ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => Victorian Education Discussion => Topic started by: TheEagle on April 30, 2020, 11:52:12 pm
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Hey Guys!
As some of you may know, the study designs for further, methods, spesh, English language and biology have changed recently for 2020. What are everyone's thoughts?
MOD EDIT: removed all caps title
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I just had a look at the methods one and at first look i'm happy yet scared.
Unit three is now worth 22% of the study score. My unit three SAC to which there is only one is worth 22%. That is so much pressure my god. That is the equivalent of one exam!!!!
And it's next week and I haven't prepared. So i'm terrified.
What's made me happy is they removed like half of unit four. I hate probability, so i'm content with that. The SACs are going to be worth less too which is great, only 12%.
When was this released?
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For those confused, here are the edited study designs for 2020.
New Mathematics Study Design
New Biology Study Design
New English Language Study Design
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I just had a look at the methods one and at first look i'm happy yet scared.
Unit three is now worth 22% of the study score. My unit three SAC to which there is only one is worth 22%. That is so much pressure my god. That is the equivalent of one exam!!!!
And it's next week and I haven't prepared. So i'm terrified.
What's made me happy is they removed like half of unit four. I hate probability, so i'm content with that. The SACs are going to be worth less too which is great, only 12%.
When was this released?
Same Haha! You'll be fine.
I wonder how doing practice exams will be, being careful to content that isn't going to be assessed this year.
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Same Haha! You'll be fine.
I wonder how doing practice exams will be, being careful to content that isn't going to be assessed this year.
Thank you for the encouragement, I hope so!
Yeah the practice exams will be interesting!
Do you guys think other subjects will me modified as well? Like chem or psych are really large, so you'd think they would be adjusted.
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Thank you for the encouragement, I hope so!
Yeah the practice exams will be interesting!
Do you guys think other subjects will me modified as well? Like chem or psych are really large, so you'd think they would be adjusted.
I hope so... I believe they will, probably by tomorrow morning most will be updated. I don't know if I am going to sleep tonight, it feels like I'm getting my Atar in the morning haha! So many mixed feelings about this...
Imagine scoring a 50 in a subject this year and offering tutoring the following year, only to teach a portion of the course as you didn't cover the whole study design
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Personally, I really didn't wish they changed the study designs to such a large extent. I felt my heart drop as I saw more than half of unit 4 bio removed from the course. I'm also worried about the changes to how much each SAC is worth - I hope they don't drastically increase it for subjects like English.
There's nothing we can do but keep pushing on. I guess the positives are that we have so much time to study for the exams - and so little content to cover for it, since practically half of unit 4 has been removed for each subject. I fear that these drastic changes would have more of an adverse impact, but we will see as the year progresses and once exams are over.
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I guess the positives are that we have so much time to study for the exams - and so little content to cover for it, since practically half of unit 4 has been removed for each subject.
I think the changes won't be bad, like obvs finding out is always going to be bad but I feel like we will grow to accept and even like the fact the course is smaller. The only issue would be people that would have worked ahead, but I don't see too much of an impact as they know more than required and not less but it would be hella frustrating. With regard to biology, i looooove how they've taken out the dot points that arent particularly difficult and kept the harder ones so that they can still differentiate students in the exam.
Bruhhhh, they too out the dot point about the BMP4 gene in cichlids and finches! :'(
They really do not need to take so much out of the Bio course!!!
Whos interested in me making a breakdown of the study design and what we now need to know and some notes???
also, what? we only need to study one module for further?
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Personally, I really didn't wish they changed the study designs to such a large extent. I felt my heart drop as I saw more than half of unit 4 bio removed from the course. I'm also worried about the changes to how much each SAC is worth - I hope they don't drastically increase it for subjects like English.
There's nothing we can do but keep pushing on. I guess the positives are that we have so much time to study for the exams - and so little content to cover for it, since practically half of unit 4 has been removed for each subject. I fear that these drastic changes would have more of an adverse impact, but we will see as the year progresses and once exams are over.
They did release one for English too... :'( :'(
Unit 3 is now worth 30% while Unit 4 they got rid of the Oral presentation and is only worth 20% now. Each SAC is worth a lot more than it should be now so this is going to be interesting to see how the 2020 cohort does.
I'm wondering what is going to happen to the other science subjects now (Will Chem, Physics and Psych follow in the same direction?)
