55 Minutes Late (1 Viewer)

[nwatts]

To all those people complaining: fuck you.

There are a lot of people out there with very legitimate problems with their hands, which either slows their handwriting speed to an absolute standstill, or makes their writing completely illegible. Typing gives them the ability to express themselves to the same extent as those with normal hands. On top of that, because of their impaired handwriting ability, they'll type slower than most people anyway.

So yeah. Shut up.

 

[nwatts]

Tune in or shut up nwatts, no ones arguing that they shouldn't have special provisions but there are other more appropriate alternatives. A laptop is not one of them.

Let me question you, have you ever used a scribe?

And again, are you a psychologist?

And yet again, are you one who needs special provisions?

If you've neither, then you really have no room to comment. The process of speaking is very, very different to that of writing. You cannot expect a student to dictate their essay with the same coherence and quality of someone who is able to write it themselves. It's basic psychology. Speaking and writing are just different functions, and the brain treats them differently.

It is more unfair to expect someone to perform to the best of their ability with a scribe than it would be to give them a computer.

 

[seremify007]

During our trials... people who needed a computer were put in a special room with a school-provided computer and supervised. The rooms have them facing a wall but there's a window behind them so people can look in... although I think if someone wanted to they could get away with opening a file on a floppy and using that.

As for the thing about typing slower- I personally can't write that fast and I know I can type considerably faster than I can write (140wpm vs. 40wpm .. and that's really illegible/messy). For the record, I have a disabled right arm which is supposed to hinder my writing but then I've never pushed myself in terms of writing super fast before so I don't really know if it'd change anything.

IMO though the fair way for these situations would be to give them either more time or bonus marks... but I'm leaning more towards the first option. I heard that people who can't sit still or stay in certain body position are given additional time to rest during exams; so I don't see why that can't be applied to people who can't write as fast as others.

 

[arooshika...]

You cannot expect a student to dictate their essay with the same coherence and quality of someone who is able to write it themselves. It's basic psychology. Speaking and writing are just different functions, and the brain treats them differently.

yeah i agree, cause today my dad tried to test me vocally on some past multimedia short answer questions but i got very nervous and i was saying incorect answers but when i wrote them down i was able to do it.

 

[MuffinMan]

why on earth do u get laptops? Thats not fair, personally i can type faster than what i can write, so tis quite unfair. Do they even check the content the hard drive before they let you in with a laptop?

 

[nwatts]

why on earth do u get laptops? Thats not fair, personally i can type faster than what i can write, so tis quite unfair. Do they even check the content the hard drive before they let you in with a laptop?

Have you read any of this thread MuffinMan?

Damn some people are stupid.

 

[th]

hey do people with special provisions (using a laptop) have same exam time as normal studdents or are they lengthen

 

[mr_brightside]

all those are valid points but

TYPING = FASTER THAN WRITING

end of story

 

[MuffinMan]

Have you read any of this thread MuffinMan?

Damn some people are stupid.

shut the fuck up and get a scribe end of story just cause ur disadvantaged or something i dont know, but u guys shouldnt be advantaged because of that i was trying to put a point across nwatts, now u have just pissed me off

 

[MuffinMan]

edit: didnt mean the last post, just was angry, sorry

 

[nwatts]

shut the fuck up and get a scribe end of story just cause ur disadvantaged or something i dont know, but u guys shouldnt be advantaged because of that i was trying to put a point across nwatts, now u have just pissed me off

It's not an advantage. At all. It's a fairness thing.

A lot of people I know handwrite faster in exams than I do type. It balances out.

 

[Anna K]

I'm going with nwatts on this one.

For all of you saying that typing is faster than handwriting, well yes, it is. *That's the point.* One of my best friends has a laptop for her exams, because she writes insanely slowly. I've seen her try to write, and she can only do two, two and a half A4 pages in about forty minutes. How is it fair to say that she should have to write her HSC?
The laptop provisions aren't handed out willy nilly. None of the special provisions are. In some circumstances, people get time added on. In some circumstances, people get scribes. In others, people get laptops. All the cases are looked at and evaluated to figure out what's fair. You do a lot of tests and a lot of paperwork before special provisions get handed out. My friend had to do written and typed essays to see if she could get the provisions, and in the end it turned out she could type just as fast as the average student's meant to write.
As far as I know, people on laptops have to use Notepad or similar as well. So no, no one's getting help with little red and green squiggly lines telling them when their spelling or grammar is incorrect either.

