Notice No. 179/2010 - 2010 Mathematical Methods (CAS) Examination

[_avO]

•   The VCAA calculated an estimated score for question 3(e) for all students based on their individual performance on the rest of the examination.

I think this means that there is a set mark given to all students, unless they get a better mark then they will get that estimated score

[Russ]

^^
That's probably right, makes more sense

[Jdog]

what if someone were to get 100 percent on ther rest of the paper?

[stonecold]

what if someone were to get 100 percent on ther rest of the paper?

The as you said, it is a joke and I think they will get 100%.  This estimated score bullshit is just VCAA's crafted and manipulative way of screwing us over without us being able to prove it. 

[Jdog]

this is still pretyy disgraceful however it is much better than awarding full marks to every tom dick and haryy out there

[enwiabe]

Nah VCAA's doing the just and honourable thing, here. It's not fair to assume that every student disadvantaged by the qu would have had 100% for it, and giving them 100% is disadvantageous to all those students wishing to achieve highly as it pushes up the mean exam mark of the paper. Doing it this way ensures that no competent student should lose more than 2 marks on that question (if we define competent student as achieving 50% or better, if you had 50% or less for the rest of the paper what odds were you to get full marks for that difficult question anyway?) and it especially does not screw with people up the top end of the bell curve.

Good move.

[luken93]

So if you got it wrong, but weren't using the problem calculator, how will they know if you were affected or simply couldn't do it?

[shinny]

So if you got it wrong, but weren't using the problem calculator, how will they know if you were affected or simply couldn't do it?

They don't; that's why they're using the derived score system. Say someone got the rest of the paper right but that one question wrong; the most likely turn of events were that they were using the crap calculator and they couldn't get an answer. Hence, they get full marks. Say someone got half of the paper wrong, including that question. Then it's most likely that they also would have got that question wrong, but it's unfair for VCAA to automatically assume that and give them 0. Hence, they'll probably get around half the marks available. Ultimately, this won't move the final rankings too much from what they should have been, had the calculator problem not occurred to begin with. Obviously things are going to change from where they are now, but I feel most of the complaints are from those who got the question right because they've lost their little advantage. I can understand this annoyance since you'd be seeking any sort of advantage in VCE, even at the expense of others, but I feel too that VCAA has handled this appropriately to make it fair for everyone.

[taiga]

It's the best they could do I guess, but I'd be annoyed if because I lost 3-4  marks on the rest of the paper, I'd lose a mark on that

[luken93]

So if you got it wrong, but weren't using the problem calculator, how will they know if you were affected or simply couldn't do it?

They don't; that's why they're using the derived score system. Say someone got the rest of the paper right but that one question wrong; the most likely turn of events were that they were using the crap calculator and they couldn't get an answer. Hence, they get full marks. Say someone got half of the paper wrong, including that question. Then it's most likely that they also would have got that question wrong, but it's unfair for VCAA to automatically assume that and give them 0. Hence, they'll probably get around half the marks available. Ultimately, this won't move the final rankings too much from what they should have been, had the calculator problem not occurred to begin with. Obviously things are going to change from where they are now, but I feel most of the complaints are from those who got the question right because they've lost their little advantage. I can understand this annoyance since you'd be seeking any sort of advantage in VCE, even at the expense of others, but I feel too that VCAA has handled this appropriately to make it fair for everyone.

Well said.

[enwiabe]

It's the best they could do I guess, but I'd be annoyed if because I lost 3-4  marks on the rest of the paper, I'd lose a mark on that

1) I'm sure they'd round up
2) If you legitimately got 4 marks on that qn (i.e. you got it right) they said they were saying they'd give you whichever score was higher, your actual score for the qn or your derived score

[scottlyons]

What's the bet that as of next year everyone will have to tick a box for which calculator you are using? Also while I can't see a fairer way of fixing this myself, what about all the time wasted on that question? I retyped the question in my calculator so many times to try and not get "no solution". could have used the time on other questions. I would have thought VCAA would have tested each question with all the calculators. But having said that I can't think of a fairer way of resolving this than what they are doing now.

[jane1234]

Just sucks for everyone with the TI ...

[Romperait]

I'm just glad they didn't just scrap the marks from the question altogether. Now that would have been truly disgraceful. This I can live with. =)

[Yitzi_K]

Nah VCAA's doing the just and honourable thing, here. It's not fair to assume that every student disadvantaged by the qu would have had 100% for it, and giving them 100% is disadvantageous to all those students wishing to achieve highly as it pushes up the mean exam mark of the paper. Doing it this way ensures that no competent student should lose more than 2 marks on that question (if we define competent student as achieving 50% or better, if you had 50% or less for the rest of the paper what odds were you to get full marks for that difficult question anyway?) and it especially does not screw with people up the top end of the bell curve.

Good move.

I agree that they've chosen the fairest solution, but what they haven't (and can't) take into account is the time spent by students on the question. Some people could've wasted signifcant time trying to figure out the question, which would've affected their score on the rest of the exam, and therefore mean that their derived score for that question is lower.