CSSA 2015 Trial (1 Viewer)

MatISrandom

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I go to a school ranked in the 90s. Our Extension 2 trial was a modified CSSA trial with about a third of the questions from the Independent trial. Honestly, I think the CSSA trial was quite easy. There was nothing beyond what you would expect, and even Question 16 was rather underwhelming, which is why we switched most of the questions from CSSA towards with end with questions from the Independent trial, which was supremely more difficult. We had cluster of people in the 70s and 60s, which was because we all excelled in the CSSA questions, but were annihilated by the harder Independent questions (nobody solved the final question in the time given, and hence the highest mark was 89, followed by 86, then 81). Compare your performance in the CSSA trial and a past HSC paper, and you'll find that the disparity in difficulty between the HSC and the CSSA this year is massive.

By my judgment, I'd say the cutoff for E4 would be at least 85% in the CSSA trial, and 90% if you want to be safe (which isn't too difficult in this year's CSSA paper).

Edit: E4 would be at least 85%, and 90% to be safe. I changed the minimum from 80% to 85% after your information.
Hi sida <3
highest mark should have been 92, but our teacher didn't give me marks for jumping steps.. ):
 

pororo

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I got 86/100 in the CSSA under exam conditions.
What was the expected cutoff for E4, and can someone estimate my raw mark for HSC MX2 if I got 86/100 in the CSSA one?

Thanks,
Shaniqua
Since this yr's CSSA was easy, I'd say 86 will be just under / just above E4 in the HSC
 

sida1049

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Hi sida <3
highest mark should have been 92, but our teacher didn't give me marks for jumping steps.. ):
That's pretty much they determine state rankings. Even if dozens of people get 100 for let's say, Extension 1, they check the quality of the responses, e.g. how organised graphs are, how many steps they show, labeling the axes (pls don't make the same mistake again bb).

And just so you know, yes, we are still going out for tacos after the HSC some time.
 
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RealiseNothing

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That's pretty much they determine state rankings. Even if dozens of people get 100 for let's say, Extension 1, they check the quality of the responses, e.g. how organised graphs are, how many steps they show, labeling the axes (pls don't make the same mistake again bb).

And just so you know, yes, we are still going out for tacos after the HSC some time.
Pretty sure they don't?

They go to 1 decimal place, then check other extension courses.
 

sida1049

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Pretty sure they don't?

They go to 1 decimal place, then check other extension courses.
Was told from an HSC marker that if candidates get the exact same figure with identical decimal places, they check their internal marks/ranks/distribution. If that fails, they go for the quality of their exams. If they can't differentiate between the quality of the candidates' exams, they check their other mathematics related courses. If that doesn't differentiate them, as a last resort, they go through each of the candidate's courses (yes, that includes English).
 

RealiseNothing

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Was told from an HSC marker that if candidates get the exact same figure with identical decimal places, they check their internal marks/ranks/distribution. If that fails, they go for the quality of their exams. If they can't differentiate between the quality of the candidates' exams, they check their other mathematics related courses. If that doesn't differentiate them, as a last resort, they go through each of the candidate's courses (yes, that includes English).
I highly doubt this is true since there are many ties each year, and no one would have everything the same like that.

Also a HSC marker has no say in the process of how they determine state rankings, it's the head person that does it.

Pretty sure the boardofstudies themselves has said it goes to 1 decimal place, then other extension courses, then it ties.
 

sida1049

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I highly doubt this is true since there are many ties each year, and no one would have everything the same like that.

Also a HSC marker has no say in the process of how they determine state rankings, it's the head person that does it.

Pretty sure the boardofstudies themselves has said it goes to 1 decimal place, then other extension courses, then it ties.
Yeah I understand that. I personally don't know specifically the whole process, but then again it's probably intended to keep it that way. I found out about this after talking with a friend at school, who mentioned that his external tutor told him that the quality of exams is a tie breaker in state ranks. The following week a teacher of mine, who is considered quite reliable (HSC marker for over 10 years, and employed directly by the Board of Studies also for about ten years... although I don't think it was for marking), was mentioning the process of determining state ranks, and also said that the quality of exams are checked as the next procedure if internals and external exam marks between candidates tie somehow manage to equate. Then he explained the final resort which he stressed that he didn't agree with.

As far as I know there isn't anything on the internet which confirms this, but then again I haven't tried.
 

braintic

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Here is what Bostes says:

Students are ranked by their HSC mark. Where students have equal HSC marks, they are then ranked by the average of their examination marks and their assessment marks, each taken to one decimal place. In the case of extension courses, marks awarded for other courses in the subject area are also taken into consideration when students are tied.


I'm not sure what the point is of the second sentence - the HSC mark IS the average of the examination mark and the assessment mark.
But there is definitely no "judging the quality of exams".
 

MatISrandom

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that's pretty much they determine state rankings. Even if dozens of people get 100 for let's say, extension 1, they check the quality of the responses, e.g. How organised graphs are, how many steps they show, labeling the axes (pls don't make the same mistake again bb).

And just so you know, yes, we are still going out for tacos after the hsc some time.
fuck yessss
 

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