"Scaling"

[Zues]

Why is scaling based on how well everyone else in the cohort does in their other subjects? I mean lets look at spesh, hard subject, scales by about 11 or so why does it get scaled up so much based on how well everyone does in their other subjects? Why dont VCAA base it on how hard it is, sure this might be a bit subjective, but i dont see how people and there average in their other subjects have a intrinsic link, if you will, with the scaling?

Bit weird, and would be my last resort if you ask me of doing things...

[lzxnl]

Why is scaling based on how well everyone else in the cohort does in their other subjects? I mean lets look at spesh, hard subject, scales by about 11 or so why does it get scaled up so much based on how well everyone does in their other subjects? Why dont VCAA base it on how hard it is, sure this might be a bit subjective, but i dont see how people and there average in their other subjects have a intrinsic link, if you will, with the scaling?

Bit weird, and would be my last resort if you ask me of doing things...

Firstly, how do you define 'hard'?
Secondly, study scores are a ranking. You can get a 1/100 in the exam, but if everyone else gets 0, you're still probably going to get a 50. Therefore, it doesn't matter how hard the subject itself is; that just determines how hard it is for a given person to score high on the exam. What matters is how hard it is to get a high RANKING in the subject. That, therefore, is determined by the student body and how 'intelligent' the student body is in general. This is, in turn, determined by their study scores in other subjects. I think it's perfectly logical, something I very RARELY say of VCE or VCAA.

[Special At Specialist]

Exactly what Izxnl said. It's not how well you score, it's how well you rank. That is why they want to see how strong the competition is, as opposed to how hard the subject is.

[JHardwickVCE]

If you're not sure how the system works, check out the following video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSXIYf4SMK4

Going off lnxnl's point, specialist maths scales so much because many people who do it are scoring very well in their other subjects like methods, so it essentially eliminates the bottom 80% of the methods cohort and thus it is much harder to retain a high rank.

This is why all you scaled scores should be relatively similar because only that is a true indication of your ability.