Band 5 and Band 6's raw marks (1 Viewer)

[lolwot]

So say a band 6 was 80/100 rawmarks, does that mean a band 5 cut off is 70/100, b4 60/100? Like is it a linear drop off??

I know I should be studying but I'm just wondering!!

edit: wrong section SORRY MODS

 

[D94]

No, it is not linear.

The mark/paper they marking committee deems to be between the standards of a Band 5 and Band 6 is given an aligned mark of 90. The mark/paper they marking committee deems to be between the standards of a Band 4 and Band 5 is given an aligned mark of 80. And so on.

So the standards for a Band 6 might be considerably higher than a Band 5, but a Band 4 might be close to the standards of a Band 5, in terms of marks.

 

[cem]

Having been on the committee that has made this determination a few times each band cut-off is determined separately from the others - of course they are lower but how much lower is determined by the questions, marking criteria and the band descriptors so a band 6 cut-off could be 86 while the band 5 could be 55 and band 4 48 with band 3 20 and band 2 10.

 

[Candidate]

Having been on the committee that has made this determination a few times each band cut-off is determined separately from the others - of course they are lower but how much lower is determined by the questions, marking criteria and the band descriptors so a band 6 cut-off could be 86 while the band 5 could be 55 and band 4 48 with band 3 20 and band 2 10.

Is each module/option within the exam also weighed separately, in case some questions from a module are harder than others/text was more difficult?

 

[cem]

That is done but not by the aligning committee. Depending on the subject the aligning committee may work on a 'pathway' through the exam or may do everything e.g. in the histories there is a pathway followed so Core and then most popular question in each section of the paper - WWI, Germany, Speer and Indo-China the years that I have done it - with only one essay from both Germany and Indo-China. Ancient is the same thing. If we had to do every single question we would be going for weeks - it takes about 20 hours to do just those four questions for Modern so to do all of them would be impossible.

 

[Candidate]

That is done but not by the aligning committee. Depending on the subject the aligning committee may work on a 'pathway' through the exam or may do everything e.g. in the histories there is a pathway followed so Core and then most popular question in each section of the paper - WWI, Germany, Speer and Indo-China the years that I have done it - with only one essay from both Germany and Indo-China. Ancient is the same thing. If we had to do every single question we would be going for weeks - it takes about 20 hours to do just those four questions for Modern so to do all of them would be impossible.

I see. So does the committee do the same 'pathway' with any of the less popular questions for the histories?

I read on the BOS website that "the final marks awarded to the students who have answered each optional question are statistically adjusted by taking into account the pattern of marks gained by that group of students on the compulsory questions. This ensures students are not unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged by choosing an easier or more difficult optional question," which I'm assuming applies to questions requiring an answer to part a OR part b, rather than the topics, like Germany to South Africa.

 

[D94]

I see. So does the committee do the same 'pathway' with any of the less popular questions for the histories?

I read on the BOS website that "the final marks awarded to the students who have answered each optional question are statistically adjusted by taking into account the pattern of marks gained by that group of students on the compulsory questions. This ensures students are not unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged by choosing an easier or more difficult optional question," which I'm assuming applies to questions requiring an answer to part a OR part b, rather than the topics, like Germany to South Africa.

It includes topics like Germany or South Africa. The adjusting of marks is dependent on the core study (WW1) and how well the group of Germany students or the group of South Africa students etc. do. If both sets of students do equally well in the core study, but on average, the South Africa students do worse than the Germany students in that section, then BOS may see it as the South Africa questions are harder than the Germany questions, thus adjusting their mark.

So the 'trick' (but it's not really a trick) is to do extremely well in the core, since that's what affects your option topics' marks.

 

[Candidate]

It includes topics like Germany or South Africa. The adjusting of marks is dependent on the core study (WW1) and how well the group of Germany students or the group of South Africa students etc. do. If both sets of students do equally well in the core study, but on average, the South Africa students do worse than the Germany students in that section, then BOS may see it as the South Africa questions are harder than the Germany questions, thus adjusting their mark.

So the 'trick' (but it's not really a trick) is to do extremely well in the core, since that's what affects your option topics' marks.

That's good then, I definitely performed strongest in the Core. Thanks!

 

[cem]

It isn't an individual thing though but as a statistic of comparing the entire group that do say South Africa - if their average, range, standard deviation etc are statistically different to the same cohort on the Core - and to other national studies - it will be adjusted.