Scaling of SOR (1 Viewer)

[sydneyphoenix]

Why is it that SOR, especially 1 unit, scales badly? 2003 and 2004 scalings were honestly dreadful, making me wonder what's the point in studying for it. At the moment, I am planning not to study for SOR I at all for HSC, just do assessment, unless it's my last exam, then I will cram for a couple of days. After all even with band 6, low scaling doesn't make the subject very attractable.
Opinions?

 

[acmilan]

Well it doesnt scale too badly, i mean there are worse scaling. Id say its slightly above average. You need to also consider the content, in my opinion its pretty straight forward if you learn what is stated in the syllabus. As for why people take it, I personally took it so that if i got a band 6 id make the all rounders list. Without it i wouldnt have. It didnt count in my UAI, but then again it was my second lowest mark (lowest being english which had to count to my UAI). Others take it because of interest, but it is worth doing it as an extra unit, especially if you happen to do badly in a 2 unit subject, it can help rectify it.

 

[snapperhead]

I wouldnt say it scales badly (depends on what you are comparing it against). It didnt scale too badly compared to all of the subjects available in the HSC (and remember that scaling doesnt exist anymore as well as its an outcomes based exam!! This is why UAC shouldnt exist!! )

Maybe if people took it more seriously (take your apparent atttitude for example), it would do better in comparison to other subjects as it is the the third largest (? maybe fourth...it is 6:25 am) subject in the HSC if you dont include English and Maths (and the nubers are increasing every year). UNSW did a survey in 2001/2002 and SOR 1 and 2 ranked in the top 10 hardest subjects with regards to assumed knowledge, studable content and breadth of content Vs candidature.
having said that, its so easy to get a band 4 minimum in the subject so with some effort, you could easily average a 5 or low 6 which means it my will count (most students I know have at least 1 unit count due to them killing the exam...even if it was one of their lowest units)

/opinion

edit: if you look at this data ( www.uac.edu.au/pubs/pdf/2004-Table-A3.pdf ), it looks like (at first glance) virtually all subjects scale badly r.e. their average mark (am looking at the HSC Vs Scaled mark column)

btw> is there a better source for the so-called scalings? I know there is a comparison chart here on BoS but it has 2001/2002 data...must not be looking ahrd enough!!

 

[redslert]

scaling is meaningless. You will get what you get no matter what.
if you get a good result in a easy subject doesn't effectively mean you will get a low UAI

 

[Danoz The Great]

Why is it that SOR, especially 1 unit, scales badly? 2003 and 2004 scalings were honestly dreadful, making me wonder what's the point in studying for it. At the moment, I am planning not to study for SOR I at all for HSC, just do assessment, unless it's my last exam, then I will cram for a couple of days. After all even with band 6, low scaling doesn't make the subject very attractable.
Opinions?

You can't be serious?! It scales really well!!!

 

[nick1048]

scaling is meaningless. You will get what you get no matter what.
if you get a good result in a easy subject doesn't effectively mean you will get a low UAI

true but a 100% in general maths and a 90% in 4u has a totally different meaning. Scaling counts in that respect.

 

[redslert]

firstly fix up your signture, that is way too big

back on topic
yes a 100% in general maths will never equate to a 90% in 4u maths
but if a person could get 100% in general maths, they should be doing 2u which is why not many (if any) have ever recieved 100% in general maths

i say it again, scaling is meaningless, in the end you will get what you get - what you rightly deserve

 

[Danoz The Great]

Can we get back onto religion instead of going off onto a tangent about maths?

 

[redslert]

we are talking about religion
it's just that there isn't a religious subject/course to provide a significant didactic example

 

[acmilan]

I think SOR's scaling is heavily affected by the students doing it. Since scaling affected by the performance of the candidature as a whole, then this will inevitably hurt the scaling as many students are simply in the subject because they are forced to do it, and hence purposely do not do well. If this was not the case, it would scale very well and be comparable to many of the harder subjects (which scale so well because of the generally better all round students that choose them, not because they are necessarily harder)

 

[redslert]

exactly acmilan
you get what you get

 

[sNiPeR_24]

Let's not forget here that SOR1 is only a 1 unit subject with only 3/4 assessment tasks and a 1½ hour exam at the end of it. Taking that into account, the course scales considerably better than other subjects people take for the comparative amount of work you do in it.

I thought SOR1 had no chance of counting towards my UAI but now I'm not so sure because I've done fairly well in the first 40% of assessment with 32/45 and 22/25 for marks...

I think SOR's scaling is heavily affected by the students doing it. Since scaling affected by the performance of the candidature as a whole, then this will inevitably hurt the scaling as many students are simply in the subject because they are forced to do it, and hence purposely do not do well.

This is good in some respects because people who actually try in the subject and take it seriously have little competition and are more likely to do better, but yeah, I get your drift.

 

[Lazarus]

btw> is there a better source for the so-called scalings? I know there is a comparison chart here on BoS but it has 2001/2002 data...must not be looking ahrd enough!!

The chart is available here:
http://www.boredofstudies.org/scaledmeans.php

It doesn't have the 2004 data yet, but there aren't really any differences anyway.

You can see that the two SOR courses have in fact always been scaled positively.

 

[snapperhead]

The chart is available here:
http://www.boredofstudies.org/scaledmeans.php

It doesn't have the 2004 data yet, but there aren't really any differences anyway.

You can see that the two SOR courses have in fact always been scaled positively.

so in laymans terms ('cause Im math handicapped), a course loading of between +2.6-2.9 for 2 unit and 1.6 and 1.6 (!!) for 1 unit means.......???
I mean, how does it work in reality?
ie what impact do those figures have on a typical mark-say 60 which is the estimated course mean.

ie is the course scaled up by 2.6-2.9 marks for a 2 unit subject or is it more mathematical? Would this mean an actual increase of approx. 3.2 for 1 unit as its out of 50?

I hope this makes sense as Im trying to convince an excellent year 10 student to consider 2 unit and their excuse is that its scales poorly (ie negative scaling or you lose marks for doing the subject-which is crap) which I know it doesnt but I need to get it clear in my mind as to what the course loadings actually mean (apologies for sounding ignorant but the actual mechanics of scaling are a mystery to me even though I know what does well and what doesnt!). I am willing to be taught about this one if it is simple (like me )