Edit: Here is the link https://vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/adjustedSD2020/2020EnglishEALSD.pdf
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They did release one for English too... :'( :'(
Unit 3 is now worth 30% while Unit 4 they got rid of the Oral presentation and is only worth 20% now. Each SAC is worth a lot more than it should be now so this is going to be interesting to see how the 2020 cohort does.
I'm wondering what is going to happen to the other science subjects now (Will Chem, Physics and Psych follow in the same direction?)
WAIT WHAT. NO ORAL PRESENTATION! that's like one of the only things i can score well in and like you mean my gross C+ is worth more? :'( :'( :'(
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WAIT WHAT. NO ORAL PRESENTATION! that's like one of the only things i can score well in and like you mean my gross C+ is worth more? :'( :'( :'(
Yep :'( :'( :'( (Stuck in the same boat with you)
I'm so sad Oral Presentation is out as that was probably my best shot of redeeming some 'flop' scores. Literally the best thing in English is gone :'(
I guess we are all in the same boat though but it's going to be super hard to moderate scores for any of these subjects too. I wonder how they are going to do it? The only thing I'm looking forward to seeing is how the grade distribution goes this year.
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Yep :'( :'( :'( (Stuck in the same boat with you)
I'm so sad Oral Presentation is out as that was probably my best shot of redeeming some 'flop' scores. Literally the best thing in English is gone :'(
I guess we are all in the same boat though but it's going to be super hard to moderate scores for any of these subjects too. I wonder how they are going to do it? The only thing I'm looking forward to seeing is how the grade distribution goes this year.
OMG no ORAL??? Mine is due today and I'd put so much effort :(
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I'm kind of annoyed about the SACs, especially for methods as they contribute to way more of the study score than I thought they would individually. However, I am excited about the exams due to slightly reduced content which I think everyone will appreciate towards the end of the year.
I wonder how they will structure the further exam when there is only one module selected by students?
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So reading the english study design.....has oral presentation basically been changed to presenting argument????
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Don't know how to feel about shortened study designs. On one hand, you need to cover less in a longer period of time, on the other hand, they can go very in-depth into the accessible topics. I don't know if it's just me but I tend to do better in exams rather than tests that cover one topic.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong but it looks like we're not having the extended investigation for biology? I guess that's a plus.
EDIT: Wow okay they took out heaps of the probability and statistics stuff for methods and spec so I'm very happy about that
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I'm going to put this out there - I am assuming that the reason for these drastic changes are to reduce the gap between high SES schools and low SES schools, since the latter would be facing more difficulty with adapting to online learning (correct me if I am wrong). I really don't think shortening the syllabus addresses anything and it's more of a shortcut method for VCAA to be like 'yay we did something' despite the changes being almost useless in levelling out the playing field. I don't see any other plausible explanation for removing half of unit 4 except for VCAA attempting to address complaints from teachers and principals, and try to make it fair for everyone. I don't think it's doing any of those things though.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong but it looks like we're not having the extended investigation for biology? I guess that's a plus.
EDIT: Wow okay they took out heaps of the probability and statistics stuff for methods and spec so I'm very happy about that
Yes - now we just need to do the poster SAC on an experiment that has already been conducted and don't need to conduct one ourselves. I'm upset about probability because that was the easiest topic for me :(. Time to fail methods...
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I am a bit curious as to how making a single SAC (that may likely be carried out online!) worth the same amount as an EXAM is supposed to "reduce the stress" of students.
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Someone correct me if I'm wrong but it looks like we're not having the extended investigation for biology? I guess that's a plus.
From my understanding, there will be extended investigation but you won't be required to complete practical activities.
EDIT: oop whys beat me to it
Edit: Here is the link https://vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/adjustedSD2020/2020EnglishEALSD.pdf
Where did you get this link??? I can't find it on the VCAA website
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I'm going to put this out there - I am assuming that the reason for these drastic changes are to reduce the gap between high SES schools and low SES schools, since the latter would be facing more difficulty with adapting to online learning (correct me if I am wrong). I really don't think shortening the syllabus addresses anything and it's more of a shortcut method for VCAA to be like 'yay we did something' despite the changes being almost useless in levelling out the playing field. I don't see any other plausible explanation for removing half of unit 4 except for VCAA attempting to address complaints from teachers and principals, and try to make it fair for everyone. I don't think it's doing any of those things though.
