My biology teacher who's name I will not mention has broken a few rules with SAC's, which in itself I'm not too fussed over. First of allI would like to ask people for their opinion on the following question and is it grounds to lose a full mark:
(This was to osmosis SAC, and we put potato samples from different potatoes into differnent salt solutions and recorded changes in mass to support osmosis theory... etc)
Question) 8. Outline two limitations related to this activity.
My answer: One limitation related to this activity is the inconsistency of potato samples. The samples were taken from different potatoes, with undoubtedly differing NaCl concentrations, due to a lack of potatoes in the classroom.
Another limitation related to this activity is the drying in step 5. We patted each set of potato cylinders down with paper towel, and this may have dried them too little, or too much. It is also impossible to determine whether or not each cylinder was dried to the same extent as the next.
He said that the latter was fine, but that the first one was not a limitation. So, is it a limitation? And if it isn't is that grounds for losing a whole mark? (I think only one mark was assigned per question).
However, my main concern is a latter SAC where he assigned the 2006-08 VCAA practice exams as a take home SAC. We were asked to annotate why each multiple choice option was incorrect or correct, and to fill in the short answer. No assessment rubric was provided. I submitted the three exams perfectly and comprehensively answered and annoted, I checked multple times with VCAA's and others suggested solutions as wellas with friends and only recieved 24/25. Why? Because some girl in year 11 wrote 'extra paragraphs' for the short answer questions. Appalled at the fact that an obviously quantitative assessment was being marked qualitatively for length, I sent him the following email:
G'day dave,
Enclosed you will find attached my powerpoint on influenza, if you get a chance, watch the video of the url on the transmission slide, its really daggy!
On another note, I have some qualms about how the three-past-exams-as-a-SAC were marked, and would appreciate if you looked over them again, taking
due consideration to the fact that the task is quantitative as students either proved beyond a reasonable doubt that each multiple choice that was
incorrect was incorrect, or they didn't... as goes for proving of the correct answer. Also, as I understood, you specifically asked for concise annota-
tions, not large paragraphs. Also, to be as similar to VCAA as possible (as I'm sure the purpose of the SAC was to help students prepare for the exam),
extra marks should not have been awarded for long responses, as VCAA do not award extra marks for excess information once the marking criteria have been met. So, if its not too much trouble, please relook the past exams, keeping under consideration that there was no rubric of criteria and that the task is ultimately
quantitative, not qualitative.
Sincerely,
Luke
He avoided comment at school when I asked if he had recieved my email and the mark has not been ammended.
My question to you guys is should I apply to have either of the aforementioned SACs cross marked?
I know I'm being anal and it's only one mark on two SACs, but I want to get a 50 this year, and I need to stay number one in my extremely weak cohort.
Also, keeping in mind that this teacher is extremely ill-knowledgeable, grossly underprepared, and has basically no idea on how the new VCE system works might assist you on forming an opinion
Any insight would be appreciated!
Reguards,
Luke
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