What's the difference between aligning and scaling? (1 Viewer)

Mdzabakly

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alligning occours before scaling
eg 74 raw = 80 mark, which is scaled to 83 ... idk sheit example
 

someth1ng

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Okay, you have your RAW mark in the HSC.

The RAW mark is ALIGNED to give you your HSC mark to determine your band (1-6 or 1-4).
Your HSC mark is SCALED to give you your SCALED mark (0-50 per unit).

Aligning is done by BOS where as scaling is done by UAC.

Raw Mark -Aligned-> HSC Mark -Scaled-> Scaled Mark
 

Cl324

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Aligning is done by BOS and Scaling by UAC

Aligning has absolutely no effect on your ATAR. It's just scaling you need to worry about.
 

cem

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Aligning is the process by which the BOS adjusts external exam marks to match the performance descriptor bands - the adjusting of the raw marks to the bands e.g. a raw exam mark of 82 could be aligned to 90 so all marks above 82 will be Band 6.

Scaling is the process UAC uses to compare all the subjects so that the ATARs can accurately reflect the achievements of the cohort.
 

deswa1

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Yeah everyone has explained it pretty much but something to note is that scaled marks aren't calculated from HSC marks but from raw marks. So you have:

ALIGNING (By BOS)
Raw mark >> HSC aligned mark (B6, B5 etc.)

SCALED (By UAC)
Raw mark >> Scaled mark (which you'll never find out)

Its not an important distinction but in case anyone is interested.
 

Myans

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1) Find brettymac's thread about raw marks. That's aligning

2) Play around with the HSC marks (aligned) on an Atar calculator. That's Scaling

You said your confused, that's probably the most practical way you will be able to understand it. If you like reading, find the UAC's explanatory scaling report.
 
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wait so when you put marks into an atar calculator, are they your raw marks or aligned marks? aligned right?

if so, how do your makrs get scaled with raw marks? little confused
 

Sanjeet

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Ah ok, thanks guys :) So the marks you receive the day before your atar is your scaled marks, correct?
 

deswa1

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wait so when you put marks into an atar calculator, are they your raw marks or aligned marks? aligned right?

if so, how do your makrs get scaled with raw marks? little confused
You put your aligned marks into a calculator. The UAC though has access to your raw marks and calculates directly from these.
 

Chronost

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If Standard and Advanced English scale basically the same,why does everyone say do advanced? It's true Standard aligns poorly, but if the aligned mark has no affect towards your atar, then what's the problem?
 

Cl324

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If Standard and Advanced English scale basically the same,why does everyone say do advanced? It's true Standard aligns poorly, but if the aligned mark has no affect towards your atar, then what's the problem?
They don't scale the same. It's a common misconception.
Standard aligns AND scales badly.
 

D94

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There are really 3 things which are always confused with each other - scaling, aligning and moderating. Moderating affects scaling.

English Advanced and Standard are placed on the same scale:
"As the Board places English (Standard) and English (Advanced) raw marks on a common scale, these courses
are combined and scaled as a single course, but are reported as separate courses in order to be consistent with
the Board’s reporting practice."
Source
 

someth1ng

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They don't scale the same. It's a common misconception.
Standard aligns AND scales badly.
When we talk about scaling, we usually compare HSC marks with scaled mark. This means that Standard scales the same as Advanced.
 

Cl324

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When we talk about scaling, we usually compare HSC marks with scaled mark. This means that Standard scales the same as Advanced.
Yes but when we talk about scaling we SHOULD compare raw marks with scaled marks. This means that Standard does not scale the same as advanced.
Scaling and aligning are two different processes that have nothing to do with each other. Scaling is done to calculate ATAR and aligning is done as a 'standard-setting exercise'.

They are both calculated from raw marks. The reason why it everyone says that Standard and Advanced scales the same because it is often assumes that
raw mark ----> aligned HSC mark ------> scaled mark

Here's a scaling graph of all the three non extension english's vs mx2
Screen Shot 2012-08-12 at 12.04.04 PM.png
 

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