nwatts said:
I don't think that's entirely correct. Just looking at past students' UAI results, anyone can see that doing moderately well in English Advanced pushes your marks well above another who does very well in Standard. There's often a difference of over 10 marks, yet Board of Studies scaling will push an Advanced mark far higher.
It also raises the question of the point behind the Advanced course. Why not reward stronger students with higher marks? It doesn't make sense for Standard and Advanced to scale similarly.
Just a side note, I’ve found that Advanced texts are much, much more difficult to study and discuss than the Standard ones I’m familiar with, as are the modules. Compare the nature of module, and then the texts on option, and it's quite clear that Advanced students are focusing on harder texts, and exploring them in more complex ways.
Taking into account the more difficult nature of material in the Advanced course, it seems even more illogical to scale the two courses similarly.
I'm not completely belittling what you're saying AI, it's simply that the evidence I’ve seen has indicated that the two courses are scaled quite differently, which (to me) is because of the more difficult nature of the Advanced course.
I know some people that would have a heart attack trying to read Ondaatje's 'In the Skin of a Lion' or trying to study Stoppard's 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead' (two prescribed texts for different modules in the Advanced course) - which is why they do Standard, and have enjoyed the simpler nature of its material.
You are mainly evaluating ALIGNED HSC MARKS and the distribution of ALIGNED MARKS of English(Advanced) and English(Standard). Remember, these are not the marks used for scaling. Also, the Board of Studies does not conduct the scaling process, it is the people of the UAC that conduct the scaling process. What you've outlined is that English(Advanced) and English(Standard) are ALIGNED differently, which is true. However, they are scaled the same.
RAW MARKS are used for scaling. That is, the original marks before a standard settings procedure is conducted for aligned marks. It is these raw marks that are used on a common scale for English(Standard) and English(Advanced). There is also a process in determining raw marks so that the differences in supposed level of difficulty is removed:
The HSC examination pattern of both English(Advanced) and English(Standard) consists of a common paper which assesses the Area of Study component of the course and a modules paper which assesses the individual modules within each course.
Now, when both English(Standard) and English(Advanced) students attempt Paper 1, it is likely that the English(Advanced) students would have gained the advantage over the English(Standard) students. The distribution of marks in both English(Advanced) and English(Standard) in Paper 1 is often different after they are marked.
When English(Advanced) and English(Standard) students complete their Paper 2, then the distribution of marks of each are shaped to match the distribution of marks in Paper 1. In other words the distribution of marks for Paper 2 of English(Standard) is shaped to match the performance and rankings of all English(Standard) students in Paper 1. The same goes for English(Advanced). This process clears any borderlines of difficulty before the marks are scaled.
Also, it is quite logical that English(Advanced) students tend to perform better than English(Standard) students, hence that explains why English(Advanced) students often obtain a higher UAI. Furthermore, I recall that the highest UAI that a student taking English(Standard) obtained was 99.95, that is very high and thus indicates that English(Standard) students can obtain as high a UAI as English(Advanced) students and that there is no artificial ceiling to stop them from rising.
In terms of aligning, the main reason that English(Standard) students have such a low distribution of high marks is that they are based on the same standards as English(Advanced). A band 6 in English(Standard) should be equivalent to a band 6 in English(Advanced).
So basically, the only difference between English(Standard) and English(Advanced) is the content of their material. It does not matter whether one chooses English(Standard) or English(Advanced) because it is highly likely that he or she may score the same or similar raw mark. The differences between the courses are based on a matter of interest.
