Raw marks to scaled marks (1 Viewer)

[Snapwizard]

This may sound stupid and tell me if I'm compeletly wrong, but if the standard package has answers and scaled marks, cant we mark the standard package to get the raw mark which will be allined to band2/3=60/100, 3/4=70/100, 4/5=80/100 and 5/6=90/100, This can be easyily done for the math standard package, mark the standard package again to get a raw mark and compare it to the allined mark?
And one more question, when the BOSNSW put you on the standard package(i know they arnt doing it this yr) do they tell you? and ask permission? One more thing, whats the minmum raw mark to be allined to 50/100, I always though if you write your name on it and attemp 50% of the HSC exam , even if you get 0 as a raw mark, your'll get alliened to 50.

 

[Lazarus]

It would be possible to do it for the mathematics papers, which have very 'clear cut' marking guidelines. And it would take some time. But it's possible. I can't really see it working for any other courses, unfortunately.

Originally posted by Snapwizard
And one more question, when the BOSNSW put you on the standard package(i know they arnt doing it this yr) do they tell you? and ask permission?

They don't tell you. There is a small blue (or sometimes green) form which you're required to sign before doing each examination paper. The fourth and final condition printed on this form is: "The Board of Studies may use students' original written HSC examination answers in its education publications."

Originally posted by Snapwizard
One more thing, whats the minmum raw mark to be allined to 50/100, I always though if you write your name on it and attemp 50% of the HSC exam , even if you get 0 as a raw mark, your'll get alliened to 50.

We don't know - I imagine it would vary between courses.

 

[snapperhead]

From a HSC POV..........no one knows the answer to that last point as it does vary from course to course (and year to year as well I think)
(In Humanities) The process of aligning raw marks to bands occurs about 7 days after marking has finished and *some* of the factors include standard of answer, # of candidates, what the BOS perceived the answer/standard to be when they originally set the paper (which is based upon the previous year) etc. The actual process is rather hush hush and you are hand selected to do this job (A friend of mine did it last year and he wouldnt say a thing about the process other than what is above!)
plus the issue of a "non-serious" attempt *may* come into play here (if its obvious you are just "throwing" an exam)

Just my 2c worth.......

 

[Snapwizard]

Hay Laz, just wondering if this will should change, when you type 59.5 - band 2, 69.5 - band 3, 79.5 band4, 89.5 band 5 on SAM, but infact if you do get that mark BOS will round up your half marks to the next full mark and thus you will officaully get a higher band on the mark distribution graph, so shouldnt you move these marks up a band on SAM, just food for thought

Just wondering about wheather the school certificate marks were scaled, some teachers i've had have told me that they are raw but I doubt that they are raw, cause for science school certificate trials (2001) i got around 60 and for the actual school cretificate for science i got 83, mind you i didnt have anything to study so i studied the same thing for both of them.

 

[Snapwizard]

1 other thing, is a raw mark in standard and advanced english allined to the same exam mark? I know they are scaled to different aggregate marks.

 

[Lazarus]

Originally posted by Snapwizard
but infact if you do get that mark BOS will round up your half marks to the next full mark and thus you will officaully get a higher band on the mark distribution graph, so shouldnt you move these marks up a band on SAM, just food for thought

Perhaps... I tend to think it would just cause confusion. It's not high on the priority list; maybe one day.

Originally posted by Snapwizard
Just wondering about wheather the school certificate marks were scaled, some teachers i've had have told me that they are raw but I doubt that they are raw

They're not scaled - they're 'aligned' in the same way as HSC marks. The Board never gives out raw marks.

Originally posted by Snapwizard
1 other thing, is a raw mark in standard and advanced english allined to the same exam mark? I know they are scaled to different aggregate marks.

No, they're not aligned to the same mark. The raw band cut-offs for the two courses are different.

However, they are scaled to the same mark.

 

[grimreaper]

Originally posted by Lazarus
No, they're not aligned to the same mark. The raw band cut-offs for the two courses are different.

However, they are scaled to the same mark.

Does that mean that the same aligned mark is scaled to the same mark, or the same raw mark is scaled the same? If the raw mark is scaled to the same raw mark in both, whats the point of aligning?

