Distinction Average (1 Viewer)

[neo o]

Originally posted by santaslayer
:rofl:

*waits anxiously for comeback*

I prefer to take the moral high ground .

 

[elizabethy]

i think uni is easier than HSC....i m studying less dan wat i did for HSC n still managing 2 get excellent marks
but yes it depends on every individual....!!!

 

[flyin']

Well, just as a note, first years can't really tell you how easy, indifferent or hard it is to achieve distinctions yet, because they haven't received any of their final marks. Assessment marks can be very different from final marks (the ones you get on your transcripts).

You can be on a so-called Distinction average before the final exams and end up with just Passes and Credits. Alternately you can also be on a Pass average and still end up with Credits and Distinctions.

So wouldn't count the chickens before they hatch =p

 

[Minai]

yes I'll provide a real life example to what flyin's saying..

Last year's Microeconomics 1, before the final exam (worth 60%), my aggregate of all assessments (the first 40%) was about 27/40 (66% or so)...I ended up with a final mark of 85 (HD)
There had to be some sort of scaling involved cause I dont think I got anywhere near 97% (58/60) for the final exam

 

[Generator]

Yes, it is very annoying when you have a mid D average throughout the regular semester only to find that an exam worth 15% (and the bell curve, I guess) dragged the mark down to a seventy bloody four.

 

[hipsta_jess]

Originally posted by Generator
Yes, it is very annoying when you have a mid D average throughout the regular semester only to find that an exam worth 15% (and the bell curve, I guess) dragged the mark down to a seventy bloody four.

...aah, the joys of attending a uni that doesnt bell curve the marks...

 

[mic]

how many ppl do you need in a course before they use the bell curve? cos isn't it hard if there's say 20 something ppl doing a course to use it?

 

[hipsta_jess]

Originally posted by mic
how many ppl do you need in a course before they use the bell curve? cos isn't it hard if there's say 20 something ppl doing a course to use it?

im not sure about the other unis, but i know newcastle uni does not use the bell curve, no matter how many students are in the course.

 

[Generator]

It, or another form of proportional grading, is used no matter the number of students taking the course (if the university, faculty or school makes use of that grading system).

 

[flyin']

Okay, the "Bell Curve" is what education-people call the "Normal Distribution", the proper statistical terminology. It can be shown (through the Central Limit Theorem) that if you have large numbers, that your data will be approximately normally distributed, that is, have a so-called Bell Curve.

So even if the university says, we don't use a Bell Curve and we can pass everyone, it doesn't necessary mean the marks distributed won't be like that of a Bell Curve.

Marks generally don't follow a Bell Curve when there are small numbers taking a certain unit. But if you have a unit, where you have 1000 students taking the course, you can almost bet your bottom dollar that the marks will appear like a Bell Curve.

Why this might be intuitively obvious? You'll have students who will work like stupid, people who will cram and do some work, and those who'll drink and party and do no work. There aren't many who will work like stupid, just as there won't be many who'll do nothing. They're on the tails. The rest will achieve marks in the middle.

 

[mic]

ah ok. thanks generator.

bell curves are scary, cos i have no idea where i am compared to everyone else in the course. let's hope i don't fuck up the exams

EDIT: flyin', thanks for your info too

 

[Minai]

Good to see that 1st year statistics is of some benefit, flyin'
(for me anyway, I actually understood all that)

 

[...]

Originally posted by flyin'
Okay, the "Bell Curve" is what education-people call the "Normal Distribution", the proper statistical terminology. It can be shown (through the Central Limit Theorem) that if you have large numbers, that your data will be approximately normally distributed, that is, have a so-called Bell Curve.

So even if the university says, we don't use a Bell Curve and we can pass everyone, it doesn't necessary mean the marks distributed won't be like that of a Bell Curve.

Marks generally don't follow a Bell Curve when there are small numbers taking a certain unit. But if you have a unit, where you have 1000 students taking the course, you can almost bet your bottom dollar that the marks will appear like a Bell Curve.

Why this might be intuitively obvious? You'll have students who will work like stupid, people who will cram and do some work, and those who'll drink and party and do no work. There aren't many who will work like stupid, just as there won't be many who'll do nothing. They're on the tails. The rest will achieve marks in the middle.

haha never knew they teach u stuff like that in 171
i thought it was all 170 mofo

 

[santaslayer]

I got taught that when I was tutored for maths in the HSC. :uhhuh:

 

[tactic]

Originally posted by Lazarus
You generally need to be in at least the top 35% to get a distinction, and usually the top 25%.

Varies between faculties, though. A distinction average is meant to be the equivalent of a UAI of 96. Personally I think the distinction average requires less work. Or maybe we're just 'better' once we reach uni. *shrugs*

yep i dont think it was that much work, i came from getting a crappy 74UAI and then got a destinction average at UWS, and i really didnt have to work that hard for it.. I am at uts now and sitting on a creit average, but after this semester it should go up a bit

 

[Lexicographer]

Wow, I'd never heard how you did in your HSC before now. Let's hope I can "pull a tactic"

 

[tactic]

haha, i think the HSC is an unfair assessment of your skills.. honestly i tried calling up the dean at usyd and begging him to let me in, and he asked me for my uai and then said i want good enough and wouldnt have a chance of getting in at all, then after doing well at uws i wouldnt even consider going to usyd even if they offered me a scholarship!

 

[Collin]

Originally posted by tactic
haha, i think the HSC is an unfair assessment of your skills..

I agree on that on the sole basis that English is compulsory. For parity on this matter, they should of atleast made mathematics compulsory too, or more appealingly, made English compulsory, but not compulsory for calculation of the Universities Admissions Index.

 

[flyin']

Originally posted by Minai
Good to see that 1st year statistics is of some benefit, flyin'
(for me anyway, I actually understood all that)

Well, the theory behind it was from Stat272 Probability.

"It can be shown (through the Central Limit Theorem) that if you have large numbers, that your data will be approximately normally distributed, that is, have a so-called Bell Curve." <--- We were shown how this actually comes about/sort of expected to be able to reproduce. Whereas in most (if not all) first year statistics, you are simply given the concept that for large numbers things are normal because of CLT.

Originally posted by ...
haha never knew they teach u stuff like that in 171
i thought it was all 170 mofo

As above, this was motivated by Stat272. However, you should be able to understand it even with 170 knowledge.

(I'll be taking a crash course of first year stat soon, to help a friend =p Cos you'll be surprised how much stuff you can forget in 365 days.. or maybe just 10 days)

 

[Beaky]

Originally posted by tactic
yep i dont think it was that much work, i came from getting a crappy 74UAI and then got a destinction average at UWS, and i really didnt have to work that hard for it.. I am at uts now and sitting on a creit average, but after this semester it should go up a bit

YOu have to remember that your doing what your good at/stuff u like... YOu will always do better than at school cause your forced to do stuff you dont want to do (i.e English)