Todd_is_God Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Jim McLean's Ghost said: I was thinking back on my higher english and how students were expected to produce an essay on a piece of art or litreature but were not able to have the text or notes to hand. Tough luck for the kid that knows what Macbeth was about but struggles to commit to memory Lady Macbeth's sililoquay. English is a terrible exam, but when I did it you pretty much armed yourself over the year with 4 or 5 essays that covered a broad spectrum of questions. The actual exam questions were so vague that, providing you knew your essays you were fine. History was the same. Essentially a memory test. At least when I was doing AH Physics, you had a formula list you could refer to. No idea how they could cover the same course work without those. Edited August 5, 2020 by Todd_is_God 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingTON Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Jim McLean's Ghost said: Many exams are actually a test of rote memorisation with little need to actually apply knowledge. And many richer students are better at memorisation because they have more time and help to do it. I was thinking back on my higher english and how students were expected to produce an essay on a piece of art or litreature but were not able to have the text or notes to hand. Tough luck for the kid that knows what Macbeth was about but struggles to commit to memory Lady Macbeth's sililoquay. it seems like those who admit exams are an imperfect measure of ability are happy with that status quo as long as it is the bottom of society that is being disadvantaged. There's certainly no good reason for them being closed book, so long as the texts are inspected to ensure that they are directly relevant (like a plain copy of Macbeth above) and not providing analysis/commentary for the student as well. But poorer students would still underperform regardless of that and the SQA has not entrenched inequality by producing a version of its coursework/exam results that reflect that present reality rather than some politically-driven ideal (other than chucking in a pandering pass rate hike all round). It's not as if they were going to suddenly scrap the entire exam structure in March if Covid hadn't intervened. Edited August 5, 2020 by vikingTON 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon EF Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 (edited) 20 minutes ago, Jim McLean's Ghost said: Many exams are actually a test of rote memorisation with little need to actually apply knowledge. And many richer students are better at memorisation because they have more time and help to do it. I was thinking back on my higher english and how students were expected to produce an essay on a piece of art or litreature but were not able to have the text or notes to hand. Tough luck for the kid that knows what Macbeth was about but struggles to commit to memory Lady Macbeth's sililoquay. it seems like those who admit exams are an imperfect measure of ability are happy with that status quo as long as it is the bottom of society that is being disadvantaged. Yep, there is clearly a significant element of exams that are like that. I don't think anyone is denying that or suggesting that exams are a perfect way to guage someone's academic ability. By the same token it's obvious that not all exams are purely a measure of memorisation ability. Does anyone anywhere think if you gave 10 random intelligent people an exam they'd never seen and hadn't studied for that they wouldn't score significantly higher than 10 far less intelligent people? My main point is that although this story has brought the attainment gap into focus, the method of assigning exam results this year is absolutely not the cause of it and argubaly isn't even exacerbating it. The attainment gap is a deep rooted problem and it's very easy to have a go at exams, it's far more difficult to come up with an alternative that priovides a fairer, more credible measure of ability that's practical. The idea that using coursework would close or get rid of the gap based on the estimates from teachers this year is borderline lauaghble. It's just as easy if not easier to game coursework in favour of more well off pupils that it is for exams. I used to work in educational publishing. They brought out a new 11+ test that was supposed to be 'un-studiable'. Of course it wasn't. The company I worked for made a bucket load producing study material for kids as young as 5. Guarenteed it wasn't the parents of children in the lowest income quintiles hoovering them up. Edited August 5, 2020 by Gordon EF 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon EF Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 7 minutes ago, engelbert_humperdink said: Are those who achieved highers this year going to have an * next to their results, in regards to potential emoloyers and universities looking at applicants. I feel for the pupils in life and I was one who done just enough in class to get by then knuckle down for the exam. The SQA are going to get criticised either way, impossible situation they have been put in Tainted title IMO 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 16 minutes ago, JTS98 said: What I still find bizarre is the number of people saying 'my mum was up there visiting her sister last week' or 'I went up to Aberdeen yesterday to visit family' Why? Why was anybody voluntarily going anywhere? Madness. It's people going from one very low risk area to another very low risk area, what's mad about it? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JTS98 Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 2 minutes ago, welshbairn said: It's people going from one very low risk area to another very low risk area, what's mad about it? I'd simply point to the rest of the world where it has been shown that unnecessary travel leads to spikes and lockdowns. Your mum going to visit your sister is a stupid idea. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Angelo Barksdale Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 12 minutes ago, engelbert_humperdink said: Are those who achieved highers this year going to have an * next to their results, ^^^ Big team found. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 5 minutes ago, welshbairn said: It's people going from one very low risk area to another very low risk area, what's mad about it? Because he's a whimpering sop and has been from the start. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 3 minutes ago, JTS98 said: I'd simply point to the rest of the world where it has been shown that unnecessary travel leads to spikes and lockdowns. Your mum going to visit your sister is a stupid idea. Do you think New Zealand should ban unnecessary travel too? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JTS98 Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 2 minutes ago, welshbairn said: Do you think New Zealand should ban unnecessary travel too? Nope. Their situation is completely different. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 4 minutes ago, JTS98 said: Nope. Their situation is completely different. Highland and Moray have had 9 infections between them since June 1st, and one death each. I'd say you'd need to be mad to tell my Mum not to visit my sister. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JTS98 Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 1 minute ago, welshbairn said: Highland and Moray have had 9 infections between them since June 1st, and one death each. I'd say you'd need to be mad to tell my Mum not to visit my sister. What kind of infections? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Moonster Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 8 minutes ago, JTS98 said: Nope. Their situation is completely different. So, Brits have to stay at home until a vaccine is found, despite infections being low, because? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 Just now, JTS98 said: What kind of infections? Well, this is the Covid19 thread, what's your best guess? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JTS98 Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 4 minutes ago, welshbairn said: Well, this is the Covid19 thread, what's your best guess? Despite your snide reply, the kind of case is important. Imported or locally transmitted? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 1 minute ago, JTS98 said: Despite your snide reply, the kind of case is important. Imported or locally transmitted? Absolute wet flannel. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 3 minutes ago, JTS98 said: Despite your snide reply, the kind of case is important. Imported or locally transmitted? You could have just asked. I've no idea, the stats aren't categorised in that way. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JTS98 Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 3 minutes ago, djchapsticks said: Absolute wet flannel. If you can't see the importance in the different kind of cases, then you've not been paying attention. Imported or local transmission? Which is it? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JTS98 Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 1 minute ago, welshbairn said: You could have just asked. I've no idea, the stats aren't categorised in that way. Just replying for a laugh then? Ok. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotThePars Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 Have I hit my head and woken up in the middle of March again? 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.