2005: SGS vs CSSA (1 Viewer)

[~ ReNcH ~]

For those of you who've done both, which would you say was the harder paper and/or the closest in difficulty to past HSC exams?

 

[haboozin]

i think CSSA is the harder one...

i did the 1999 James Ruse one and that was so hard compared to SGS or CSSA 2005. They give you like no clues. 0 lead :'(.


you can try it if u like:

http://www.boredofstudies.org/mirror/4u/jamesruse1999.pdf

 

[Vampire]

SGS is pretty easy up to question 7...

 

[danza108]

i have done sgs paper, it is hard up to the harder ext 1 topics, ie up to q7, i have looked thru the cassa one, that looks pretty toug, but even with that being said, the q8 lnx inequality one is a standard question, the last part is the tough part, is the answer 1/e?. cssa is the hardest i have seen so far, out of all the schools

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

Yea. I did the SGS paper and I thought that Q1-7 were actually fairly straight-forward. Even Q8 could be done with some thought, except the very last part which I didn't get. Do you think the HSC exam will be harder?

 

[haboozin]

Yea. I did the SGS paper and I thought that Q1-7 were actually fairly straight-forward. Even Q8 could be done with some thought, except the very last part which I didn't get. Do you think the HSC exam will be harder?

i hope this yrs HSC is very hard..

it filters out people and widens the gap of the able and not so able invididuals.
It is more fair in a way.

 

[yrtherenonames]

I think the CSSA paper,for all its extensive disclaimers, gives a fairer indication of the difficulty of the HSC than what SGS '05 does.

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

I think the CSSA paper,for all its extensive disclaimers, gives a fairer indication of the difficulty of the HSC than what SGS '05 does.

Hmm...I guess the HSC exam would sit somewhere in between. I would have thought that the SGS paper might be more difficult than it was, given the calibre of its students. SGS usually has the reputation of setting fairly difficult papers.

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

i hope this yrs HSC is very hard..

it filters out people and widens the gap of the able and not so able invididuals.
It is more fair in a way.

Either way, aligning will minimise the effect to an extent. If it was a really difficult exam, then the Band E4 cut-off would probably end up at 50/120 or even lower.

 

[haboozin]

Hmm...I guess the HSC exam would sit somewhere in between. I would have thought that the SGS paper might be more difficult than it was, given the calibre of its students. SGS usually has the reputation of setting fairly difficult papers.

they're missing 1 very famous maths teacher.... donno if thats the reason why it wasnt so difficault?

i wanna try 2003 and compare

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

they're missing 1 very famous maths teacher.... donno if thats the reason why it wasnt so difficault?

i wanna try 2003 and compare

Pender's gone?

 

[yrtherenonames]

Dr. P's Dead?!!

Uh no. Dr. Pender is most certainly not dead, and he still had his own impact on the writing of the trial. Remember that Pender doesn't write every trial paper; one teacher is designated to write the paper around late june-early july and it goes through what appears to be a pretty extensive process of cross-checking and discussion. I don't think the unfortunate events surrounding Dr. Pender had a large influence on the difficulty of the paper.
My teacher, Mr. Harnett, who wrote the paper is of the view that writing excessively difficult papers is counter-productive and possibly de-motivating.

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

Uh no. Dr. Pender is most certainly not dead, and he still had his own impact on the writing of the trial. Remember that Pender doesn't write every trial paper; one teacher is designated to write the paper around late june-early july and it goes through what appears to be a pretty extensive process of cross-checking and discussion. I don't think the unfortunate events surrounding Dr. Pender had a large influence on the difficulty of the paper.
My teacher, Mr. Harnett, who wrote the paper is of the view that writing excessively difficult papers is counter-productive and possibly de-motivating.

lol...I wasn't implying that Pender was dead - I thought he may have been on long service leave or something similar. Seeing as you said "...the unfortunate events surrounding Dr Pender...", I'm guessing something's wrong though...

I don't think excessively difficult papers are necessary, but some sort of "middle ground" must be sought.

 

[justchillin]

In my opinion both tests were fairly easy compared to other years... SGS always has a tradition of good tests, but this year was a bit soft; as for CSSA I was surprised because I believe that every year the exams, especially commercial, should be made harder to fit the changing trends in the skills of the modern mathematician.

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

In my opinion both tests were fairly easy compared to other years... SGS always has a tradition of good tests, but this year was a bit soft; as for CSSA I was surprised because I believe that every year the exams, especially commercial, should be made harder to fit the changing trends in the skills of the modern mathematician.

Yea, I agree. Although it seems as though both the HSC and CSSA exams are getting easier year by year. Whether that trend continues or not, we'll have to see.