ATAR Notes: Forum

VCE Stuff => Victorian Education Discussion => Topic started by: Galelleo on November 13, 2007, 11:31:29 am

Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Galelleo on November 13, 2007, 11:31:29 am
Why the hell has VCAA got such a shit server... its a huge association that is largely internet based, and needs accessing by thousands of students and teachers, all around the same time......


LEARN TO FUCKING UPLOAD VCAA YOU SHITS.

I fucking KNEW i should have downloaded all the assessors reports + study designs etc way back at the start of the year when the site wasnt backed up with hundreds of us trying to check shit out.

:D

<-- im a grumpy bum .. next 3 days will decide the course of my future, and VCAA isnt being supportive :(

hooray for specialist exam 2 and physics exam.

/sigh :oops:
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Galelleo on November 13, 2007, 11:34:20 am
HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAhAhAHAHAhAhAHA i tried to open one of hte practice exams on webpage, and it wasnt running, so i closed it and went to save link as instead (cause at least then i can see some damn progress bar)
So firefox told me i need to install adobe update... so i og okay yeah whatever, go nuts firefox. and adobe background downloader starts up...
480kb adobe document, 107mb adobe update.

the 480 kb practice exam is going at 0.8kbps, approx 8 minutes left...

the adobe update has about 4 minutes left, and its going at around 800kbps.

/giggle
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Eriny on November 13, 2007, 11:38:18 am
It gets worse. Try accessing the VCAA website at 7am on December 17 this year.
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Galelleo on November 13, 2007, 11:39:38 am
dw, im pulling an all night, staying up till 7am to get my resulst... so ill just have the website open from dinner the day before hehe, ill just tap refresh every 5 minutes when it gets close.

;)
oh btw... adobes done updating... stupid vcaa exam still downloading lol ... but the speed has gone up to 1.6kbps, hooray.
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Daniel15 on November 13, 2007, 11:49:07 am
You know when you go to the Centrelink offices, and they all smell the same? They've got that fresh carpet smell? Actually, seems like most government places have that same smell...
Well, this is like the same. The servers have dead server smell. :D
The site of every Goverment or Government-related entity seems to have similar characteristics - A web design looking like it hasn't been updated for 7 or 8 years, slow servers, and generally hard to navigate sites :P

I'm betting the server is a PC sitting in someone's office.
Let's blame their host:
Quote
daniel@daniel-laptop:~$ whois 203.12.60.150
% [whois.apnic.net node-1]
% Whois data copyright terms    http://www.apnic.net/db/dbcopyright.html

inetnum:      203.12.60.0 - 203.12.63.255
netname:      DIRSCHOOLED-AU
descr:        Directorate of School Education
descr:        GPO Box 4367
descr:        Melbourne
descr:        VIC 3001
country:      AU
admin-c:      MB284-AP
tech-c:       PK206-AP
mnt-by:       APNIC-HM
status:       ALLOCATED PORTABLE
changed:      nobody-[at]-aunic.net 19950201
changed:      aunic-transfer-[at]-apnic.net 20010525
changed:      hm-changed-[at]-apnic.net 20060508
source:       APNIC

person:       Morris Burgess
address:      Level 2, 2 Treasury Place, East Melbourne
country:      AU
phone:        +61 3 9637 3036
fax-no:       +61 3 9637 2600
e-mail:       burgess.morris.e-[at]-edumail.vic.gov.au
nic-hdl:      MB284-AP
mnt-by:       MAINT-NEW
changed:      hm-changed-[at]-apnic.net 20060508
source:       APNIC

person:       Poh-fun Kwan
address:      Level 2, 2 Treasury Place, East Melbourne
country:      AU
phone:        +61 3 9637 3036
fax-no:       +61 3 9637 2600
e-mail:       Kwan.PohFun-[at]-edumail.vic.gov.au
nic-hdl:      PK206-AP
mnt-by:       MAINT-NEW
changed:      hm-changed-[at]-apnic.net 20060508
source:       APNIC

:D
(replace -[at]- with @, I concealed the emails addresses because I don't want them getting spam from spambots because I posted the email publicly :P)


Quote
the 480 kb practice exam is going at 0.8kbps, approx 8 minutes left...

the adobe update has about 4 minutes left, and its going at around 800kbps.

/giggle

Haha :P

Edit:
Quote
oh btw... adobes done updating... stupid vcaa exam still downloading lol ... but the speed has gone up to 1.6kbps, hooray.