Agree — it is not really addressing anything.
Yes - now we just need to do the poster SAC on an experiment that has already been conducted and don't need to conduct one ourselves. I'm upset about probability because that was the easiest topic for me :(. Time to fail methods...
Aw :( I very much struggle with probability so it was really just luck for me.
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I finished the entire methods course (including statistics), so I just took a big L lol
Also, by shortening the study design, isn't that just going to increase competition?
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Unit 4 of Biology has been significantly changed, and now I'm curious to see what they will do to chemistry.
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I finished the entire methods course (including statistics), so I just took a big L lol
Also, by shortening the study design, isn't that just going to increase competition?
Yeh probably. If you recall the most recent methods exams (except 2019), the last question has always been about functions and almost always has questions with really low-scoring percentages. So just because there's less content, that doesn't mean that they can't separate those who know the content/ don't know the content.
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Unit 4 of Biology has been significantly changed, and now I'm curious to see what they will do to chemistry.
Yeah I wonder! Apparently they've altered all the study designs and are now just releasing them (that's what I heard anyway)
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annoying how they arent releasing them all at the same time
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[stress induction overload] Can anyone send a link to this news?
VCAA hasn't released a statement anywhere that I'm aware of, but amended study designs for 2020 have been uploaded to the subject-specific pages for some subjects.
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I understand where VCAA is coming from to increase the weighting of Unit 3 and decrease it for Unit 4, but I am absolutely hating it. The idea to increase Unit 3 because students are more likely to have already done the SACs is understandable. But my school is yet to do a single methods SAC, (it's on Monday). Our methods SAC is now worth more and is unfair for a number of reasons.
1. We have had to study this area of study through online learning (which puts us at a disadvantage) although it's not the worst. But we feel like we haven't received adequate learning through a screen as opposed to in a classroom.
2. An online SAC is riddled with loopholes and areas of problems. Because it is weighted so much and we feel so unprepared, students are going to take other measures. This is dangerous for all students, because if you don't cheat you're going to be disadvantaged by those who will. At this rate, the top scores are going to based on who cheated the best, rather than who understood the topic best.
It's just a stroke of bad luck to have graduated in this year :-[
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Is the English link legit? It doesn't open anymore
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Moving this to Victorian Education DIscussion since there is some discussion of non-maths subjects :)
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Just thought I'd let people know that VCAA have put up edited study designs for pretty much every subject now.
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Can only speak for maths, but I would have preferred that the end of year exams had their weighting increased to compensate for the lost SACs. (But in general I don't like SACs and would prefer to just have 100% exams, perhaps with mid-year exams). I know that students regard exams as quite stressful, but I think they are a fairer assessment overall, and are more straightforward to prepare for.
On the reduction of content: I think the omission of inferential statistics from both Methods & Spesh can partially be taken as an admission from VCAA of how pointless and stupid the inclusion of those topics was. It would be better if they are removed from the new study design from 2022 onwards.
It is disappointing that Methods retained normal distributions (which is little more than an exercise in pushing buttons on CAS) but got rid of continuous probability distributions (which allowed for a connection between probability & calculus). Presumably this is because the normal distribution is required for Spesh. (Ugh).
Further is now extremely light on. The subject was already essentially just an arms race in who could practice the most past exam questions, but now it's even worse. I suspect that most schools will have finished data in term 1, and so now have two terms to cover finance and one module (which could normally be done in one term, or perhaps one term + a couple of weeks).
Obviously it's a difficult and unanticipated situation, but what has happened with the adjustments really highlights how awful the study designs were to begin with.
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Can only speak for maths, but I would have preferred that the end of year exams had their weighting increased to compensate for the lost SACs. (But in general I don't like SACs and would prefer to just have 100% exams, perhaps with mid-year exams). I know that students regard exams as quite stressful, but I think they are a fairer assessment overall, and are more straightforward to prepare for.
On the reduction of content: I think the omission of inferential statistics from both Methods & Spesh can partially be taken as an admission from VCAA of how pointless and stupid the inclusion of those topics was. It would be better if they are removed from the new study design from 2022 onwards.
It is disappointing that Methods retained normal distributions (which is little more than an exercise in pushing buttons on CAS) but got rid of continuous probability distributions (which allowed for a connection between probability & calculus). Presumably this is because the normal distribution is required for Spesh. (Ugh).
