HL maths q8 P2 ...cancelled?

randylonghorn

spurious wrote: »

He's not exactly an unbiased source.

Indeed, sometimes you have a gift for understatement, spurious! :pac:



The Asst Chief Examiner and Advising Examiners correct a sample of papers before the marking conference and consider the results of that exercise; the examiners (the vast majority of whom if not all will be experienced teachers) have their input at the marking conference; and marking schemes are often adjusted as a result if they feel it is necessary to do so in the interest of overall fairness.

That's a pretty normal part of the process; a question being 'cancelled' is not and there would have to be something extremely flawed and out of the way about the question before that would even be considered, I suspect. I'm honestly not sure if it has ever happened, but I would have my doubts. If candidates have used some of their exam time attempting a question, cancelling it is not really an option; making adjustments to the marking scheme to counter-balance any problems identified with the question, on the other hand, is a realistic option.

Lots of bs floats around every year from people who have reliable info about the marking conference / scheme because their donkey's hairdresser's second cousin is the Asst Chief Examiner's nanny. For the most part, it's just bs; even when there is a kernel of truth underlying it, it tends to get warped and blown out of proportion by the chinese whispers phenomenon.

Ignore it.

Forget about the exams and the marking for the moment; for nearly 2 months, it's in someone else's hands. Concentrate on tidying up your CAO or whatever; and relax and enjoy your summer.



(And what the hell are Sinn Fein stirring it for about one specific question on one paper? Honestly, if a book fell off a shelf in Dingle library, they would probably rush to make a statement to the media about it!

“It is imperative that we preserve and safeguard the nation’s bibliographical heritage. In the final analysis, the language of protection, preservation, imagination and creativity must replace the state centred language of structural reform, bureaucratic control and over-burdened shelves. Tiocfaidh ár lá!”

Bah humbug!!)

Canard

Bottom line for me is that 1. That question is nowhere near covered in my book and 2. I still haven't found anyone who got the question out who didn't do physics.

If they marked P2 out of 250 or something it'd still be fair.

randylonghorn

Patchy~ wrote: »

1. That question is nowhere near covered in my book.

Unfortunately, that has no relevance. Textbooks are prepared by private companies (hopefully!) on the basis of the syllabus; the SEC or indeed DES have no responsibility for them, and the fact that something is not covered in your book is irrelevant to whether it should legitimately appear on your exam.

The only valid question is whether the question is included in the syllabus, and as most syllabi are worded quite broadly, that can be a tricky one to argue.

Canard

True, but it's Active Maths so I can't be alone in that, and my friend used Concise Maths and said it's not there either. Her dad said it was a physics concept

Plus that direction of causality pretty much shows they weren't too concerned with the syllabus. Maybe it somehow fitted in broadly but even Brendan Guildea and George Humphrey didn't know what it was!

bren2001

It took me a while to get my head around the question (4th year Engineer) but it was not impossible and you did not need to do Physics to get it (it was a great help tho).

Of course the question will be counted, it was approved by the Chief Examiner so why wouldn't it be? Since students found it so hard I expect that the marking scheme will accommodate it and give attempt marks for any reasonable guess with higher marks in the easier sections than normal. It was only 1 question out of 2 papers, it wont change your grade that much.

The fact it wasnt covered in your books (which it isn't!) doesn't mean anything. The books are based on the syllabus and leave out things by accident, they have nothing to do with the exam board. People like George Humphrey do have a connection to the board (examiners and on the board itself) but I'm sure he knew how to do it, he just wanted the publicity. Sure he said in a few of his seminars (according to my students) that Alpha and Beta won't come up and he didn't put it in his book....it came up!

PictureFrame

bren2001 wrote: »

It took me a while to get my head around the question (4th year Engineer) but it was not impossible and you did not need to do Physics to get it (it was a great help tho).

Of course the question will be counted, it was approved by the Chief Examiner so why wouldn't it be? Since students found it so hard I expect that the marking scheme will accommodate it and give attempt marks for any reasonable guess with higher marks in the easier sections than normal. It was only 1 question out of 2 papers, it wont change your grade that much.

The fact it wasnt covered in your books (which it isn't!) doesn't mean anything. The books are based on the syllabus and leave out things by accident, they have nothing to do with the exam board. People like George Humphrey do have a connection to the board (examiners and on the board itself) but I'm sure he knew how to do it, he just wanted the publicity. Sure he said in a few of his seminars (according to my students) that Alpha and Beta won't come up and he didn't put it in his book....it came up!

Does that not say it all though? It shouldn't have been that difficult if someone who does Maths on a daily basis on their course found it difficult at first glance?

bren2001

PictureFrame wrote: »

Does that not say it all though? It shouldn't have been that difficult if someone who does Maths on a daily basis on their course found it difficult at first glance?

It was a difficult question and probably shouldn't of been asked. It wasn't "hard" for me now... I did the question out and looked at my answer and knew it was wrong, didn't read it properly.

But what do yous want done? It to be taken off the exam? Wont happen, I had to sit my English Paper 2 on a Saturday morning and equally the question 6 (I think) on my Maths Paper 2 wasn't covered in any of the books, was also unfair. The best thing to do is to enjoy your summer and forget about the exams.