Use a download accelerator like GetRight or Free Download Manager and use 10 or so simultaneous connections... Hopefully that'd speed it up a bit :D  :twisted:
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Galelleo on November 13, 2007, 11:53:27 am
lol
but that would slow it down even more for everyone else! :P
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Daniel15 on November 13, 2007, 11:58:24 am
Quote from: "Galelleo"
lol
but that would slow it down even more for everyone else! :P

Haha, true that :P
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Ahmad on November 13, 2007, 12:07:58 pm
Quote from: "Eriny"
It gets worse. Try accessing the VCAA website at 7am on December 17 this year.


Come at 6.50 am, instant access!! =D

Anyway, we should organise an IRC room that night. Prava?
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Pencil on November 13, 2007, 12:11:52 pm
Quote from: "Eriny"
It gets worse. Try accessing the VCAA website at 7am on December 17 this year.


the sms option won't let ya down
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Daniel15 on November 13, 2007, 12:16:04 pm
Lolz, from 2002: http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/media/mediareleases/2002/13-12-02.html
Quote
Students accessing results via the information phone line should hang up for 10 minutes if they cannot get through at first try.

Students having trouble accessing results via the Internet should log off if web access is slow, to avoid clogging up the system for others.

 :lol:

Quote from: "Ahmad"
Quote from: "Eriny"
It gets worse. Try accessing the VCAA website at 7am on December 17 this year.


Come at 6.50 am, instant access!! =D

Anyway, we should organise an IRC room that night. Prava?

IRC chat, good idea :D
Which IRC network would you use? I use VillageIRC a lot (only because the #simplemachines room is there :D) but also use DALNet and Freenode. :)

And yeah, the SMS option, how do we register for it?
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: cara.mel on November 13, 2007, 12:30:52 pm
SMS last year came to me at about 7:10am :) I think I registered to get it on like the first day it was possible last year xD

"To pre-register to get your results by SMS, send a text message as follows:

    * Student number (eight digits, not the letter)
    * Space
    * PIN (four digits)
    * Send to 19 787 888

You can do this from 9 am Monday 19 November until midnight Sunday 16 December

You will receive your results at 7 am Monday 17 December. Requests sent after midnight may cause a short delay "
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Pencil on November 13, 2007, 12:39:11 pm
Quote from: "cara.mel"
SMS last year came to me at about 7:10am :) I think I registered to get it on like the first day it was possible last year xD


mine came just before 7 i think. Then I checke dthe computer anyway just to make sure, and i got on straight away.


it's scary, you'd think with the thousands of results they send out, there would have to be a typo somewhere
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: principe on November 13, 2007, 01:00:58 pm
Quote from: "cara.mel"
SMS last year came to me at about 7:10am :) I think I registered to get it on like the first day it was possible last year xD

"To pre-register to get your results by SMS, send a text message as follows:

    * Student number (eight digits, not the letter)
    * Space
    * PIN (four digits)
    * Send to 19 787 888

You can do this from 9 am Monday 19 November until midnight Sunday 16 December

You will receive your results at 7 am Monday 17 December. Requests sent after midnight may cause a short delay "

Does it cost money to register? Also do they send you your Enter and specific study scores?
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Galelleo on November 13, 2007, 01:09:18 pm
i use mIRC, but happy to DL a diff client if necessary... i reckon its a good idea, easier than everynoe geting msn, and faster than posting.
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: cara.mel on November 13, 2007, 01:12:01 pm
It costed $1.10 last year

Last year my sms looked something like this:
2006 ENTER: N/A
IT09 A B+ C SS: 51
MA01 A D A+ SS: 30 etc.
I'm not sure if scaling would be in there or not for the year 12s

But for me, I couldn't access the internet one for a good few hours. The sms beep was nicer xD
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: brendan on November 13, 2007, 01:15:42 pm
lol u guys shud just sleep in
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Galelleo on November 13, 2007, 01:21:55 pm
nothing beats opening hte letter anyway lol
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Eriny on November 13, 2007, 01:32:36 pm
Quote from: "brendan"
lol u guys shud just sleep in


Did you sleep in?
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Pencil on November 13, 2007, 01:33:14 pm
I never understood the people who wait for the letter.. when it's right there on the internet waiting haha

craaazy
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Daniel15 on November 13, 2007, 03:57:34 pm
Quote from: "Galelleo"
i use mIRC, but happy to DL a diff client if necessary... i reckon its a good idea, easier than everynoe geting msn, and faster than posting.

