panicstation said:
What they should say is 168 candidates, then how many of those had distinctions. So, say you had 168 candidates but only 30 of those were awarded distinctions. In English, that could mean 90 distinctions even. So it doesn't show whether the school can teach everyone English or whether it teaches only those right at the top to be good at English
The SMH takes the number of English or Maths exams taken by the school and the number of exams that scored band 6 or band E4 and expresses them as a percentage. It doesn't take into account how many students got it.
If it says how many students out of everyone got it (like how you described it and preferred it to be), the information isn't as comprehensive and accurate. Here's an example to illustrate why:
School A:
- student 1 = band 6 in English Advanced
- student 2 = band 6 in English Advanced, band E4 in English Extension 1, band E4 in English Extension 2
School B:
- student 3 = band 6 in English Advanced
- student 4 = band 6 in English Advanced
If they were listed in your way then both schools count 2 students and are placed equal. However, it's pretty damn obvious they are not equal. Using the SMH system school A is ranked higher than school B because school A has 4 DAs compared to 2 DAs in school B. In this way, student 2 is acknowledged for scoring band 6/E4 for the three English courses rather than be equally acknowledged as those who scored only one.