ATAR Notes: Forum
Archived Discussion => Other => 2010 => End-of-year exams => Exam Discussion => Victoria => Geography => Topic started by: hellas_1821 on November 01, 2010, 06:45:20 pm
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Howd everyone go?
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Pretty good thanks! I found it pretty easy. Yourself?
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yeh i think i did quite well
answered every question thoroughly...first question probably didnt get right in regards to locations in the MDB
but besides that i think i did well
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Yeah I found it pretty good!! I only just had enough time though and I didn't get to check over it which wasn't great :S But yeah, good overall! Glad it's over! :)
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Yeah i finished witht he last 2 minutes as well. For question 1, i tooka guess on where the citrus farm was located :P
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I think maybe they were talking about sunraysia with the citrus farming? Or was that totally wrong :| doesn't matter anyway, it's over!!
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i finished with 30 mins to go :S
and answered everything thoroughly
guess im just fast
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i finished with 30 mins to go :S
and answered everything thoroughly
guess im just fast
Wow, that's quick!! Were your maps relatively straight forward? My map for my local resource took a while.
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yeh my map was for chapel street
i did added quite a fair amount of detail..even did random shops on the street that added no significance lol
mapping the local resource takes a longer time than desertification
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I thought that the exam was relatively kind. I think some people would have struggled with global phenomenon but all in all, pretty good exam!
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Yeah I didn't mind it either.
For the MDB, did every else get ...
F for the Murray mouth
D for intensive citrus fruit crops
G for Ramsar protected wetland
I for hydroelectricity production.
MBA
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I heard it was rather difficult?
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Yeah I didn't mind it either.
For the MDB, did every else get ...
F for the Murray mouth
D for intensive citrus fruit crops
G for Ramsar protected wetland
I for hydroelectricity production.
MBA
I couldnt tell you, i didnt bring my booklet home. Sorry
I heard it was rather difficult?
I didnt think so Taiga, however there were a few questions that could throw one out if your knowledge wasnt there. Possibly harder than 2009 from memory though
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Was quite a different exam compared to previous years, many questions were asked in differing ways. Once you got your head around what the question was asking of you in reading time however it wasn't to bad.
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Aah, even our top student said it was rather difficult and harder than past exams.
I did it last year it was pretty simple, what was so different about this one?
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Aah, even our top student said it was rather difficult and harder than past exams.
I did it last year it was pretty simple, what was so different about this one?
We had to sketch our local resource and label movement/a policy. Also, our data books information was in a different format to any other year for q1.
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I did E for hydroelectricity and H for ramsar wetland. The others were the same as yours.
I thought that the 2009 one was more difficult? Some of the data questions were a bit more challenging than previous years I guess.
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My wetland one was wrong. I dunno why I didn't put G!!! Silly me..
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I found the geography exam quite good. I was pleased with it - I did all the VCAA ones and this one was harder in the sense of the wording.
The local resource (I did Queen Victoria Market) map wasn't worth any marks so I suppose if you showed BOTLSS you should be right!
Anyway, wish you all luck with your remaining exams and I hope you all score exceptionally well in geography :D
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I thought it was harder than previous years for sure.
Still got it all done thoroughly though, pretty happy
Found the 6 mark question on population a tad random :D
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One thing that threw me a bit was that for the global phenomenon, you had to evaluate the same strategy for each location, which could have been difficult if you couldn't think of/didn't know of any strategies that were the same!
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what strategy did u guys put for desertification
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yeah same as me!
I used the global response of the united nation convention to combat desertification (UNCCD) you?
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i used world desertification year
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I did E for hydroelectricity and H for ramsar wetland. The others were the same as yours.
I thought that the 2009 one was more difficult? Some of the data questions were a bit more challenging than previous years I guess.
I did I for hydroelectricity as although it wasn't in the exact location, Hume Dam/Albury is located in that region.
E has the Snowy Mountain Scheme doesn't it? Forgot about that.
For the desertification I did the United Nations Year of Deserts and Desertification in 2006. I said how at Owens Valley it most likely would be an ineffective policy as residents and the local government all ready are aware of the negative impacts and causes of desertification. Then I went on to comment about how it most likely would be effective in the Sahel region, in places like Niger. This one most likely would have proved to be tricky for some if you hadn't covered an international scale response to global phenomena.
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But it said strategy, not policy, so could it have been a global policy? I did re-planting in the Sahel (mostly inter-cropping) and China (The Three North Shelterbelt Programme which is a reforestation program). Oh dear, this is confusing.
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But it said strategy, not policy, so could it have been a global policy? I did re-planting in the Sahel (mostly inter-cropping) and China (The Three North Shelterbelt Programme which is a reforestation program). Oh dear, this is confusing.
Usually policies and strategies are interchangable. Well that's what our teacher told us (whose an assesor). We'll just have to wait and see when we get our marks back I guess.
MBA.
