Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues

[pi]

This is ridiculous - doesn't the board that write these exams at least test the questions on the calcs to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen?

I don't think it happened to everyone with the Casio, I know two people who got through it unscathed with the Casio, but also someone else who struggled on the certain questions...

GO TEXAS INSTRUMENTS! FTW!

[onur369]

Thats why they should have people testing these exams with the all the calculators which are VCAA approved.

[stonecold]

But they wouldn't know which students used what calculators..

Anyways, I think everybody will be given a fair chance and those that did  get the question right will still find themselves above everybody else. ( it's all ranking)

You're right.  Everyone will get the six marks/those two questions will be removed.  But those of us who got it right WILL get screwed.

[carolynt]

Many students will be claiming that they had the Casio Classpad now. It is a difficult situation, as it is hard to regulate. Some schools may find some kind of light here and perhaps use this information for unfair purposes.

Personally, I was told if my calculator was not up to standard or lacking in an area, I would have to get it fixed myself or find another way of going about the calculation. As I was quite anxious in class when my calculator had not performed as well as others, sometimes even of the same model and mark, so I borrowed someone else's and I had more confidence in playing around with it.

I do understand that one cannot type in every potential equation possible to test for such a problem but I switched calculators about twice (so I've had 3 in total) so that I would not be faced with such an issue.

Having said all that, I do empathise with those who were in 'distress' and those who 'came out in tears', but the system VCE, calculators and all have their flaws, which is why there are always multiple methods of approaching a question.

[AzureBlue]

But they wouldn't know which students used what calculators..
Anyways, I think everybody will be given a fair chance and those that did  get the question right will still find themselves above everybody else. ( it's all ranking)

You're right.  Everyone will get the six marks/those two questions will be removed.  But those of us who got it right WILL get screwed.

True that. I think the best way to avoid this kind of calculator failure is to have the exam writing board to test the paper with the respective calculators, and make sure that it is possible! Considering the importance of these exams towards your study score, I would think that they should review the paper thoroughly, and definitely test it!

You're not allowed to bring in both a Casio Classpad 330 and Ti-CAS are you?

[Romperait]

But they wouldn't know which students used what calculators..

Anyways, I think everybody will be given a fair chance and those that did  get the question right will still find themselves above everybody else. ( it's all ranking)

You're right.  Everyone will get the six marks/those two questions will be removed.  But those of us who got it right WILL get screwed.

Pretty much. =(

[vea]

Does this mean that everyone will be getting full marks for that question and also the question on the following page?

If so, thank you VCAA for your consideration to those who fell victim to this because they used the classpad. (me!

But fuck you for making such a stupid mistake in an END OF YEAR EXAM that ultimately stuffs up everyone's study score.


ALSO two things that VCAA should do to avoid this in the future:
1. Have the exams done with BOTH calculators beforehand to verify that it actually is DO-ABLE
2. Have every methods student across the state use the SAME CAS CALCULATOR 

:\

[kenhung123]

Many students will be claiming that they had the Casio Classpad now. It is a difficult situation, as it is hard to regulate. Some schools may find some kind of light here and perhaps use this information for unfair purposes.

Personally, I was told if my calculator was not up to standard or lacking in an area, I would have to get it fixed myself or find another way of going about the calculation. As I was quite anxious in class when my calculator had not performed as well as others, sometimes even of the same model and mark, so I borrowed someone else's and I had more confidence in playing around with it.

I do understand that one cannot type in every potential equation possible to test for such a problem but I switched calculators about twice (so I've had 3 in total) so that I would not be faced with such an issue.

Having said all that, I do empathise with those who were in 'distress' and those who 'came out in tears', but the system VCE, calculators and all have their flaws, which is why there are always multiple methods of approaching a question.

I don't think there was multiply methods for this question, its not one of those f(x)=5 solve for x which you can do graphically hence the removal of question. I think the board only uses the TI89 and Nspire which is quite ironic because I felt left out when certain insight questions doesn't work with the Ti89 (they used classpad)

[carolynt]

Didn't do insight papers - they were not recommended for me. I tended to stick with STAV, Kilbaha and VCAA.

[onur369]

I just saw the new Ti-nspire calc for $199 at Officeworks and right next to it was the Classpad 330 for $209? o.O Im changing from Classpad to Ti(black one).

[stonecold]

I just saw the new Ti-nspire calc for $199 at Officeworks and right next to it was the Classpad 330 for $209? o.O Im changing from Classpad to Ti(black one).

The new TI looks great.  Definitely get it.  ClassPad is ancient!

I can confirm that the TI-nspire could do all of this years exam paper with no errors/problems.  I went through it just the other day.

[onur369]

Ye Im getting it. Ive got some cash so I might aswell get it. The teacher who argued as it stated in the paper was someone I know :-o. Im doing Further next year and they want us to use the Casio Classpad so yeh. I gotta keep up with using two calcs. I hate casio though, it lags like no tomorrow. It expects us too do some working out whilst TI does it automatically

[kenhung123]

Can you imagine how pissed off Casio would be at VCAA? I bet most schools will ditch the classpad now.

[sgeorge]

Although I think after this incident VCAA will be much more careful. You could only hope they would learn from the mistakes/ambiguities in not only the methods exam, but other exams this year.

[iNerd]

Can you imagine how pissed off Casio would be at VCAA? I bet most schools will ditch the classpad now.

So true. The reputation of Casio has been tarnished...indefinitely.