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Archived Discussion => 2010 => End-of-year exams => Exam Discussion => Victoria => Mathematical Methods CAS => Topic started by: sgeorge on December 01, 2010, 08:54:25 am

Title: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: sgeorge on December 01, 2010, 08:54:25 am
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/answers-just-didnt-add-up-on-year-12-maths-methods-exam/story-e6frf7kx-1225963534508

Quote
THOUSANDS of students have had their marks changed on a VCE maths exam after a calculator controversy.

Several schools complained that students using a certain approved calculator had problems solving two questions on the second maths methods paper held on November 8.

A teacher and exam marker said that students with the Casio Classpad calculator got "no solution" when tackling the questions.

"It caused a lot of students a great deal of stress. They came out in tears," said the teacher, who wished to remain anonymous.

"They were effectively locked out of the question, costing them valuable time and potentially six marks on an 80-mark paper."

VCE exam results will be released on December 13.
Title: Re: Students marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: Romperait on December 01, 2010, 09:05:09 am
If any compensation is given for the question, will it be given just to the people who used the casio classpad or everyone in general? Because that (pyramid of death) was the only section I lost marks on and it would seem just a little unfair if people got exemption from what was, in my opinion, the biggest distinguisher in both exams.
Title: Re: Students marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: beroy on December 01, 2010, 09:21:37 am
i love you sgeorge for giving me this news in a time where i am feeling very anxious.
Title: Re: Students marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: sgeorge on December 01, 2010, 09:25:00 am
^ haha i'm glad it helped :)

I think marks will just be awarded to everyone, as otherwise there would have to be an assumption that people using the malfunctioning calculators would have all gotten the question correct if they had been using a different calculator.
Title: Re: Students marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: QuantumJG on December 01, 2010, 09:33:54 am
Lol with exams having faults in them.

I remember with physics there was a question in sound that was slightly ambiguous and VCAA made two of the choices right. Teachers are always mutilating papers to find any fault in them.

What is even better is that this year in my Thermal & Classical physics exam, the formula sheet had mistakes all over it so the professor was racing around at the start of the exam telling people to change formulas. It gets even better! Halfway through the exam he found another fault in the formula sheet so he came across to everyone's desk and told them to change the formula. I hated that exam!
Title: Re: Students marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: werdna on December 01, 2010, 10:33:36 am
Ouch.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: Pixon on December 01, 2010, 12:22:02 pm
Can anyone actually verify that "THOUSANDS of students have had their marks changed"?
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: stonecold on December 01, 2010, 12:24:22 pm
I am officially screwed.

One of the only two questions which I got pretty much all right and now they are giving the marks to everyone.

ClassPad is a piece of shit.  Dear Casio, Stick to Watches!!!

Everyone comment at the bottom of the article and let them know of all the other VCAA stuff ups which have plagued the 2010 exams.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: Whatlol on December 01, 2010, 12:35:50 pm
OMG i cant believe this! dont they realise now all the students who spent extra time on this question, and got this correct are now completely screwed.... i sacraficed other questions to get this one correct. methods SS = 25 for me
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: crayolé on December 01, 2010, 01:27:02 pm
Which question was this?

I'm a classpad user and didnt realise there was a botched question
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: onur369 on December 01, 2010, 01:29:16 pm
Pyramid of death. Section 2 Question 3. Worth 6 marks.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: stonecold on December 01, 2010, 01:31:12 pm
OMG i cant believe this! dont they realise now all the students who spent extra time on this question, and got this correct are now completely screwed.... i sacraficed other questions to get this one correct. methods SS = 25 for me

+1.  I sacrificed the last question to get this one.  My hatred for VCAA has gone up even more, if that is possible.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: AzureBlue on December 01, 2010, 01:42:06 pm
This is ridiculous - doesn't the board that write these exams at least test the questions on the calcs to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen?
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: stonecold on December 01, 2010, 01:46:09 pm
This is ridiculous - doesn't the board that write these exams at least test the questions on the calcs to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen?

It just proves that they don't test the exams thoroughly enough, which is a joke considering how important they are.

Doesn't someone have to review the performance of these clowns?
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: Souljette_93 on December 01, 2010, 01:46:35 pm
But they wouldn't know which students used what calculators..

