for exams. The scale works like this and in descending order:

• Superior - Top 11% of Population
• Above Average - Next 12% of Population
• High Average - Next 17% of Population
• Average - Next 20% of Population
• Low Average - Next 17% of Population
• Below Average - Next (and bottom) 23% of Population

This scale is used for exams that EduTest conducts for various schools around Australia, and depending on how the student performs in comparison with essentially the rest of Australia in that year level, a mark is given.

When EduTest finalises results for each student after an examination, they 'average out' each student's marks in order to create a ranking against all other applicants. This information is then given back to the school which allows them to decide a cut-off point for who passes the exams and who doesn't. Those students who pass the examination are informed, and the next process of application (in JMSS, an 'interview' stage) is then able to begin.The school runs this second stage independently of EduTest. EduTest is only involved in the exams.

I hope this clears things up a bit

[ankita]

Hey guys,
So was studying and came across this maths question I simply don't get how to do, if someone can do it, please tell me the solution and formulae:

Point A (9, -33), B(5, -17) and C (n, -41) are collinear. Find the value of n.

It's a multiple choice question where the answers could be-
A: n=15
B: n=20
C: n= 9
D: n=5
E: n=11

Thankyou vey much

[Shinkaze]

Hey guys,
So was studying and came across this maths question I simply don't get how to do, if someone can do it, please tell me the solution and formulae:

Point A (9, -33), B(5, -17) and C (n, -41) are collinear. Find the value of n.

It's a multiple choice question where the answers could be-
A: n=15
B: n=20
C: n= 9
D: n=5
E: n=11

Thankyou vey much

My instinct by looking at that question tells me that the answer is n=11 but someone else can confirm this .-.

[pi]

Point A (9, -33), B(5, -17) and C (n, -41) are all part of the same straight line
Gradient of said line: m = (y2-y1)/(x2-x1) = 16/-4 = -4
Hence y = -4x + c, sub in (5, -17) to find 'c'
Hence c = 3
y = -4x + 3, sub in (n, -41) to find 'n'
n = 11