Do You Regard SDD as difficult? (3 Viewers)

[FinalFantasy]

My software teacher says it is "the hardest course in the HSC".. and it "scales favourably" if you can pass the course with raw marks at school.
Is it that hard? Is it so hard to pass with raw marks?
From what I saw on the scaling section of this site, SDD doesn't scale impressively at all.....

 

[JayWalker]

My software teacher says it is "the hardest course in the HSC".. and it "scales favourably" if you can pass the course with raw marks at school.
Is it that hard? Is it so hard to pass with raw marks?
From what I saw on the scaling section of this site, SDD doesn't scale impressively at all.....

It doesnt scale that great but the reason it is referred as the hardest course in the HSC, not because of difficulty, dont you think 4 unit maths n english would be?, but because it is extremely new!

I think this will be the fourth year of SDD....

Its "Hard" because of lack of resources, lack of knowledge etc

 

[kevinj102]

Yep Fail Is Possible

I have to do SDD via correspondence which makes the coarse extremely hard, especially when there are only 2 people (including me) doing the crap subject. The best result i have ever got from a test in sdd is about 68% or around there and i only got 40% in the trial

I think we should write in a letter of complaint personally and tell them to mark up ALL SDD marks!!!

GOOD LUCK ALL IN THE EXAM!!!

 

[FinalFantasy]

yea, I saw most people getting marks like around 50%, some even less....
This is almost like the marks in 4unit Maths.. except it like doesn't scale lol.
Really unfair, they should boost da scaling of SDD

 

[Not-That-Bright]

because most people get low marks like 50% this subject is actually one of the better aligning ones... in 2003 that guys marks who posted them here went up by 20% between raw and aligned

 

[acmilan]

Although the aligning is good, the scaling is more important in terms of UAI. No one knows how scaling will be like this year since 600 or so less students are doing it this year than last year. It could be favourable but might also not be

 

[Terra_Niux]

SDD is yes, very difficult but like any other subject that requires a bit of logic, practice makes perfect. My marks in SDD were as follows:

Assessment 1 - 91%
Assessment 2 - 95%
Half Yearly Exam - 80%
Assessment 3 - 98%
Trial Exam - 83%

The things I did in SDD throughout the year were write plenty and plenty of programs in accordance to different algorithms you learn, it REALLY REALLY helps, I don't think you can learn algorithms properly unless you actually code them then perform analysis on that code with say debugging tools like line stepping, variable tracing etc.

When it came to the theory it was pretty straightforward, just word your question with the appropriate jargon and most importantly ANSWER the question.

For other things like structure diagrams, pseudocode, flowcharts, number conversions between decimal, binary, hex etc.. I just did the same as I did with algorithms - lots of practice, just keep drumming and drumming it into your head, discuss different things with your peers.

 

[theVirus]

SDD is uber easy

Yeah, SDD isn't that hard. Although there is a lack of resources, I admit, it isn't that hard to LEARN THE COURSE. There are obviously enough resources to learn the course, otherwise the course couldn't be taught. I found that reading everyone elses summaries, and my summaries, and the Excel summaries, and the heinemann summaries and EVERY single summary I could find proved useful during the course. After that I made my own uber summary and that is what I am relying on for the HSC. Like (Person Above) said, just drum everything in and you should be able to do alright. There ARE students out there that get 85 - 100%, so don't let yourselves down by thinking that 50% is good. Hope you all find some good summaries and websites and good algorithm descriptions etc.

 

[hornetfig]

SDD is "hard" because of its overly convoluted and contradictory nature. Because of this, and coupled with it being a "technology" subject (meaning it is difficult to teach both inherently and because few teachers are sufficiently abreast of the knowledge of the technologies required) means that there are few resources on it.

The problem with SDD is it teaches a [superficial] knowledge and not an understanding of the concepts. The knowledge alone does not (seemingly) allow students to adapt it to the case situations presented in exams.

 

[Slidey]

My software teacher says it is "the hardest course in the HSC".. and it "scales favourably" if you can pass the course with raw marks at school.
Is it that hard? Is it so hard to pass with raw marks?
From what I saw on the scaling section of this site, SDD doesn't scale impressively at all.....

My software teacher said something similar. That "SDD, in terms of effort, passion and hard work required to get a high mark, is the hardest subject.".

I don't know if I agree with him yet, but I acknowledge that for people who take SDD to bludge, compared to other subjects it would be much harder to do well.

My biggest worry is that no matter how intuitive computers are to me, or how well I know the material, this will not be sufficient in the exam.

I say just try your hardest. It is this that will get you good marks, not scaling. And that phrase is becoming cliched.

 

[Bunny04]

Gah, i find SDD very hard. we havent had a teacher at all for 2 terms, and lack of resources have been a bit of a problem. But for me, without a teacher, it is the hardest subject.

 

[Seraph]

yes this course is challenging

i have had to spend hours understanding concepts , my teacher was really no help

infact some concepts ive just had to FOTE cause i never really understood them properly , ironically nearing the HSC i finally began to understand them clearly

Yes , agreed , its all about analysing a situation given to you , however this is balanced with your knowledge of the theoretical side of SDD , this is why SDD is probably so hard at times.....

.... regardless good luck everyone

 

[Doogsy]

I dont think its that hard, most of the trial q's are common sense. I didnt study at all for the trials, cause i got my dates mixed up and studied for physics, i rocked up for physics and it turned out i had software, not physics. I ended up getting 91%, highest mark i got all year apart from the major work. I dunno, there is just little factual information that you need to know, unlike other subjects.

 

[JayWalker]

Without adding any more detail, yes and yes i know ive allready posted to this thread but im so bored and trying to make it lookj like im doin something

 

[Holy Grail]

SDD is hard...it really should scale better...there are some shit easy subjects that scale better than sdd, which does piss me off....and wif only a certain percentage of ppl actaually passing, sdd wont be the first choice that will count to our uai..

 

[Bunny04]

how many people actually do well in this course, its pretty new, and i have heard it is rare, for a mark over 55% in HSC...
Oh and just say your getting 80-95% in assessment marks, cause your teacher has no idea what he/she is doing, and you get a 30% in the HSC, what would your mark come down to?

 

[sunny]

how many people actually do well in this course, its pretty new, and i have heard it is rare, for a mark over 55% in HSC...
Oh and just say your getting 80-95% in assessment marks, cause your teacher has no idea what he/she is doing, and you get a 30% in the HSC, what would your mark come down to?

That is impossible to predict as it depends on the results of your cohort.

 

[PoP 'n' Fresh]

it isnt rare to get over 55%... thats just tales to make students feel better?
its not a subject thats hard to understand. Once u learn it, revise it a bit, and your set.
the content is easy to lean and apply in most situations, just needs constant effort.
i got an avg of 96.6% school based marks, and am aiming for a high band 6 (top 10 in other words).

anyway, to see if i could do it, i did 2003 hsc and my teacher marked it. turns out in his view i woulda got 94 raw... now if only that was the real thing =(

 

[xeriphic]

the syllabus is basically made up of

system development cycle/social and ethical issues/applying development techniques (ie. algorithms, IPO charts and so on)/option topics

so really isn't that much, our teacher is a HSC marker and he tells us that the syllbus repeats itself several times in different sections

my marks for internal assessments are all around 80% to 90% this year and for major work I achieved over 90%, so I think it's possible

 

[JayWalker]

Well my internal marks are stiting at about 55%, yet doing past HSC papers im getting 90% +, guess my school just hard on us