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March 29, 2024, 03:23:48 am

Author Topic: Standard English scaling  (Read 5150 times)

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MA_2020

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Standard English scaling
« on: October 20, 2020, 02:50:38 pm »
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As we know, 2020 is the first year that the ATAR is being used in Queensland but I am just curious how you all Personally think that standard english will scale. I totally forgot about scaling until now when I was reminded that a 75 raw score for example, might end up as a 55...

I was just curious on how much scaling will impact standard english,

It would also be helpful if you all could give your opinions on how general maths and music scales.

It is also more about how 'tough' scaling is, I always thought that scaling was more like 80 becomes 74, but I have now been told that it is possible for a 75 to go all the way to a 55!
« Last Edit: October 20, 2020, 02:53:08 pm by MA_2020 »

s110820

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Re: Standard English scaling
« Reply #1 on: October 21, 2020, 09:58:20 am »
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Hey MA_2020,

As much as I would love to help answer your questions, in a literal sense, not much is known about the scaling of subjects in the new ATAR system. Sure, the topic has been thrown about here and there, but there aren't really any definite details on how the process works or how the subjects scale, whether it's based on the performance of your classmates or if it's based on the performance of everyone else in the state. In some schools, some subjects scale higher than the others, but in other schools, those same subjects scale lower.

I'm really sorry that I couldn't give you a definite answer but in terms of my subjects, here is the order in which they will affect my ATAR based on my personal performance, as indicated by my career planning/ATAR (more of an estimate) prediction meeting:

1. Modern History (now 50% of my final grade, rather than 25%) - scaled higher due to personal performance.
2. Literature (now 50% of my final grade, rather than 25%) - scaled higher due to personal performance.
3. English (now 50% of my final grade, rather than 25%) - scaled higher due to personal performance.
4. General Mathematics (now 75% of my grade, rather than 50%) - scaled lower due to personal performance.
5. Biology (now 75% of my grade, rather than 50%) - scaled lower due to personal performance.

But I also did a bit of research for you on how the QLD ATAR inter-scaling system works based on what QTAC has said - I would be wary of sources outside of the QTAC. I have attached a few documents to this forum post. But from what I can tell, these are the key takeaways that you should consider:

  • According to the QTAC powerpoint, apparently the scaling system "ensures that students are neither advantaged nor disadvantaged based on the subjects they choose" (QTAC, 2020) to study in Year 12. But unfortunately, from what I have seen in the outcome of scaling at my school (based on discussions), it seems like the science and mathematics subjects, especially Specialist Mathematics or Physics, are scaled higher than the Arts or Humanities subjects
  • Also according to the QTAC powerpoint, the scaling system seems to be a combination of "how well students achieve in their subjects and how difficult it is to achieve a particular result in the subject relative to other subjects" (QTAC 2020). Hence, inter-scaling system = personal performance + difficulty of subject.

But please understand that the inter-scaling system was not designed to persuade students to choose some subjects over other subjects. Rather, as beautifully summarised in the ATAR Notes article that I linked below, t he scaling system does not change your level of achievement, it only scales the scale of reporting.

Hopefully, this insight was somewhat helpful but again, I'm extremely sorry that I couldn't give you a definite answer to your questions.

Have a great week and kind regards,

Darcy Dillon.

P.S. You may also find this ATAR Notes article useful: https://atarnotes.com/qce-system/
« Last Edit: October 21, 2020, 10:05:17 am by s110820 »
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Joseph41

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Re: Standard English scaling
« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2020, 11:14:08 am »
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According to the QTAC powerpoint, apparently the scaling system "ensures that students are neither advantaged nor disadvantaged based on the subjects they choose" (QTAC, 2020) to study in Year 12. But unfortunately, from what I have seen in the outcome of scaling at my school (based on discussions), it seems like the science and mathematics subjects, especially Specialist Mathematics or Physics, are scaled higher than the Arts or Humanities subjects

I don't think this is quite right. Scaling in the sense of inter-subject scaling hasn't occurred yet, and won't until after exams. It may be the case that, as a rule, science and mathematics subjects "benefit" from higher scaling than arts or humanities subjects, but that also may not be the case. Even then, the "benefit" is really just counteracting the idea that those subjects were deemed more competitive.

As noted in the AN article you've linked:

"The idea of inter-subject scaling is to allow easy comparison of results not only within QCE subjects, but across them. If scaling didn’t exist, students could, theoretically, try to “game” the system by studying exclusively what they perceive to be easy subjects in order to maximise their ATAR. Having inter-subject scaling means that students can simply choose the subjects they’re most interested in without having to worry about any adverse impact on their results."

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s110820

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Re: Standard English scaling
« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2020, 12:21:31 pm »
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I don't think this is quite right. Scaling in the sense of inter-subject scaling hasn't occurred yet, and won't until after exams. It may be the case that, as a rule, science and mathematics subjects "benefit" from higher scaling than arts or humanities subjects, but that also may not be the case. Even then, the "benefit" is really just counteracting the idea that those subjects were deemed more competitive.

As noted in the AN article you've linked:

"The idea of inter-subject scaling is to allow easy comparison of results not only within QCE subjects, but across them. If scaling didn’t exist, students could, theoretically, try to “game” the system by studying exclusively what they perceive to be easy subjects in order to maximise their ATAR. Having inter-subject scaling means that students can simply choose the subjects they’re most interested in without having to worry about any adverse impact on their results."

Hi Joesph,

Sorry, I should have clarified - I meant the "scaling" that I received from my internal results, which my school kindly calculated for me. Again, just as a general statement, I was reflecting on how my cohort's maths and science subjects scaled higher than the rest of their subjects - it was never my intent to imply that these subjects may or may not scale higher than other subjects, I was just acknowledging a common observation from my school. And yes, I do understand that scaling is also dependent on the competitiveness of the subject as well.

Hopefully, that helps to clarify any of your concerns - I'll mention this in my original post as well just in case.

Sincere apologies about the confusion and kind regards,

Darcy Dillon.
QUT 2021 - Bachelor of Education (Primary).