You certainly get up early, David, your message was loaded onto my network
at around 5 am UK time!
I know I don't need to respond to everything in your message, and I have
seen the posts up to 4:45pm UK time. I feel the need to respond to the
specific points aimed at my previous posting; and then add a couple more.
> You seem to be implying that IF there is a link
> between Specimen Answers (heavily studied and learned
> by pupils) and question papers then this is a result
> of negligence.
No, didn't say or imply that
> I have long held the view that there should be only
> one (preferably government) exam board albeit with
> Option topics.
I do tend to agree with that.
> I also think that Examiners should be paid more AND
> that every paper should be double-marked ...
Not necessary, a single marking PLUS a random sample marking would suffice:
in the same way that vast companies are audited by random sampling of
invoices, vouchers and so on. Otherwise, it's overkill, tiresome and tends
to waste large amounts of time and money.
> You mention the Examiners' books everywhere. Most
> Examiners are practising teachers...so just how do
> they find the time?
It's possible, I did it and so have others, it's a matter of priority and
motivation.
> How does one make sure a book sells? ...
> ... to try and ensure that there is a high pass rate.
I don't think that is a useful train of thought.
> I assume that exam papers are
> checked, ratified, analysed etc
Jenny and Nancy dealt with this adequately, I think.
> I remember
> a particularly nasty interchange of emails about a
> particular OCR Business Studies paper a year ago.
No need for that
> but have disadvantaged them for this board.
Is it the case, as seems to be the impression I am getting, that you have
stuck with same Exam Board in spite of all of these problems? Why not move
on?
Other issues: is this a LONG TERM problem for everyone or a blip? Are you
all finding that time after time there is a problem with exams and marking
schemes?
In a later post, you said the "Examiners advise us to advise pupils to
develop evaluative skills ..." I went to the syllabuses of AQA and OCR and
found a longer list of behavioural objectives to be fulfilled. I found
critical awareness
solve problems
make decisions
discuss
evaluate
apply
analyse
explain
calculate
understand
interpret
determine
distinguish
qualitative understanding
...
Benjamin Bloom and John Dewey seem to be alive and well after all.
Furthermore, is it SO bad that a topic is repeated, taking the point that
you identified around 100 topics/sub topics in business studies? After all,
if we are evaluating and analysing, the simple repetition of a topic only
has the demerit of over familiarity; and if quality control in the longer
term is what it ought to be then we have nothing to worry about. Is it a
long term or short term problem? If topics are all equally testable then a
random distribution of them can easily bring them up for testing two or even
more diets in succession ... otherwise, they really will become spottable.
Finally, also from another post "I wonder how many of the 'eighteen topics'
will appear ... ' didn't I read this question, or something very similar,
about a year ago, too?
Duncan
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