 

[Lazarus]

Identical raw marks in Standard and Advanced will:

a) after aligning, be different.
b) after scaling, be the same.

Originally posted by grimreaper
If the raw mark is scaled to the same raw mark in both, whats the point of aligning?

The scaling and aligning procedures have different goals. The former attempts to make marks comparable between courses, whereas the latter attempts to make them interpretable in terms of course standards.

 

[Snapwizard]

Um....When you start yr 11 and choose your subjects, how come no ones ever goes through any of this with us?? They should at least tell us something about scaling, i asked my career advsier about scaling at the end of yr 10 and he look dazed and confused and mutted out "Expect from Ex subjects, physics and chemistry, everything else scaled down" then he walked away.

 

[honky tonk]

Originally posted by Snapwizard
how come no ones ever goes through any of this with us??

Because the Board probably tells the teachers not to. They don't want students choosing subjects based on scaling (although people still do), and so they usually just tell us to pick subjects we enjoy and are good at.

 

[Ragerunner]

But I would still agree that knowing some of the basics of scaling will be better.

e.g. You like a subject but don't perform that well in it, and it happens to be a very poorly scaled subject.

The English standard/advanced single course scaling should be explained...that's pretty important...

 

[honky tonk]

Originally posted by Ragerunner
The English standard/advanced single course scaling should be explained...that's pretty important...

Yeah that's true.. also I think the General Maths scaling should be told, because I know a few people who did General just because they knew they would be good at it.. they didn't realise until later that they would need high 90's just to get what they would consider a decent mark.

 

[iambored]

yeah people should have that information. some people do not understand it at all, it's only the lucky ones who know someone who can explain it to them in a way they understand, and then they can choose subjects which are more suited to them

 

[Sarah168]

which is why this site is such a good find!!

 

[Snapwizard]

Originally posted by Sarah168
which is why this site is such a good find!!

So ture but i dont think many of the teachers understand scaling at all, wonder where Laz found out about all the scaling business anyway.

 

[santaslayer]

the teachers in catholic skools have no idea shen, richie or woteeva his name was isnt even qualified......

 

[Snapwizard]

Originally posted by santaslayer
the teachers in catholic skools have no idea shen, richie or woteeva his name was isnt even qualified......

Yeah aint life a bitch, well is all over red rova now

 

[santaslayer]

not for the nxt generation of MCK goers...lol

 

[Snapwizard]

Originally posted by santaslayer
not for the nxt generation of MCK goers...lol

why bother accpet their fate - TAFE lolz

 

[snapperhead]

Originally posted by honky tonk
Because the Board probably tells the teachers not to. They don't want students choosing subjects based on scaling (although people still do), and so they usually just tell us to pick subjects we enjoy and are good at.

Yes, we all receive special letters telling us to try and mess students over by encouraging them to do something they enjoy!!

BTW the Board discourages the practice of UAI stacking (which I thought that for a student to do this was a smart idea but....) as this was one of the primary reasons for them changing the HSC in 2000/2001 and scrapping all (but 1) 1 unit subjects and eliminating the "non-academic" (but still counted to the HSC) subjects (basicly they are now VET/VTAB subjects or have been made 2 units and/or made harder)
Why do students (and seniors at that) think their teachers are out to get them?

As to the scaling knowledge thing: I can only speak for my cluster (which is about 8/9 schools). When the new HSC came out, we were given a one day intro to the course which had a brief (less than an hour) blurb on scaling. If you think an entire form of students is distractive, imagine about 400 teachers together in a hall being lectured about scaling and median marks and bell curves! If you take the "average" speciality of HSC teachers to be in the humanities area (which I would say would be the majority), then this level and type of maths (which we were told you *cannot* and we *should* not try to second guess as it changes) is really beyond "easy" explanation.

You/we are very lucky to have a small number of mathematicly inclined uni students here on the board who have taken the time to pull apart the miles of (publicly available) BOS stats and info and put it together. But as even they admit, all the info isnt "100% accurate" as things do change and there are many variables. (eg read the stickies in the HSC/UAI forum and the various disclaimers found on the site)
Just something to think about.........