• Congratulations to the Class of 2024 on your results!
    Let us know how you went here
    Got a question about your uni preferences? Ask us here

Why are sciences and mathematics scaled so well? (2 Viewers)

Aquawhite

Retiring
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
4,946
Location
Gold Coast
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
Uni Grad
2013
I do and am XD

And that's not what he's trying to say. He's saying that humanities subjects scale worse than science subjects because the students doing the science subjects generally get higher marks when compared to humanities students doing the same subject. This is what scaling is based on.
Haha... take that!

+1 if I could >.>
 

Freakstyler09

Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2009
Messages
324
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
I do and am XD

And that's not what he's trying to say. He's saying that humanities subjects scale worse than science subjects because the students doing the science subjects generally get higher marks when compared to humanities students doing the same subject. This is what scaling is based on.

Well, that's a generalisation, that's not true. I know many people in my subjects, who do not do any extension mathematics and sciences and they are coming first for English and for most of their Humanity subjects. I also have seen this in other schools as well.:)
 

Aquawhite

Retiring
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
4,946
Location
Gold Coast
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
Uni Grad
2013
You do realise that life is as it is because of science, right? And did you do know that there's a current shortage of engineers and scientists?
The fields of science are VERY important to the way we live... For without engineers and scientists where will you get your medicine and what will you let alone walk into to get the medicine without people to build/design things.
 

Aquawhite

Retiring
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
4,946
Location
Gold Coast
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
Uni Grad
2013
Well, that's a generalisation, that's not true. I know many people in my subjects, who do not do any extension mathematics and sciences and they are coming first for English and for most of their Humanity subjects. I also have seen this in other schools as well.:)
Anna was referring to how the scaling system works. And yes, that's how it works - a comparison to how the cohort in a particular subject goes in their other subjects in comparison to everyone else.
 

Freakstyler09

Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2009
Messages
324
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
Now, I'm not being a critique here or a person who hates Maths or Science people, I am just a person who believes the scaling system should be scraped,because I do not see it as a fair system. I also disagree with making English compulsorary as well.:)
 

annabackwards

<3 Prophet 9
Joined
Jun 14, 2008
Messages
4,670
Location
Sydney
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
Well, that's a generalisation, that's not true. I know many people in my subjects, who do not do any extension mathematics and sciences and they are coming first for English and for most of their Humanity subjects. I also have seen this in other schools as well.:)
Obviously. With that being said, students do what subjects they like and are interested in. If they're good at the maths/sciences then they'd do maths/sciences. You can't say the system is screwed just because statistically the kids usually doing maths/sciences are "smarter" and hence get better scaling. That's like saying "Damn all these people that have jobs. They get more money than me even though i'm working hard at being a dole-bludger!"

The fields of science are VERY important to the way we live... For without engineers and scientists where will you get your medicine and what will you let alone walk into to get the medicine without people to build/design things.
And this. Not important to the Australian economy... pfft go and live in a 3rd world country where most of their engineers/doctors/scientists are imported if they have any.

Now, I'm not being a critique here or a person who hates Maths or Science people, I am just a person who believes the scaling system should be scraped,because I do not see it as a fair system. I also disagree with making English compulsorary as well.
How is it not a fair system? Do enlighten us.
 

absorber

Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2009
Messages
874
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
Now, I'm not being a critique here or a person who hates Maths or Science people, I am just a person who believes the scaling system should be scraped,because I do not see it as a fair system. I also disagree with making English compulsorary as well.:)
It's difficult to tell what you actually believe in...Do you have a proposal as to what replaces the scaling system? The idea of it is that if a student does chem and gets 90, they'd probably be able to do a humanity like a history and get say 93+. English is compulsory primary because it's required to allow the scaling system to work
 

annabackwards

<3 Prophet 9
Joined
Jun 14, 2008
Messages
4,670
Location
Sydney
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
It's difficult to tell what you actually believe in...Do you have a proposal as to what replaces the scaling system? The idea of it is that if a student does chem and gets 90, they'd probably be able to do a humanity like a history and get say 93+. English is compulsory primary because it's required to allow the scaling system to work
Perhaps a system like IB?
 

Freakstyler09

Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2009
Messages
324
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
I just believe that people should be able to do what, they like without being hindered by the scaling system. I mean, I see some extension 2 English Students who are being scaled down by general maths, since they have ten units, but they are doing quite well in both their Englishes. It is also fair to say that many Extension 2 maths students are also being hindered in standard English because, they are not doing well at English. So what I reckon is that the Scailing system is essentially putting potentially really smart people, from the courses that they might do good in.:) That is why I am attacking the system, in my opinion, I reckon all students should do the same subject like in yr 10. This provides consistency for all.
 
Last edited:

Aquawhite

Retiring
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
4,946
Location
Gold Coast
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
Uni Grad
2013
I just believe that people should be able to do what, they like without being hindered by the scaling system. I mean, I see some extension 2 English Students who are being scaled down by general maths, since they have ten units, but they are doing quiet well iun both their Englishes. It is also fair to say that many Extension 2 maths students are also being hindered in standard English because, they are not doing well at English. So what I reckon is that the Scailing system is essentially putting potentially really smart people, from the courses that they might do good in.:) That is why I am attacking the system, in my opinion, I reckon all students should do the same subject like in yr 10. This provides consistency.
The only reason it is like this is because the universities just want a rank based on level of achievement and intelligence, UAC thinks this is the best way to display that... whether it's good or not, is up to them and personally is a little silly in some areas.