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But it said strategy, not policy, so could it have been a global policy? I did re-planting in the Sahel (mostly inter-cropping) and China (The Three North Shelterbelt Programme which is a reforestation program). Oh dear, this is confusing.
Usually policies and strategies are interchangable. Well that's what our teacher told us (whose an assesor). We'll just have to wait and see when we get our marks back I guess.
MBA.
Really? My teacher told us a policy was what you want to achieve, while a strategy was how it would be achieved. So, a policy would be the UNCCD and a strategy would be organising conferences for member countries.
That's so weird that our teachers have told us different things :SSSSS Ahhh. Oh well, it's over now I guess.
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No I don't think you quite understand.
Technically, a policy is a broad statement of intent/achievable and the strategies are how organisations set out to achieve the overall policy statement.
However, when it comes to exams they usually accept either a policy or strategy when there ask those types of questions. I think they probably will do the same when it comes to the desertification question as I doubt many students would have known a specific strategy that is being used at two different locations.
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Oh wow, you had to draw your local resource?
I think that was on one of the GTAV past exams :O
That said I don't think strategies and policies are interchangeable. Policy is like "To reduce HIV aids by 20%" and a strategy would be to offer sex education or something like that.
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That said I don't think strategies and policies are interchangeable. Policy is like "To reduce HIV aids by 20%" and a strategy would be to offer sex education or something like that.
Well when it comes to marking the papers they sometimes do considering them interchangable, depending on the question. My teacher has been an examiner for the past five years so I believe what he says. Depends on how the majority of students respond. I think they will accept a policy as a strategy simply because there arn't to many global strategies out there for some of the global phenomenas.
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No I don't think you quite understand.
Technically, a policy is a broad statement of intent/achievable and the strategies are how organisations set out to achieve the overall policy statement.
However, when it comes to exams they usually accept either a policy or strategy when there ask those types of questions. I think they probably will do the same when it comes to the desertification question as I doubt many students would have known a specific strategy that is being used at two different locations.
Well, that was condescending. I do understand the difference, and I believe that what I said was basically the same as what you said.
Policy - Broad statement of what you want to achieve
Strategy - What is actually done to achieve it
Didn't we say the same thing? :)
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No I don't think you quite understand.
Technically, a policy is a broad statement of intent/achievable and the strategies are how organisations set out to achieve the overall policy statement.
However, when it comes to exams they usually accept either a policy or strategy when there ask those types of questions. I think they probably will do the same when it comes to the desertification question as I doubt many students would have known a specific strategy that is being used at two different locations.
Well, that was condescending. I do understand the difference, and I believe that what I said was basically the same as what you said.
Policy - Broad statement of what you want to achieve
Strategy - What is actually done to achieve it
Didn't we say the same thing? :)
Apologies if I came across that way, but I'm not commenting on the difference between policy and strategy per se. They're most definitely different as you have pointed out. What I am saying is that sometimes on the end of year paper if the question asks for a policy and one writes about a strategy, this still will be marked correct. Depends on the ambiguity of the question as demonstrated by student's responses.
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OK. I hope you're right about that, because otherwise people will lose heaps of marks :( They should :)
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My teacher last year sits in an office with the guy who writes the exam (our school's head of geography), and I'm pretty sure he was rather adamant on acknowledging the difference :X
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Hmmm...I think it was just a really dodgy question!!
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My teacher last year sits in an office with the guy who writes the exam (our school's head of geography), and I'm pretty sure he was rather adamant on acknowledging the difference :X
That's strange, because the lady who writes the exam is Marilyn Wiber who works at Mentone Girls Grammar.
I'm just saying what my teacher who is an examiner has told me. If there is a lot of students who have talked about a policy not a strategy that will most likely give marks, as that is what has happened in the past.
I'm not going to argue about this anymore, I've made this point clear a few times now you can either believe me or not. That's your prerogative.
It was also good to see that the sketch map of your local resource wasn't worth any marks. The MDB questions were different, but quite straight forward I thought? I didn't think there would be as many marks directed to conflict either considering the whole of Q2 last year was on it.
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The line space for the conflict question was so small! I wrote over double the amount of space they gave us!! (in the extra space section) Mind you...I did nearly run out of time :P
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My teacher last year sits in an office with the guy who writes the exam (our school's head of geography), and I'm pretty sure he was rather adamant on acknowledging the difference :X
That's strange, because the lady who writes the exam is Marilyn Wiber who works at Mentone Girls Grammar.
I'm just saying what my teacher who is an examiner has told me. If there is a lot of students who have talked about a policy not a strategy that will most likely give marks, as that is what has happened in the past.
I'm not going to argue about this anymore, I've made this point clear a few times now you can either believe me or not. That's your prerogative.
It was also good to see that the sketch map of your local resource wasn't worth any marks. The MDB questions were different, but quite straight forward I thought? I didn't think there would be as many marks directed to conflict either considering the whole of Q2 last year was on it.
I sense some aggression in what you're saying. I believe chief examiner is shared by Raymond Pask, and Marilyn Weber (quick google found that). He is also the guy who writes the books you use, and most likely your atlas.
