I understand what you're saying, and it makes sense why you're angry. The thing that shocked me most though was the people who didn't attempt the question, or wrote "invalid question".you know what is really pissing me off?
the fact that some schools got a whole hour after reading time to 'cool down' and ask questions regarding section III.
a whole hour? our school had nothing. noone put up their hand to complain, no one even sighed. we just got on with it. and mind you, we weren't prepared for the question either. everyone was venting AFTER the exam, but we dared not waste our breath or energy during the actual paper. and, fyi, i go to an all girl school. we get pretty dramatic sometimes, but we know how to hold our panic attacks for the right time.
my point is, if my school had freaked out and made a massive deal out of it, would we have gotten an hour 'break' as well? are we not being disadvantaged for staying calm and sensible?
so unfair. i could have planned three responses in twenty minutes, let alone an hour.
and to those who are stressing over the question like i was--honestly, it's not as bad as it seems. it was part of the year 11 syllabus. and i admit that it was unfair that they had changed it without warning, and that it would have been nice to know that year 11 content would need to be revised, but we DID learn it. and everyone's in the same boat--we all went through the 'living religion' theme in year 11, we all didn't revise it for the HSC exam, and we all prepared for a practice/religious figure/practice long response. it took us ALL by surprise. and there is only a very microscopic few who would have seen the question, and been completely confident in answering it.
so relax, because noone's disadvantaged here. we're all in the same boat.
except for those drama queens who had a seizure at the sight of section 3 and demanded an hour long break. they're in a bloody five star ship packed with floaties and life savers.
if your school was one of them, please, free feel to explain to me why on earth you would need an hour's calming down, when my entire grade was able to stay in control, and get on with the exam without question or complaint. the exam room is no place for whinging or objections. expecially when the whole of australia (excl qld) is in the exact same conditions.
completely stuffed up the strict (and fair) system that has been set up by the BOS to ensure uniform exam conditions. completely. stuffed. it. up.
unnecessary, unsportmanlike, and unfair.
I was annoyed about that at the beginning, because my whole class managed to answer the question.. and yes some people were crying about it, but there were no delays, they read the question a few more times, and wrote whatever they could. It was only when we had finished the exam and met with our teacher that he said yes what we (half of us only) wrote was what the question expected us to write.
Oh well.
So do the people who didn't answer the question get average mark?