• Best of luck to the class of 2024 for their HSC exams. You got this!
    Let us know your thoughts on the HSC exams here
  • YOU can help the next generation of students in the community!
    Share your trial papers and notes on our Notes & Resources page
MedVision ad

What bos said about the sor 2009 hsc exam (2 Viewers)

mesbaz

Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2007
Messages
142
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
Thank you .N. :) i was actually going to say the same to you when you told that other person they were being disrespectful. But my computer is being weird and i cant see the buttons so i cant seem to quote comments -.-
 
Last edited:

X-terc

Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2008
Messages
94
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
im not sure, seeing as i didnt do the christianity one, but weren't all the questions along the lines of asking how a person's revelations or teachings helped adherents in daily life? thats what islam was basically, so its about ethics right? (hopefully anyway, if not, im boned!!)
Im sorry, im not picking on you or anything. But your post does show that the question asked was ambiguous. Until now, no one can be sure what BOS wanted in that question and what exactly do we include in it. So exactly, how are students, under stressed, a time limit supposed to answer it?
 

cahblue

New Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Messages
12
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
Im sorry, im not picking on you or anything. But your post does show that the question asked was ambiguous. Until now, no one can be sure what BOS wanted in that question and what exactly do we include in it. So exactly, how are students, under stressed, a time limit supposed to answer it?
hmm, my opinion is slowly being turned by all your arguements. i guess that seeing as my school found it great, i didnt get that it might of actually been horrible. ill agree completely that the question Were ambiguous, but i also dont think that the BOS was wrong to do it, because i also think that it was a good way to test how we can apply our knowledge. but maybe...(and this is where you all have made me double guess my own opinion) that "test" was a bit aof a far leap, if you get me?
 

mesbaz

Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2007
Messages
142
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
at Cahblue .........

Im pretty sure you were talking about people who didnt like the question

" hard exam question.morons "

" HOLY SHIT, stop complaining! everyone who keeps saying "oh boohoo the question was so hard, waawaa" are jsut making themselves sound stupider."

" Exams are MADE to set us apart, to show who LEARNT the course and who DIDN'T. Obviously, the thousands of kids who are making a fuss DIDN'T learn the course, because those questions WERE from the syllubus. All you had to do was think about it for 3 seconds, and look past the confusion of quotes and the absence of the key words to see what they were asking. "


By saying the questions weren't from the syllabus were saying the same thing as you. that it was confusing, and didn't allow us to recognize that it wasn't from the syllabus.
Im still waiting to see how they relate it to the question. I mean clearly they were trying to trick us. Why else would they put Muhammad in there when we were told specifically not to learn about him ? Why not put in another influential personality? why not just ask about the revelation of the Quran and its impact on the lives of muslims in terms of ethics practice and ( well integrate personality some where there ) I mean, new question, sets people apart, and is understandable. Oh and look at that. It refers to words from the syllabus. Gosh it took me 2 seconds to write that. and BOS had what, a year ? Like seriously i cant believe you are lashing out at your fellow peers and sticking up for a group of people who intentionally tried to screw you over.


Im sorry im not attacking you or anything. Im just trying to show you what i think is really going on. as stupid as it may sound, and i quote my teacher on this ' bos are the international people of mystery....they like to poke around and have fun.....but this time theyve crossed the line '
 

cahblue

New Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Messages
12
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
at Cahblue .........

Im pretty sure you were talking about people who didnt like the question

" hard exam question.morons "

" HOLY SHIT, stop complaining! everyone who keeps saying "oh boohoo the question was so hard, waawaa" are jsut making themselves sound stupider."

" Exams are MADE to set us apart, to show who LEARNT the course and who DIDN'T. Obviously, the thousands of kids who are making a fuss DIDN'T learn the course, because those questions WERE from the syllubus. All you had to do was think about it for 3 seconds, and look past the confusion of quotes and the absence of the key words to see what they were asking. "


By saying the questions weren't from the syllabus were saying the same thing as you. that it was confusing, and didn't allow us to recognize that it wasn't from the syllabus.
Im still waiting to see how they relate it to the question. I mean clearly they were trying to trick us. Why else would they put Muhammad in there when we were told specifically not to learn about him ? Why not put in another influential personality? why not just ask about the revelation of the Quran and its impact on the lives of muslims in terms of ethics practice and ( well integrate personality some where there ) I mean, new question, sets people apart, and is understandable. Oh and look at that. It refers to words from the syllabus. Gosh it took me 2 seconds to write that. and BOS had what, a year ? Like seriously i cant believe you are lashing out at your fellow peers and sticking up for a group of people who intentionally tried to screw you over.


