Referendums

[smithy16]

'The commonwealth constitution is too rigid and this makes it an ineffective mechanism for protecting rights' Evaluate the process of changing the Constitution as outlined in Section 128. (4 marks)

Can someone help me answer this question? (2 strengths and 2 weaknesses)

[RobDog]

My guess is that you would have to evaluate the referendum process itself.
So i guess you could expand on points such as:
+ Double majority ensures that only proposals with an overwhelming support are successful.
+ Need for majority in at least four of the six states grants equal power to smaller states.

- Due to proposals being passed through Commonwealth Parliament, they control the process, and may manipulate the proposal to result in an increase of its power.
- Referendums are a costly process as a result of the information and advertisement provided to the public, as well as the cost of the election process.

I don't think these are very much help at all, hopefully someone who knows what they are doing can post later what is actually needed.

[Tragesty]

Evalute for a four mark question, I'd go straight into:

Strength: Referendums are only successful if there is overwhelming support for the proposed change.
Weakness:However referendums have a low success rate, with only 8/44 being succesful to date, which can be contributed to voter conservatism and lack of bipartisan support.

Strength: The double majority provision, whereby for a referendum to be succesufl a majority of states and a majority of the voting public must be met, helps ensure all states are treated equally, and states with a larger population of voters do not have more influence.

Weakness: The double majority provision further contributes to the low success rate of referendums.

Just made that up on the spot :S

[smithy16]

Yeah they sound right. Its kind of a weird question, because i'm used to questions simply asking why referendums haven't been very successful rather than evaluating it strengths and weaknesses style. Hopefully its not on the exam!

[Tragesty]

Yeah you'd think a question regarding referendums would be more about explaining the process and one successful one etc. rather than an evaluation. Then again, it's been said the new study design is focused more on understanding than rote learning so who knows, little evaluations like that might appear on the exam to get people thinking.

[smithy16]

But i doubt that they would do it straight away. I think this years exam will be easier, so they can gauge how much the 10 mark increase will affect the exam.

[Tragesty]

Yeah I've heard that the first year of the new study design can be easier.

Then again, if the exam's easier, won't it be harder to distinguish between the good and the best?

[RobDog]

I'd prefer an easier exam but not too easy. Difficult enough to separate the good and bad, but i just want to feel like i nailed it as i walk out.

[smithy16]

Yeah an easy to moderate exam would be good, along as there are no really ambiguous questions!

[RobDog]

Agree 100%, i'm hoping for straight forward questions so i don't have to spend much time looking at it going 
Also, anyone got any tips on how to get through this 70mark exam in a quick time? I'm confident i know most of the content but in my practice exams at school i just couldn't get what was in my head on the paper fast enough. Worst feeling in the world for sure if it happens on the real thing.

[Tragesty]

Manage your time as best you can and watch the clock. After you've completed ten marks worth of questions, quickly look at the clock and see how you are for time. Or alternatively, tell yourself 'by 4pm I want to be up to here' and mentally mark the page during reading time. My plan is to use a minute of reading time to assist in time management.

It would be the worst feeling in the world to have the knowledge and not be able to express it, which I myself am worried about.

[RobDog]

That idea of marking a page of where you want to be up to at a certain time sounds like an excellent idea for me.
Thanks a lot for that tip, hopefully it helps me during the exam.
Cheers.

[smithy16]

One of the strategies i'm trying, is to try to blast through the short answer questions. Don't sit there thinking if what you wrote is enough for the 1 and 2 mark questions, when that time could be spent on completing everything. But yeah, its the worst feeling to know the content, but to not have enough time. Happens to me all the time!