Anyways, I think everybody will be given a fair chance and those that did  get the question right will still find themselves above everybody else. ( it's all ranking)
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: pi on December 01, 2010, 01:47:21 pm
This is ridiculous - doesn't the board that write these exams at least test the questions on the calcs to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen?

I don't think it happened to everyone with the Casio, I know two people who got through it unscathed with the Casio, but also someone else who struggled on the certain questions...

GO TEXAS INSTRUMENTS! FTW!
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: onur369 on December 01, 2010, 01:48:11 pm
Thats why they should have people testing these exams with the all the calculators which are VCAA approved.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: stonecold on December 01, 2010, 01:58:30 pm
But they wouldn't know which students used what calculators..

Anyways, I think everybody will be given a fair chance and those that did  get the question right will still find themselves above everybody else. ( it's all ranking)

You're right.  Everyone will get the six marks/those two questions will be removed.  But those of us who got it right WILL get screwed.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: carolynt on December 01, 2010, 02:31:03 pm
Many students will be claiming that they had the Casio Classpad now. It is a difficult situation, as it is hard to regulate. Some schools may find some kind of light here and perhaps use this information for unfair purposes.

Personally, I was told if my calculator was not up to standard or lacking in an area, I would have to get it fixed myself or find another way of going about the calculation. As I was quite anxious in class when my calculator had not performed as well as others, sometimes even of the same model and mark, so I borrowed someone else's and I had more confidence in playing around with it.

I do understand that one cannot type in every potential equation possible to test for such a problem but I switched calculators about twice (so I've had 3 in total) so that I would not be faced with such an issue.

Having said all that, I do empathise with those who were in 'distress' and those who 'came out in tears', but the system VCE, calculators and all have their flaws, which is why there are always multiple methods of approaching a question.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: AzureBlue on December 01, 2010, 02:36:30 pm
But they wouldn't know which students used what calculators..
Anyways, I think everybody will be given a fair chance and those that did  get the question right will still find themselves above everybody else. ( it's all ranking)
You're right.  Everyone will get the six marks/those two questions will be removed.  But those of us who got it right WILL get screwed.
True that. I think the best way to avoid this kind of calculator failure is to have the exam writing board to test the paper with the respective calculators, and make sure that it is possible! Considering the importance of these exams towards your study score, I would think that they should review the paper thoroughly, and definitely test it!

You're not allowed to bring in both a Casio Classpad 330 and Ti-CAS are you?
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: Romperait on December 01, 2010, 02:38:02 pm
But they wouldn't know which students used what calculators..

Anyways, I think everybody will be given a fair chance and those that did  get the question right will still find themselves above everybody else. ( it's all ranking)

You're right.  Everyone will get the six marks/those two questions will be removed.  But those of us who got it right WILL get screwed.

Pretty much. =(
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: vea on December 01, 2010, 02:47:05 pm
Does this mean that everyone will be getting full marks for that question and also the question on the following page?

If so, thank you VCAA for your consideration to those who fell victim to this because they used the classpad. (me! :))

But fuck you for making such a stupid mistake in an END OF YEAR EXAM that ultimately stuffs up everyone's study score. :(


ALSO two things that VCAA should do to avoid this in the future:
1. Have the exams done with BOTH calculators beforehand to verify that it actually is DO-ABLE
2. Have every methods student across the state use the SAME CAS CALCULATOR 

:\
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: kenhung123 on December 01, 2010, 02:50:04 pm
Many students will be claiming that they had the Casio Classpad now. It is a difficult situation, as it is hard to regulate. Some schools may find some kind of light here and perhaps use this information for unfair purposes.

Personally, I was told if my calculator was not up to standard or lacking in an area, I would have to get it fixed myself or find another way of going about the calculation. As I was quite anxious in class when my calculator had not performed as well as others, sometimes even of the same model and mark, so I borrowed someone else's and I had more confidence in playing around with it.

I do understand that one cannot type in every potential equation possible to test for such a problem but I switched calculators about twice (so I've had 3 in total) so that I would not be faced with such an issue.

