a hard bastard
all this guff about Scholarship Chemistry. I haven't really been following it all, been a bit busy and not always able to keep up with the blogs or the news (in that order).
But when I did some dry runs for Schol Chem, last decade, it was really a hard bastard. It was so hard that you were considered brilliant if you got over 30%. Schol Chem was legendary for failing duxes and dunces alike, year after year.
This incredibly smart chap that I went to school with got 17% in a practice run, and he later went on to do very well in this Engineering degree at UOA. In the end I didn't actually sit it as the prospect of doing worse than my prelim mark was a bit offputting. I was quite happy with 15% thanks very much!
In contrast the arts Schols that I sat, English and Classical Studies, were miles and miles easier. They were a very different type of exam from Bursary, with questions you couldn't predict, but it wasn't too hard to get marks not far off my Bursary marks.
Clearly moderation between subjects has been a problem for a long time.
2 comments:
Bursary Music was horrible too. Kids who got over 90% in School cert music were pushing it to get above 60 in Bursary.
It seems as long as you stuck to popular 'soft' subjects you were rewarded when it came time for marking.
Isn't Chemistry a subject that uses different "models" of reality at different levels. I seem to remember being taught about electrons flying around in orbits at 14-16, then about quantum energy levels at 16-18. Obviously it gets much more mathematical the further you go, so you can get good grades at the early levels (where it's basically a comprehension exercise) and do very badly one the higher maths cuts in.
Other subjects are basically the same all the way through - you just learn more and are expected to have better insights.
My suggestion instead of Scholarship would be to allow those who think they're smart enough to take the first year degree exams in their chosen subject - if they pass, then they save one years fees and costs, which is probably worth more than the scholarship payout.
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