mIRC's fine, but I personally prefer HydraIRC :)
And I use X-Chat and irssi on Linux (not sure if there's Windows versions of these as well)

Quote from: "brendan"
lol u guys shud just sleep in

Heh, yeah, that's what I'm going to do... I always sleep in :P
Register for the SMS service, sleep in, and then just check my phone when I wake up :D
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Galelleo on November 13, 2007, 03:58:50 pm
lol, well im an asshole, so im going to stay up till 7 then call everyone i know nd get them up. lol :P
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: rustic_metal on November 13, 2007, 04:03:38 pm
if you stay up all night you spend 7 or so hours waiting. if you sleep in you spend 0 hours waiting.
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Galelleo on November 13, 2007, 04:09:30 pm
true but its so much sweeter! anticipation makes ripen!
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: rustic_metal on November 13, 2007, 04:12:48 pm
ethylene makes ripen.
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Daniel15 on November 13, 2007, 04:23:40 pm
Quote
if you stay up all night you spend 7 or so hours waiting. if you sleep in you spend 0 hours waiting.

True that :D

Quote from: "rustic_metal"
ethylene makes ripen.

OMG
That's one of the only things I learnt in Chemistry!

Here's what I've learnt this semester:
1) Lead-acid accumulators have lead in them. Lead is poisonous.
2) Ethene ripens fruit.
3) Superphosphate is a good fertilizer.
4) Diaphragm cells have asbestos in them. Is Bad.
5) Fission and fusion (oh, wait, I learnt this in Unit 1+2 Physics)
6) Tables are sometimes uncomfortable to fall asleep on.
7) Some other stuff I can't remember.

Yep, I'm screwed for the exam  :shock:
I swear I'm going to write "Ethene ripens fruit" in big letters for all the extended response questions I can't answer :P
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Galelleo on November 13, 2007, 04:35:25 pm
Quote from: "Daniel15"
Quote
if you stay up all night you spend 7 or so hours waiting. if you sleep in you spend 0 hours waiting.

True that :D

Quote from: "rustic_metal"
ethylene makes ripen.

OMG
That's one of the only things I learnt in Chemistry!

Here's what I've learnt this semester:
1) Lead-acid accumulators have lead in them. Lead is poisonous.
2) Ethene ripens fruit.
3) Superphosphate is a good fertilizer.
4) Diaphragm cells have asbestos in them. Is Bad.
5) Fission and fusion (oh, wait, I learnt this in Unit 1+2 Physics)
6) Tables are sometimes uncomfortable to fall asleep on.
7) Some other stuff I can't remember.

Yep, I'm screwed for the exam  :shock:
I swear I'm going to write "Ethene ripens fruit" in big letters for all the extended response questions I can't answer :P


rofl, i coulda told you that lead accumulators have lead in them :P
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Collin Li on November 13, 2007, 05:06:01 pm
Get the SMS service from VCAA, to get your raw study scores and grades. To get your ENTER, you want to use the VTAC site. Wake up at 6:30, and start trying to login from 6:45. I got my results at about 6:51am, so it opens early! Don't be slow and wait for the server to crash (7:01am).
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: principe on November 13, 2007, 05:22:30 pm
Quote
Why the hell has VCAA got such a shit server... its a huge association that is largely internet based, and needs accessing by thousands of students and teachers, all around the same time......

They should also hire a better web designer. I mean seriously their site is pathetic. The graphics they used are very poor in quality and extremely annoying to look at.
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Galelleo on November 13, 2007, 05:25:46 pm
I agree.. i think it was brendan who earlier expressed our sentiments at how shithouse lots of government websites are.

Ah well, theyll get into the 21st century eventually.
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Daniel15 on November 13, 2007, 05:49:17 pm
Quote from: "Galelleo"
I agree.. i think it was brendan who earlier expressed our sentiments at how shithouse lots of government websites are.

Ah well, theyll get into the 21st century eventually.

