VCE SAC marking

[supebeal]

I did a VCE Chemistry SAC recently and after it had been assessed I found that the teachers had altered the marking allocation.  So questions that were worth 3 marks when I did the SAC were reduced to 1 mark during the marking process.  This happened with 4 questions.  Is this allowed?

[Aaron]

It's not ideal

What i'd be more concerned about is whether these mark changes have been applied consistently across the whole cohort in terms of:
- Has the questions where the mark changes occurred applied to all students?
- Has the marking of this question now that the max mark has changed, been consistently applied (e.g. how does one get '1 mark' vs. '2 marks')?

Teachers usually follow a consistent marking guide when they mark SACs/assessment tasks - helps also with moderation. 

[supebeal]

Yes, it was marked consistanty across the cohort.  I suspect it was more to do with achieving a bell curve to make it look like a better designed test than it actually was.   I lost marks due to this change, whereas others gained marks which makes me think it was to do with achieving a bell curve result.  I really just wanted to know how to challenge this as I am at a private school where all staff and principals cover each others back, no matter how out of line they are.  I have raised my concerns with the assistant principal and she sent back a note supporting the changes (although she had previously said in a conversation that this was not acceptable).  I also mentioned that I will be looking into my options and will come back to this after the holidays - trying to give myself enough time to find out how to approach this problem.  I need to know whether this is permissible as it changes the way I would have approached certain questions. Thanks for taking the time to respond to my query.