Is my physics exam unfair? (1 Viewer)

[yasminee96]

It's fair in a sense that everyone has access to past papers etc.

However, the test obviously isn't testing one's ability to adjust to new questions and understand how to manipulate questions bla bla, which i'm pretty sure (not in those exact words, of course) is in the outcomes of exams. So, really, the test is sort of silly haha. I know of schools who actually tell the students that it will be complete with HSC questions, and i guess that's fair because everyone knows, but ultimately, the test is stupid, and shouldn't be considered as a test, because exams should reach certain requirements in the outcomes.

Our school does this thing, where they use the same paper EVERY YEAR, and people who have access to past students just get the paper from them...THAT's unfair. But yay that's not happening anymore thank you school captain :")

 

[cheepy5]

its fair .... my half yearlies were mostly past trial questions and some hsc

 

[someth1ng]

I think it sits more somewhere in between of fair and unfair - it is fair in that students prepared it beforehand and got those in the exam but its not fair to give students an opportunity to rote learn answers.

Either way, schools are allowed to assess in whatever way they wish and it is beyond the realm of the Board of Studies' control to critique how students are assessed internally.

If you want to hear unfair, at Penrith HS, a number of questions are given to students and in the half yearly exam, a number of those questions (maybe half) are examined. This case is where it is clear that rote learners are at a strong advantage as they can mindlessly vomit their response out and receive high marks - in fact, at Penrith HS, all the top students in that assessment failed to get a B6.

 

[tynormalbeep]

mate, im a shitcunt study so damn hard 100hrs of physics prepping do everything including past papers all excel questions every single questino in all books physics in focus literally 100+hrs and im still not confident. This is life, not meant to be fair so you really only have 2 options:
Fuark it or continue to the very end despite all disadvantages

 

[MATHmaster]

The exam was not unfair in any way. It came down to whoever practised the most questions, or whoever knew the concepts the best in order to answer the questions. Those who happen to practice the right questions and get lucky will not be lucky forever.

As to the nature of the exam, yes the teacher is a douche, and yes it was a bad exam.

I think you are wrong. It really came down to whoever practiced the same hsc questions that appeared in the paper, not the ones who had practiced the most questions necessarily. Also, although the people who knew the concepts the best were capable of answering the question, that does not mean they would be guaranteed full marks in their responses. This is where people who have already did the questions before can attain full marks, as the model responses provided by the HSC Success 1 books provide more than enough information to guarantee 100% responses

 

[someth1ng]

I think you are wrong. It really came down to whoever practiced the same hsc questions that appeared in the paper, not the ones who had practiced the most questions necessarily. Also, although the people who knew the concepts the best were capable of answering the question, that does not mean they would be guaranteed full marks in their responses. This is where people who have already did the questions before can attain full marks, as the model responses provided by the HSC Success 1 books provide more than enough information to guarantee 100% responses

This is wrong on so many levels. HSC Success One hardly gives full marks in their responses - usually, they are good but they're not perfect.

If you practiced properly or were actually good at physics, a slight disadvantage is nothing to be worried about.

 

[MATHmaster]

This is wrong on so many levels. HSC Success One hardly gives full marks in their responses - usually, they are good but they're not perfect.

If you practiced properly or were actually good at physics, a slight disadvantage is nothing to be worried about.

imho, this is a massive disadvantage.
But I will move on.

 

[RealiseNothing]

People are still looking at it as a question of whether it was intentionally unfair. If a teacher was to hand out the exact same questions to some students before the test and told them that some of those questions would be asked, this would be considered unfair. However this is intentionally unfair.

The same scenario can be applied here, but instead of it being intentional, it was luck-drawn unfairness. Students had access to questions in the test, whether anyone knew it or not, and therefore had an advantage of knowing the answers to a test. I stress the word "test" as that is the aim of assessments, to test knowledge, but clearly this test did not do that as some people had predetermined answers.

Like I said, and I will re-iterate, the teacher designed the test in such a way that he/she allowed for it to become unfair - intentionally or not.

 

[eileend]

I think it is fair to have past hsc Ques in the test, since everyone was given the same exam under the same conditions..., the only thing different is how much each student studied and what their study methods were (going through past papers, possibily memorising questions, learning everything concept by concept, going to tutoring or just not studying at all and being a natural at physics)

I remeber that the 2012 hsc exam had maybe 1 or 2 questions that were asked in past papers...

and teachers do advise students to go through past hsc exams, so i honestly dont see why OP is complaining... about a test being unfair when the teachers put past hsc ques.

and after all the discussion, OP still refuses to change his mind....

 

[D94]

and after all the discussion, OP still refuses to change his mind....