Im sorry im not attacking you or anything. Im just trying to show you what i think is really going on. as stupid as it may sound, and i quote my teacher on this ' bos are the international people of mystery....they like to poke around and have fun.....but this time theyve crossed the line '
ok, you got me there, i shouldnt have said those things (mainly because they make my real point moot...dam me) blame it on a fit of rage id advise.When were we told not to learn about muhammad? (not attack, curious is all). But the way i interpreted the question you didnt need to know anything about him (other than, obviously, the fact that he is Prophet and makes lovely revelations). And i think thats a bit paranoid, the BOS intentionally trying ot screw us over?? they dont exactly sit in their offices going "hmm, how can we f*ck up our next generation this year? *evil rubbing of hands and twirling of moustaches*" gah, i think debating this has become rather pointless. fact is we all have dif opinions on this issue, and it definetly cannot be resolved until the bOS marks the exams or puts out a VERY detailed explanation.
 

mesbaz

Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2007
Messages
142
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
The personality section it says something like ' students are required to study one significant person other than Muhammad ' or something. hahaa. i actually memorized the syllabus. thats sad -.-. and im sure it says the same thing about jesus in Christianity, like you're allowed to do one of those options but not jesus.

yup it is a bit paranoid. But like, they like to trick you. like last year the amphitheate question on history threw a lot of kids off. like i know its a weak example, but yeah at the time people were shocked that they wanted them to write 8 marks on something so insignificant.

I think they're trying to make humanities ' more challenging ' which is fine but i think if they do that subsequent scaling should follow. i mean the work is easy but the workload is insane. but anyway, thats another matter. Basically they like to trick you surprise you catch you off guard, and thats what exams should do i guess. like they did with english paper one this year. but like, personally i just found the sor one a bit over the top. everything is fine in moderation, but they went too far. they could've done the same approach in a more simplistic way you know? there was no need to confuse the hell out of 98% of the state.
 

the-derivative

BCom/LLB (UNSW)
Joined
Nov 11, 2007
Messages
2,124
Location
Within the realms of the complex field.
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
at Cahblue .........

Im pretty sure you were talking about people who didnt like the question

" hard exam question.morons "

" HOLY SHIT, stop complaining! everyone who keeps saying "oh boohoo the question was so hard, waawaa" are jsut making themselves sound stupider."

" Exams are MADE to set us apart, to show who LEARNT the course and who DIDN'T. Obviously, the thousands of kids who are making a fuss DIDN'T learn the course, because those questions WERE from the syllubus. All you had to do was think about it for 3 seconds, and look past the confusion of quotes and the absence of the key words to see what they were asking. "


By saying the questions weren't from the syllabus were saying the same thing as you. that it was confusing, and didn't allow us to recognize that it wasn't from the syllabus.
Im still waiting to see how they relate it to the question. I mean clearly they were trying to trick us. Why else would they put Muhammad in there when we were told specifically not to learn about him ? Why not put in another influential personality? why not just ask about the revelation of the Quran and its impact on the lives of muslims in terms of ethics practice and ( well integrate personality some where there ) I mean, new question, sets people apart, and is understandable. Oh and look at that. It refers to words from the syllabus. Gosh it took me 2 seconds to write that. and BOS had what, a year ? Like seriously i cant believe you are lashing out at your fellow peers and sticking up for a group of people who intentionally tried to screw you over.


Im sorry im not attacking you or anything. Im just trying to show you what i think is really going on. as stupid as it may sound, and i quote my teacher on this ' bos are the international people of mystery....they like to poke around and have fun.....but this time theyve crossed the line '
Don't take this as a personal attack or anything, but the prophet Muhammed is on the syllabus, it's the second dotpoint of the preliminary section. Although it's not on the Year 12 section, the preliminary course is assumed knowledge. However, I do agree that the Board of Studies did attempt to trick students, however I think they've technically done nothing wrong.
 

mesbaz

Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2007
Messages
142
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
No no i know that its in the prelim one. most of the stuff i put in my essay was from the prelim section. but they cant test you on assumed knowledge yes ? they can only test you on course outcomes, and since were doing the hsc course, it must be the hsc course out comes which is the " H1, H2, H3....etc "

I would've thought the question was fine if they had just been a bit more clear. I dont mind the amount of information they want us to apply, thats fine you know, iv studied hard all year i dont mind flaunting it in a piece of paper. infact id love that because then i can show i deserve top marks ( how cocky does this sound haha.. but you know what i mean ) its just they should have asked it in a way that allowed us to understand what they were asking.

whats shitting me the most is that even after so many complains etc, theyre being so ignorant.
 