Having said all that, I do empathise with those who were in 'distress' and those who 'came out in tears', but the system VCE, calculators and all have their flaws, which is why there are always multiple methods of approaching a question.
I don't think there was multiply methods for this question, its not one of those f(x)=5 solve for x which you can do graphically hence the removal of question. I think the board only uses the TI89 and Nspire which is quite ironic because I felt left out when certain insight questions doesn't work with the Ti89 (they used classpad)
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: carolynt on December 01, 2010, 02:56:51 pm
Didn't do insight papers - they were not recommended for me. I tended to stick with STAV, Kilbaha and VCAA.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: onur369 on December 01, 2010, 02:57:55 pm
I just saw the new Ti-nspire calc for $199 at Officeworks and right next to it was the Classpad 330 for $209? o.O Im changing from Classpad to Ti(black one).
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: stonecold on December 01, 2010, 03:01:13 pm
I just saw the new Ti-nspire calc for $199 at Officeworks and right next to it was the Classpad 330 for $209? o.O Im changing from Classpad to Ti(black one).

The new TI looks great.  Definitely get it.  ClassPad is ancient!

I can confirm that the TI-nspire could do all of this years exam paper with no errors/problems.  I went through it just the other day.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: onur369 on December 01, 2010, 03:09:59 pm
Ye Im getting it. Ive got some cash so I might aswell get it. The teacher who argued as it stated in the paper was someone I know :-o. Im doing Further next year and they want us to use the Casio Classpad so yeh. I gotta keep up with using two calcs. I hate casio though, it lags like no tomorrow. It expects us too do some working out whilst TI does it automatically :D
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: kenhung123 on December 01, 2010, 03:16:29 pm
Can you imagine how pissed off Casio would be at VCAA? I bet most schools will ditch the classpad now.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: sgeorge on December 01, 2010, 03:18:17 pm
Although I think after this incident VCAA will be much more careful. You could only hope they would learn from the mistakes/ambiguities in not only the methods exam, but other exams this year.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: iNerd on December 01, 2010, 03:20:11 pm
Can you imagine how pissed off Casio would be at VCAA? I bet most schools will ditch the classpad now.
So true. The reputation of Casio has been tarnished...indefinitely.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: pi on December 01, 2010, 03:23:58 pm
Can you imagine how pissed off Casio would be at VCAA? I bet most schools will ditch the classpad now.
So true. The reputation of Casio has been tarnished...indefinitely.

Agree there.

But it is just worth noting, that Casio has an international market for the ClassPad (as does Texas Instruments) and the loss of sales from a few Victorians will not impact them that much (they have thousands of products!)...
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: cypriottiger on December 01, 2010, 04:16:27 pm
ok im someone who will most likely get 0 marks for that pyramid question
does this extra 6 marks benefit me or make no difference seeing as it will occur for everyone?
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: stonecold on December 01, 2010, 04:22:11 pm
ok im someone who will most likely get 0 marks for that pyramid question
does this extra 6 marks benefit me or make no difference seeing as it will occur for everyone?

it will benefit you.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: Romperait on December 01, 2010, 04:35:23 pm
ok im someone who will most likely get 0 marks for that pyramid question
does this extra 6 marks benefit me or make no difference seeing as it will occur for everyone?

It'd mean that instead of getting 67/80 (or whatever you got), you'd be looking at 67/74. I think that constitutes a benefit.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: _avO on December 01, 2010, 04:48:08 pm
ok im someone who will most likely get 0 marks for that pyramid question
does this extra 6 marks benefit me or make no difference seeing as it will occur for everyone?

It'd mean that instead of getting 67/80 (or whatever you got), you'd be looking at 67/74. I think that constitutes a benefit.
If it were to affect everyone then there would be no change, just all the cutoffs would be changed and hence 67/80 = 67/74 afterwards in terms of where you are placed in the state
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: vea on December 01, 2010, 04:50:40 pm
What happens if I half attempted part one of the question?
I think I differentiated it correctly and set the derivative equal to zero but then incorrectly found the value require with my casio CAS...
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: cypriottiger on December 01, 2010, 04:55:30 pm
thanks all, just wanted to confirm
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: Pixon on December 01, 2010, 04:58:58 pm
Sorry...but I have to ask again...

Has there actually been any word from VCAA regarding this? The herald sun provides no credibility on this, it really just quotes a bunch of complaining people.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: stonecold on December 01, 2010, 05:05:56 pm
Sorry...but I have to ask again...

Has there actually been any word from VCAA regarding this? The herald sun provides no credibility on this, it really just quotes a bunch of complaining people.

Do you really expect VCAA to come out and say it.

