Why are exams needlessly difficult? (1 Viewer)

[Cloesd]

Well why?

I thought, you picked a course which teaches you the basics of whatever field your planning to get into, and the exams are supposed to, above all make sure you know these basics.

Why then do we have people getting less than 80% on a course and being satisfied with it? Does that mean that student might as well have only learn't 80% of the course?

The problem i see, is "trick" questions being placed in exams. Things that're put in there for no purpose other than trivia. These marks determine UAI, UAI determines people's futures. Are we really basing people's futures on their ability to answer
"trick" questions?

Since when did school become some sort of Academic gladiatorial battle? What happened to simply testing the students knowledge on the course, and expecting a good 90% from all students, rather than this ranking system to thin the class where most people get 75%, and only the absoloute eliete top the 90%s.

Why is doing PAST papers necessary in order to succeed? You should be testing course knowledge, not the ability to recognize past questions, and regurgitate past answers from past regurgitation.

Basically schooling should seperate only the able from the inable. Rather than diffuse the cohort into many subtle levels, each based on how many past questions they've seen. Sure you might go into the world being VERY well educated on practice exam papers, but what does this do in terms of raw knowledge/applicability.
/rant

bad cssa physics paper

 

[Absolutezero]

We live in a flawed society. You can either suck it up and take it, or get out there and change it.

 

[TheStallion]

+1 sikhman, well said.

 

[Ancly]

Haha there is nothing difficult about HSC exams.

Harden up you girly boy

 

[iRuler]

Maybe Study harder and put the effort in?

 

[clintmyster]

exams are meant to prepare you for UNI courses but they are also supposed to provide you with some challenges to prepare you for things like UNI where you cannot be guided along every step of the away. Trick questions are really there to make you think as mention but in a different way. Markers want you to think critically and not just regurgitate something everytime. That makes a test interesting at least. Otherwise whats the point of doing a test if everyone is going to 100%? It'l be a memorising contest and I for one don't appreciated people who have near photographic memories topping tests. Different abilities must be tested so I don't see why trick, challenging questions can't be in there to seperate students and really show them what they need to do next to excel and climb higher up the ranks betime they sit their external exams.

 

[Uncle]

bad cssa physics paper

you havent seen a first year uni physics final exam.
never.
after seeing one you wouldnt complain about the hsc one.

nah, the education standards in australia could be declining.

 

[Dr_Fresh]

as mentioned, 'trick' questions are different from 'challenging' questions. trick questions are there purely for the purpose of taking marks away from people who arent as careful. hence you need to be 'on your toes' at all times which is also helpful for further education.

and you have the other way round. knowledge is the stuff u memorise (e.g. equations, laws, principles, concepts) and regurgitate. the actual questions test your understanding and see if you can apply these. how is that a bad thing? if you cant see the connection/apply them, then you arent as capable as other students that can. simple.
knowledge means nothing if you dont know how to apply/understand/use it.

at the end of the day, there is no point arguing and ranting on a internet forum. its not going to change. so you may aswell go eat/sleep/study harder. perhaps also pick up some past papers and look at what you are meant to do with all the knowledge you have.

 

[Cloesd]

just because you study be memorising answers to past exams doesn't mean everybody does...

and at the end of the day, deal with it - it's not going to change, so might as well try your best to get a good atar....

and trick questions are not there for trivia, they're there to test your ability to see logical connections, and apply knowledge....i haven't really seen many trick questions in my trials...

and dumb idea saying 'you are able, you are not' - different uni courses require different ability...dumb idea

I don't study by memorising answers, im just wondering why its encouraged. Is training a generation of expert past-paper writers what we're aiming to do with education?

I'v got nothing against, "Challenging" questions. I'v got nothing against questions that ask you to apply what the course has taught in new and unseen-before ways. What i do have a problem with is, questions which purposefully try to "catch" people out. Instead of simply testing what is known, you find people get carried away asking stupidly difficult questions, that have never been mentioned in the course, and have taken great men their entire lives to derive. (Do they really expect us to do it in 10 minutes?) The only way way around this, is to raid past papers and learn to "recognise" the trick questions.

 

[jackc91]

I don't study by memorising answers, im just wondering why its encouraged. Is training a generation of expert past-paper writers what we're aiming to do with education?

Dude what do you think the purpose of doing past papers is? Maybe its to practice applying your skills and what you have learnt.

 

[Kujah]

If life was that easy.

 

[Vandalism]

we live in a flawed society. You can either suck it up and take it, or get out there and change it.

qft.

 

[klitzy]

Basically schooling should seperate only the able from the inable.

TAFE buddy (Y), 'competent' or 'not yet competent'....but that's what it's like for my course and it sorta annoys me I'm regarded as the same whether I get >85% to the kid who passes with 51%. But what can you do. I do get your point however.

 

[ninetypercent]

the harder the exam, the better. I love it how everyone fails on the harder questions in Maths.

 

[hollaholla]

Brilliant thread this.

i reckon they tell us to do past papers just to get a FEEL of how the questions are gonna turn out ....the type of questions and how they bend dot points etc.

if you have a sound knowledge of the course ...you WILL detect trick questions whereas if you lack in certain areas you might not....they want the BEST and trick questions help them pin-point the best who in the end will be the best at whatever they do. (most of the time)

 

[clintmyster]

Also, if you look at other people's exams across the world, its always a similar format. I mean, they are all going to have trick questions and the challenging ones. Their differentiating factors which are really necessary.

 

[Phoenix Fury]

I agree with this, most questions are not even about what we learn, but about random crap VAGUELY related to what we learn. English of course doesn't apply to this because it has no 'learning' as such, but merely generating enough crap to get a decent mark. Maths also doesnt apply however I think I got about 30/120 at best and only the extension kids seemed to be able to do it. Sadest thing is, I studied...

 

[Dr_Fresh]

ppl need to harden/man up and study moar if they arent getting the grades they want. ranting on an internet forum isnt gonnna achieve anything. the system has been in place for thousands of years and it aint gonna change.

 

[Cloesd]

ppl need to harden/man up and study moar if they arent getting the grades they want. ranting on an internet forum isnt gonnna achieve anything. the system has been in place for thousands of years and it aint gonna change.

Not true, this systems been in place since the dawn of the industrial age. It was used to train armies of workers for simple jobs. They weren't to ask questions, or have any idea of the "why" behind what they were doing, just to press button, put package in hole, press button, put package in hole.

Before this education was largely much smaller classes, and featured kids that weren't forced to learn (they actually had interest in what they were doing) and teachers that taught to create pupils that could later become colleagues (not just for paychecks)


BUT, yes i can see why these difficult questions are put in place, good thread.

 

[iMAN2]

exams are meant to prepare you for UNI courses but they are also supposed to provide you with some challenges to prepare you for things like UNI where you cannot be guided along every step of the away. Trick questions are really there to make you think as mention but in a different way. Markers want you to think critically and not just regurgitate something everytime. That makes a test interesting at least. Otherwise whats the point of doing a test if everyone is going to 100%? It'l be a memorising contest and I for one don't appreciated people who have near photographic memories topping tests. Different abilities must be tested so I don't see why trick, challenging questions can't be in there to seperate students and really show them what they need to do next to excel and climb higher up the ranks betime they sit their external exams.

fail.