Edit: I believe that from my knowledge the subject used to compare everyone's results and determine scaling actually comes from the subject that everyone does do, English (then they factor in other subjects...)
 

absorber

Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2009
Messages
874
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
I just believe that people should be able to do what, they like without being hindered by the scaling system. I mean, I see some extension 2 English Students who are being scaled down by general maths, since they have ten units, but they are doing quiet well iun both their Englishes. It is also fair to say that many Extension 2 maths students are also being hindered in standard English because, they are not doing well at English. So what I reckon is that the Scailing system is essentially putting potentially really smart people, from the courses that they might do good in.:) That is why I am attacking the system, in my opinion, I reckon all students should do the same subject like in yr 10. This provides consistency.
You've seen how much people hate english, this'd be a stupid idea. I agree in part but then again if people think they'll be taken down by scaling then they'll just have to pick subjects they're good at over subjects they enjoy. The HSC, sadly, is a game after all
 

annabackwards

<3 Prophet 9
Joined
Jun 14, 2008
Messages
4,670
Location
Sydney
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
I just believe that people should be able to do what, they like without being hindered by the scaling system. I mean, I see some extension 2 English Students who are being scaled down by general maths, since they have ten units, but they are doing quiet well iun both their Englishes. It is also fair to say that many Extension 2 maths students are also being hindered in standard English because, they are not doing well at English. So what I reckon is that the Scailing system is essentially putting potentially really smart people, from the courses that they might do good in.:) That is why I am attacking the system, in my opinion, I reckon all students should do the same subject like in yr 10. This provides consistency.
However, if all kids did the same subjects as the ones in year 10 then lots of people will be hindered - the english people won't be able to do english extensions/humanities and will be forced to do maths and science.

Oh and that's because general maths is a sad excuse for a subject - it's a continuation of the year 10 5.3 course (in case you didn't know) which any 2U, 3U or 4U maths student can do with their eyes closed.
 

Aquawhite

Retiring
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
4,946
Location
Gold Coast
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
Uni Grad
2013
However, if all kids did the same subjects as the ones in year 10 then lots of people will be hindered - the english people won't be able to do english extensions/humanities and will be forced to do maths and science.

Oh and that's because general maths is a sad excuse for a subject - it's a continuation of the year 10 5.3 course (in case you didn't know) which any 2U, 3U or 4U maths student can do with their eyes closed.
Ouch, you're gunna get it for that :haha:

(although I have to agree, General Maths is very boring and my friends regret choosing it and they can't move up now :()
 

absorber

Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2009
Messages
874
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
However, if all kids did the same subjects as the ones in year 10 then lots of people will be hindered - the english people won't be able to do english extensions/humanities and will be forced to do maths and science.

Oh and that's because general maths is a sad excuse for a subject - it's a continuation of the year 10 5.3 course (in case you didn't know) which any 2U, 3U or 4U maths student can do with their eyes closed.
That's not a fair statement, not everyone is as capable as you are. Some people do it because yes, it's very easy for them, but others genuinely don't have the ability to do 2u
 

annabackwards

<3 Prophet 9
Joined
Jun 14, 2008
Messages
4,670
Location
Sydney
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
Ouch, you're gunna get it for that :haha:
It's so true lol. They count boxes to find the gradient instead of rise/run and an entire section of their exams is based on reading information of a graph. Probability involved tree diagrams which i learnt in year 9 and i could go on... By the way, a kid who was failing 2U is now coming 3rd or something in general maths. So the difficulty between the courses is pretty obvious.

That's not a fair statement, not everyone is as capable as you are. Some people do it because yes, it's very easy for them, but others genuinely don't have the ability to do 2u
Perhaps not, but i was merely pointing out why scaling exists. It's pretty much so that the mark obtained by a person coming 1st in say general maths can be equated to a person coming 1st in 4U.
 

Freakstyler09

Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2009
Messages
324
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
However, if all kids did the same subjects as the ones in year 10 then lots of people will be hindered - the english people won't be able to do english extensions/humanities and will be forced to do maths and science.

Oh and that's because general maths is a sad excuse for a subject - it's a continuation of the year 10 5.3 course (in case you didn't know) which any 2U, 3U or 4U maths student can do with their eyes closed.
Well isn't that the point, It provides a fairer playing field.:)
 

absorber

Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2009
Messages
874
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
Well isn't that the point, It provides a fairer playing field.:)
a fairer playing field for the more able half, but for the other half who just can't function in those subjects it'd make it hell. School retention rates would plummet with such a system
 

Freakstyler09

Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2009
Messages
324
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
That's not a fair statement, not everyone is as capable as you are. Some people do it because yes, it's very easy for them, but others genuinely don't have the ability to do 2u

Well, this is the exact reason, why I am against the scaling system, it is not a fair system, to hell with it I say.:) and where is the Anti-Descrimination Act of 1977 (cth) when you need it.
 

annabackwards

<3 Prophet 9
Joined
Jun 14, 2008
Messages
4,670
Location
Sydney
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
Well isn't that the point, It provides a fairer playing field.:)
That actually disadvantages them because they're forced to subjects that they're most likely going to do horribly in. Sure everyone is in the same boat, but everyone in the current system has to do english anyway so by your argument the "asians or indians" get dragged back and there is a fairer playing field.
Not to mention the fact that lots of students will not be able to extra subjects that might help them with their desired uni courses in uni.

Scaling is used so there's a fair playing filed which allows people to do subjects that they enjoy/are good at.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 2)

Top