To what extent do schools fudge marks before they send them to NESA? (1 Viewer)

[dQw4w9WgXcQ]

I'm asking this because I know that the marks my school sent to nesa (basing this on the difference between the marks on our reports and the weighted average of our exam marks) were quite different to what we got in the exams (they mostly just gave free marks to people that didn't do the best and bumped down some really high marks) and I was wondering if this is something a lot of other schools do as well and if this is even legal?

 

[shoulfer]

I'm asking this because I know that the marks my school sent to nesa (basing this on the difference between the marks on our reports and the weighted average of our exam marks) were quite different to what we got in the exams (they mostly just gave free marks to people that didn't do the best and bumped down some really high marks) and I was wondering if this is something a lot of other schools do as well and if this is even legal?

the school doesn't send a single mark to nesa only your rank and the mark difference between you and your peers. the mark you get for you internal matters entirely upon how the marks your cohort gets in the HSC and your position within that cohort.

 

[Shavi Masee]

the school doesn't send a single mark to nesa only your rank and the mark difference between you and your peers. the mark you get for you internal matters entirely upon how the marks your cohort gets in the HSC and your position within that cohort.

ohh okay, that's probably why they bump down the higher marks and bump up the lower marks, to make the standard deviation smaller.

But how is the rank + mark difference made into an atar?
do they then compare it to other schools or smth?

 

[shoulfer]

ohh okay, that's probably why they bump down the higher marks and bump up the lower marks, to make the standard deviation smaller.

But how is the rank + mark difference made into an atar?
do they then compare it to other schools or smth?

it is based on what everyone from that school goes on to get in the HSC because every school has different exams. I'm pretty sure they take 3 anchor HSC marks form the cohort and base the internal marks on that with respect to the relative difference in marks. so your internal mark depends on how your school does.

Assessment moderation

Learn how the process of moderating school assessments works in the HSC, making it fair for students.

www.nsw.gov.au

 

[Shavi Masee]

it is based on what everyone from that school goes on to get in the HSC because every school has different exams. I'm pretty sure they take 3 anchor HSC marks form the cohort and base the internal marks on that with respect to the relative difference in marks. so your internal mark depends on how your school does.

Assessment moderation

Learn how the process of moderating school assessments works in the HSC, making it fair for students.

www.nsw.gov.au

that's so shitty.
wtf do they not look at us individually ughh.

 

[shoulfer]

that's so shitty.
wtf do they not look at us individually ughh.

your external is individual. also it kind of is individual since your rank depends on how you did individually within your year group.

 

[PCNQQn2]

the school doesn't send a single mark to nesa only your rank and the mark difference between you and your peers.

Schools do send an assessment mark for each student for each course to NESA. Schools don't send ranks or mark differences. NESA can establish a rank order from the marks that schools send.

 

[tvskAXatar]

Schools don’t send ranks. They send a spreadsheet of overall internal assessment marks (with decimals) for each student in a course. NESA’s ranking system may slightly differ from schools (rounding, decimals etc) which is why some people found their NESA ranking to be one place above or one place below what their school said.

 

[PCNQQn2]

Schools don’t send ranks. They send a spreadsheet of overall internal assessment marks (with decimals) for each student in a course.

No, it doesn't contain decimals. Integers only. Usually out of 100 - with some exceptions e.g. Extension courses.

 

[gammahydroxybutyrate]

that's so shitty.
wtf do they not look at us individually ughh.

what would "looking at you individually" entail? pretty sure that's what they do lol

 

[iloveeggs]

that's so shitty.
wtf do they not look at us individually ughh.

so moderation is essentially the process of taking your internal ranks and the relative differences between individual year 12 marks and using it to help determine your internal mark which is only 50% of your final hsc mark. while your cohort will affect your mark ultimately moderation will benefit you depending on where you rank within your cohort so it is ultimately your individual performance that is like the biggest factor in determining how it affects you. ill just oversimplify it here but you can look into it yourself.

the reason why it exists is because since they need to use your y12 performance for 50% of the hsc, but your school might make your exams really easy/hard and it wont be the same across the state so they can't use the raw marks you get. what they do instead is that they take about a few scores out of the entire grade (top, bottom and median i think but not sure) and wait and watch to see how you do in the hsc (which is more objective bc everyone in the state does the hsc). and then they use the ranks from y12 and the hsc marks that your school got to assign you a mark (e.g. if you ranked 1st in y12 so automatically whatever the top hsc mark is, even if it is not yours, is what is given to you for your internal mark. same with the bottom mark and then the rest are distributed based on the differences between marks in y12).

the only reason they do this is bc they can't use your raw y12 mark so they have to find a different mark to give you for your internal (your y12 performance only). and they make the assumption that nobody will drastically improve/flop between y12 and hsc to the point where their rank is totally inaccurate (see no 2. on the list below)

if you are being cooked by moderation due to the following reasons, you can cope by doing this:

1. your cohort is doing badly and you don't rank high enough to not be dragged down: you can move schools, you can stay and try your best to rank higher in your grade, you can try for early entry, adjustment factors and scholarship programs if you are eligible
2. you did really badly/very good in y12 internal exams and it was the opposite for the hsc exams: try to put consistent effort into all hsc tasks, don't rely on 1 good mark to compensate for poor performance in anythign else, seek adjustment factors if you were disadvantaged, early entry and scholarships if you are eligible