As stupid as The Herald Sun is, I doubt they would make this up.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: Pixon on December 01, 2010, 05:12:35 pm
Sorry...but I have to ask again...

Has there actually been any word from VCAA regarding this? The herald sun provides no credibility on this, it really just quotes a bunch of complaining people.


Do you really expect VCAA to come out and say it.

As stupid as The Herald Sun is, I doubt they would make this up.

I know what you mean, but without any decent source it doesn't come off far from the simple speculation that we have on this forum. It's unwise of the Herald Sun to post such an article without the relevant sources even if they happened to hear it from somewhere.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: Romperait on December 01, 2010, 05:15:43 pm
Sorry...but I have to ask again...

Has there actually been any word from VCAA regarding this? The herald sun provides no credibility on this, it really just quotes a bunch of complaining people.


Do you really expect VCAA to come out and say it.

As stupid as The Herald Sun is, I doubt they would make this up.

I know what you mean, but without any decent source it doesn't come off far from the simple speculation that we have on this forum. It's unwise of the Herald Sun to post such an article without the relevant sources even if they happened to hear it from somewhere.


True, you'd think with something like this people would want some level of verification from the source. Guess we'll have to wait and see.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: werdna on December 01, 2010, 05:17:16 pm
Realistically, the li-way and different marking scheme would only be used on cohorts in schools which reported the calculator errors. I don't think they'd change the marks of each and every Methods student.. However, with or without this li-way, I'd still be getting shit-all for Methods because I skipped most of those questions anyway.. :)
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: Pixon on December 01, 2010, 05:21:12 pm
Realistically, the li-way and different marking scheme would only be used on cohorts in schools which reported the calculator errors. I don't think they'd change the marks of each and every Methods student.. However, with or without this li-way, I'd still be getting shit-all for Methods because I skipped most of those questions anyway.. :)

I don't think there's a way to correctly work out which students used which calculator. It's unlikely that everyone in a school used the same calculator. If this "change" has been made, it will be an act that will affect every paper. The unfortunate thing is that for many, no actually change will be made and thus no benefit.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: Souljette_93 on December 01, 2010, 05:23:41 pm
We are just going to have to wait for the assessor's report when it come out.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: stonecold on December 01, 2010, 05:24:11 pm
Realistically, the li-way and different marking scheme would only be used on cohorts in schools which reported the calculator errors. I don't think they'd change the marks of each and every Methods student.. However, with or without this li-way, I'd still be getting shit-all for Methods because I skipped most of those questions anyway.. :)

I don't think there's a way to correctly work out which students used which calculator. It's unlikely that everyone in a school used the same calculator. If this "change" has been made, it will be an act that will affect every paper. The unfortunate thing is that for many, no actually change will be made and thus no benefit.

I thought it was rather simple, unless you got full marks, you will be affected.

If you didn't get the answers to the two questions, then your mark will be boosted from what it was previously as a percentage.
If you did get the answers to the two questions, then your mark will be lowered from what it was previously as a percentage.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: Romperait on December 01, 2010, 05:27:02 pm
If you did get the answers to the two questions, then your mark will be lowered from what it was previously as a percentage.

And that it is why this correction has screwed us over.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: stonecold on December 01, 2010, 05:30:24 pm
If you did get the answers to the two questions, then your mark will be lowered from what it was previously as a percentage.

And that it is why this correction has screwed us over.

Oh the irony.  We get a worse mark for getting a question correct.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: Pixon on December 01, 2010, 05:34:48 pm
If you did get the answers to the two questions, then your mark will be lowered from what it was previously as a percentage.

And that it is why this correction has screwed us over.

Oh the irony.  We get a worse mark for getting a question correct.

Indeed. It's just so stupid that in trying to make this whole situation "fair", you end up making it unfair for the students who got it correct. Whilst there would be students capable of doing the questions with a successful calculator, the reality is that the majority of people with the Casio would have been unlikely to get the answer anyways. It's just some big utilitarian joke that the minority of good students who got the question are now screwed by VCAA.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: davidxue on December 01, 2010, 05:41:00 pm
This might seem irrelevant to the issue at hand, but seeing as they've combined both non-cas and cas methods, wont that mean more people are studying methods? As more people are studying methods, and study scores are based on percentages, wouldnt that mean more people will be getting 50s, 49s, 48s etc ?

