acmilan1987 said:
SDD has had such a dramatic drop in numbers
hfis said:
I'm going out on a limb here, but do you think that might make it scale better than in previous years?
It's possible. Though it could go both ways.
Scaling typically changes due to shifts in course candidatures.
If the students who chose
not to take SDD this year were, on average, students of lesser academic ability, then the overall quality of the candidature will have been raised relative to previous years. This may result in a higher scaled mean.
On the other hand, if the students who chose not to take the course were, on average, students of greater academic ability, the overall quality of the candidature will have been lowered. This might result in a lower scaled mean.
A 'very able' student is one who tends to do well in
all of their courses - not just SDD.
Which of the two scenarios is the most likely? We don't really know.
I'd be inclined to lean in favour of the former.