.N.

Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2009
Messages
34
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
No no i know that its in the prelim one. most of the stuff i put in my essay was from the prelim section. but they cant test you on assumed knowledge yes ? they can only test you on course outcomes, and since were doing the hsc course, it must be the hsc course out comes which is the " H1, H2, H3....etc "

I would've thought the question was fine if they had just been a bit more clear. I dont mind the amount of information they want us to apply, thats fine you know, iv studied hard all year i dont mind flaunting it in a piece of paper. infact id love that because then i can show i deserve top marks ( how cocky does this sound haha.. but you know what i mean ) its just they should have asked it in a way that allowed us to understand what they were asking.

whats shitting me the most is that even after so many complains etc, theyre being so ignorant.
yes I totally agree once again. They can ask wateva they want.... but make it clear.... the questions were confusing as to what they exactly wanted us to answer. They're gonna have to do something about it, my response was absoulte horror.
 

mesbaz

Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2007
Messages
142
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
LOL i want to rep you, but i cant even see what icon it is -.-
its all coming up as symbols
sigh*
 

the-derivative

BCom/LLB (UNSW)
Joined
Nov 11, 2007
Messages
2,124
Location
Within the realms of the complex field.
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
No no i know that its in the prelim one. most of the stuff i put in my essay was from the prelim section. but they cant test you on assumed knowledge yes ? they can only test you on course outcomes, and since were doing the hsc course, it must be the hsc course out comes which is the " H1, H2, H3....etc "

I would've thought the question was fine if they had just been a bit more clear. I dont mind the amount of information they want us to apply, thats fine you know, iv studied hard all year i dont mind flaunting it in a piece of paper. infact id love that because then i can show i deserve top marks ( how cocky does this sound haha.. but you know what i mean ) its just they should have asked it in a way that allowed us to understand what they were asking.

whats shitting me the most is that even after so many complains etc, theyre being so ignorant.
Fair enough. What I think the Board will end up doing is mark it how they want it and align the marks up afterwards. So if you were able to answer the question to a pretty good standard, I think you've got it pretty good. Also I agree, Christianity and Islam had bad questions. I chose the Buddhist question though, it was slightly more straight forward.
 

icola

Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2007
Messages
53
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
The personality section it says something like ' students are required to study one significant person other than Muhammad ' or something. hahaa. i actually memorized the syllabus. thats sad -.-. and im sure it says the same thing about jesus in Christianity, like you're allowed to do one of those options but not jesus.


The reason it says other than Muhammed/Jesus is because they assume that students studying the hsc course already have an understanding of them and their impact on the religion, so the depth study requires a deeper understanding of other contributors to the faith. And like it has been said a hundred times before, the question wasn't asking you to talk about either of them "It wasn't on the syllabus omgz!!!" (not referring to you)

Hmm everyone can say that the board of studies have this huge conspiracy to destroy 2009 HSC students lives but really, I completely agree with their statement that the quotes were "a stepping stone". Really, it's like any other humanities subject, in ancient history they give you a source to include but it doesn't mean that your entire essay is based on it, and for nearly all students the source is something that they aren't familiar with/may not have ever seen before. YES I know it's not the same before you all yell at me but it's the same principle.. And I'm aware the question was worded badly!

I just don't understand what everyone wants the BOS to do with their appeals? Everyone seems to want something to happen that will make it 'fairer' but no one knows what that is. I think everyone just needs to trust the scaling system to work it out, which I'm sure it will, seeing as you've said it's the majority who thought it was extremely hard. So if you're confident that it was, and the people who understood it are the minority, than you've got nothing to worry about!
 