Wishful thinking perhaps....
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: vea on December 01, 2010, 06:06:04 pm
This might seem irrelevant to the issue at hand, but seeing as they've combined both non-cas and cas methods, wont that mean more people are studying methods? As more people are studying methods, and study scores are based on percentages, wouldnt that mean more people will be getting 50s, 49s, 48s etc ?

Wishful thinking perhaps....

If you think about it, there will also be more people getting 1s, 2s, 3s etc so it pretty much all evens out.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: kenhung123 on December 01, 2010, 06:07:26 pm
This might seem irrelevant to the issue at hand, but seeing as they've combined both non-cas and cas methods, wont that mean more people are studying methods? As more people are studying methods, and study scores are based on percentages, wouldnt that mean more people will be getting 50s, 49s, 48s etc ?

Wishful thinking perhaps....

If you think about it, there will also be more people getting 1s, 2s, 3s etc so it pretty much all evens out.
LOL
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: taiga on December 01, 2010, 06:23:07 pm
This doesen't do much aside from raise the cutoff mark.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: Romperait on December 01, 2010, 06:49:36 pm
This doesen't do much aside from raise the cutoff mark.

But for some that is a big deal, taiga. :P
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: taiga on December 01, 2010, 07:16:07 pm
This doesen't do much aside from raise the cutoff mark.

But for some that is a big deal, taiga. :P

Haha was this the finding volume, then the half volume question?
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: stonecold on December 01, 2010, 07:16:55 pm
This doesen't do much aside from raise the cutoff mark.

But for some that is a big deal, taiga. :P

Haha was this the finding volume, then the half volume question?

Yeah.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: taiga on December 01, 2010, 07:32:45 pm
This doesen't do much aside from raise the cutoff mark.

But for some that is a big deal, taiga. :P

Haha was this the finding volume, then the half volume question?

Yeah.

So it will just be removed?

That's not too bad for me lawl.

I got the volume question incorrect because i put cos inverse root3/3 as pi/6 for some reason, then got the volume wrong, and the next question wrong. So minimum 2 marks lost there (assuming consequentials). So now I will get those marks? :D
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: stonecold on December 01, 2010, 07:45:20 pm
This doesen't do much aside from raise the cutoff mark.

But for some that is a big deal, taiga. :P

Haha was this the finding volume, then the half volume question?

Yeah.

So it will just be removed?

That's not too bad for me lawl.

I got the volume question incorrect because i put cos inverse root3/3 as pi/6 for some reason, then got the volume wrong, and the next question wrong. So minimum 2 marks lost there (assuming consequentials). So now I will get those marks? :D

Yeah.  I think going from past grade distributions, they just reduce the mark allocation because the question was removed.

So previously you may have gotten say 70/80, now you will get 64/74, which is a better percentage.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: taiga on December 01, 2010, 07:58:06 pm
Well if the marks are removed, or awarded to everyone, the end result will be the same when it comes to ranking.

I think the total marks it is out of remains the same however (friend in similar situation subject).

The cutoff mark will just be increased by perhaps +4 ? (Depends on how much of the state got the question wrong)
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: stonecold on December 01, 2010, 08:23:53 pm
Well if the marks are removed, or awarded to everyone, the end result will be the same when it comes to ranking.

I think the total marks it is out of remains the same however (friend in similar situation subject).

The cutoff mark will just be increased by perhaps +4 ? (Depends on how much of the state got the question wrong)

Haha yeah, but those of use that got it right get dudded.  And as someone else said, we sacrificed other questions for this so we got double screwed.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: Jdog on December 01, 2010, 08:35:00 pm
this is ridiculous...


my mark is not going to change since I would get 75/80 regardless of whether they give evryone marks or not, and I didn't complete the last two questions. Whereas somebody who left the pyramid question but got the last question will be greatly benefited. Therefore technically someone who got 74 out 80 would get 80/80 which is an utter disgrace. THerfore a student could get a 50 without completeing what is effectyively 7.5 percent of the paper,


This epitomizes VCAA lack of due care with exams and it astounds me the assessors didn't sit the exam with both calaculators.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: taiga on December 01, 2010, 08:35:58 pm
Yeah it is pretty damn disgusting that VCAA didn't sit the paper with all 3 calculators...
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: stonecold on December 01, 2010, 08:52:49 pm
Yeah it is pretty damn disgusting that VCAA didn't sit the paper with all 3 calculators...