I don't have any reason to unnecessarily tell you lies, if that's what you think I am doing. I didn't sit Geography this year.
There is a distinct difference between a policy and a strategy, I am pretty sure of that, you can look up Assessment reports if you wish. Whether or not it is acknowledged by VCAA is besides the point, obviously the safer way to go is to do what the question asks.
If there is a huge difference in what school's are teaching their students, I'm sure it will be acknowledged as Geography is not exactly a big subject so it will be communicated quickly.
Re. Map: If it is worth no marks, it won't matter :P
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My teacher last year sits in an office with the guy who writes the exam (our school's head of geography), and I'm pretty sure he was rather adamant on acknowledging the difference :X
That's strange, because the lady who writes the exam is Marilyn Wiber who works at Mentone Girls Grammar.
I'm just saying what my teacher who is an examiner has told me. If there is a lot of students who have talked about a policy not a strategy that will most likely give marks, as that is what has happened in the past.
I'm not going to argue about this anymore, I've made this point clear a few times now you can either believe me or not. That's your prerogative.
It was also good to see that the sketch map of your local resource wasn't worth any marks. The MDB questions were different, but quite straight forward I thought? I didn't think there would be as many marks directed to conflict either considering the whole of Q2 last year was on it.
I sense some aggression in what you're saying. I believe chief examiner is shared by Raymond Pask, and Marilyn Weber (quick google found that). He is also the guy who writes the books you use, and most likely your atlas.
I don't have any reason to unnecessarily tell you lies, if that's what you think I am doing. I didn't sit Geography this year.
There is a distinct difference between a policy and a strategy, I am pretty sure of that, you can look up Assessment reports if you wish. Whether or not it is acknowledged by VCAA is besides the point, obviously the safer way to go is to do what the question asks.
If there is a huge difference in what school's are teaching their students, I'm sure it will be acknowledged as Geography is not exactly a big subject so it will be communicated quickly.
Re. Map: If it is worth no marks, it won't matter :P
I'm fairly certain that Marilyn Weber is the only chief examiner. Our teacher showed us the "Meet the Examiners DVD" from last year which stated this.
No agression, just a bit of frustration. All I'm saying is there is precedence with the assesors marking a policy as a strategy, it occured in the 2007 and 2008 exam. As I said, my geography teacher is an assesor and I've seen the marking document in person, so I'm leaning on believing what it says.
And probably for the fourth or sixth time I understand that there is a DIFFERENCE between a policy and strategy, re-read my previous posts if you think I am arguing about that.
Re the Map: Although the sketch wasn't worth any marks, there was probably about 8 marks worth of annotations/commenting on these annotations. The map therefore had to be quite good.
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It's really frustrating that they're so inconsistent. Why do they drill in that we have to know the difference and then make exceptions in the exams? Gah!
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Yeah it's more concerning that different teachers are saying different things. My teacher was an assessor as well, and Ray Pask definitely is one of the examiners (at least last year he was), that's the annoying this when it is so subjective =\
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yeah that question was very ambiguous. =[
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Yeah it's more concerning that different teachers are saying different things. My teacher was an assessor as well, and Ray Pask definitely is one of the examiners (at least last year he was), that's the annoying this when it is so subjective =\
Mr Pask? Goes to my school, I thought he writes the exams, but doesn't mark them?
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Yeah it's more concerning that different teachers are saying different things. My teacher was an assessor as well, and Ray Pask definitely is one of the examiners (at least last year he was), that's the annoying this when it is so subjective =\
Mr Pask? Goes to my school, I thought he writes the exams, but doesn't mark them?
Well yeah then I go to your school, who are ya? :P
He doesen't mark them, but Mr. Keat does.
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It's a whole group of people that write the exams, not just the chief assessor I thought? Like for Health and Human Development, a teacher at my school is on the board that writes the exams but she's not the chief assessor.
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it was fairly easy, i dropped 1 mark on the first question and will maybe drop 1 or 2 more, but it was fairly easy
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i was the top sac ranking of my school and i found it quite challenging despite having a former examiner as a teacher. a few questions on the basin were ambiguous and i didn't like having to draw a map for no marks. two boys were unable to complete the exam because of colourblindness while i didn't finish because of time, the 6 marker on population completely threw me, still hoping for a 40 but considering only 200 kids get a 40 on average for geog i'm a little bit worried.
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Only 200 get a 40?! That sucks :/ I didn't like that the map for the local resource was worth no marks either!
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The map was just meant to be a sketch map, should of taken you thirty seconds if that. What was more important were the annotations/descriptions placed on the map. I do agree though, this would have thrown of a lot of students who probably spent lots of time doing a detailed map, without being rewarded with any marks for this. However, the importance of reading the question and understanding that only a sketch was a required, and the marks for the map would be derived from the annotations is key. I think that this just shows that reading time is so important in gaining an understanding of what the paper requires.
MBA.