HSC Chemistry Marking (1 Viewer)
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someth1ng
Retired Nov '14
Much harder than PHS - as you're from PHS, feel free to PM me a paper and I can mark it for you.
Makematics
Well-Known Member
yep you need to have very logical and concise writing to get good marks for anything worth 3 or more marks. hsc markers have been known to take off marks for 5+ mark Q's if your structure is bad or writing doesnt have a nice flow. even if you have all the content in there...
someth1ng
Retired Nov '14
Not necessarily this.
Makematics
Well-Known Member
well i lost a mark once because i wrote 2 pages for a 5 marker
might just be my school though... anyways concise writing helps
nightweaver066
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I pretty much wrote a page for a 3 marker in the HSC.well i lost a mark once because i wrote 2 pages for a 5 marker
Got all 3 marks. lol
Makematics
Well-Known Member
i know but sometimes they dont like it if you ramble on
someth1ng
Retired Nov '14
I'm not sure if I have ever heard "concise" but I have heard coherent and logical progression which is in most 5+ markers.
Marker discretion, but some believe being coherent is being concise in a sense. Some students may try to do a hit and miss, where they kinda brute force the question write everything they know, this is sort of to counter them which instead of getting a 5 you get a 4, because you still had the content but you weren't being coherent (concise), if that makes sense from where i'm coming from?
Fizzy_Cyst
Owner @ Sigma Science + Phys Goat
I know for a fact the term concise was used in the marking scheme for 2011 and 2012 HSC Physics, interestingly, both in the extended response for the Age of Silicon option.
Most of the time it is 'demonstrates coherence and logical progession'
someth1ng
Retired Nov '14
That's probably why I haven't seen it before. Also, several state rankers have said that they wrote a lot - that's a bit subjective but you can always ask them and they often say that they went over the lines.
I would argue that concise and coherent are two different things.
Concise would refer to the giving of lots of information in less words - this means that they don't want ANY fluff.
Coherent would refer to clear, logical and consistent - this means that you CAN have fluff but what you write must be easy to understand and does not contradict.
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It is arguable i don't doubt that however, i'm just talking from experience, i was marked in a way when i did the HSC that more isn't better like there are instances you could get the same mark as someone who wrote a paragraph to your page. It's just that if you can be concise do it, at the end of the day it becomes quite subjective even when the criteria tries to eliminate that, some can write lots which are band 6 responses but some are writing pages at a band 4 response, and when you're marking thousands of them, they start to appear the same is where i'm getting at.
someth1ng
Retired Nov '14
Well, obviously being concise is better if possible and it lose information. There is no doubt about that but the discussion was about harshness of marking and if you need to be concise.
The answer is no but if cutting down on words is you making it concise, caution should be taken when taking information out.
pretty hard imo. Ironically, I got a higher raw mark in the HSC than in any assessment I did. I think it depends on the school. My school marked very hard (i.e highest mark 80%~ and avg round 48%)
Getting marked hard at school is good because u learn from your mistakes and try to perfect everything and match the marking guidelines
to ultimately do well in HSC chemistry you need to
Understand/know the chem syllabus (most equations to back up answers and some chem jargon)
know what each hsc exam verb wants from you (check marking guidelines)
know how to express ur answer concisely (dont just regurgitate info)
know what the markers want/dislike (hsc marker's comments)
have very good exam technique