VCAA are such tightarses I doubt they even own all three calculators.

When ACARA takes over for the national curriculum, I hope VCAA is shut down for good.

If it were up to me, I would sack the whole department.  We are forced to sit exams which have errors all over them in a stone age setting.  We spend virtually all year learning from computers and videos, and yet we're are still examined entirely on paper.

Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: iNerd on December 01, 2010, 08:54:53 pm
Yeah it is pretty damn disgusting that VCAA didn't sit the paper with all 3 calculators...

VCAA are such tightarses I doubt they even own all three calculators.

When ACAA takes over for the national curriculum, I hope VCAA is shut down for good.

If it were up to me, I would sack the whole department.  We are forced to sit exams which have errors all over them in a stone age setting.  We spend virtually all year learning from computers and videos, and yet we're are still examined entirely on paper.


LOL. Typed ACAA in Google (no idea what it meant) and it comes up with....Aged Care Association Australia :P
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: stonecold on December 01, 2010, 08:56:43 pm
Yeah it is pretty damn disgusting that VCAA didn't sit the paper with all 3 calculators...

VCAA are such tightarses I doubt they even own all three calculators.

When ACAA takes over for the national curriculum, I hope VCAA is shut down for good.

If it were up to me, I would sack the whole department.  We are forced to sit exams which have errors all over them in a stone age setting.  We spend virtually all year learning from computers and videos, and yet we're are still examined entirely on paper.


LOL. Typed ACAA in Google (no idea what it meant) and it comes up with....Aged Care Association Australia :P

They stuck an 'R' in there haha.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: Romperait on December 01, 2010, 08:57:29 pm
this is ridiculous...


my mark is not going to change since I would get 75/80 regardless of whether they give evryone marks or not, and I didn't complete the last two questions. Whereas somebody who left the pyramid question but got the last question will be greatly benefited. Therefore technically someone who got 74 out 80 would get 80/80 which is an utter disgrace. THerfore a student could get a 50 without completeing what is effectyively 7.5 percent of the paper,


This epitomizes VCAA lack of due care with exams and it astounds me the assessors didn't sit the exam with both calaculators.

+1
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: shinny on December 01, 2010, 09:01:33 pm
Heh, I'm sure you guys will actually start appreciating the relative quality of VCAA's assessment processes and exams once you get into uni (perhaps bar VCAA's physics department; they seem to have errors literally every year from what I've heard). I'm sure anyone else in uni will agree with me...

Yeah it is pretty damn disgusting that VCAA didn't sit the paper with all 3 calculators...

It's easy to say that in hindsight , but I don't think anyone would have considered that one specific calculator wasn't capable of handling a question if another was. It's more the calculator's fault than anything.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: Jdog on December 01, 2010, 09:08:48 pm
haha i heard MHS last year had all there marks altered cuz of swine flu

even though the only consequence was that they got to stay home for a week to study even more.. which would hold you in better stead


Is it possible for VCAA to also give extra marks for those that completed this question but got others wrong?
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: Romperait on December 01, 2010, 09:09:54 pm
Is it possible for VCAA to also give extra marks for those that completed this question but got others wrong?

I can't tell if you're being serious or not but LOL. =D
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: taiga on December 01, 2010, 09:11:07 pm
haha i heard MHS last year had all there marks altered cuz of swine flu

even though the only consequence was that they got to stay home for a week to study even more.. which would hold you in better stead


Is it possible for VCAA to also give extra marks for those that completed this question but got others wrong?

Haha yeah it was great. We had the junior social, and of course kids in there, erm, exchange mouth bacteria like crazy. Someone had swine flu, and it spread round. What was hilarious was the fact that the year 11 and 12 SRC "helpers" got it too LOL ;)

It saved alot of people, one guy got a 48 with an A on the biology midyear.


And no VCAA won't give anyone anything aside from that question I assume.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: pi on December 01, 2010, 09:12:51 pm
haha i heard MHS last year had all there marks altered cuz of swine flu

even though the only consequence was that they got to stay home for a week to study even more.. which would hold you in better stead


Is it possible for VCAA to also give extra marks for those that completed this question but got others wrong?

