Open book test. (1 Viewer)

HayleeKate

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My next Ext 2 assessment is an open book test. In Ext 2?? OPEN BOOK? I thought we'd be beyond that.

Does anyone else have/has had an open book test?

I'm assuming we're going to be so rushed for time as is the usual ext2 trend, and wont really have time to be flicking through books. My teacher's really into tricking people with stuff, so I'm suss on him, think be might be saying its open book to trick people into wasting time brousing.
General trends/ideas/tips about open book exams in ext2?
 

Trev

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We had an open book exam also, however we were only allowed to take in notes that he had given us (ie. formula sheets). This was for conics and integration exam, but he said he made sure we wouldn't be able to use them much by including proofs and whatnot.
We have to have an open book test for extension 2, extension 1 and mathematics.
 

Captain pi

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HayleeKate said:
My next Ext 2 assessment is an open book test. In Ext 2?? OPEN BOOK? I thought we'd be beyond that.

Does anyone else have/has had an open book test?

I'm assuming we're going to be so rushed for time as is the usual ext2 trend, and wont really have time to be flicking through books. My teacher's really into tricking people with stuff, so I'm suss on him, think be might be saying its open book to trick people into wasting time brousing.
General trends/ideas/tips about open book exams in ext2?
Bring in your books, by all means; but don't use them unless you forget a critical formula. (Certainly don't search for a similar problem in your textbook and then refer to the answer!)

Essentially, just treat it like a normal exam.
 

who_loves_maths

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hehe... never heard of open book tests at school syllabus level. does this open book test of your count toward your eventual hsc mark for maths ext 2?

only know of open book tests for special comps like UNSW maths schools comp or the likes.

and why would your teacher do that to you? wouldn't it be better pratice and preparation for the real HSC if you do all your assessment exams at school under simulated HSC exam conditions???
 

shafqat

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man i feel sorry for you guys. i dont know how our school got around it, but we always did stanard exams. good luck to all.
 

HayleeKate

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Yes, its definately assessment task... the apparent reasoning behind it being the BOS says students should be assessed in methods other than they will be during the HSC exam [to make it work for students with different learning types and stuff I guess]. I think we should get a maths speech, that would be awesome! [Perhaps only for me, being public speaking and maths nerd] I might reccommend that to the exam committee at my school. My Ext 2 teacher is the head of it, so i might make some headway.
I just remembered that I did 2 and 3 unit open book tests that were HSC assessments in term 4 last year.
 

who_loves_maths

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Originally Posted by Slide_Rule
The nature of internal assessments is to give exposure to different forms of assessment which aren't nessecarily reproducible in the HSC.
i understand that the syllabus states that it is appropriate for students to experience a multitude of examination styles...but from some of the earlier posts it sounds like these open book exams are intentionally set harder than the normal ones.

so what is the point of providing open book tests only to make it harder (probably beyond that is require in the maths courses) so as to defeat the purpose of using an open book during the exam??? it's not logical... if you are to have an open book exam then it should be stipulated that you are to USE books as aids in the exam. it is ironical to provide an open book test but then go on to make it unnecessarily hard so that an open book would not be of much help. in which case it is much better to adhere to the actual mathematics course so that when the HSC do come ppl will have enough experience from school tests as to prepare and use the best exam techniques which is of so much importance in any HSC examination.

of course i can understand why ppl who consider themselves proficient enough in mathematics already such that doing repetitive tests under proper examination conditions would be very boring... but that shouldn't be the point.
the HSC is not a mark on anyone's raw talent or natural ability in different subject areas, rather it is a mark on how well one can learn and regurgitate course material and be disciplined enough to stick to this , sometimes tedious, material.
and obviously ultimately, it will be the HSC mark that will determine whether you go into your desired course at uni or not.

so even though exposing students to a different range of examinations styles may be important for those who are actually planning to go on to do subjects such as mathematics at uni, there should also be consideration for those among us who simply want to get the HSC over and done with.

it's much more important at the high school level to familiarise us with proper and correct examination techniques for a fixed exam format which the 4u or 3u always takes rather than exmination styles... which we can learn voluntarily simply by entering different mathematics competitions throughout the year.
 

HayleeKate

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Its not that theyre neccessarily harder, in that theyre outside the scope of the course, theyre generally just harder in that the time limit is more of an issue, so that we dont really have time to be flicking through pages for answers.
 

dawso

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yeah, the reason they do it is to provide a change from the norm, all subjects do diff types of ass tasks that dont reflect the hsc (such as science - prac tests, and english - speeches) cause these reflect the real world. If ur an engineer, u wont be told 2 "complete this calculation and dont use anythin other than ur mind, that paper and a calculator - so thes provide a variation, and a relation to the real world,

we have one next friday for ext 2, we can have 2 pages of prepared notes (its on integration and conics) its easiest to just have 1 page of facts and formulas in case u need them, and fill the rest with all the proofs and derivatio-ns and practice questions, only look at these if u forget and have spare time, otherwise, use the formula sheet like a standard table, know it, just look to confirm, u would hate to write the wrong formula when u have it on a sheet right next to you,

anyway, back 2 my studying, answer my question in 3unit please :D (studying for my 3unit prepared task....think ill be watching rove but)

cheers

-dawso
 

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