So don't knock things if you don't know the circumstances.

 

[AntiHyper]

Using a computer to do their exams in, only pose a slight advantage to those who can touch-type (typing while not looking at the keyboard). Everyone else would have been slowed down if they were to constantly looking at the keyboard to type then back to the text repeatedly.

Without keyboard I'm sure almost anyone can "touch-write", to look at the exam paper while writing away at the same time. I've done this plenty of times and the quality of the written answer is not bad.. still readable.

Also, the variable chance to have typoes is always present and you can't really have typoes with hand-writing unless you can't spell..

 

[seremify007]

Don't you have to look at the lines when writing? I can touchtype but I can't write without looking to make sure I'm writing straight.

 

[Rachie_88]

who cares how they get there exam done ... as long as they get it done ... laptop or pen who cares ... seriously ...

 

[ecouch]

please mind my terrible spelling in this post :S

having a scribe isnt all its cracked up to be, i was a reader for the school certificate one year and in the english exam the examiners stressed that we had to transcribe exactly what the person said to us, if they didnt say for example, 'full stop' 'capital letter' or 'comma' in the correct places, then we weren't allowed to write it ..... even though we knew logically where it should be. This slows the person down, because it is extremely hard to think of saying full stop, i mean when u are talking to your friends, do u say 'full stop' at the end of the sentence? What i'm trying to say here is that, having a scribe is a disadvantage in itself, and so having laptops or computers is a better option as it removes the pain in the arse of having to say 'full stop' at the end of sentences and so on. However, i also understand what people are saying about being able to type at a more rapid pace ..... but when you think about it, these students will really only be doing the same amount as you, they still have to think about the question and what they will write, and i truely believe that they wouldn't be doing any more themes/quotes/techniques then anyone else, and i have never seen an exempler (spelling??) response that has being typed .... they have all being handwritten, now if they were at such an advantage, wouldnt they be getting essays/storys/unseen texts into the exempler (spelling??) range?

 

[Gummy_bear]

having a scribe isnt all its cracked up to be, i was a reader for the school certificate one year and in the english exam the examiners stressed that we had to transcribe exactly what the person said to us, if they didnt say for example, 'full stop' 'capital letter' or 'comma' in the correct places, then we weren't allowed to write it ..... even though we knew logically where it should be. This slows the person down, because it is extremely hard to think of saying full stop, i mean when u are talking to your friends, do u say 'full stop' at the end of the sentence? What i'm trying to say here is that, having a scribe is a disadvantage in itself, and so having laptops or computers is a better option as it removes the pain in the arse of having to say 'full stop' at the end of sentences and so on. However, i also understand what people are saying about being able to type at a more rapid pace ..... but when you think about it, these students will really only be doing the same amount as you, they still have to think about the question and what they will write, and i truely believe that they wouldn't be doing any more themes/quotes/techniques then anyone else, and i have never seen an exempler (spelling??) response that has being typed .... they have all being handwritten, now if they were at such an advantage, wouldnt they be getting essays/storys/unseen texts into the exempler (spelling??) range?

Thankyou for tht, i was about to post my own experiences with scribes but your post hit the nail on the head.

 

[mr_brightside]

having a scribe isnt all its cracked up to be, i was a reader for the school certificate one year and in the english exam the examiners stressed that we had to transcribe exactly what the person said to us, if they didnt say for example, 'full stop' 'capital letter' or 'comma' in the correct places, then we weren't allowed to write it ..... even though we knew logically where it should be.

really? oops......................lets just say my special provisions person did a bit better when i scribed

 

[Michala]

yeah ur right. i understand if someone has a disability/disorder but people who just have messy writing, well thats there fault! its a very unfair disadvantage... i know i could type atleast 4 if not 5 times as fast as i write. if they are allowed this and are able to type easily they should have deducted time, to make it more fair

 

[Suga_baibe]

Go that. People should just stop whinging, its fucking annoying. "Oh boo hoo they got a lap top and I had to write with my bare hands.. Boo..." Ignorant idiots.