Haha yeah it was great. We had the junior social, and of course kids in there, erm, exchange mouth bacteria like crazy. Someone had swine flu, and it spread round. What was hilarious was the fact that the year 11 and 12 SRC "helpers" got it too LOL ;)


That was an awesome extra holiday! (even though I was only in year 10)

Good times...



It saved alot of people, one guy got a 48 with an A on the biology midyear.


Theres hope for me!  :D

Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: iNerd on December 01, 2010, 09:13:50 pm
haha i heard MHS last year had all there marks altered cuz of swine flu

even though the only consequence was that they got to stay home for a week to study even more.. which would hold you in better stead


Is it possible for VCAA to also give extra marks for those that completed this question but got others wrong?

Haha yeah it was great. We had the junior social, and of course kids in there, erm, exchange mouth bacteria like crazy. Someone had swine flu, and it spread round. What was hilarious was the fact that the year 11 and 12 SRC "helpers" got it too LOL ;)

It saved alot of people, one guy got a 48 with an A on the biology midyear.


And no VCAA won't give anyone anything aside from that question I assume.
Bahaha yep. We go to assembly....Mr Fall: "...kissing at the social. Please make sure you tell your girlfriend to get checked out." Year 9 was good fun :)
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: Jdog on December 01, 2010, 09:18:08 pm
haha i heard MHS last year had all there marks altered cuz of swine flu

even though the only consequence was that they got to stay home for a week to study even more.. which would hold you in better stead


Is it possible for VCAA to also give extra marks for those that completed this question but got others wrong?

Haha yeah it was great. We had the junior social, and of course kids in there, erm, exchange mouth bacteria like crazy. Someone had swine flu, and it spread round. What was hilarious was the fact that the year 11 and 12 SRC "helpers" got it too LOL ;)

It saved alot of people, one guy got a 48 with an A on the biology midyear.


And no VCAA won't give anyone anything aside from that question I assume.

yeah i mean MHS needs all the help they can get ... NOT



this is completely unfair, but I'm sure you won't appreciate that since this will only benefit you,
I am fuming, that people could get a perfect score where in reality they couldn't not do what was pretty basic to be honest.

fookin VCAA kents.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: werdna on December 01, 2010, 09:25:50 pm
Wow... are there any other MHS stories? :)
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: pi on December 01, 2010, 09:32:11 pm
Wow... are there any other MHS stories? :)

Katy Perry (and Ruby Rose) crashing the yr12 formal this year... (http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/confidential/katy-perry-ruby-rose-gatecrash-melbourne-high-school-formal/story-e6frf96x-1225905497490)


MHS is pretty quiet really  ;)
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: taiga on December 01, 2010, 09:35:16 pm
haha i heard MHS last year had all there marks altered cuz of swine flu

even though the only consequence was that they got to stay home for a week to study even more.. which would hold you in better stead


Is it possible for VCAA to also give extra marks for those that completed this question but got others wrong?

Haha yeah it was great. We had the junior social, and of course kids in there, erm, exchange mouth bacteria like crazy. Someone had swine flu, and it spread round. What was hilarious was the fact that the year 11 and 12 SRC "helpers" got it too LOL ;)

It saved alot of people, one guy got a 48 with an A on the biology midyear.


And no VCAA won't give anyone anything aside from that question I assume.

yeah i mean MHS needs all the help they can get ... NOT



this is completely unfair, but I'm sure you won't appreciate that since this will only benefit you,
I am fuming, that people could get a perfect score where in reality they couldn't not do what was pretty basic to be honest.

fookin VCAA kents.

Actually I can very well appreciate how annoying this is for people who got the question correct. I've lost between 1 and 4 marks on it, either way, I don't think the cutoff mark will be raised by an extent to which this will benefit me.