Further is now extremely light on. The subject was already essentially just an arms race in who could practice the most past exam questions, but now it's even worse. I suspect that most schools will have finished data in term 1, and so now have two terms to cover finance and one module (which could normally be done in one term, or perhaps one term + a couple of weeks).
Obviously it's a difficult and unanticipated situation, but what has happened with the adjustments really highlights how awful the study designs were to begin with.
Some excellent points made here. I commented earlier on this topic that I was bewildered as to how increasing the weighting of a SAC covering content taught during online classes was supposed to lessen the impact of online classes on students. I already share similar levels of contempt for SACs for the reasons you outlined and I would prefer that the weighting of final exams increased across all subjects.
Also agree about Methods; continuous probability distributions were probably (haha) the most interesting thing in the prob/stats area of study and it was unfortunate that they were given the axe ahead of normal distributions.
In relation to the study designs for 2022, what content would you like to see added/removed for maths subjects?
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Can only speak for maths, but I would have preferred that the end of year exams had their weighting increased to compensate for the lost SACs. (But in general I don't like SACs and would prefer to just have 100% exams, perhaps with mid-year exams). I know that students regard exams as quite stressful, but I think they are a fairer assessment overall, and are more straightforward to prepare for.
100% agree with this!
I'm doing further and the changes to the study design are the only subject I'm not mad about but it SUCKS that methods barely got changed like its not fair at all because arguably all the maths are equally competitive within themselves.
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In relation to the study designs for 2022, what content would you like to see added/removed for maths subjects?
That would be a massive post, and would derail this thread. I think the overall design of the curriculum is fundamentally flawed, and just tinkering around the edges by adding / removing a few bits of content would not change that much.
A good model would have been the HSC maths curriculum, prior to their changes for 2020. This was the gold standard for Australian maths education, and every other state paled in comparison.
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How do y'all think the grade distribution would look like this year? Specifically for methods and spesh
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How do y'all think the grade distribution would look like this year? Specifically for methods and spesh
I don't think it would change that much. In reality, the grade distribution is absolutely arbitrary. VCAA can decide to give out an A+ to 20% of students or may only give it out to 8%. However, this grade given does not dictate your study score. Your position ranked is what is used to determine your study score.
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I'm just so excited that they took out the entire stats and probability part from spesh! That part is my least favorite.
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Hey Guys!
As some of you may know, the study designs for further, methods, spesh, English language and biology have changed recently for 2020. What are everyone's thoughts?
MOD EDIT: removed all caps title
I hate that for some subjects they’ve increased the weighting for unit 3 and decreased it for unit 4. Learning is already so difficult since we are all in quarantine so I really don’t understand why they thought increasing it would be a good idea. Especially for schools like mine who are doing their sacs online, in addition to stress about the SAC we now also have to worry about technological difficulties among other things. Even some of my teachers have told us that they expect us to do worse in our unit 3 sacs so it doesn’t make any sense.
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Uh dumb question but this won't change study design for 2021, right, assuming covid19 blows over?
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Uh dumb question but this won't change study design for 2021, right, assuming covid19 blows over?
These particular amendments are for 2020 only.
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Hi everybody!
We've put together an article summarising our interpretation of some of the changes below:
https://atarnotes.com/vce-study-design-changes/
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Based on the subjects that I am familiar with I don't really feel like the changes are either great or bad. It would be frustrating for someone who has already learnt the content of the course and then VCAA just chucking some parts out but I still think learning those concepts will add an extra layer of knowledge for those students which could be helpful since different parts of the study design in ceratin subjects are linked quite a bit.
The changes to sac weighting (giving more weight to U3 than U4) is annoying especially since a lot of unit 3 sacs are already done. So changing the weighting of something after it has happened is not fair IMO. Could have just given some U4 weighting to the exam.
As others have said I would have thought the best solution would be to increase the exam weighting - it is the only thing that is 100% standard across the state so less prone to corruption.
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I am interested to see how this will affect how university courses as certain cut out topics are assumed knowledge in university due to the course's prerequisite. For example, many courses which have methods as a prerequisite will assume that you have an understanding of sample proportions and confidence intervals. However, this has now been removed from the methods study design and therefore students will not have that background.
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Is there a website that has the SACs for each subject for easy VCE prep?
English: SAC 1, 2, 3 etc
No oral
More essays
Methods: Exam 1 + Exam 2
etc..