Disaster in the Methods Exam

[sdhains]

At 10:30 in the morning my calculator was working as I corrected the methods 2008 vcaa exam.

At 11:45 in the morning when the methods exam started my calculator would not turn on. I put batteries in the calculator and it still didn't work. With about 30 minutes left in the exam I got a hold of a working calculator although this was not enough time to adequately complete the exam.

Without a calculator I was unable to accurately answer questions easily, quickly or check my answers. As a result of this I was unable to answer a significant amount of the questions which is really devastating.

My curriculum office pretty much said to stick it. Surely there is something I can do? By no fault of my own my hours and hours of revision come down to a fault in my calculator.

Is there anything I can do?

[Noblesse]

Not really sure on what you can do, but if it makes you feel any better...

I got on a train this morning for my ATA exam (worth 70%, hurdle etc), at 7:47am, as an express I should take ~45minutes, my exam was at 9:15am.

I arrived at Parliament (still a quite a walk to REB) at 9:10am because someone on the train in front was ill. How long does it take to chuck the body off the train at the next station to wait for an ambulance? SO angry, made my stress levels +++++++++++++++

[enwiabe]

That's really shocking to hear. I hate to have to back up your curriculum office, but I do not think there is much you can do. Calculator faults are not in the criteria for special consideration. If I were you, I would have a chat with your maths teacher and see what options are available to you.

I hope you still get the ENTER you want for your course. If you still have exams left, don't let this weigh you down in them. Just focus on those exams for now. If you're done with your exams, then I advise you to get on the phone to VCAA/whoever will listen to see if anything can be done. Hope it all works out

[GerrySly]

Yeah I had a few sets of batteries and calculators ready to go just in case this happened. I assumed that's what the VCAA will say if you applied for anything

Sucks bad though, what did the examiners do just spend the entirety of the exam fiddling with your calculator?

[Gloamglozer]

I'm sorry to hear what happened.  Like enwiabe, I would phone VCAA to see what they say about it.  After all, they are the "assessment authority".  I'm sure they'll sympathise and work something out.  There's always light at the end of the tunnel.

[hard]

thats just pure bad luck. dw just do the best you can now

[haneybee]

awww I'm so sorry to hear that happened... especially as it was a technical fault! =(

how did you go for Methods Exam 1? If you did well in that one (judging by the practice you did, I'm sure you did really well), I'm sure it will even out the disparity. and likewise, you should attempt contacting VCAA anyway and see what their response is. Maybe you will be given special consideration, especially because the supervisors were fiddling with it.

Didn't your school have spare calculators you could use?

[MiCCAS]

sam5, don't stress at this moment in time, give VCAA a call and see what they say - as far as I know, they won't be able to do much, but as already mentioned in this thread it will not make as much of a dent as you may think if you did well with the previous exams.

Not really sure on what you can do, but if it makes you feel any better...

I got on a train this morning for my ATA exam (worth 70%, hurdle etc), at 7:47am, as an express I should take ~45minutes, my exam was at 9:15am.

I arrived at Parliament (still a quite a walk to REB) at 9:10am because someone on the train in front was ill. How long does it take to chuck the body off the train at the next station to wait for an ambulance? SO angry, made my stress levels +++++++++++++++

FYI, it's a legal requirement that they are not allowed to remove a person from the train, only authorised people (i.e. paramedic) are legally allowed to.

[Heiby]

nothing you can do, thats why they suggest you take spare batteries!!!!

[sdhains]

nothing you can do, thats why they suggest you take spare batteries!!!!

If you read my post properly you would notice that I said I put in new batteries

[linny]

awww !
that would have sucked. your mind was fully on the fact that your calc didnt work.
yeah graphics calc sucks. mine have refused to turn on before.. but ive realised that even moving them around in the compartment kinda help. did you try doing that? with your orig batteries i mean

[ninwa]

This is a long shot that probably won't happen, but...

If you did relatively well in exam 1, VCAA usually checks when there's an abnormally large discrepancy between examination scores. I'm pretty sure they only check for marking error, but perhaps if you let VCAA know now, they might see that all the questions you didn't do were the calculator ones.

Like I said, clutching at straws lol. I'm really sorry this has happened to you. Please don't let it get you too down for your other exams.

[sdhains]

I wrote a letter of intent to the vcaa and the curriculum dude wrote a supporting statement. My maths teacher is going to speak to the head of maths at the school or the headmaster to write a letter as well. The head of curriculum said there was a chance (but not a huge one) as it was a device malfunction rather than a battery problem. It's sad that my year of hard work and extensive exam revision has been reduced to a calculator fault which I could not have prevented.

Oh well.......

Thanks for the support guys.

[sdhains]

Head of curriculum: "They would truly have to be heartless bastards to reject your case.......................... But sadly, VCAA ARE heartless bastards."

[EvangelionZeta]

Sam, you have my absolute sympathy.  That seriously sucks - I sincerely hope everything turns out ok for you, and if VCAA doesn't accept your letter of intent then they really are moronic.