That said, for the swine flu issue, there were people who had to sit the exams on swine flu (which is terrible due to the migraines)
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: stonecold on December 01, 2010, 10:38:21 pm
Wow... are there any other MHS stories? :)

Katy Perry (and Ruby Rose) crashing the yr12 formal this year... (http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/confidential/katy-perry-ruby-rose-gatecrash-melbourne-high-school-formal/story-e6frf96x-1225905497490)


MHS is pretty quiet really  ;)

Ruby Rose who cares, but OMG Katy Perry!!!  :P
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: 98.40_for_sure on December 01, 2010, 11:00:32 pm
Steve... first monique and now katy perry?
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: sgeorge on December 02, 2010, 01:42:18 pm
For an update: http://vcenotes.com/forum/index.php/topic,34737.0.html
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: carolynt on December 05, 2010, 05:09:51 pm
Wow... are there any other MHS stories? :)

Katy Perry (and Ruby Rose) crashing the yr12 formal this year... (http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/confidential/katy-perry-ruby-rose-gatecrash-melbourne-high-school-formal/story-e6frf96x-1225905497490)


MHS is pretty quiet really  ;)

Ruby Rose who cares, but OMG Katy Perry!!!  :P

Ages ago guys. Keep up with it ;)
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: Hotdogs753 on December 06, 2010, 10:08:25 pm
With regards to the Methods score change I heard that they aren't taking marks off ie. being out of 74 instead of 80 but instead giving marks for the question based on the percentage the person got on the rest of the exam. so if the person got every other question right then they would get 6 extra marks or something along those lines.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: thushan on December 06, 2010, 10:18:14 pm
Yup, that's right; this was discussed in another thread.

Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: Jdog on December 06, 2010, 10:28:55 pm
except this change only refers to the 4 mark part.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: funkyducky on December 06, 2010, 10:49:45 pm
pshh I don't see why any school would choose to use the stupid classpad over the (generally) more reliable and capable Texas Instruments calculators.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: stonecold on December 07, 2010, 12:09:52 pm
pshh I don't see why any school would choose to use the stupid classpad over the (generally) more reliable and capable Texas Instruments calculators.

Because old annoying teachers are moronic enough to believe that a larger screen equates to a better device, and the fact that the ClassPad does not make you specify the variable for solving (by put in a ',x' at the end) makes it a superior piece of technology.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: taiga on December 07, 2010, 12:34:25 pm
but didnt your result for the first question effect the answer of q2?
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: stonecold on December 07, 2010, 12:38:02 pm
but didnt your result for the first question effect the answer of q2?

Yeah, I don't know how VCAA decided people were not affected for the second part.

I still think they are the devil and talk shit.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: Jdog on December 07, 2010, 01:12:29 pm
I;ve spoken to people who had the classpad and solved it perfectly,


so i have no sympathy for those that couldn't get the question with the classpad

and absolutley none for those who had the inspire and could still not get it .
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: stonecold on December 07, 2010, 01:49:14 pm
I;ve spoken to people who had the classpad and solved it perfectly,


so i have no sympathy for those that couldn't get the question with the classpad

and absolutley none for those who had the inspire and could still not get it .

+1

We still got shafted.  And then shafted again for not spending time on other questions.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: luffy on December 08, 2010, 03:42:47 pm
I;ve spoken to people who had the classpad and solved it perfectly,


so i have no sympathy for those that couldn't get the question with the classpad

and absolutley none for those who had the inspire and could still not get it .

Yeah, I used the classpad and I got the correct answer. All I did was rearrange the expression a little, and the classpad solved it without any difficulty.

The fact that people are getting any marks for this question is so annoying. xD. My study score will decrease by a further 2, after getting owned by the Cone of Death question. Haha.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: Romperait on December 08, 2010, 04:54:27 pm
I;ve spoken to people who had the classpad and solved it perfectly,


so i have no sympathy for those that couldn't get the question with the classpad

and absolutley none for those who had the inspire and could still not get it .

Yeah, I used the classpad and I got the correct answer. All I did was rearrange the expression a little, and the classpad solved it without any difficulty.

The fact that people are getting any marks for this question is so annoying. xD. My study score will decrease by a further 2, after getting owned by the Cone of Death question. Haha.

I feel for ya dude.
Title: Re: Students' marks altered on VCE maths exam after a calculator issues
Post by: luffy on December 08, 2010, 11:05:10 pm
I;ve spoken to people who had the classpad and solved it perfectly,


so i have no sympathy for those that couldn't get the question with the classpad

and absolutley none for those who had the inspire and could still not get it .

Yeah, I used the classpad and I got the correct answer. All I did was rearrange the expression a little, and the classpad solved it without any difficulty.

The fact that people are getting any marks for this question is so annoying. xD. My study score will decrease by a further 2, after getting owned by the Cone of Death question. Haha.

I feel for ya dude.

If only VCAA did the same. XD