Unfair HSC Exam Schedules? (1 Viewer)

[milquetoast]

I'm kinda annoyed that there is no accounting for differences in exam schedules, but I can't find any research online about the effects of varied exam schedules on results.

I'm in a position where I have 3 exams in 2 days at both the start and end of the exam block. There are definitely people out there with worse schedules, but I still consider this pretty bad, I would have liked at least a day between each exam. Exams trigger migraines for me so I'm doing them all hopped up on painkillers and find it really difficult to study between exams that are so close.

Do you think it's better to have your exams spread out or really condensed? Is this yet another example of inequity in the HSC?

 

[ExtremelyBoredUser]

I'm kinda annoyed that there is no accounting for differences in exam schedules, but I can't find any research online about the effects of varied exam schedules on results.

I'm in a position where I have 3 exams in 2 days at both the start and end of the exam block. There are definitely people out there with worse schedules, but I still consider this pretty bad, I would have liked at least a day between each exam. Exams trigger migraines for me so I'm doing them all hopped up on painkillers and find it really difficult to study between exams that are so close.

Do you think it's better to have your exams spread out or really condensed? Is this yet another example of inequity in the HSC?

pre sure they use an algorithm or something to maximise the spread. Really doubt anyone wants their exams condensed? I'm sure everyone appreciates lengthy time to study and revise. I have eco, one day break, phys which gives me a buffer day to rest up and revise for physics and this week dedicated to both subjects.

Unfortunate to hear your schedule, you can't do anything as of now except report to NESA i think? Not sure abt the procedure, so I wish you all the best in your efforts to overcome this

 

[Vall]

I agree it’s a bit unfair but there isn’t really a perfect solution. No matter how they allocate the exams someone will get a bad timetable. At least they notify us of the timetable months in advance

 

[Nedom]

You probably can't find anything because every person takes different subjects, and getting a sample size big enough to account for so-called "effects" would be quite hard/tedious work. But as @ExtremelyBoredUser said, and looking at the spread, it seems that the tests are spread to accommodate for breaks between the 'BIG'/'MAJOR' subjects, like maths and sciences (even though this year, sciences aren't spread out 'that' much). One can argue that every test is as hard, or as strenuous, but scaling and their placement begs to differ. I personally wouldn't know whether the cramming of the subjects which you have chosen (most likely some of the least chosen subjects (besides English of course)) even outs the playing ground, or maybe not, seeing how NESA scales them. But, anyways, it is what it is.

 

[milquetoast]

I personally wouldn't know whether the cramming of the subjects which you have chosen (most likely some of the least chosen subjects (besides English of course)) even outs the playing ground, or maybe not, seeing how NESA scales them. But, anyways, it is what it is.

Just in case someone finds this interesting, my subject groupings were:

First day: English Adv, Japanese Cont
Second day: English Adv

Middle somewhere: Ext One English

Second last day: Chemistry
Last day: Economics, Visual Arts

I feel like, while the difficulty of an exam contributes to timetable issues, for me what felt worse was how personally invested I was in a subject. For instance, Japanese, Economics, and Visual Arts were all very important exams to me for reasons beyond getting a good ATAR so I felt very affected at the prospect of my ability being negatively impacted in these exams due to something as dumb as scheduling. Also, my hands just became so tired after English and Economics. The HSC is as much about writing speed as it is about knowing the content for a lot of subjects so that sucked.

Whatever though, it is over now, I can sleep.