how does scaling work? (1 Viewer)

[k_m]

so according to 2003's scaling if i get 80 in history does that mean it scales me up 2? does dat mean my hsc mark would b 82?

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

No, scaling has nothing to do with what you see on your Record of Achievement. Scaling is used solely to determine an aggregate, from which your UAI can be determined.
You can think of HSC marks and Scaled marks as being two entirely different and unrelated entities...but I'll let Lazarus explain further.

 

[velox]

UAC scales the marks right?

 

[AntiHyper]

Here's what my dep. principal told us:
Say there's 3 ppl in the class Bob, Jane & John
In the overall assessments mark, Bob came 1^st Jane came 2^nd & John came 3^rd
Then in the exam John came 1^st with 92, Bob came 2^nd with 88 & Jane came 3^rd with 76.
Now Bob would actually get 92, Jane get 88 & John get 76.
The rest is just the averages.

Wait a sec... Ur talking about scaling eh... I think (hope) this would answer some parts of scaling...

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

Here's what my dep. principal told us:
Say there's 3 ppl in the class Bob, Jane & John
In the overall assessments mark, Bob came 1^st Jane came 2^nd & John came 3^rd
Then in the exam John came 1^st with 92, Bob came 2^nd with 88 & Jane came 3^rd with 76.
Now Bob would actually get 92, Jane get 88 & John get 76.
The rest is just the averages.

Wait a sec... Ur talking about scaling eh... I think (hope) this would answer some parts of scaling...

What you just talked about is the moderating process

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

UAC scales the marks right?

As far as I know, yes although you'd need to ask Laz.
BOS aligns and moderates marks for reporting. UAC scales marks and determines UAIs.

 

[velox]

Yep just double checking.

 

[k_m]

As far as I know, yes although you'd need to ask Laz.
BOS aligns and moderates marks for reporting. UAC scales marks and determines UAIs.

whos lazarus?

 

[ogmzergrush]

Sort of like Jesus, without the entire nailed to a cross thing.

 

[Lazarus]

whos lazarus?

That'd be me.

UAC scales the marks right?

The Technical Committee on Scaling performs the actual computations and then provides the resulting UAIs to UAC.

how does scaling work?

You should first familiarise yourself with the You and Your UAI booklet and <a href="/other/flowchart.pdf">this flowchart</a>.

Then search the forums or come back to us with more specific questions.

 

[poloktim]

Sort of like Jesus, without the entire nailed to a cross thing.

Oh, you mean like me?

 

[k_m]

You should first familiarise yourself with the You and Your UAI booklet and this flowchart

Then search the forums or come back to us with more specific questions.

hey lazurus, from the flow chart, i was wondering y do they align the raw external examination mark?????

and also y is business studies scaled down, it seems like a hard subject?

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

i was wondering y do they align the raw external examination mark?????

The aligning of raw exam marks occurs in order to take into account the varying difficulty of exams from year to year e.g. 2U maths in 2003 was harder than the 2004 exam. Therefore, aligning makes 2003 and 2004 marks comparable, or else 2003 students would be disadvantaged.

y is business studies scaled down, it seems like a hard subject?

Scaling is not based on the difficulty of the exam, but rather the quality of the candidature. Even though Business Studies may be a difficult subject, the students who do it generally aren't the most capable students in the state. Hence, it gets scaled down. Scaling basically observes the ease of which an average student can get into the top 50% e.g. it's much easier to get into the top 50% of Business Studies than it is to get into the top 50% of Physics, since the students who do Physics are generally more able than those who do Business Studies.

 

[k_m]

thanks 4 answering my questions Rench

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

thanks 4 answering my questions Rench

No probs, although I'm no Lazarus by any means...

 

[Trebla]

Lost.....

Some Questions:

I don't see why the raw marks have to used for scaling. Since aligning is done to supposedly even out the distribution of marks in comparison to previous sucessive years, why not use that mark, since it is more "fair"?

Also, Why are some courses "capped"?

Plus, I've noticed on the UAC website (http://www.uac.edu.au/pubs/pdf/2004-Table-A3.pdf) that the scaled mark in MOST cases is lower than the HSC mark, but for some courses like Mathematics Extension 1, the 50th and 25th percentiles have scaled marks higher than their HSC mark, but the 99th, 90th and 75th percentiles have their scaled marks lower than their HSC mark. Why is that the case? Shouldn't higher percentiles have higher scaled marks in relation to their HSC mark compared to those in the lower percentiles? Is this where capping comes in?

 

[k_m]

No probs, although I'm no Lazarus by any means...

your good enough!!!

 

[Captain pi]

Some Questions:

I don't see why the raw marks have to used for scaling. Since aligning is done to supposedly even out the distribution of marks in comparison to previous sucessive years, why not use that mark, since it is more "fair"?

Also, Why are some courses "capped"?

Plus, I've noticed on the UAC website (http://www.uac.edu.au/pubs/pdf/2004-Table-A3.pdf) that the scaled mark in MOST cases is lower than the HSC mark, but for some courses like Mathematics Extension 1, the 50th and 25th percentiles have scaled marks higher than their HSC mark, but the 99th, 90th and 75th percentiles have their scaled marks lower than their HSC mark. Why is that the case? Shouldn't higher percentiles have higher scaled marks in relation to their HSC mark compared to those in the lower percentiles? Is this where capping comes in?

To your first question, I believe that is because the HSC marks reported to students are subjected to a process which slightly distorts the actual performance.
As I believe, the HSC marks are subjected to micro-aligning within each band. So you have 'kinks' which aren't suitable for scaling process.
Also, the rank is really the important thing (for the initial marks received by UAC); so, it doesn't matter which mark is used, and as the raw marks are quicker to deliver (straight from the marking centre, instead of through another process), it marks sense to use these.

Courses are capped to avoid highly-able students "dumbing down" and excelling in a course with a less-able candidature. Courses are capped on the basis that the English paper is done by most of the candidature, and the maximum variation in that (the Standard Deviation) should be the maximum variation for all courses. In 2003, the maximum scaled standard deviation was +2.52 and so if a course had students with scaled standard deviation above +2.52, then that course was capped to a mark which was SD = 2.52.

As to your last point, the scaling process doesn't "boost" HSC marks, or even raw marks, it merely puts them in a scaling algorithm. What you have described is really just a coincidence. Remember that, either way, if you get a higher HSC mark, you are going to get a higher scaled mark.

I am not totally sure about this, but I am sure a well-informed member of the community will correct me iff I am wrong.

Love,

pi.

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

Remember that, either way, if you get a higher HSC mark, you are going to get a higher scaled mark.

To Trebla:

That's provided that you're comparing HSC marks within the same subject. HSC marks are not comparable between subjects. So getting a 95 in Business Studies and a 93 in Physics does not necessarily mean that you're scaled mark for Business will be higher than Physics.

 

[Captain pi]

To Trebla:

That's provided that you're comparing HSC marks within the same subject. HSC marks are not comparable between subjects. So getting a 95 in Business Studies and a 93 in Physics does not necessarily mean that you're scaled mark for Business will be higher than Physics.

Yes. It's what I meant but was not made sufficiently clear.

Thank you ~ ReNcH ~.