BOSBOY

Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2008
Messages
346
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
My english tutor who was doing the English helpline receive 25 or so calls regarding religion when the calls are for english. It definitely shows that there are major concerns.
That is not true. You cannot contact the helpline about a subject when the exam is over.
 

schmelly_melly

New Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2009
Messages
6
Location
Western Sydney. :(
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
Hey uh, so this is somewhat off-topic, but will I lose a significant amount of marks if I wrote about Islam for both section II and III? Because I kinda did that. :| I totally forgot about the whole 'write about two different religions' thing. Ugh, I'm such an idiot.
Oh yeah, and the essay questions were poo. Utter poo.
 

P.T.F.E

Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2008
Messages
333
Gender
Male
HSC
2013
If they wanted us to link all our knowledge (in regard to the islam question that is) they should have had a more direct question istead

"I regard to the quotation above, analyse the role of the revelation to the Prophet in the lives of muslims"

where the fuck do u start when u are given 35 mins which is just usually allocated for a more narrow question and have to talk about everything, my answer is so broad i will be lucky to pick up marks. How can u have a marking criteria for this question honestly, some people would have focused on a certain area such as ethic or person or practice and others would have tried (like myself) to cover all three and the fact they included Muhammad in the quote and question i felt obligied to write how the revelation to HIM impacted the religion.

Why couldnt they have asked if they wanted alll topics ask in different wording.

maybe how has Allah's words through the Quran impacted upon the lives of Muslims in respect to their ethical teachings, leaders and practices.

then we would have been asked a question even the strugglers could have understood, you have to remember its a compulsory subject in many schools and even students that arent the brightest have to be able to interpret the q and link it to religion.
 

.N.

Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2009
Messages
34
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
That is not true. You cannot contact the helpline about a subject when the exam is over.
lol. Even though I didnt state the englsih helpline thing. The english exam is still not over for some people... there's still extension I and II, so people can still contact:):)
 

X-terc

Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2008
Messages
94
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
That is not true. You cannot contact the helpline about a subject when the exam is over.
my english tutor, was assisting the helpline for the preparation of english paper 2 on Thursday night which is after the SOR exam. Hence students were calling into the english line, supposed to be for english asking about religion, desperate for answers
 

samtaclaus

New Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2008
Messages
12
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
Why couldnt they have asked if they wanted alll topics ask in different wording.

maybe how has Allah's words through the Quran impacted upon the lives of Muslims in respect to their ethical teachings, leaders and practices.
Maybe because it WASN'T about all the topics. It had nothing to do with the significant person. It was based on Ethics and/OR Significant Practices, hence the vague question was so people would make their own interpretations which many people are seemingly incapable of.
 

Cloesd

Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2008
Messages
156
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
Maybe because it WASN'T about all the topics. It had nothing to do with the significant person. It was based on Ethics and/OR Significant Practices, hence the vague question was so people would make their own interpretations which many people are seemingly incapable of.
I'v said this before but, people themselves are not to blame.

The BOS is to blame. Not because they SET that question in the exam, but because they had been rewarding regurgitation for pretty much YEARS now. They've trained some of these people to become mindless regurgitation, by awarding pre-planned responses full marks, whereas those that were attempting to think of a solution IN the exam itself were left in the dust.

Now when suddenly one of the examiners decides to shift this, its completely understandable why so many kids would be thrown off. They've literally been trained their whole life to regurgitate.

BOS needs to pick a side and stick with it, either advocate regurgitation, and rename the HSC to MWSE: memorization/witting speed exam.

Or get the marker to not just skim through essays looking for keywords to give marks to, but actually try to follow the ideas the student is saying.

When a question is asked and the student provides a logical but not taught in the course answer, they shouldn't be given 0 marks.


Even the whole idea of a "bullshit" answer. I'v heard it so many times, students come out saying "i just gave a bullshit answer"... When actually what they've done is given an answer like you would in the real world. It's gotten to the state that if an answer is not regurgitated, its a "bullshit" answer.... Bullshit.
 
Last edited:

Cloesd

Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2008
Messages
156
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
Hey uh, so this is somewhat off-topic, but will I lose a significant amount of marks if I wrote about Islam for both section II and III? Because I kinda did that. :| I totally forgot about the whole 'write about two different religions' thing. Ugh, I'm such an idiot.
Oh yeah, and the essay questions were poo. Utter poo.
Yeah, their probably not going to count your section III. Which might not be as big of a loss as it normally would've been any other year.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 2)

Top