Assuming 2011 exam was easy, are they going to make the exam harder this year?

[BigAl]

I've just solved 2011 exam 1 and scored 36/40. That was my best score so far and the exam seemed so accessible in terms of collecting marks. So do you think they will make the exam harder comparing to last one? My theory just works in this way: the exams are harder one year and easier following year and vice versa.

[paulsterio]

Not really, it's up to chance whether this year's exam is easy or hard.

[FlorianK]

The 2012 exam was written before the students sat he 2011 exam, hence it doesn't have an influence.
However looking at past years the probability for having an exam 1 with an A+ cut-off of 1.5 marks lost is very low.

[Special At Specialist]

I think it will be roughly the same difficulty as the 2010.

[Bhootnike]

The 2012 exam was written before the students sat he 2011 exam, hence it doesn't have an influence.
However looking at past years the probability for having an exam 1 with an A+ cut-off of 1.5 marks lost is very low.

who told you that?

[thushan]

Guys, we can't predict how hard it is going to be.

[FlorianK]

The 2012 exam was written before the students sat he 2011 exam, hence it doesn't have an influence.
However looking at past years the probability for having an exam 1 with an A+ cut-off of 1.5 marks lost is very low.

who told you that?

Teacher of mine, who prevalently got asked to be one of those teachers, who checks the exam before the actual exam comes out. However she rather teaches 3/4 methods, which she obviously wouldn't be allowed to if you'd agree.

[charmanderp]

Why does it even matter? Several people speculated that this year's chem exam was going to be the hardest one for the current Study Design and it ended up having the highest A+ cut-off in the last 5 years (meaning it was very straightforward). Just study as much as you can and be prepared to get the exact same grade no matter what the difficult of the paper is.

[Lasercookie]

I agree that it's not worth predicting it, be prepared for whatever exam is thrown at you.

The 2012 exam was written before the students sat he 2011 exam, hence it doesn't have an influence.

On this, here's a document that gives a timeline https://www.ssms.vic.edu.au/ASR_Link_Files/2013%20SETVET%20info%20kit%20v1.doc. This has been updated for 2013, but I'm confident that the document was pretty much the same for the 2012 exam timeline when I looked at it earlier this year (and would suspect that it's been the same process for years).

What your teacher said about September in the year earlier is just getting the people together, they don't start writing the exam until a bit later. But yeah, they do start working on it early, with a first draft done by Feb of that year.

A general timeline
August/September (2012) – formation of panels
October – Panel Chair briefing
February (2013) – first draft of paper submitted
March – first vetting checks underway (Study Specialist vetting)
May – desktopping and ESL vetting
June – second vetting checks underway (Sitter vetter, Teacher vetter, other specialised vetting if required)
July – signoff by panel
September – examination printed and final QA checks by panel.

This is a guide for the November written examinations only; it can vary markedly from one examination to another. It is always assumed that the paper will be completed earlier than this timeline.

[Bhootnike]

I agree that it's not worth predicting it, be prepared for whatever exam is thrown at you.

The 2012 exam was written before the students sat he 2011 exam, hence it doesn't have an influence.

On this, here's a document that gives a timeline https://www.ssms.vic.edu.au/ASR_Link_Files/2013%20SETVET%20info%20kit%20v1.doc. This has been updated for 2013, but I'm confident that the document was pretty much the same for the 2012 exam timeline when I looked at it earlier this year (and would suspect that it's been the same process for years).

What your teacher said about September in the year earlier is just getting the people together, they don't start writing the exam until a bit later. But yeah, they do start working on it early, with a first draft done by Feb of that year.

A general timeline
August/September (2012) – formation of panels
October – Panel Chair briefing
February (2013) – first draft of paper submitted
March – first vetting checks underway (Study Specialist vetting)
May – desktopping and ESL vetting
June – second vetting checks underway (Sitter vetter, Teacher vetter, other specialised vetting if required)
July – signoff by panel
September – examination printed and final QA checks by panel.

This is a guide for the November written examinations only; it can vary markedly from one examination to another. It is always assumed that the paper will be completed earlier than this timeline.

I thought itd make sense to write it after the exams were marked and an assesment report was made, because dont they sort of write an exam based on how the last years people found performed the last exam

[paulsterio]

Just remember that the harder the exam, the more it will benefit those who have put in the hard work and effort to learn more. The easier the exam, the more you will be penalised for making careless errors.

[thushan]

Just remember that the harder the exam, the more it will benefit those who have put in the hard work and effort to learn more. The easier the exam, the more you will be penalised for making careless errors.

Case in point.

[Greatness]

I prefer more difficult exams - in VCE that is Careless errors won't be as costly and the extra study will more likely pay off, especially if you've done a lot different questions so you should have all bases covered - well that should be the case regardless

[MJRomeo81]

Don't forget that there's a huge difference psychologically when sitting the actual VCAA paper for real in the exam room. Certainly isn't like any prac exam I ever sat.

[pi]

I've just solved 2011 exam 1 and scored 36/40. That was my best score so far and the exam seemed so accessible in terms of collecting marks. So do you think they will make the exam harder comparing to last one?

No-one on this forum will have a definite answer to that and anyone who does is lying.