Well, there are some who are arguing the test was fair and some who are arguing the test was unfair. I don't see why the OP needs to change his opinion on the matter when the discussion is clearly not all one sided. Why should the OP be compelled to change his mind?

 

[albertcamus]

Hello everyone I am very curious if the teacher is allowed to put several hsc past paper questions in a physics exam. Some people in my school have done all of them and knew the answers the whole time, providing model responses. Other people and myself haven't been exposed to as many as them. Is this system just?

Nope. Not unfair.

It shouldn't happen. However, echoing some of the opinions on here, there was no barrier that prevented you from accessing these HSC papers and practicing the questions in them.

This sorta thing happens with many trial papers, where teachers just amalgamate HSC/CSSA/Independent/Exam Choice etc. questions for Phys/Chem.

 

[cem]

It is even possible that this year's HSC exam committee will recycle a question from earlier years.

There is nothing wrong or unfair in using past questions in an assessment task.

 

[cheepy5]

It is even possible that this year's HSC exam committee will recycle a question from earlier years.

There is nothing wrong or unfair in using past questions in an assessment task.

A similar style of question - yes
A past question word for word - nope highly doubt it

 

[RealiseNothing]

Nope. Not unfair.

It shouldn't happen. However, echoing some of the opinions on here, there was no barrier that prevented you from accessing these HSC papers and practicing the questions in them.

This sorta thing happens with many trial papers, where teachers just amalgamate HSC/CSSA/Independent/Exam Choice etc. questions for Phys/Chem.

And they too are unfair. Using this logic "oh it happens heaps" does not consitute an argument against an exam being unfair. It more like a politician's manouvre to get around answering the actual question.

A similar style of question - yes
A past question word for word - nope highly doubt it

This.

If it were similar, sure. However it was word for word which is just blatantly stupid on the teacher's behalf and presents an unfair advantage to those lucky enough to have seen the answers to these questions prior. It also is unfair to the students who went good as they aren't actually obtaining any exam practice whatsoever by a rehashed excuse of an exam. The rankings would be negatively effected (and we know how much all you guys would cry over be screwed over), which is quite obviously just... unfair.

 

[2xL]

Hello everyone I am very curious if the teacher is allowed to put several hsc past paper questions in a physics exam. Some people in my school have done all of them and knew the answers the whole time, providing model responses. Other people and myself haven't been exposed to as many as them. Is this system just?

It's time you sucked it up and learnt to play "the game". The HSC is a game and it's easy to do well if you play it well. Trust. I'm not smart at all, it takes me a while to understand things and a lot of time to perfect things, but I understood how the HSC worked and well I did alright.

How to play the game do you ask? Do past papers. And know your content. That's it. Also, I don't understand how you can say your peers provided "model" responses unless they memorised them prior to the test (i.e. they knew what the questions would be). If they beat you, sure they may have had a slight idea as to what to write, but you should have been able to as well if you were prepared.

 

[cem]

A similar style of question - yes
A past question word for word - nope highly doubt it

I did say 'possible' and it is.

It happens in other subjects where one question is repeated from other years such as in the Histories - even to the point where questions from the CSSA trials have reappeared word for word in that same year's HSC. My kids loved that year - did the questions in the trials, had them marked, got feedback and two of their four questions were identical in the HSC - hasn't happened since but happened that year for about 5% of the HSC paper.

It can happen - probably won't but don't rule out that possibility.

 

[timeslowsdown]

Yes it's fine. My chem teacher put a slightly reworded past hsc question in our practical exam. The end.

 

[RealiseNothing]

Yes it's fine. My chem teacher put a slightly reworded past hsc question in our practical exam. The end.

There you go.

Also this debate in general is somewhat argumentum ad populum-esque accompanied with people acting like their word is law.

 

[Genero]

Well, the only problem with the OP's exam is that it may be hard to distinguish those who are able to use their knowledge, and synthesise a solution, to those who got lucky. The problem with getting lucky is that in the actual HSC, there's much less chance of getting lucky. One of the perks of physics is the marking criteria, they may be looking for specific things that get that extra mark. For example, I know a former student who never lost more than 1 mark for any one question in their physics exam, but those 1 marks accumulated and subtracted a fair bit from the total. I know another student, who, got lucky in his half-yearlies physics exam because he happened to do the same question from a past paper exam that the half-yearlies asked. He went up to me and said, "I know what they were looking for, I remembered the marking criteria and it said to include X,Y, and Z!". He didn't know what to include the first time around, but got lucky when it was assessed. The only disadvantage with this is that, as a result, his critical thinking skills, required to answer HSC questions later on, was not as developed as it should be.

 

[Alkanes]

Why hasn't anyone mention about HSC English yet? Apparently the only way to get "good" marks is to memorise essays. What's fair in that?