The UNSW Scaling Thread (1 Viewer)

mreditor16

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So, VBN, I read through the thread you linked and I sorta get what those guys mean, but do you have any comments as a whole on MATH1151 scaling, from your own experiences? I especially ask, as that thread is also quite old...
 

VBN2470

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So, VBN, I read through the thread you linked and I sorta get what those guys mean, but do you have any comments as a whole on MATH1151 scaling, from your own experiences? I especially ask, as that thread is also quite old...
From my experience, it's all on the final exam, pre-exam mark doesn't matter too much as long as it is not too low (you can still get 90+ with pre-exam mark of 24+ (out of 36), noting that final is weighted 64%) so there is a decent amount of scaling in the course. This is not the easiest thing to do, since final exams are always much harder than pre-exam quizzes and you are required to complete few difficult q's in 2 hours which isn't long. It's hard to give an exact numerical value, but I do know of people who were sitting on 32/33/34 (out of 36) pre-final and only ended up with a higher D (80-84) whilst there were some who were sitting on <30 and ended up with 85+ Best thing to do is time yourself in those past finals, and try to understand as many things as you can (even though many people don't want to understand it and just want to get through the course lol). As I said, it's hard to give a numerical value (even an approximation) but in the end, average will always end up being around the 65 range. Feel free to ask anymore questions regarding 1151 :)
 

klavier

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Anyone knows how MATH2019 scales down?
more than 20% of the cohort got 40/40 so I reckon there would be a 5+ marks scale down in the end
 

4025808

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Guys, I am curious. Is scaling down really fair and viable, when scaling down might lead to a student who say got 52 raw overall (and hence passed the course) receiving a Fail?? How does it work??
Iirc if the person got 52 raw, he'd probably still pass. I think university rules generally make people pass if they get above 50 raw mark, so scaling has to take that into account.

Correct me if I'm wrong though.
 

D94

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Anyone knows how MATH2019 scales down?
more than 20% of the cohort got 40/40 so I reckon there would be a 5+ marks scale down in the end
Scales down - something like a 10 mark scale down is typical in the upper region.
 
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D94

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Guys, I am curious. Is scaling down really fair and viable, when scaling down might lead to a student who say got 52 raw overall (and hence passed the course) receiving a Fail?? How does it work??
If the course standards dictate that a 52 falls within the fail region, then their mark will be moved down to match the university standards. But it's unlikely the lower range will experience any downscaling. It's always those at the top :(
 

RivalryofTroll

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Tumarkin posted on Moodle after the exam that there will be significant scaling this semester for FINS1613.
Technically, he will scale as ''necessary'' but praying that the scaling is significant.

I assume Law never scales for the core subjects (then again, they use a bell-curve system, which may have a similar effect, for the core subjects) but anyone know if marks are ever significantly adjusted? If there's no scaling, I could be in for a rough result for LAWS1021 (everyone basically found the exam tough).
 

mreditor16

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Technically, he will scale as ''necessary'' but praying that the scaling is significant.

I assume Law never scales for the core subjects (then again, they use a bell-curve system, which may have a similar effect, for the core subjects) but anyone know if marks are ever significantly adjusted? If there's no scaling, I could be in for a rough result for LAWS1021 (everyone basically found the exam tough).
LOL my bad, its just what I heard from friends, because I'm doing FINS1613 next year, first semester.
 

anomalousdecay

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Tumarkin posted on Moodle after the exam that there will be significant scaling this semester for FINS1613.
It did not say significant scaling.

The e-mail/moodle post referred to the fact that there will be scaling involved as the exam is set early in the semester and there were a few complaints of it being difficult by students :haha:

Basically his point was that there will be scaling, but the extent is unknown.
 

Peter-PF7

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I've done a few courses.


COMP1917 - no scaling but easy marking.
ENGG1000 - no scaling.
MATH1141 - some scaling up.
PHYS1131 - no scaling.
ELEC1111 - no scaling.
MATH1241 - good scaling up.
MMAN1300 - no scaling.
SOLA1070 - no scaling.
MATH2019 - some scaling down.
MMAN1130 - no scaling.
MMAN2400 - no scaling.
MMAN2700 - minimal scaling up in the top range, crazy scaling up in the lower range.
MATH2089 - some scaling up.
MINE1010 - no scaling.
MMAN2100 - no scaling.
MMAN2300 - some scaling up.
MMAN2600 - no scaling.
MMAN3200 - no scaling.
MMAN3400 - minimal scaling up.
PHYS1160 - no scaling.
SOLA5057 - no scaling.
MECH3110 - no scaling.
MECH3610 - no scaling, marking criteria for the final exam effectively scaled people down :(
MECH9325 - no scaling.
MMAN3000 - no scaling.

There may be some scaling up in the lower range, but none in the top range for most courses where I've indicated no scaling.
Can confirm a lot of these except:

- MMAN2600 definitely has some scaling up, as I got a final mark of 100 despite losing 1.5 marks throughout the semester from midsession tests.
- MMAN2700 doesnt have any scaling in the top range as I know for a fact I got full marks in the final, and was sitting on 34/40 going into the final, and ended up with a mark of 94.
 

D94

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Can confirm a lot of these except:

- MMAN2600 definitely has some scaling up, as I got a final mark of 100 despite losing 1.5 marks throughout the semester from midsession tests.
- MMAN2700 doesnt have any scaling in the top range as I know for a fact I got full marks in the final, and was sitting on 34/40 going into the final, and ended up with a mark of 94.
My year is different to your year. There is no absolute, as you are putting it. MMAN2600 was run by a different course convener. MMAN2700 was affected by the past papers 'scandal', which could have affected how your year was marked. More importantly, those were my experiences when I did it.
 

obliviousninja

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It did not say significant scaling.

The e-mail/moodle post referred to the fact that there will be scaling involved as the exam is set early in the semester and there were a few complaints of it being difficult by students :haha:

Basically his point was that there will be scaling, but the extent is unknown.
I dont see myself getting a HD :(
 

jaechen

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FINS1613 generally has godly scaling :p

Think the other finance courses will have good scaling too, upwards at least.
Would you happen to know if FINS3616 scales?

I had no idea that FINS courses even got scaled.
 

Drifting95

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Would you happen to know if FINS3616 scales?

I had no idea that FINS courses even got scaled.
1613 scales like crazy or else everyone in sem 2 would fail. I know people who guessed 3/4 of the final and they still managed to pass.
 

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