First Online HSC Exam - 2019

[Joseph41]

From NESA:

"2019 HSC students studying the new Science Extension course will be the first in NSW to complete their HSC exam online... Students will use either a desktop or laptop computer (tablets or smartphones are not suitable) connected to the internet which will ‘lock-down’ during the exam."

I think this is very interesting, indeed! What do y'all think about it? Good idea? Bad idea? What issues do you foresee?

[PhoenixxFire]

I don’t know if I think it’s a good or bad idea. I can see so many things potentially going wrong.

I would hate to do one for math - they said that this exam doesn’t need symbols but I imagine it would be a bit harder for an exam that did (or maybe they would just add all the necessary symbols - it would still be slower than writing them though I think).

There’s probably going to be last minute computer issues though, I don’t think I’ve ever had a class where everyone manages to bring a working computer. Even my computer is a bit broken, it doesn’t really matter but I imagine it would be a bit stressful if I was in an exam and it was messing up haha

They said the computer would be connected to the internet, but then what happens if someone’s internet is being laggy or something like that - do they get extra time? How do you prove that their internet is slow? Or what if they manage to delete what they’ve written or something?

I think the change is definitely going to happen at some point though. I think it would be better if it wasn’t on the internet. Like putting the program on a USB or something? That would at least elimimate some of the issues with wifi connection and the potential for people hacking it. I don’t know how that would work logistically though haha

[jazcstuart]

I agree that there is so many things which could go wrong. We had to do the VALID science exam online in year 10, and it was so hard because people's computers kept lagging or there were issues connecting to the site. I'd imagine it could also be unfair because people type at very different speeds?
It's cool that they are trialing it with one subject though, I'd image they would make sure the HSC exam had been tested so that these issues would be minimised. I remember first talking about online HSC exams a few years ago and I thought it wouldn't happen until much further in the future!

[Joseph41]

I'd imagine it could also be unfair because people type at very different speeds?

Could you make the same argument about handwriting?

[jazcstuart]

Could you make the same argument about handwriting?

Definitely, except I don't think to the same extent, there is a limit to how fast you can write and the slowest writers still won't be enomously slower. Also I think it increases educational disadvantage, as people who have had acess to computers all their life are of course going to be faster than people who haven't been able to have the same experience.

[Sine]

I've done online mid semester tests which have been worth large portions of the uni grade and have seen a few problems. There are the obvious technical difficulties - sometimes images don't load properly or take too long to load. Moving to the next question sometimes can lag and will eat out a chuck of your time. I've seen friends tests crash which have resulted in them having to sit another mid semester test the next day (this would not be possible for HSC exams) and this happens on the desktops that the uni make you do your test on. So on someone's personal computer it's gonna be so much worse.
Imo it is so much better reading off a piece of paper (especially for your eyes ) and sometimes you just need to write out and work out stuff on paper. (some MSTs you weren't allowed blank sheets of paper )
 
At uni the main tangible benefit I can see is easier marking as we received our marks for online tests like this maybe 50-75% quicker than any handwritten tests.