re: "Board of Studies lashed over HSC", "HSC marks out of the dark"
It could just lead to a greater number of students picking subjects because of scaling and more people complaining about the system. Transparency for the lose.
Students will not pick subjects based on scaling if they understand that there's usually no advantage to be gained by doing so.
The challenge for the future is to find effective ways to give students that understanding (as well as the greater educational community).
lol - finally at last. but with the board now required to give students their raw marks (upon request) does it mean that NSW may stand to lose their "Smartest State" title? would that be the case? or would the marks across the state be compared to other states in terms of raw rather than scaled marks?
No - there isn't any way to compare HSC marks and standards between states at the moment - the comparisons are based on other national tests.
Marking criteria have always been published.
bayan92 said:
By marking schemes I mean the answer sheets used by markers. Its in the report
As a marker that is what I am referring to - the marking criteria that we use to guide our marking and they have always been published.
In his report, the Ombudsman indicates that the Board sometimes draws a distinction between "marking guides" and "marking schemes".
The former are the "Notes from the Marking Centre" documents which appear on the Board's website. The latter are unedited versions of the former which include (amongst other things) correct answers and examples of answers which students might give. These sections are removed from the published marking guides.
The Ombudsman has recommended that all such documents be published.
Does that potentially mean that the board could lower the amount that they scale particular subjects because of this new thing.
No, I don't think there's any chance of that happening, but even if there were it would have no effect on ATARs.
Can we find a compiled list of raw marks and their scaled equivalents anywhere? Or do we have to wait for people to post their results first? Im talking about results from past years, so that I have a rough idea for myself in a months time.
The cut-offs are only useful where you can sit the examination paper for the particular year, mark it yourself and then align your own raw mark. They are essentially useless outside of that context, except to the extent that they give transparency to the system.
You can find a handful of cut-offs
here, but there is no complete list available at the moment.
