Units of study scaling (1 Viewer)

[Aysce]

After looking through the list of units of study I was wondering, does studying a unit such as Chemistry 1A "disadvantage" an individual against a student doing say Chemistry 1A Advanced as a result of it's supposedly high scaling? Much like for example doing Standard english in the HSC disadvantages a student in a sense. Thanks.

 

[Obvious]

After looking through the list of units of study I was wondering, does studying a unit such as Chemistry 1A "disadvantage" an individual against a student doing say Chemistry 1A Advanced as a result of it's supposedly high scaling? Much like for example doing Standard english in the HSC disadvantages a student in a sense. Thanks.

I calculated the contribution of scaling to my grade for CHEM1904 and my raw mark was about three percent lower than my final. Given the fact that the normal papers are considerably easier, I'd guess that these factors would cancel each other out.

 

[Aysce]

I calculated the contribution of scaling to my grade for CHEM1904 and my raw mark was about three percent lower than my final. Given the fact that the normal papers are considerably easier, I'd guess that these factors would cancel each other out.

So essentially it doesn't really matter? It's just I've seen people on other forums say to choose advanced units rather than normal units though I'm not legible for Chem 1A Adv anyways. (Needed band 5 or 6 in 2012 HSC and I'm only starting the HSC course now ie self learning)

Thanks for your contribution.

 

[Obvious]

So essentially it doesn't really matter? It's just I've seen people on other forums say to choose advanced units rather than normal units though I'm not legible for Chem 1A Adv anyways. (Needed band 5 or 6 in 2012 HSC and I'm only starting the HSC course now ie self learning)

Thanks for your contribution.

I've definitely heard of some advanced units with crazy scaling in past years (maths), and normal units with horrendous down scaling (second year med sci.).

I'd probably leave scaling out of the equation when making decisions. First year advanced chemistry is quite a bit more involved and I personally found that scaling didn't do a lot to compensate for this.

If you're confident/interested in the subject then take it by all means.

 

[jet]

After looking through the list of units of study I was wondering, does studying a unit such as Chemistry 1A "disadvantage" an individual against a student doing say Chemistry 1A Advanced as a result of it's supposedly high scaling? Much like for example doing Standard english in the HSC disadvantages a student in a sense. Thanks.

It really shouldn't matter to be honest.

In saying this however, it's my understanding that nearly all the First Year Chemistry units of study are scaled together as a whole. All the papers have a set of common components, which allows the school to make direct comparisons between different units and scale that way. Theoretically this would favour advanced units, since you would assume the advanced students would do better at the common sections. I should point out that all this was rumours going around between students, and should be taken with a grain of salt.

Additionally, I've linked previously to a University policy coming into effect which aims to eliminate the sort of scaling you're talking about; I think the name is "reference-based assessment" or something similar, basically where marks are determined by how you perform relative to the rest of the cohort. Instead, they want to move to standards-based assessment, where a set of standards is developed essentially describing what skills you would expect in a fail student, a pass student, a credit student etc etc. Assessments would then be written with these standards in mind so that a student satisfying credit standards gets a mark in the credit range, for example. This would mean that no scaling is needed and students get a mark which is highly reflective of, if not identical to, their raw mark for the unit.

A link to the policy: http://sydney.edu.au/policies/showdoc.aspx?recnum=PDOC2012/267&RendNum=0

TL;DR: It's a little complicated and has very little affect on your final outcome. If you work hard and apply yourself, it will pay off.

 

[Aysce]

I've definitely heard of some advanced units with crazy scaling in past years (maths), and normal units with horrendous down scaling (second year med sci.).

I'd probably leave scaling out of the equation when making decisions. First year advanced chemistry is quite a bit more involved and I personally found that scaling didn't do a lot to compensate for this.

If you're confident/interested in the subject then take it by all means.

Okay, solid advice. Much appreciated man

It really shouldn't matter to be honest.

In saying this however, it's my understanding that nearly all the First Year Chemistry units of study are scaled together as a whole. All the papers have a set of common components, which allows the school to make direct comparisons between different units and scale that way. Theoretically this would favour advanced units, since you would assume the advanced students would do better at the common sections. I should point out that all this was rumours going around between students, and should be taken with a grain of salt.

Additionally, I've linked previously to a University policy coming into effect which aims to eliminate the sort of scaling you're talking about; I think the name is "reference-based assessment" or something similar, basically where marks are determined by how you perform relative to the rest of the cohort. Instead, they want to move to standards-based assessment, where a set of standards is developed essentially describing what skills you would expect in a fail student, a pass student, a credit student etc etc. Assessments would then be written with these standards in mind so that a student satisfying credit standards gets a mark in the credit range, for example. This would mean that no scaling is needed and students get a mark which is highly reflective of, if not identical to, their raw mark for the unit.

A link to the policy: http://sydney.edu.au/policies/showdoc.aspx?recnum=PDOC2012/267&RendNum=0

TL;DR: It's a little complicated and has very little affect on your final outcome. If you work hard and apply yourself, it will pay off.

I'll be sure to check out the policy. Thanks for taking the time to answer, much appreciated

 

[iSplicer]

I've definitely heard of some advanced units with crazy scaling in past years (maths), and normal units with horrendous down scaling (second year med sci.).

I can confirm this. Oh god, and to make it worse, it's unbelievably hard.

 

[Aysce]

I can confirm this. Oh god, and to make it worse, it's unbelievably hard.

I don't suppose there's any way to know the scaling of these particular units before you pick them right? Since it's applied for end of year exams and I'm guessing it changes each year? I'm clueless

 

[Riproot]

After looking through the list of units of study I was wondering, does studying a unit such as Chemistry 1A "disadvantage" an individual against a student doing say Chemistry 1A Advanced as a result of it's supposedly high scaling? Much like for example doing Standard english in the HSC disadvantages a student in a sense. Thanks.

I would say no.

Chemistry 1A Advanced did not scale for me at all ^_^

And like, the science faculty is discontinuing scaling. ^_^

 

[Riproot]

So essentially it doesn't really matter? It's just I've seen people on other forums say to choose advanced units rather than normal units though I'm not legible for Chem 1A Adv anyways. (Needed band 5 or 6 in 2012 HSC and I'm only starting the HSC course now ie self learning)

Thanks for your contribution.

nah, you only need a 95+ ATAR gosh

But like, just do reg. my friend didn't do Chem in the HSC gets like 80s in reg chem and you're probs smarter than him.