I think that was me actually, on page 1 of this topic. :D

And speaking of VCAA being stupid, anyone see this news article: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/maths-slip-adds-to-vce-anxiety/2007/01/10/1168105052471.html
Quote
More than 3000 graduating VCE students have had their marks increased after a scoring blunder was found just days before the first round of university offers
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: azhtey on November 13, 2007, 10:17:44 pm
Quote from: "goosefraba"
Quote from: "Eriny"
It gets worse. Try accessing the VCAA website at 7am on December 17 this year.


the sms option won't let ya down


Yes it does. I got sms last year and it came 25 mins late.
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: JL_91 on November 13, 2007, 10:24:54 pm
lmao i'll be in Hong Kong on dec 17...currently three hours ahead of melbourne, so it'll be 10am over there. no need for me to pull an all-nighter or get up early  :D

and boy do i agree about the fkn vcaa site, i spent over half an hour just trying to access the methods sample papers  :x
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: brendan on November 13, 2007, 10:39:38 pm
dun repeat MM Cas dude, do further maths and ace it
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: JL_91 on November 13, 2007, 11:25:39 pm
lol nah the thing is i was pwning mm cas up until exam 2, plus i can't stand the kind of maths they do in further and i tend to work better if i'm doing something i like

back onto the topic...i just really hate vcaa in general right now :x their websites, their exams..etc.
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Khangfu on November 14, 2007, 01:57:33 pm
I'm more angry at the fact that they make easy exams, which totally just spits on people who spent so much time and effort studying.
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: AkirA on November 14, 2007, 02:07:45 pm
Quote from: "Khangfu"
I'm more angry at the fact that they make easy exams, which totally just spits on people who spent so much time and effort studying.


Lol. Then i suppose you'll get 50 for all your subjects, ey?
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Khangfu on November 14, 2007, 03:03:42 pm
Quote from: "AkirA"
Quote from: "Khangfu"
I'm more angry at the fact that they make easy exams, which totally just spits on people who spent so much time and effort studying.


Lol. Then i suppose you'll get 50 for all your subjects, ey?


i did not imply that :P. I lost 5marks on methods cause i did not look at my calculator. Lost 2 marks no spesh cause my teacher did not teach me slope fields BUT i was suppose to teach myself but it was like "Ill do it after i finish doing this chapter" and hence i forgot. And chem is not really my strongest subject. And my physics i just don't really care. But that doesn't mean i can't say the exams were easy. The whole freakin course for those subjects are simple
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Collin Li on November 14, 2007, 04:31:54 pm
Quote from: "Khangfu"
Quote from: "AkirA"
Quote from: "Khangfu"
I'm more angry at the fact that they make easy exams, which totally just spits on people who spent so much time and effort studying.


Lol. Then i suppose you'll get 50 for all your subjects, ey?


i did not imply that :P. I lost 5marks on methods cause i did not look at my calculator. Lost 2 marks no spesh cause my teacher did not teach me slope fields BUT i was suppose to teach myself but it was like "Ill do it after i finish doing this chapter" and hence i forgot. And chem is not really my strongest subject. And my physics i just don't really care. But that doesn't mean i can't say the exams were easy. The whole freakin course for those subjects are simple


Yeah, the higher the standards are, the better at separation the exam is. I was talking to Ahmad about Chemistry vs Physics, and he was talking about how he's better at Physics, so it's unlikely he'd get a better SS in Chemistry, but I was saying: since you're standards for Chemistry and Physics are very high, the chance of you getting 50 in Chemistry and Physics are probably both about the same.

It's the same as when they set an easy exam, and moderate students can catch up to good students because of the easiness of the exam, and the inability of the exam to allow the student to demonstrate their abilities.
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Ahmad on November 14, 2007, 04:35:25 pm
Methods last year *hrmph*
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: AkirA on November 14, 2007, 04:42:58 pm
Quote from: "Ahmad"
Methods last year *hrmph*


What did you do wrong?
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: Ahmad on November 14, 2007, 05:04:51 pm
I dunno, but I lost 3 marks. I'm more of a non-routine problem solver than an accurate person. I think. Doesn't suit VCE much IMO.
Title: Angry at VCAA
Post by: costargh on November 15, 2007, 04:28:28 pm
The Legal exam this year was definitely made to try and separate decent students from the better students which I think is particularly good for Legal because its a fairly easy subject if it asks for general questions but the more in detail/specific questions that mix up the course really split up the good students from the average ones.

Hopefully I'm one of the good ones  :P

What is really annoying though is that I and heaps of people I've spoken to had so much more to write (ie. in more detail) but had to try and streamline their answers so that they could complete the exam. Major stuff up from VCAA in my opinion. A girl in my class who was almost certainly heading for a mid 40's didnt answer 16 marks worth (from what she told me) out of a 60 mark exam! She knew everything though.

I guess it helps me out though, but can't help but feel sorry who may have been screwed over from VCAA.