University of Melbourne 2010 semester 1 results thread.

[Russ]

failed to understand the concept of a bell curve

None of my subjects are done to a bell curve, are you sure that subject was deliberately scaled to fit one? As one of my lecturers kept reminding us, everyone could get H1s if they tried.

[QuantumJG]

Nah in uni they don't use bell curves. Mind you that if in a subject the highest mark is say 60% then scaling will be done to ensure a certain portion pass, but conversely if everyone does really well (I.e. 80% get an H1) then no scaling is done.

[Russ]

I think some are, but they're a really rare minority.

[Nick]

ALL Arts subjects are generally marked to a bell curve.
Faculties generally stipulate set quotas for the different grade brackets.
E.g. 20-25% receive P, 15-20% receive H3, 10-15% receive H1 etc.

[Nick]

POLS10001 - Australian Politics   , Option   , Credits: 12.5   , Passed     , 2010 , Semester 1 , Parkville , On Campus   Mark: 80 Grade: First Class Honours (H1) <--------------- HOWWWWW?  I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO KNOW HOWWWWW.  I got a H2b for the major assessment worth 45% and a H2a for the other essay.

You must have performed exceedingly well on the exam. I had a similar experience with Aus. Pol. last year. I got a H2A for both the take home assessments and then after completing the exam I got an overall mark of 88.
Very strange.

I think it was because the word count wasn't enforced.
I wrote like 32 pages for 8 questions.
And each question was meant to be 250 words.
I always do better when I can say as much as I want.
I was so surprised when I saw 80 though!  I literally expected around a 74.

LOL 250 WORDS? What a joke. That is like writing two sentences for me hahaha.
Who is the subject coordinator? They've obviously changed the exam format considerably. We wrote two extended essay questions in 2009. Filled about one script book for each.

I know I wrote 4 pages per Q. instead because I asked and he was like "Oh yeah that's fine the limit is just because the University requires one".  Yep.  And also, he told everyone that like, 70 words was considerably enough was probably all they would get time to write.  I was like "Um I write like 50 000 words a minute what happens to me!?".  It takes me much more time to try and stay under word limits than it does to go over it.  It takes me like 2 hours to write an essay and then 48 to cut 1000 words out of it just so it will fit under the stupid leeway.

The exam format was changed!  It turned into a short answer exam, so like, 10 questions were there but only 8 had to be answered.
Each was worth 5 marks and you merely had to make 5 points to get 5 marks, you didn't have to argue anything.
Each was written in a different script book to be marked by a different tutor who was allocated the same Q.  So one tutor marked all script books which answered Q1 etc.  I thought that was a good way to do it, not like the essays where the bitch I had gave nobody a H1 and failed to understand the concept of a bell curve.  As well as taking marks off for absolutely no reason when questioned.

Anyway yep, it was piss easy.  The Qs were like 'What is the difference between Presidential and Parliamentary systems?  If Australia had become a republic, which would it have become?  Which system is Australia now?'.  That was literally Q1.
There was another that was just
Q10: 'What is the difference between the Senate and the House of Representatives?' ._.

Gosh! That exam sounds blissful! Doesn't even require any analytical thought hahaha. Who was the coordinator?

[Russ]

ALL Arts subjects are generally marked to a bell curve.
Faculties generally stipulate set quotas for the different grade brackets.
E.g. 20-25% receive P, 15-20% receive H3, 10-15% receive H1 etc.

Oh wow, you arts people are even stranger than I thought!

Also, if you like easy exams do genetics, health and society. 75% of the exam (the non multi choice bit) was just testing to see if you're a normal person..."if a 19 year old woman had both breasts removed, how would this influence her life" and "discuss why young people are so concerned with visual appearance"

[simpak]

failed to understand the concept of a bell curve

None of my subjects are done to a bell curve, are you sure that subject was deliberately scaled to fit one? As one of my lecturers kept reminding us, everyone could get H1s if they tried.

Aus Pol and Lit are both scaled to the bell curve.

[simpak]

Gosh! That exam sounds blissful! Doesn't even require any analytical thought hahaha. Who was the coordinator?

Scott Brenton (y)
He was actually a really good lecturer.

Oh and yeah it was pretty sweet, but one question required you to like, analyse some raw data and say who you think would win the seat based on like, type of voting and direction of preferences but you could skip it.
I did it but I think I would have gotten like 2 marks.

[simpak]

ALL Arts subjects are generally marked to a bell curve.
Faculties generally stipulate set quotas for the different grade brackets.
E.g. 20-25% receive P, 15-20% receive H3, 10-15% receive H1 etc.

Oh wow, you arts people are even stranger than I thought!

Also, if you like easy exams do genetics, health and society. 75% of the exam (the non multi choice bit) was just testing to see if you're a normal person..."if a 19 year old woman had both breasts removed, how would this influence her life" and "discuss why young people are so concerned with visual appearance"

They have been trying to change it and they're not allowed.
It makes sense in some ways - you have difficulty modulating an exam in which there is a definite right or wrong answer, but in essays, you could decide somebody does something better than somebody else because it is just a lot of grey area and no real black and white.
But yes all the tutors hate the bell curve.
I hate the bell curve.

That does not mean that they're allowed to bypass the bell curve when everyone else isn't doing so, it defeats the purpose of marking.

[redmosez]

Still waiting on my final subject.

ENGR10004 - Engineering Systems Design 1 , Core , Credits: 12.5 , Passed , 2010 , Semester 1 , Parkville , On Campus Mark: 92 Grade: First Class Honours (H1)

ECON10004 - Introductory Microeconomics , Option , Credits: 12.5 , Passed , 2010 , Semester 1 , Parkville , On Campus Mark: 94 Grade: First Class Honours (H1)

MAST10005 - Calculus 1 , Core , Credits: 12.5 , Passed , 2010 , Semester 1 , Parkville , On Campus Mark: 86 Grade: First Class Honours (H1)

Most suprised with ESD1, assuming it's not "bell curved" I got 100% on the exam!.

[vexx]

Your all actually so smart with your H1's and such.. Well done..;O

[appianway]

H1 here.

[AzureBlue]

H1 here.

Good job! Is this for UMEP Physics?

[dcc]

no, its actually the opposite, not easy but some of it is very interesting indeed.

This.  Throughout semester everyone in my tutorial group (you work in groups to solve problems) had difficulties, because some of the questions were ridiculously difficult.  But it is incredibly interesting stuff.

[trinon]

MAST10006 - Calculus 2   , Option   , Credits: 12.5   , Passed     , 2010 , Semester 1 , Parkville , On Campus   Mark: 83 Grade: First Class Honours (H1)
MAST10007 - Linear Algebra   , Option   , Credits: 12.5   , Passed     , 2010 , Semester 1 , Parkville , On Campus   Mark: 66 Grade: Third Class Honours (H3)
PHYC10001 - Physics 1: Advanced , Option , Credits: 12.5 , Passed , 2010 , Semester 1 , Parkville , On Campus Mark: 52 Grade: Pass (P)
HEBR10001 - Beginners Hebrew A , Option , Credits: 12.5 , Passed , 2010 , Semester 1 , Parkville , On Campus Mark: 92 Grade: First Class Honours (H1)

Pretty much what I expected for all of it. The question is now whether I continue on with Advanced Physics B so I have the option to do it next year, or do I bail out of it and do Informatics 1 because I didn't much enjoy physics (and it takes up shitloads of time on ma timetable in really crap times)